Day 568 | Looking Festive

I've been on a mission to explain to Chase what "festive" looks like. I think he's gotten the hang of it just in time for our favorite holiday season.

Since most of our friends and family won't be able to share our holiday decorations with us, here's a peek at a few of my favorite festive corners of our house.

And, in case you're keeping track, I did finish the knitted Christmas stockings that I started last January (but only in the nick of time). I ended up unraveling the first one I did due to some sizing issues, so I actually knit five of them. I think they look pretty happy hanging from our mantle. 

Day 567 | Family Day

There's a chance we will only be without family for three days during the entire month of December! We have two rounds of visitors coming in the next couple of weeks (my mom for sure and *fingers crossed* for Chris's brother and his family) and then we head back to Wisconsin for the holidays. Whoa! We're over the moon excited about all the family time but we realized with so many visitors and trips planned, it means limited time with just the four of us from now until 2016 (again, we're not complaining!).

So, what does that mean? Today was officially family day. We had breakfast (and took selfies with the boys) at our favorite breakfast joint and then headed down to the Mall for some fun museum time. Chase chose the American History Museum and, as usual, it didn't disappoint. Both boys had a blast running from exhibit to exhibit. It was about as perfect as an outing can be.

Day 566 | Thanks, Kelli!

We said goodbye to Chris's Aunt Kelli this morning. It was her first visit to DC and we loved having her. The boys became *slightly obsessed* with her over the course of her visit. Which is exactly how it should be!

You're welcome anytime, Kelli.

Day 565 | Favorite Day

I've been giving it a lot of thought and I'm ready to commit to today as my favorite day of the year. I just love getting into the Christmas spirit. Digging out all our holiday treasures, busting out the Christmas songs (Chris and I are pretty much connoisseurs), rediscovering our collection of Christmas books...what could be better?

Day 564 | Feeling Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving, wonderful family and friends. I hope you were all surrounded by lots of laughter, reminiscing and delicious food on this turkey day.

I'm happy to report we checked all those boxes with the friends and family we shared our meal with today. I still can't come to terms with today being Thanksgiving (where did the fall go?!?), but if I can't be back in Wisconsin for all the festivities, today was just perfect.

Day 563 | Holiday Weekend

We had a lovely start to our holiday weekend. Robbe and I met Chase at school for a Thanksgiving feast. Robbe sat right at the table with the big kids (do you see him at the back of the table) and had a blast. It was adorable.

Then this afternoon we enjoyed some wonderful quality time with Aunt Kelli. Have I mentioned visitors are the best? And we're beyond ecstatic to be celebrating the holiday with family tomorrow. Yippee!

Day 562 | Cubbie Squeeze

This is a normal occurrence as we leave school after drop off: Robbe shoves himself into any available cubbie and grins from ear to ear. It's the perfect size for him and so darn cute.

Day 561 | Old Enough?

I'm back! It's been a lovely break from the constant chronicalling of our lives but I'm happy to be here sharing photos with you again. Hopefully you all didn't mind the break...too much!

I'm thrilled to report that everyone is healthy (except maybe Chris and his looming cough) and things have gotten back to normal around here. We've been talking a lot about Christmas and Christmas presents...a lot. Turns out 3.5 years old is a fun age for all things related to the holiday spirit. So, my question for you? Based on Robbe's new favorite hobby (see photo above), is 1.5 years old too young to ask Santa for a skateboard? Ha! Even though his skills are impressive, maybe we'll wait until his birthday.

Day 560 | Taking a Break

It's been a long stretch of blogging for me (I think I've only missed a handful of days out of 560) and I'm in need of a break. Sorry, loyal followers, but there will be no new posts until next Monday, November 23.

But don't worry! I'll be back rejuvenated and ready for documenting all our holiday hoopla after my little blog-free vacation. 

Day 559 | Moms

Sometimes I don't understand why my boys like me so much. I'm not always as patient and understanding as I'd like to be. I'm the primary disciplinarian (mostly because I'm the one with them for the majority of the day). I'm not nearly as sympathetic when they're sick (especially when it draws on for six+ week) as they deserve. I'm constantly multitasking when we're together (of course I can clean, cook, play, and read all at the same time).

