Everybody needs a little Sugar on V-Day

The edible kind of sugar is what I'm referring to, but the other is a nice added bonus!

Since I was a Hart growing up, we have always had a Big Valentine's Day at our house, so I want to continue that tradition. My mom was a teacher and you can imagine the amount of "Hart" gifts she received over the years, so our house always looked like Cupid had set up shop there in February.

We started with heart shaped pancakes for breakfast (with green eggs as a tribute to Ollie's current favorite book- and they looked gross, so there isn't a picture here!).
Then, after lunch we went to Krispy Kreme for some doughnuts.

They were making heart shaped doughnuts today! Super cute! Here are a dozen of our closest friends.

The kids loved the special treat

(we "suffered" through a few ourselves) and we got to see the perfect concoctions being made! Ollie called the icing a "dirty waterfall". But he had no trouble gobbling it up, of course.

Hope you had a nice relaxing day of luurrrve. Or just a nice relaxing day! This is the first Saturday that I've been at home doing nothing in over a month! What a treat.

Jason and I didn't do gifts this year because, honestly, we just didn't have time. Doesn't that sound horrible? We should make time for ourselves, but have you seen our agenda?? Just scroll down there for a look at what's been going on around here. And the rest of February is equally busy. I'm glad this is a short month!
Do you do anything special with loved ones? I'd love to hear any traditions. And any cute boy V-Day items would be nice to hear about, as well. The only stuff I've ever gotten for them has said "heart breaker" or something along those lines. Boys really get jipped in the holiday clothing department. Can I get an "Amen" there?

Off to eat some heart shaped brownies. I'd hate for the doughnuts to be all alone down there in my tummy. Is there a New Year's resolution coming around again soon?

There will be flour (not reindeer) flying...

in Mrs. Claus's kitchen today.
Here's what's going to get made today. (I am using this as accountability so I will get it all done.)

1. Peanut butter covered pretzels- dip in chocolate- check- they look like this
2. Five minute fudge wreath (because I have all the ingredients and know I won't make it after Christmas- might as well fatten up now)
3. Banana bread- because I have 3 rotting bananas (what I need) and my kids LOVE my grandmother's banana bread recipe. I'll post it here some time soon.
4. Breakfast casserole- because Jason has to have it on Christmas morning (it's his mother's recipe, but I know you all have that one. Let me know if you need it for your Christmas morning.)
5. Cookies for Santa- 'cause Santa just hasn't had enough sweets lately. I'll do something simple. Maybe my grandmother's oatmeal raisin cookies. Those are healthy- they have oatmeal, right? (I'll have to do a post just with my grandmother's recipes. You will wish she was your grandmother!) UPDATE: Just got back from the neighbor's house and she gave us cookies that will be perfect for Santa- the only qualification is that they're already made- and they are!
6. Last, but definitely not least- JESUS'S BIRTHDAY CAKE! I've got several different boxes of cake (do you think Jesus will mind if it's not from scratch?) in the pantry. I seem to stock up when Publix has them BOGO free. Not that I make cake alot. I just need to buy at least one if they're on sale. You never know when you might need to whip one up.

So, I'll be cooking while the kids are napping. We're off to visit our neighbor now. I wanted to teach Ollie about "visiting" people, but I'm sure he'll learn more about his mother screaming "don't touch that!" Hopefully he won't break anything of value this time at our 80 year old neighbor's house. Or Henry for that matter! Wish me luck!

Merry Christmas to My Blogging Family

Since I might not have your address, here is our Christmas Card. Just think of it as being hand delivered to your computer!
I think they are all out, save a few stragglers here on my desk, so I hope I'm not ruining a surprise for any family members out there! These are from pictures that we took back at the first of October for Henry's first birthday. Melissa took all the pictures and designed the card- and- a bigger feat- made us look good. Thank you so much, Melissa!

Merry Christmas! Thank you so much to the blogging community for making my day, every day. Thanks for sharing your life with me and allowing me to ramble here. I really enjoy your company! I love sharing stories, tips, laughing and crying with you all over the computer. I am certain that this is why Al Gore invented the internet.
I hope you have a wonderful and blessed holiday season!

