What Toby Really Wants for Christmas

I stumbled upon this hilarious blog post earlier today and had to share on Facebook just because of how true it is.  You can see the original post here.  Here’s Toby’s spin on the wishlist (but I’m sure he would want everything on the original, as well):

Dear Santa,

My Mommy comes up with a wishlist for me each year, but let’s be honest, she doesn’t know what I really want.  Flash cards?  I will crumple them in about three minutes or as soon as she turns her back.  Plastic food?  Why is it plastic?  Please give me real food to play with!  Here are some other ideas for you:

1. The remote

More specifically the one with the touch screen that I know Mommy and Daddy do not want me to have.  They seem to be okay with me playing with the other remotes so why can’t I put my greasy little hands all over this one?  

2. The bathroom door to be taken off the hinges

I despise the bathroom door being shut more than anything else.  What are they doing in there?!  Why can’t I come in the tiny room, too?!  I’m not sure what this room’s purpose is for yet, other than it’s fun to open and close that white seat and rip the soft paper into tiny shreds.  I want in this room, and I want in NOW.  I demand the door be taken off, this will save everyone in our house many tears.

3. The Swiffer

I love swinging this thing all around the house!  The long stick makes great banging noises on the walls and Mommy says I’ve been pretty close to breaking a few picture frames, but I’m not sure why that’s bad.  Mommy’s not a fan of me playing with this, but I will throw the biggest tantrum ever if she puts it away.  Cue big crocodile tears NOW.  Please give me one of my own that I can access any time I wish.

4. A couch

I’ve been put in something called “Time-Out” a few times for running all over the couch and it’s not fun.  Don’t they get that I need something to climb on like in my gym class?  Mommy always says “this isn’t Gymboree, Toby!”, but I want it to be Gymboree ALL THE TIME.  I would like a couch in my room, please, as the spare bed in there just won’t do.

5. Ellie’s Whiskers

The gray kitty is not a fan of me, I guess, and she really doesn’t like when I try to touch the funny white things coming out of her cheeks.  I’d like a few of my own so I can actually touch them for more than just a second before she runs away.  I will keep them in a wipes box for safe keeping.

6. What Mommy Drinks in the Morning

She always tells me she’s making “coffee” but I have no idea what this is.  All I know is that it’s “HOT, NO TOUCH, HOT!”.  I would like to try this drink because milk is getting a little boring.  Please also provide me with some mugs of my own.

7. Fissssh

Also known as Goldfish Crackers.  I love Fissssh, please make sure my Mommy has plenty of snack packs in the cabinet at all times.  And tell her I don’t want to share anymore.

8. More lotion containers

I’d like a few new containers as I enjoy taking them out of the baskets my Mommy carefully organizes and placing them in random spots all over my room (and my parents’ room).  Bonus points if the tops are easy for me to take off on my own before Mommy realizes what I’m attempting to do.

9. Extra wipes boxes

You can never have too many of these! 

Christmas Eve & Christmas Re-Cap

Toby was a trooper this year while traveling!  We started off by going down to CT the afternoon of the 23rd, celebrated Auntie’s birthday a day early, opened presents with CT family on Christmas Eve in the afternoon and early evening, and then on Christmas morning we traveled to MA to celebrate with Hubby’s family.  Even with all the naps in the car and interaction, Toby still did really well.  No meltdowns until we got home on Christmas evening.  So grateful he’s a fairly easy kid!

He received a ton of gifts this year and we’re really thankful for our family and friends giving him everything!  He’s seen everything he can play with at this point now and I’ll probably hide some things away and bring them back out in a couple weeks.  He always forgets about toys and gets all excited for them again. 

Here’s some pictures of our celebrations!

Ho Ho Ho!  Being silly with Daddy:

Looking cute with Auntie:

Christmas Jammies!  Little reindeer on his feet and one on his butt:

Sour puss…apparently not excited to open presents:

Four generations in this pic! :

Finally a smile!

Our big present to Toby…Radio Flyer Wagon.  Can’t wait to use it next summer!

 

I will be totally honest in saying that I wasn’t a huge fan of Christmas in the past.  It’s stressful buying presents, budgeting enough money, doing endless mall trips, and then adding traveling on top of everything.  I was nervous of how Toby would act this year but he surprised me in doing so well and it made everything well worth it.  I’m a little sad we don’t celebrate Christmas in our own house but hopefully he won’t notice a difference as he gets older.  We’ll just have to fib a little about where Santa travels to instead!

Ho Ho Ho!

Found a little Santa hat and some mini bows at Target today…couldn’t resist doing a short photo session when we got home tonight (with some assistance from Auntie):

Very serious today – no smiles!  And lots of biting of the bottom lip so I’m not sure if more toothies are coming in. 

Ugh so not looking forward to gift wrapping tomorrow…such a waste of paper and time.  Even though we do mostly gift bags now, it’s still a pain in the butt!  It’d be nice if Christmas was more like Thanksgiving – lots of good food and no presents necessary!

