Stuffable Stockings

Disclaimer #1:  I know it's the first week of November, and this will be the second time I've mentioned Christmas in that time.  But since I've spent a lot of time debating the right stocking choice I really thought you should know about it.  Besides, it's my blog and I can write about whatever I want, right?  : )

Disclaimer #2:  This is a really long post.  I completely understand if you decide not to stick around to the end.  I won't hold it against you.  Just be sure to come back tomorrow.

OK, so now that that's clear, I have been debating new stockings for a couple of years now.  Well, I guess since Brennan's first Christmas when it became clear that the stocking we had were not at all acceptable.


Here's the best picture I could find of our old stockings.  (Yeah, you see how Elmo is kind of hemorrhaging out the top there.  And the other stuff on the table had no hope of fitting in there at all.)

Were they pretty?  Yes. 
Were they able to hold more than a couple of candy canes and a few pairs of underwear?  No. 

Wondering about the underwear?  St. Nick brings us all new underwear every year.  He found that in order to get said underwear in our old stockings he had to take them out of the package.  Now imagine sitting around unpacking your stocking full of goodies, and having stray pairs of underwear tossed out everywhere.  Makes for interesting holiday photos, don't you think?

It also leads to things like this happening.



Yep, definitely time for new stockings.

So in the time I've had to pick new stockings, I narrowed the criteria down to something that would last forever, something that looked hand-crafted, and I wanted them each personalized.  When we were growing up Mom had the cutest stockings for each of us.  I love the memories I have of those stockings, and I want to create the same memories for Brennan.  With all that in mind, I finally decided that the Pottery Barn Kids line of stockings was perfect.


Photo from Pottery Barn Kids

Adorable, Right?  So now I had to decide which adorable stocking to get for each person.  Something that I thought was going to be easy, turned into a morning long debate with myself.  These are lifetime memories we're making here people! 

I even enlisted Brennan's help, which went something like this.

Me:  "Brennan, look at these pictures.  Which one is your favorite?"

Brennan:  Fav-a-fav-a-reet?  MORE!!  (As in let's look at more pictures.)

Me:  "Do you like the train?"

Brennan:  "Like train.  Choo-choo-whoo-whoo!"

Me:  "Do you like the puppy?

Brennan: "Like puppy.  Woof woof!  Nanny and Poo-paw, a-compuk-a-puter?  Puppy, too?"  (He was asking to Skype with Nana and Papaw and their dog, Dolcha, on the computer.)

Obviously, Brennan was no help picking out his own stocking.

The pondering continued, and I kept coming back to this thought.  What if we have another baby?  I would of course want their stocking to match the rest of ours.  (You had no idea the stocking debate was going to get this deep!)  There was no way I was going to buy extra stockings for a hypothetical kid as I read some of the people that wrote the reviews did, sooo....after folding up some laundry and vacuuming the floor I decided to Google "Pottery Barn Kids Stocking 2009," just to see how different the designs are every year.

And I found that the designs are similiar enough that it would be no big deal.  And as a bonus,  I found that my very favorite thrifty place, eBay, had listings for PBK stockings. Oh yeah!  You know I jumped right onto eBay and did a stocking search! 

I hit the jackpot! 

Though now I was hit with the dilemma of the personalization.  Was it cheaper to buy from PBK and have them do the personalization or was it cheaper to buy on eBay and go have the personalization done in town.  Was trying to find a good place in town worth the hassle?  But then the light bulb went off as I was looking at an ice skater stocking with the name Jenny across the top and thinking who would want a stocking with the name Jenny already on it?  Well duh, a Jenny, of course.  So I added my name to my search, and tada, a reindeer and a ballerina stocking came up.  Yes! 


Photo from Pottery Barn Kids
I chose the reindeer.  Even with shipping I was saving $10, so yeah, that was coming to my house.  Next I tried Jason's name.  A nutcracker, a snowman, and a train!  Yeah baby!  It was like I was playing slots at the casino, except I was winning!! 


Photo from Pottery Barn Kids

I decided on the snowman for Jason.  I saved $5 on that one.  Now on to Brennan.  I didn't think his name would be as easy to find as the 70's kid's, but I kept my fingers crossed.  Nope.  No Brennan.  But that's ok.  I took the $15 I saved and went on over to Pottery Barn Kids and bought him...


Photo from Pottery Barn Kids

...the train!  I'm sure he will love it!  I kind of thought the "choo-choo-whoo-whoo" from earlier might have meant that one was his fav-a-fav-a-reet.

You would think that would be the end of it right?  I'd get the stockings in the mail, and then you would see a pretty picture of them hanging on the mantle come December.  I wish.

So when Jason gets home from work, I told him of my exciting shopping adventure.  He says, "You got me a snowman? I'll have to see it."  In my mind I am screaming, "Oh no, you've got to be kidding me," (or maybe I actually said that out loud.)  After a discussion of iconic Christmas figures, and the non-returnability of my purchase my thrifty shopping skills, it was concluded that Jason would be alright with the snowman, but he'd much rather have the Santa. 

Well, OK, if you say it like that. 

Of course, I ordered him the Santa stocking.  There's no way I was going to have him keep the snowman.  Every time I looked at it I would feel like the Grinch.  As soon as it comes in, that baby will be relisted on eBay.  I'm sure there is a Jason out there that really wants a snowman stocking.

So again, you would think that would be the end of it, right? 

Nope, not a chance. 

So morning comes around and I have an email with the title "Your paypal payment has been refunded."  My first thought was, "Yes, they couldn't find that stinkin' snowman!"  But, my hopes were quickly dashed.  The email actually said this:

"Message from merchant: Hi, I am so sorry, but I just can not find the Heather stocking. I just don't know what happened to it! I am giving you a full refund. again sorry."