Christmas Cheer

I sure hope you are having a Merry Christmastime. We have really been enjoying the anticipation of Christmas this year and talking up Jesus's arrival! It's so nice to be able to talk about it every day and Owen is ALL into the season. When he sees anything Christmas related (lights, Santa, wise men), he'll just shout, "Mommy, It's Christmas!!". I love the sheer joy of it.

To catch you up on the happenings of the Dunhams (since that's the name of the blog and all), we have been having fun! Thursday night we went to eat dinner with our old friends (they are not old- they are our age- but our friendship is old- you knew that- come on) who moved to town a few months ago. Sarah and Greer have moved a LOT with his job, so they are apparently experts at it. Their new house is beautiful and immaculate! I was expecting boxes and such, but it is all set up- for Christmas even- and perfect! They have twin 2 year olds and a newborn. And Sarah cooked an amazing dinner for us. I know. A Christmas miracle! I don't know how she does it. The kids had Christmas spaghetti


And played really well together! They did have one toy that caused some distress. It was a strainer and a tennis ball. We don't know where they even got the strainer, but Sarah had to get another one to appease the crowd of children under 3.

This is a faux hug and veiled attempt to get the strainer/ tennis ball by Owen. Not a bad move, if I do say so.

Last time Sarah made an appearance on our blog, she was just moving up here and about 8 months pregnant, so that means that their newest little gal, Abby, was able to join us for this party!

She wasn't quite in a partying mood- being just 3 months old, you know- but she sure is awful cute and a sweet baby!

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Friday night, we went to our annual Sunday School Christmas party and had a BLAST, as usual. No blackmail pictures there- there was too much food being eaten, goofy presents being opened (I got 3 rolls of different neon colored duck- or duct?- tape) and dancing going on. We always have SO much fun.

Tonight, I took my boys to Horshoe Bend to see the Christmas lights. We'd taken Owen last year, but I knew he would really get into it this year. Oh, how I was right. They both loved it! This is a neighborhood across the street from us that has a lot of really tacky well lit houses and people drive through it constantly. They even have a closed circuit radio station that the lights dance to (this is just at the first house) like you've probably seen on you tube. This is the house mid dance, so it doesn't really show all the lights. It's pretty impressive to see in action. At the same first house, they have a life sized Santa, sleigh and reindeer. You can't really see them from this shot below, but you can see the outline. Owen has been obsessed with reindeer lately and even asked, oh, maybe a dozen times today if he could see reindeer. So, after our 3rd trip around this loop, I stopped the car and got out with him to go see the (large and kind of scary looking plastic) reindeer. He petted them, talked to them, waved at Santa (whose hand was magically waving to us like a metronome) and started to walk away. Then he asked if he could go back for one more hug. It was so sweet.

We are going to Santa's Village on Friday night with some friends and they have live deer there that you can pet and feed, so I know he is going to get excited about that.

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My Christmas shopping is almost done. As I was cleaning the toy room today, I was short an "N" in this train, but it somehow rang familiar with the thought of Christmas shopping and this time of year.

Now, we have (or had) a budget (smudget), but it somehow always gets blown to smitherines. I wrapped for about 2 hours today while the kids were napping and I really do forget what all I've bought! And I DO have a list. Please don't suggest such if you are the super duper planner/ organizer who doesn't go over their Christmas budget. Maybe next year. Anybody feel my pain?

I hope you are getting into the Christmas spirit! It's hard not to with little ones around. I thought when we had Owen that Christmas would be super fun and I didn't realize that it wouldn't be until his FOURTH Christmas that we could all really be fascinated and see it through his eyes. I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it.

Whew! Our week in pictures

Wow! Christmas time has hit like a lead brick! Anybody else see this coming?

We are in the full Christmas-time swing- including each of us fighting off some kind of funk each day. Jason is upstairs right now looking much like Rudolph, but the kids and I are somewhat healthy- for today.

Here's a recap of our week:

Monday I took my final in my history class and I'm DONE!! WOOHOO!

And for more fun, it snowed here on Monday! I mean pouring, fluffy white flakes for most of the day. It didn't stick, but it was fun to watch and the kids liked looking at it. So, hot chocolate was in order for my little businessman (mug from Donna- he loves it):And Harris finally has hair that needs to be groomed! This is the first week I've had to somewhat comb it before pre-school. Look at this little blonde bombshell:And we finally went to get a tree this week. I had a faux (I don't want to say fake- I guess artificial is the correct word- whatever) tree growing up and have always loved real trees- even then. I always tried to convince my parents that we needed a real tree. There's nothing like the smell or ambiance of a live tree for Christmas. So, we were off to Lowe's to pick out our tree like we do every year. And then we loaded it on top of the car:What? Something missing?

