Scenes of Christmas

Every home has a few favorite scenes at Christmas time.

Here are a few of ours:

Clementines and Pistachios are a perfect combination.

We just discovered these yummy friends..... or wait... are they REALLY our friends?
Well these guys look friendly.... until they start singing and NEVER STOP!

(Thanks to the grandmas)
A snowman.

I LOVE poinsettas and of course a Santa with SKIS!

We got this Christmas countdown as a wedding gift (11 years ago).

And of course..... CHRISTMAS BOOKS!

Santa Hats at the ready.

And of course the Christmas Tree...

...with lots of homemade ornaments.

I love colored lights.... so festive!

Then there is the "pretty tree".

And now to my favorite scene of all.

As we rapidly approach the climax of this season, I hope to remember the real reason we have so many favorite scenes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my SAVIOR, LORD AND KING!

Simply Sweet Baby Cakes

Impressed? Drooling?

You should be. There's Pina Colada, Simply Sweet, Candy Cane, German Chocolate, Egg Nog, Grasshopper, Lemon, Triple Chocolate, and Cookies n Cream.

Want another look?
I'm sure you all thinking, "WOW! Deanne you are so talented! I had no idea you were so creative and good at decorating cup cakes."

Well.... I say, "Me neither!"

I actually won these cup cakes from a give away on my friends blog... "Or So She Says..." www.oneshetwoshe.com

They were made by Simply Sweet Baby Cakes at www.simplysweetbabycakes.blogspot.com Seriously... check them out!

They not only LOOK GOOD but they taste AMAZING!! When it says that it is Egg Nog it doesn't just resemble the flavor of egg nog, it IS Egg Nog!

So RICH, so MOIST, so very very SINFUL!!

We ate these at the B-day party we had for Dan with his side of the family.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

Tate and Lightning...

This Tate.

Look a bit closer.

Do you see the little green friends?
Oh and his hair is real special too.
Yup! This is MY Tate!

And he has developed a GREAT liking to this flashy red friend.
He doesn't go anywhere without his Lightning McQueen.
Most times Mater gets to tag along too.

But he does have to know where everyone in the gang is at all times.

He likes to line them up on his window seat.

He has even added a few extras to the cast.

From right to left:

Tate's version of "Frank, Mater's daddy, and the helicopter Mater gets to ride in.

I love Tate's BIG IMAGINATION!

One afternoon, I notice it was a bit too quiet.

This is usually a sign that I should be worried.

But much to my surprise, I found Tate by himself here:

I was then told, "MOM! GO AWAY! .... pleeeeeeze. I driving."

Happy 32!!!!

This was the card the boys picked out for Dan.

Complete with the Star Wars Theme Song.

So yesterday, DECEMBER 8TH was my DANIEL'S 32 BIRTHDAY.

HOORAY!!!

He is now as old as me!

Yes. I may be older, but definitely wiser.

:)

Awe... equality for the next 6 1/2 months!

The Saturday before, my family all met together at McGraths Fish House to celebrate Dan and our bro-in-law Ty's birthdays. Dan and Ty, of course, got the King Crab and Steak. They put on the fish hat,sang, got a scrumptious b-day dessert and we all had a wonderful time.

Thanks mom and dad. Such a great birthday tradition!

I then asked Dan the usual questions:

"What do you want for your b-day?"

I got the usual answer from him:

"I don't want anything. I don't need anything. DO NOT get me a thing."

So... as usual, I ignored his wishes.

I then asked him what he wanted his birthday dinner and dessert to be.

You name it... I will make for you.

Now that's a pretty big offer. After seeing him ponder this question for a few moments I seriously began to question what I had offered him.

Much to my surprise, he said,

"Let's keep it simple. Let's order pizza and hang at home with the boys."

Uh... OK. And for dessert?

"I want fudge brownies with Andes Mints melted on top."
So... I granted his wishes for his birthday dessert.

(I know you're all impressed with my decorating skills)

BUT... as usual... I ignored his low key request.

You see I just so happen to know a few things he really enjoys.

So when he got home from work, the boys and I, per their request, all jumped out of our "special" hiding spots, and sang a raucous rendition of HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We then let him open his gifts.

A bit boring, but needed.

We got him some new jeans (HOT ones! I think.)

a shirt,

a framed picture of our family for his desk at work,

and a little something else from me (enough said).