Almost December

Now that November’s just about over, I think it’s time to officially put all the pumpkin themed stuff away and start decorating for Christmas!  Hopefully I’ll get some time this weekend to make the swap.  And do some more holiday shopping.  We actually got a decent amount done last Sunday, which was a huge change from last year.  I’ve learned pretty quickly that it takes 10 times longer to accomplish tasks when you have a child.  I almost considered making my own holiday cards again this year.  Yeah, don’t think that’s happening.

Speaking of Christmas, I giggled out loud when I saw this on Pinterest:

Source: sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net via Emily on Pinterest

 

On another note - there is a little tooth trying to poke its way through Toby’s bottom gums.  Of course this has to happen as soon as he starts sleeping straight through until 6 every morning.  He hasn’t been too fussy yet, we’ve just noticed he’s wanted to stick teethers, hands, fingers, etc in his mouth 24/7.  He was actually gnawing on my shoulder this morning.  Please send happy thoughts our way that we don’t have too many sleepless nights in the near future…

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Card for 2011:

Some of my new favorite ornaments we acquired this year:

 

A new mini stocking for Baby C:

 

And a Christmas morning belly pic:

 

Cannot wait for next Christmas!

Christmas Goodies – Holly Cupcakes

Another Pinterest find that I knew I needed to make this holiday season:

Source: flickr.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

Those look easy enough, right?  Just a little piping on top of a cupcake with some candy added.  Well let me tell you how freaking hard it is to find those little green jelly candies!  I went to Target and Hannafords with no luck.  Finally found some green jelly trees at CVS last night, so I cut those in half to make leaves.  I used red M&M’s as the berries since I still had some leftover from my reindeer cookies.  However, the M&M’s started to melt and left red coloring on top of the pretty white frosting.  UGH!  Next time I’ll be using gumballs or some kind of other red candy.

Here’s my version – I did a red velvet cupcake (cake mix + a Chobani vanilla yogurt + 1 1/3 cups water + 2 egg whites) and then a light cream cheese frosting:

Before the M&M’s started bleeding….

Whatever, at least they tasted good!

Christmas Goodies – Reindeer Cookies

When I first saw these Reindeer Cookies on Pinterest, I knew I had to make them this holiday season. 

Source: buddingbaketress.blogspot.com via Emily on Pinterest

 

And luckily my mom had a cookie swap a couple weeks ago so it was the perfect opportunity.  I couldn’t find mini M&M’s at my local supermarket so I decided to use chocolate chips for the eyes instead.   

These are actually very easy to make – I used a basic peanut butter cookie recipe and then rolled them into one inch balls like you normally would do.  Then you pinch the bottom of the ball, place it on the cookie sheet, and gently flatten the entire cookie so you end up with an upside down triangle shape.  I did one batch first to see how they would bake and I was happy with the shape so I continued the process for the rest of the batch.  Though, comparing the inspiration cookies to mine, I may try to make them puffier next time and I’m not sure if I would make them as long. 

As soon as they come out of the oven, you want to immediately stick on the pretzel ears, then the eyes (don’t press down too much or else the chips will melt), and then the  red M&M nose.  So cute and this would be great to do with kids.

And now I know why I gained 2 pounds in a week…ohhhh Christmas cookies!

Peppermint Whoopie Pies

I remember last December as just being extremely busy. We moved into our townhouse and then a few weeks later the holidays hit and in January we had our housewarming party. That party was easy in terms of hosting – chips, store-bought dip, veggies, and some appetizers from Trader Joe’s.

Comparing last year’s party to the holiday one we had a few weeks ago in terms of the food we served is pretty different. This year I went all out and probably shouldn’t have bought half the stuff I did and then attempt to make it all. Most of it did get eaten, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I can’t use parties as an excuse to try a bunch of new recipes at once. I need to make an appetizer for dinner one night for the two of us to share or maybe bring something to a friend’s on the weekend if we hang out. This will be way more cost-effective in the long-run :)

Anyways, back to the party and the recipes I tried out. My favorite was the Peppermint Whoopie Pies, though Hubby is not a fan of minty flavored stuff. I LOVE anything mint so I was pretty excited to try these out. Chocolate + peppermint + some fun sprinkles = a good time

I got this recipe from one of my favorite food blog – The Girl Who Ate Everything. I love love love her recipes – they’re not too difficult, don’t use a lot of weird ingredients, and each one I’ve tried has come out pretty close to perfect. I followed her recipe almost exactly, but added another teaspoon of peppermint extract to make the frosting extra minty.

I call them whoopie pies because they are quite large…they’re definitely not oreo-sized. You will be full after having just one of these things, trust me! I guess for next time I will make the cookies a little smaller and try flattening them a little more so they’re thinner. Technically they are not soft like whoopie pies typically are but you get the idea.