Oh, yes. I forgot to mention that we bought a pre-lit faux Christmas tree this year. Jason and I pulled up to Lowe's and turned to each other at the same time after glancing at the shimmering trees in the indoor, heated section of the store. I said, "Do you want a fake tree?" and he said, "Totally" without missing a beat. I heard the loud thump in my mind; it was the sound of my expectations dropping rapidly to the ground. And I heard the the haunting echo of my parents saying, "This is just so much easier". And it's true. While not aromatic, the tree is perfectly straight, doesn't have to be watered and doesn't drop any needles. And did I mention Lowe's had all their Christmas things half off? Already?

Here we are on the way home- with the tree inside the car for the first time (we got the last one of the style we wanted, so it didn't have a box, but we bought a case to store it):And the kids got a kick out of the ornaments this year and we had a great time putting it up. Harris has only broken 2, so far. Here's the finished product:

We made it to the weekend and Jason's work party was Friday night and turned out to be fun this year! Saturday night we chaperoned (WHAT?!? How in the world am I old enough to be a chaperone? You'd think if one had 2 children of one's own that one might have come to the realization that she/ he was an adult, but I'm, um, I mean, ONE is still uncertain on the matter) our church youth group to see Winter Wonder Slam. TobyMac is one of my very favorite artists and, while all the bands were great, his group brought the funk. It was an Awesome show. Jason and I were on our feet dancing and singing ('cause we know all the words) for his entire set- much to the chagrin of the 7th graders next to me who were firmly planted in their seats. They really missed out. It was SO much fun!

Now to Sunday. With the Advent season comes a big event every year. My women's group at church holds Breakfast with Santa. We have a breakfast, crafts, take your own pictures with Santa (for as long as it takes to get a good one- major perk!) and we have a big bake sale. So, we all bake and this year I made 3 of these and 2 batches of this. Both were a hit, but my kitchen ended up looking like this:So, off to Breakfast with Santa this morning. Jason got the boys ready to go (yeah, Superdad! There is some picture pressure here) and here is the best Santa picture we got:You might be able to tell that Harris wasn't too thrilled with the jolly old elf. Owen was screaming bloody reindeer at that age, too. But Owen popped right up there this year and told Santa exactly what he wanted- the only thing he's asked for this Christmas- a big red train.

We did get a pretty good family shot, thanks to Melissa -who takes all our professional pictures, but also is a good friend who is in our Sunday School class. Thanks, Melissa!

So, we made it through the week. I have to admit that I'm tired just typing it all out!

I've started doing an Advent calendar "time" with the boys every day and of course they like it since there are Hershey's kisses involved. Owen keeps asking during the day when we can open the "Christmas doors". I'm looking for a daily prayer guide for children for Advent. Anybody know where a good one of those would be? And I'm also trying to drill in that Christmas is Jesus's birthday and that we GIVE gifts to show we love people, etc. I asked Owen what Christmas was yesterday and he said, "Santa's birthday". At least part of it is sinking in- not the part I want, but we're getting there. I've got a few more weeks to hopefully make that happen! Send along your tips and have a lovely week.

I have a massage planned this week!!! I am super excited and thrilled to have planned this treat for myself during a busy time of the year. I'll let you know how it goes, but I may be typing very slowwwwwwwwwwwwlllllllllllyyyyyyy because of my superior relaxation. I'll be sure to rub that in...

Have a great night!

You Turkey!

Hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are down in Dothan enjoying time with Mom and Dad and extended family. Jason is not "enjoying" it so much since he is down with the funk, but thankfully dad got him some good drugs this morning. He'll be back to normal by tomorrow, we hope (we- meaning me- hoping I don't have to drive the whole way home!).

Does your family have that picture? The one where you take the same picture in the same spot every year?

