RoyalMom

...not mutual. ;) okay it is pretty funny.

I still cannot believe I spent $13 on this piece of holiday perfection. Five minutes to put up, two small strings of lights and a handful of ornaments. and it has such a tiny footprint in our small living space. nice!

Am I depriving my kids of the tree chopping experience? I 'spose.

We've definitely morphed quite a bit from our ideas of family traditions we thought we would continue after our first son.

We thought we would cut down a tree as a family each year, we thought we'd visit santa and Alpenrose Dairy's christmas village. but all that (and more!) seemed to change as the reality of actually living the life as a family set in.

One year, visiting Santa at Alpenrose, there was a particularly creepy santa. Isaac shook his head no and looked like we were asking him to jump off a cliff in asking him to sit on Santa's lap for a photo. When creepy santa told me I was going to have to sit on his lap too, to get Isaac to do it I suddenly felt exactly how Isaac felt. I believe I had the same panicked look on my face with the subtle yet nervous "no" head shake. We all ended up standing behind Santa for the pic and vowed that would be the last year.

Santa (costume santa, not mythical santa) got tossed in with my other foes: clowns, ice cream trucks, character costumed people (with those big heads...they can see us but we can't see them. freaky!) I think the thing that creeps me out is that they are strangers and it's suddenly okay for kids to fawn all over them because they have a costume on. I have issues;)

anyway...here's our tiny fake tree.

Xander has been asking to make cookie cutter cookies, which we have never done. Can you believe we have never decorated cookies?

Xander whipping up the icing and then we divided it up for food coloring.

They taste divine! and the icing firms up nicely.

Here's the recipe we used.

We don't get much snow around here and I still get excited over the slightest sprinkling. This time we actually have something to talk about! woohoo! maybe a white Christmas??

Xander and I braved the roads for some groceries. And now we are well supplied and cozy inside.

And a new craze in our house...World of Warcraft aka WoW. Jason has become fast addicted, I'm getting there and Isaac is definitely there. This morning, instead of the usual wake up whisper from Xander asking if I can get him breakfast, I woke up to a little whisper asking what my WoW password is.

I guess they are going to have to get their own accounts and we are going to be spending a small fortune on this each month the hobby continues.

I have a cute little gnome mage character. She's not very tough yet but Jason has been good to come help me through some stuff.

It's the way we roll...

(should I say taken with my phone? my point and shoot is really not much better LOL!)

"Capey" is also used as Isaac's fireball. You can imagine the shrieks and fighting that coincide the transfer of ownership. It's an ongoing process, learning and implementing our skills in diplomacy;)

"spider web ball"

Simon tries to mimic a super hero hand gesture...

...and he's still trying.

"Watch closely and learn, young padmae."

We don't need no stinkin' toys around here! hahaha!

Never thought I'd see this down our street!

Simon sports his chic sock mittens:)

Neighborhood sledding hill. There was even a dude standing there maintaining the launch hill and helping kids push off. What a guy!

Awwww! I love having a hot tub! A warm soak with a gorgeous snowy view, then inside for a shower and a hot cocoa. A perfect winter memory:)

They were so loud and crazy in their rooms tonight I thought they'd take a lot longer to fall asleep. Finally at 1:30am...

this is what I find. Xander sleeping in Isaac's bed, snuggled up behind him. Hard to believe they were just having a knock down fight over the water bottle a short time earlier.

Santa delivered!

And my PSA for today: Do not try to drive in this snow!

I drove in the snow after a full week of house arrest. I thought it couldn't be too bad since Jason shoveled the driveway and my destination was close. Wrong! It was terrible! The frozen ruts in the roads and parking lots were jerking my wheels around.

Do you think we use the word "awesome" enough around here? Xander kept saying it about his gifts, I was saying it and Simon was trying to say it too.