Also – I will definitely put the frosting in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to let it thicken a little before frosting the cookies. It was slightly soupy (but that could be because I ran out of confectioner’s sugar and was about 3/4 of a cup short), and I think it would be easier to assemble them if the frosting is slightly thicker. All in all, a great holiday dessert – received lots of compliments on them so I will definitely be making them again next year!

DIY Christmas Decorations - JOY Letters

A popular DIY project that a lot of the wedding blogs I follow(ed) was decorating wooden letters to display on the cake table or another spot where the guestbook would be. I didn't do this project mostly because I just had so much other stuff to do, but I do wish I had done something to decorate the tables a little more.

Like this is cute and simple:

source

Or for the cake table...

source

Do you think Hubby would let me hang these in our room?

source

I'm running out of wall space in our living and dining rooms or else I would try to think of a word to spell out in letters. For Christmas decorations, I do move a few things around, so I figured I would have enough room to hang a holiday type of word on the wall above our fireplace.

I decided on "Joy" since it's only 3 letters :) This was another really easy project - cost was about $5 for the three wooden letters and paint. I bought everything at Michael's and luckily their paints were on sale. I went with a champagne off-white and then a gold metallic.

Basically you just need to paint each letter whatever color you prefer and wait about 30-45 minutes between coats. I did 3 coats on each letter. To hang them on the wall, I used those 3M strips since they haven't ruined one of my walls yet (knock on wood)!

I like these so much I may just have to move some wall decorations around to make room for a year-round word...

DIY Christmas Decorations - Ribbon Tree

I have a love/hate relationship with Glee...as in some weeks I love it and some weeks I hate it. I'm watching it now and typing during commercials and I don't think I'm digging this repeat episode. Anyways...

This is another DIY holiday decoration I made for this year. This one was SUPER easy and was perfect for my craft-OCD-ness because you can re-arrange the ribbons by pinning them onto the cone instead of gluing them permanently.

Here's where I found the inspiration and the instructions on how to make it.



I think it cost about $5 to make this one because I didn't add a circular base bottom. Also, the cone I found at the Dollar Tree is a little smaller so I didn't need as many layers of ribbon to cover it. The ribbon I found at JoAnne's goes perfectly with our gold/red/silver theme that coordinates with the rest of our decorations.

Ugh how is it only Tuesday?!

DIY Christmas Decorations - Peppermint Candy Tree

I suppose I should have posted these DIY crafts before Christmas, but things got a little busy in mid-December. Better late than never!

I honestly can't remember where I found the inspiration picture for the peppermint candy tree - it was probably from I Heart Naptime - I hate not giving credit but I really can't find the source!

This tree is pretty easy to make, as long as you are not as OCD with crafting as I am ;) I am a bit of a perfectionist so I made the tree, decided I wasn't happy with it and then re-did it...but you can probably make a very nice tree on the first try!

Here are the materials you will need:
- A styrofoam cone from the Dollar Tree - $1
- A styrofoam circular base from the Dollar Tree - $1

- Lots of peppermint swirls! About 2 bags worth from the Dollar Tree - $2

- Ribbon that's about an inch wide (to cover the edge of the circular base) - I bought my ribbon from JoAnn's - $2
- A star sprig from the craft store (bought mine at JoAnn's for about $0.60)

- Red spraypaint - I bought some cheap stuff at Walmart - $2

- Hot glue guns and sticks

Total for materials...about $9 assuming you already have a hot glue gun and glue sticks

And here's what you need to do to make the tree:
1) First spraypaint the cone and circular base completely. Let dry and do a second coat if needed.
2) After the circular base is dry, cut a piece of ribbon so that it goes around the edge of the circular base. Glue the ribbon to the edge of the base and cut off any unnecessary ribbon.
3) Glue the bottom of the cone to one side of the circular base and place in the middle of the base so it's centered.
3) Start gluing peppermint swirls at the bottom of the cone layer by layer. Try to place them as close to one another as possible.
4) As you continue to glue the swirls and move up the cone, you may not have enough space to do a complete row of swirls and then have leftover space. I would try to smash a swirl in half to stick in the open space. The other option is to just leave the space blank and try to line up the open spaces in the back.
5) Towards the top you will only have enough room for a layer of 3 or 4 swirls. I tried to stagger them so they covered the point of the cone.
6) Glue a layer of swirls on top of the circular base surrounding the cone.
7) Finish the tree by sticking the star swag into the top of cone (carefully poke it in so the cone doesn't break).
8) You're done! Now it's time to figure out where to put your tree :)


What I had changed from my first try to my second try:
- I wasn't completely happy with my first tree because of some of the open spaces when there wasn't enough room to put another swirl. I learned the second time to line up the open spaces in the back because no one can see them when you position the tree correctly. If you are planning to put the tree in a spot where you can see it from all angles, this may not work for you.
- I did not spraypaint my first attempt - so when I finished, I wasn't happy with all the white space between some of the swirls. Spraypainting the cone and base red helped to make the spaces less noticable.

Pretty easy project - took about 90 minutes total including drying time. And it also smells good if you get close enough to it!