20 Days Until Christmas

Day 5 of Advent: Go for a hike and collect some winter decorations
I don't have pictures of this.  Because I forgot my camera.....and because it really didn't happen.  We got outside and the kids were having such a great time playing in the backyard and I didn't feel like it was appropriate to stop the fun and demand a collecting hike. ("NO! We must hike! We have a blog to maintain!")  So Day 5 of Advent turned into play explorers and then ride a tricycle/go rollerskating.  I think Jesus was a kid once too and would approve.

But in lieu of those pictures, I do have some great pictures from breakfast this morning.  Will made the yummiest fried rice and eggs (We miss you Hawai`i.) And Marshall, who by the way NEVER eats the fried rice just the "Chinese hot dogs" (BBQ Pork....hope that isn't offensive.  Sometimes it's all in a name for this kid.), decided he needed chopsticks and ATE the rice.  Then of course Josie needed chopsticks too.  These are for you Auntie Ka`iu and the rest of the MET crew.

 

Then Josie announced she was "having trouble" so big brother Marshall decided to help her out.  Let me narrate for you.

You see Josie, you put your thumb here and your finger here. (Thanks Special Agent Oso) Oh, let me just feed you.

These eggs are a little tricky.

Hmm, I'll just take a little for myself here.  This is hard work.

Eventually he just went for the stab method.  But both of the children would now like Santa to bring them chopsticks. Fabulous!

21 Days Until Christmas

(It has occured to me that I have been counting backwards wrong.  I apologize......Now it feels like I have leapt one day closer to Christmas.  And yes I could go back and change all the post titles, but I like to own my mistakes.  It lets people know that I'm not perfect.  Because I know there's a big fear out there right now that I am.  I'm just like you people.  I put my pants on one leg at a time, and then forget to zip the fly.)

But I digress.

Day 4 of Advent: Go get our Christmas Tree!!!
We contemplated this year going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting one down but we decided against it because a) the children we outrageously cranky, and b) sometimes simplicity is best.  The guys at our favorite tree stand are always so nice to us and once during the fall, when Marshall stopped to admire his forklift, the owner gave him and Josie pumpkins.  You had me at hello........

But again, I digress.....
So we got one Charlie Brown tree for the outside of our house and one nice big fluffy guy for the inside! And now it just seems more Christmas-y around here.

Marshall was quite opinionated about the whole process.

 

Will's favorite was the outside Charlie Brown tree.

 

This is not our tree.  Because the guys were busy trimming the ends off our tree when I realized that there was no documentation that I was involved in this whole process.

And then I had the pleasure of being invited to Sandy's wreath making party again this year.  I think the wreath making party is my social favorite activity of the whole season.  I absolutely love the ladies I work with.  They are so creative and so absolutely hilarious.  And the wreaths on our house are always so unique and Northwest-y. (Thanks to Sandy's pilfering of various bits and pieces of plants in the middle of the night.)

Good Morning Josie

This morning I was finishing something up in the kitchen when Josie woke up.  I told Marshall to go in and tell her that everything was alright and I would be right there.  This is what I saw when I came in.  (Sorry, the sound is really low, but it is there.  Just turn everything up really high!)

23 Days Until Christmas

Day 3 of Advent: Meet Baby Stella and give her a Christmas present
Here is the present!

 

After knitting most of the summer and fall in bits and pieces, I finally finished this adorable sweater (pattern found here.)

And wouldn't you think after all this time knitting, and with such an ADORABLE new baby, I would have taken pictures? (BTW- I still have the magic touch.  I can jiggle a baby to sleep with the best of them.)

Nope.  I forgot my camera because it was a little hectic around our house today.

Because of this

(Probably should have hung up that towel right for the picture, but you get the gist.)

Who's in heaven? THIS GIRL.

Because not only do I have four WORKING burners and an oven that heats up oh-so-quickly, I got this

SPACE!!!!!!!

A COUNTERTOP!!!

I am in heaven!

And of course we are having GF pizza from Garlic Jim's tonight because I don't want to mess up my awesome new kitchen by actually cooking in it.

24 Days Until Christmas

Advent Calendar Time!

(Are you asking why Marshall has a basket on his head?  I did too.  It's his safety helmet apparently and when I suggested that it be used for it's original purpose of holding Christmas books, he threw a raging exhausted-after-swimming-lessons-and-school fit.  Okay, it's a helmet.  Some battles aren't worth fighting.)

Day 2 of Advent: Read a Christmas Book

(Thursdays are busy around here.  It's all I had in me.)

Followed by the celebratory Christmas trip to Costco after the children go to sleep.  Don't be jealous.  (Seriously, I was in Costco BY MYSELF.  You should be jealous.)

25 Days Until Christmas

Oh Boy! This was my favorite series from last year!  So excited to start it again!

Day 1 of Advent: Get out the Christmas Boxes!
(So we can find the Advent Calendar and thus pull cards out that read such clever things as "Get out the Christmas Boxes!")

Mantle decorated- CHECK
Adorable Girl eating an apple- CHECK

I love Christmas.

First some business to attend to......

What? After all that, you open the blog back up again? Seriously?  I had to open a stinkin Google account just to read it.

I know, I know, but I think one of the reasons why I wasn't posting anymore is because it felt awkward to write and then ASK people to read it.  I mean, yeah, now, you are going to read it anyway, but now, it's on your own terms?  (I know this makes no sense....)

But the other reason is that when I privatized it, somehow in my head it became a way to show my friends and family afar pictures of the kids.  And frankly, I know this sounds selfish, I didn't need another thing in my life that was only about my children.  I love my children to pieces and I love being a mostly stay-at-home mom, but it is quite easy to lose yourself in the whole "mommy" role.  And frankly, Two Ring Circus has always been more about what I thought than anything else.  I just happen to think a lot about my kids.

So I deleted the post where I actually pretty much gave the location of our house and tried to delete any other current locating information.  And I'll be more careful in the future.

And I know, I missed a lot of stuff on the blog.  Halloween, M's birthday, Thanksgiving....and maybe someday, I'll upload those pictures.  Or maybe I won't.  Sorry, but sifting through all those pictures to find the five or six that will appear on the site is more overwhelming than I care to think about right now.  So I've decided that I'm just going to start up again like nothing ever happened.......if only real life could work like that.