We have one such picture spot at my grandmother's house. She has many pine trees in the front yeard and has a white iron circular bench around one. I've never seen another one of those, but she has had it there for-e-vah. I think it's even rusting a bit and I was afraid we might break it (I would hate to be the final picture there!). But, it managed to hold us as it's held different family members hundreds of times before. Here's the outcome:

Now, I'm at my mom's house and can't figure out how to recrop. (Photoshop? Any help here?) That uneven-ness is driving me a little bonkers, but I think I'll manage to get over it. Hope you do!
So that's our update from the road: loads of food, friends and family. We're loving it!

Halloween- version 3.0- the finale

Whew! Halloween went on fo-e-vah around here! Anybody else feel like it wasn't this big of a holiday when we were kids? I think it was a little bit bigger this year because it was on a Friday, and I think we probably overdid it, too (can't believe I'm admitting that, can you?)!

Saturday held a whole new realm of outfits.

We had a family party Saturday afternoon and Ollie got to be the much-coveted Buzz Lightyear and of course Henry had to be Sheriff Woody. The only problem with that is that they don't make any Sheriff Woody costumes, so I had to make one! (I know what you're thinking. Send the kid as one of the other costumes he had on at the other TWO Halloween events. But you have to know me. I'm ridiculous with this kind of stuff. At least I 'fess up. I'm starting a therapy group if anyone is interested...)

I searched many stores for a yellow plaid button down shirt and finally found one at Dillard's. I got the cowboy hat, boots and badge at Wal-Mart. I had the bandana and had to make- that's right- SEW the cowboy vest. I used this pattern:

Wait, hold on, I stink at sewing and didn't use a pattern. I just bought some cow print material from Hobby Lobby and cut out what I thought was a vest (I had a big vest and just penciled a smaller version). Then I sewed the edges and stitched the ribbon along the edges. A big shout out to Connie and Irv for helping me with her sewing machine- Connie for the helping and Irv for the repairing of the machine.

Here is the final version of the costumes (sadly, the best picture I got of them together):I was a "Dairy Queen" at this party. I just came up with it that afternoon and I think I needed a sash that said that. Had I thought of it before 3:00 pm day of, then I might have gotten to that sash, but alas, this had to do. This is my friend Angie's husband, Nish. Super nice family and Angie and I planned Hands On Truck Day together, so I got to know them well through that. Then that night, we had an adult party that was a blast!
Here are some shots of some of our dearest friends being their normal goofy selves- only expressed through costumes.

This costume owned me because Jason T. REALLY looked like Howie from Deal or No Deal. And Gina could easily be a model, so it really wasn't a stretch! How cute are they? (Jason's head is already bald, but he changed his facial hair to look like Howie.)Craig and Beth were hilarious Spartan cheerleaders that bursted into cheer at any moment. And Beth has red hair, so it was funny to see her with a black wig. Larry and Amanda as Batman and Batwoman. And we were Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Jason said he liked this costume because he didn't have to smile for all the pictures. Isn't that mask scary? We didn't let the kids see it; it's that creepy!

I hope your Halloween was great and you're on into November now. I haven't noticed a SINGLE Thanksgiving decoration at Target or Wal-Mart. They've all gone straight to Christmas. I was even humming along to Christmas music today in Sam's!!

Don't forget to vote tomorrow... unless you're a Democrat... then you vote on Wednesday.

Halloween- version 2.0

Friday was a busy day for us, including our second dose of Halloween.

To avoid Halloween candy and such at school (or at least, I think), the 2 pre-primary classes took a field trip on Friday to Tate Farms. This is one of those pumpkin patches with animals, hay mazes and hay rides, etc. You all have one in your town, I'm sure. It's the way that farmers actually make money these days. It's $7/ head for us city folks to find out how they had fun in the good ole days (and the second one we've been to this year). Harris was here, too and was in the stroller or with Connie most of the time. Thank goodness she came to help out!

Here is Owen with his gal pals Merritt and Olivia, again: Petting a goat with his teacher, Ms. Rosanna:

Riding the horse swing:

Playing in the corn crib:And picking his pumpkin:Then we went out to Connie and Irv's to nap and get ready for Trunk or Treat at their church.

Harris was a giraffe this time:Owen was Thomas the Tank Engine (and really learned exactly what the whole candy business was about). Three generations of Dunhams being goofy (as the Dunhams are known to do- these in particular):And a quasi-decent picture of the 4 of us! Wow! (Thanks, Irv!! Good job!)