And yet...they have this never ending, never questioning love towards me. It's amazing, really. Where is this coming from? Two events from the past few days:

1. At pickup from school on Friday, I found out that Chase didn't sleep at nap time. We've had a really good stretch lately so I thought maybe we were past this. He definitely needs the sleep and naptime lasts 1.5 hours. He can just lay there, quietly, for 1.5 hours. Crazy, right? Just close your eyes! Anyway, I was slightly disappointed and frustrated by this news and was grilling Chase about why he didn't sleep. After several minutes, he finally said, "I didn't want to sleep." When I dug deeper and asked why, he hesitated for a moment then looked me right in the eyes and said, "I just needed you, momma." Are you kidding me? Talk about going from frustrated to putty in his hands. I honestly teared up. Could you imagine hearing anything sweeter from your 3.5 year old?
2. As I've mentioned, Chase is getting into writing and drawing. I'm really enjoying watching this evolution. It's fascinating to me. This weekend, he wrote his first word. And guess what it was? M-O-M. I'm sure it's just because it's a short, easy to write word, but he purposely wrote it, knew what it spelled, and was so proud of himself (as he should have been!). One again, just heart melting. 

You just want to bottle these little moments up and save them for when the boys want nothing to do with me as teenagers. Instead, I'll just try to absorb as much of this sweetness as possible for as long as it lasts.

Day 558 | New Phone

Chris and I splurged on new phones today. And with a new phone comes a first family selfie. The first of many...

Day 557 | Noodle Necklaces

Today was the perfect day for creating some good, old-fashioned noodle necklaces. 

Chase stayed pretty into it the whole time, even making one for Chris. Robbe was more focused on figuring out the best way to eat the rock hard noodles (his string reminded me more of a traditional candy necklace that he was trying to bite the noodles off of...ha!). A good time was had by all. 

Day 556 | Retail Therapy

After the toy aisle, these balloons were a close second place favorite spot during our shopping spree.

Retail therapy: it really works, doesn't it?

I'm not sure I've ever (in 3.5+ years) taken a baby shopping with me solo. Target? Sure. But never as a fun, optional activity. Although Robbe wasn't an ideal shopping companion, he hung in there better than expected. 

After the great clothes and decent deals, maybe Robbe and I will make this a weekly activity. Ok, definitely not, but as a reward for surviving six weeks of sickness (and hopefully not a day more!), yep. I'm in. 

Day 555 | Busting Out

Robbe went 24 hours without a fever today! He's far from 100% but to celebrate this important accomplishment,  the boys and I (unfortunately Chris is still down for the count) headed to a park for some much needed fresh air and vitamin D. This was our first real outing in five days. That's an eternity for me. The beautiful fall day sparked the life back into me, though. Ready for healthy babies around here!

Day 554 | Close Call

On the walk to our car after school today, a small tree cracked loose from its trunk and landed about four feet away from us on the sidewalk. Chase and I agreed that we've never had something like that happen to us before (slightly more impressive coming from me than a 3.5 year old).

Oh, and that's the minivan on the other side of the tree. This incident could have been slightly less humorous if we were a little quicker walkers or if the wind was blowing the other way. 

Feeling lucky. 

Day 553 | Board Books

How can you tell a 1.5 year old is sick (oh, did I forget to mention Robbe and Chris are sick...again)? He'll sit through all these books in one sitting. Yep. One sitting, all these books.

As I was making the stack of read books, I realized that most of these are our all time favorite board books. What a perfect opportunity to highlight some of them as recommendations for anyone in the market for some new reading material.

• Santa Paws
• The Mitten
• Little Wisconsin
• Each Peach Pear Plum
• TouchThinkLearn: Colors
• What Makes a Rainbow
• The Pout-Pout Fish
• Is Your Mama a Llama?
• Little Blue Truck
• Baby Dance
• Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type
• A Day with the Goats (and Pigs and Cows)
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?
• Blue Hat, Green Hat
• Where's Spot?
• Peek-A Who?
• Your Personal Penguin
• Beep Beep
• Dear Zoo:  A Lift the Flap Book
• Giraffes Can't Dance
• It's Time to Sleep My Love
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
• Goodnight Mountains (and not pictured: Goodnight Wisconsin and Goodnight Washington, DC)
• Dancing Feet!
• Big Red Barn
• Busy Chickens

Happy reading!

Day 552 | The Life

Cats have it all figured out, don't they? They sleep a ton, receive attention only when they need it, are independent, yet friendly, and are just so funny and entertaining. 

Yep. That's the life. 

Day 551 | Drawing

Painting time with Mary Catherine today. The blue one is Chase's space ship and the red on is Mary Catherine's. Adorable, I know.

Chase's interest in writing and drawing has really exploded over the last few weeks. He went from never wanting to color or paint to being interested every time I ask him...and he even requests it sometimes. So interesting.