And then, the boys really wanted (wink, wink) to play Lego Star Wars with him on the XBOX.

So I told him I was going to order the pizza while they played.

I left the room and made that phone call (wink, wink).

At about 5:20p he asked if I would give him a "birthday hair cut".

"Umm... right now? You sure? Umm... OK...uh...the pizza will be here real soon..."

"Yeah why not right now. It probably won't be here for another 30 minutes or so. We've got plenty of time."

"Ok... Let's do it."

I then gave him the fastest haircut I think I have EVER administered because...

At 5:30p (at least that was the designated time) a few of the "things I know he really enjoys" began showing up.

GOOD FRIENDS!!

SURPRISE!!!

(notice where the hands are)

THE GOAL:
MAKE SURE DAN GETS 32 PURPLE BIRTHDAY NURPS BY THE END OF THE NIGHT

(Did you meet that goal? I got lost.)

Dan has so many AMAZING LONG TIME FRIENDS.
He is one of those lucky guys who has stayed close to the same group of friends he's had since elementary school.

BIG THANK YOU goes out to all those friends.
(you know exactly who you are)

Just wish you ALL could have come.
But I know he sure enjoyed your phone calls.

I did grant his wish of ordering pizza and hanging at home, just with a few extras.
6 adults...10 kids...CRAZY...so fun.
I hope you had a FANTASTIC birthday my love.
HAPPY 32!!!

We do plan to have another Birthday shin-dig with Dan's family on Saturday including a

REAL BIRTHDAY DINNER MENU.

Party...Party...Party!

Binky... no more. :(

Many may recognize this little rascal.
Especially because of the appendage that was ALWAYS stuck in his mouth.

Well, those days are no more.

We have a great, yet hard little tradition in our family that all started with Tracen.

When it was time to get rid of TRACEN'S Binky we tried all sorts of things. First, I tried to ONLY let him have it at nap time and bedtime. But because I am WEAK and my children are STRONG, that never really worked. So then we tried putting yucky flavors on it, but I couldn't keep the yucky flavors on all of the Binky's scattered throughout the house, so that didn't work either. Then we tried to LOSE it. NOPE!!! The boy was too smart for that. He KNEW that anything LOST can be FOUND and... I just couldn't hold to the lie (weak). Then I realized that Tracen had a little fascination with the scissors and cutting things. So one day we gathered up all the things he thought would be GREAT to CUT (with my supervision of course)! I threw his UFF, which is what he called it, in the pile and one by one everything was CUT UP, including the nipple off his Binky. It didn't really dawn on him until bedtime that night when he asked for his UFF and I handed him the BROKEN ONE. He was heartbroken. But that smart little guy, in between sobs, said, "Mommy, go get me a new UFF at the store please." That's when my heart broke. But I was not about to buy any more new Binky's and I didn't have to lie about his other ones being broken, so I remained STRONG! We had a few long nights, but he survived and we survived and he did not take his UFF to Kindergarten.

So then when it came time for TYLER to give his up, it was not mom and dad who gathered up items to cut... oh no... it was Tracen! He was such an encouraging and convincing big brother. We snipped off Tyler's BINK-A-DINK and a few more long nights ensued. We actually got Tyler's big moment captured on video including Tracen talking him into it. So PRICELESS!

So now TATE has come of age and guess who did the convincing? TRACEN... again.

I helped him snip off his BEE BEE (each kid has had a different name for their dear friend) and his immediate response, in his grumpiest voice was,

"MOM!!! You broke my bee bee! Why?!"

I tried to respond with encouragement by saying things like, "Hooray Tate! You are such a BIG BOY! You cut your Binky! Good Job!" But his response remained the same, "YOU...cut my bee bee, MOM!" Followed by heartbroken sobs. Seriously, this kid knows just how to get me. BUT because the bee bee was broken it must be thrown away.

Good Job Tater! You're such a BIG BOY!

I know it is hard, you can do it. I LOVE YOU!
Come on... it's OK... you can do it.

Oh dear... here he comes... and he is MAD!
(That was right before he chucked the broken bee bee across the room in anger.)

And then it was on to finding comfort in the very companion to his beloved BEE BEE.

We now keep these broken friends on top of his dresser so that when he asks for his Binky we can show him that they are all broken now.

So now the equation is:

No Binky= No Naps = Grumpy Tate = Grumpy Mommy

I do know that this too shall pass....

So many BIG STEPS!!!