We got home somewhat early and decided to actually go door to door trick or treating on our street! This was the first time that Owen had done it, so we had to keep pulling him OUT of people's houses since he kept walking in after they opened the door. I guess if people give you candy at the door, it can only get better if you go inside, right?

Then my scruffy Bob Ross husband shaved his beard (hoorah!) and we crashed.

2 more parties today and then we are done. I think we should rename this holiday Hallo-week!

Just another day at the office

Much like The Office, Jason's office dresses up for Halloween. There are prizes and things, apparently. Today Jason is reprising his role as Bob Ross. If you don't know who this is, you really missed a treat.
Here he is this morning putting his finishing touches on a painting in our house (yeah, right):

And here we are at a party in 2006 as Bob Ross and a Happy Tree (again, if you didn't see this show, you don't get it... and you just had to see it).
So, I'm curious how your day is going, Jason. Please do tell.

And as for The Office last night, was anyone else confused about the costumes? Was the show all supposed to be on one day? They all started out in costumes, then some weren't in costumes, then they were again. It was just a little odd. Which is why I like the show, but I was just a little lost there.
Was I the only one?

Happy Halloween!

I caved

But it was so worth it!

"Fall Carnival"- the New Halloween

My little guys in their matching outfits on Sunday morning.

This is the best picture I could get- out of about 10!

I have issues with calling Halloween or Trick or Treating anything other than that, but so many churches have taken up the cause of anti-Halloween while still getting the good stuff (candy and costumes) in.

That's where "trunk or treat" came in to play- you line up a bunch of trunks (cars and trucks) and people pass out candy to the line of kids that come by. Where's the adventure in that? You don't have to guess whether or not to eat the questionable candy from the sketchy old man who handed you (what could be) Easter candy. And you don't learn the proper etiquette of waiting a second after another group has just hit up a house for your turn. You barely have to even say trick or treat. They just hand out candy and smile at you.

Our kids will have no concept of that scary house that you kind of want to go to because you heard they had good candy, but you're a little bit scared, so you decide that a Butterfinger isn't worth it and just keep walking. I don't even know if they'll learn about the slobber that accumulates from trying to breath/ talk inside a plastic Wonder Woman mask with a flimsy piece of elastic string stretching it across the back of your head. Now everything is trustworthy and in the daylight- dang it.

I guess being over protective is okay for my 3 and 1 year olds.

I understand why people want to take the devil out of Halloween and return it to a fun carnival-ish type atmosphere. I'm all for dressing up as Spidey and not Satan or some scary varmint, so I guess I can get on that bandwagon.

I HATE being scared. (Surprised- okay, scared- not okay.) I have only gone to a haunted house once- in high school- with a CHURCH youth group. I couldn't wait to get out. Ugh. I cringe and look away when we even cruise by scaryness on the tv. The sound of that music from Unsolved Mysteries makes my skin crawl. I have never seen those scary movies that every else has seen, and I'm okay with it! Look how normal I am (twitch, twitch)!

Our church had "Fall Carnival" this Sunday afternoon. It was truly a big carnival with trunk or treat, BBQ dinner, inflatable slides and bounce houses, games (all with Jesus- identified names: e.g. Hole in "Holy" One- okay I'm making that one up, but they were in that same vein), prizes and many, many sweaty kids. It was wonderful. Nice, safe, perfect weather and a lot of fun. :-)

Harris was a Tiger and hung out in the stoller for most of the time. We let him crawl around inside some and he was a cute little Tiger. He even kept his ears on.Don't ask me why Jason and I feel compelled to dress up, but we do. I threw together a last minute Rubix cube (super easy, but ask me if you want to know how) and Jason was so proud he could still fit into his flight suit from working at Space Camp 9-10 years ago. Owen has a couple of outfits (all bought at consignment sales) and he chose to be a dragon for this event. Here is the front of his cute little dragon:And here is the back:Owen was put to shame, though, by his friend Hannah Grace who came as their shared favorite hero, Buzz Lightyear. Debbi, her mommy, somehow found this outfit and I am questioning whether or not to forgive her. Look at Owen's admiration. To be emotionally drop-kicked like that- and by a GIRL, no less! I think he managed to get over it, though.

We have 3 more Halloween events, believe it or not. We've got Trunk or Treating at Jason's parents church on Friday night, a family party on Saturday afternoon and an adult party on Saturday night. You'll have to keep posted to see what the Dunhams will show up as next!