And he's practicing his letters now, too. It's about the cutest thing ever. He's really mastered the "M" and can write a bunch of other letters too (but "M" is his favorite). I'm sure this budding interest comes from activities he's doing at school, but they definitely don't push practicing letters or writing on them. The process to teach writing is quite fascinating, isn't it? 

Day 550 | Candle Making

It's too late for any elaboration but here's a quick peek at part of my day (with Mary Catherine!). Yippee for candle making!

Day 549 | Becoming a Dalmatian

You didn't think I'd overlook a friendly DIY guide for our favorite Dalmatian, did you? Here goes:

What I used:

• a gray sweat suit (separate hoodie and pants), inside out
• black flannel for spots (the flannel glued to the sweatshirt easier than felt would have)
• black felt for the ears and tail 
• stuffing (for the tail)
• black thread (for minimal hand sewing)
• fabric glue
• ribbon for collar
• old pet tag (or make something that looks like one)

How I did it:

• Cut out a bunch of different-shaped spots and lay them out on the sweatshirt in an appealing pattern. Maybe you noticed that I started out spacing the spots evenly (see photo above), but ended up clumping them a bit more. I was much happier with that layout.
• Use the fabric glue to adhere the spots. Don't go too heavy with the glue application or it'll seep through the felt fabric.
• Cut ear shapes out of the felt fabric and handstitch them in place (the glue isn't strong enough to handle this job).
• Cut a skinny cone shape out of the felt for the tail and hand sew up the long edges. Then add stuffing (not too full) and hand stitch the tail to the bum of the sweatpants.
• Finally, attach the ribbon to the neck of the sweatshirt to act as the collar. Instead of handstitching the ribbon all the way around, just tack it on there with one stitch at each opening and one in the middle (where you'll add the tag with one stitch, too).

Day 548 | Becoming a Firefighter

Interested in a quick DIY guide to creating your own firefighter? Keep reading to see how I transformed a few of Chase's clothing items into a pretty awesome costume.

What I used:

• an old raincoat (could you tell it was a *bit* too small?), but I tucked the hood in so it disappeared
• a pair of gray windpants 
• silver reflective tape (seemed slightly wider than duct tape, but that would work)
• skinnier black tape (I used a Gorilla brand tape)
• a fireman's hat (ours was white, so I also had to buy red spray paint...per my little own's request)
• pair of toddler suspenders (I found a really cheap pair at a consignment store)
• navy shirt (I just used a regular graphic tee inside out)

How I did it:

• Use the silver tape to add two stripes to the body of the jacket. Then add the black tape on top of the silver. Fold the arms over the body and add a stripe in the same location as the body so that they line up. Add a similar stripe to the bottom of each leg of the windpants.
• I also added "DCFD" on the back of the jacket with the black tape for some extra flare.
• For the suspenders, I added a tape stripe as well. Just brings them into the costume a little more.

See? Super easy! And...no sew. Even better. My sweet boy loved transforming into the firefighter he dreamed about.

Day 547 | Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Chase had his first field trip today! And Robbe and I tagged along for the fun. Slightly behind the pumpkin holiday, we headed to our favorite pumpkin patch to continue the fall celebration. 

Chase got to ride his first "school" bus (but it was a charter bus, for the record, which he was pretty bummed out about initially). Robbe and I met him there for some pumpkin picking, apple eating, outside playtime, and one giant slide. Chase went down the one on the right in the photo above. He asked to do it. Solo. I was shocked!

There were some tired 3 year olds upon returning to school. Some of them were still asleep during pick up. Big day for these little guys.

Note: Sorry for missing a post yesterday. It's been a week of continued recovery and catch up and upon falling into bed last night, I just didn't have the energy to add a post. Please forgive me!

Day 546 | Pumpkin Pancakes

In case you can't tell, that's a pumpkin. Chris tried to convice the boys it was a ghost. Nope, definitely a pumpkin.

These are yesterday's pancakes. I had no intention of highlighting a day-late breakfast recipe, but it was just too good not to share. I have a feeling there will be a bit of catching up on blog posts this week since I'll write up quick descriptions about how I made both the boys' Halloween costumes, too. Hope that's ok!

Here's the pumpkin pancake recipe I found. They are super delicious with just the right amount of pumpkin flavor.

Two changes I made:

1. I doubled the recipe. I've got two growing boys to feed!
2. I left out the nutmeg. Chris isn't a fan and they definitely didn't need it to be yummy.

And I did include the brown sugar. I just didn't want to risk ruining them on the pumpkin holiday. Next time I'll definitely try to cut back or cut it out entirely, but I'll say something made the pancakes extra delicious...I'm not above admitting it could have been the sugar.