Really? 
Really? 
How difficult should buying three Christmas stocking be?  So off to the Pottery Barn Kids website I go again.  (I should really get a frequent shopper discount.) 

So you would like after looking at the pictures approximately 7,287 times, plus already having purchased a reindeer from eBay, that my choice would be easy. Just get the reindeer, right? Nope. After the fiasco, I decided that me and that reindeer stocking just weren't meant to be.


Instead, I got a snowman. Yep, me and Frosty, and that's my final answer.

I hope.

Naptime Adventures

Brennan used to be the best napper.  You could lay him down and you wouldn't hear a peep out of him for almost 3 hours.  Now?  Not so much.

In my opinion, he still needs to take a little nap in the afternoon or he becomes Mr. Grumperton before supper.  And sometimes he still does.  But most of the time here lately, his opinion is naptime = party time.

Brennan's not just any kind of partier.  Nope, he's a steathy partier.  I can be downstairs not hearing any sounds from upstairs thinking, "Yay, he's taking a real nap today!"  All the while he's making his room look like a huge bomb went off.  (I think a bomb might be a neater option.)

Tuesday when I went upstairs to check on him after only a half an hour, it already looked like a crime scene.  When I opened the door he was holding a wooden letter A from his name plaques that were hanging on the wall, and he says, "Letter A. A... A... A....  A...B...C...D...E."  At least he's practicing his ABC's while he's being Mr. Destructo.  On this occasion he also decided to discover how the inner workings of the Diaper Genie operate.  Of course I had just put a new refill in and he had the bag stretched out all over the room.

I tried to put it back together....


.Did you ever wonder how they get all that plastic inside the ring?  Me neither until now. 

All I could come up with is it must really take a genie.

I completely understand the name now.

Halloween Recap

I know, it's already Tuesday.  I had priorities though, I used my internet time yesterday to do some more Christmas shopping.  Not to brag or anything, but Christmas shopping that I am almost done with!!! Yay!  I knew you would understand.

Let's see, my birthday was pretty good.  We weren't able to do anything too special this year since Jason's so busy at work.  (After this week it should get better, poor guy.)  So most of my day was spent with Brennan just like any other, except he went around saying "Happy Appy," his version of happy birthday. : ) 

It was rainy and cold most of the weekend, so we really didn't get to do everything we hoped.  There was a Halloween Carnival at the Golf Course Friday night, but we skipped it.  The call to stay inside warm and dry was too great.

Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood was scheduled for Saturday night.  It was still raining, but we braved the elements.  (The call of the candy was just too great this time.)

Before we left the house I whipped up some spooky goodies.


Some Mummy Dogs.  How cute are they!  The effect was lost on Brennan, as he just peeled all the bandages off to eat the dog.


And some Monster Mac & Cheese.  Yummy!


Here's Brennan in his costume.  He was Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba.


A Halloween Rainbow.


Nothing like trick-or-treating with an umbrella.


The boys collecting some more loot.

We lasted over an hour before Brennan went into meltdown mode.  When we got back to the house, the candy basket we left on the porch was still half full.  Nobody felt like passing out candy, so we just left it out there and closed the door, ha!

Sunday we took down all the Halloween decorations, and threw away the stinky, slimy pumpkins.  Next year we will definitely wait a week or so before carving pumpkins.  By Halloween all three of them looked like shrivelled up old men who forgot to put their dentures in.  Not the look I was going for.  Oh, and a note to self for future reference.  Fake spiderwebs are much harder to remove than real ones, so winding them mutiple times around the trees...not a good thing.

So long October! 

Whee!

Last week we went on Brennan's first school field trip.  (Nice, huh, he's in school two weeks and it's field trip time already.)  We went to a local pumpkin patch.  Brennan was kind of over the whole pumpkin field thing, but they did have a huge farmer's market, a petting zoo, and an awesome play area.


Brennan loves slides!  This one was huge, but he had no fear going down.  I love his little feet in the air.

We also got to see a pig race.  Let's just say if you've seen one pig race, you've seen enough.


The pigs were running for animal crackers.  No wonder they weren't in any hurry.  Maybe some Oreos would have been better?


After that we just stuck to the slides.  The tunnel was Brennan's favorite.


That evening he was out like a light.

I think he had a good day.
 

Halloween at Our House

I just realized that I never shared the pictures I took of all our Halloween decorations!  I thought I better get on that today before it's too late.  (The wheels are already spinning on Thanksgiving decor. : ) )

As a prelude to Halloween decor, I would like to take a moment to talk about Halloween candy.  As in "Why in the heck did we buy it and open it this soon before Oct. 31!!  There's not going to be any left by the time the trick-or-treaters get here!!"  Yep, I made that mistake.  And of course, I just had to buy candy we like, so it's constantly calling out to be devoured.  Mmmm...Milk Duds, and Reese's Cups, and Almond Joys.

This also happens.


You didn't think Jason and I hog all the candy, do you?  We share with the little man, too.  Sometimes. 

Alrighty, enough about the sweets, now on to the decorations.

I mentioned earlier in the month that I made some new Halloween decorations this year. 

Here's the grand unveiling:


Ta Da!!  It's a Halloween tree for the dining room table.  I just painted a terracotta pot, added some branches from the yard, and spray painted the lot with some black paint.  I found the vintage Halloween postcards on the internet, and resized and printed those on the printer.  Add some moss and some spooky skeletons from the Dollar Tree, and you have a Halloween tree. 


More goodies on the mantel.  I made the trick or treat banner, again just some card stock and ribbon.  More moss and skeleton heads, and a crow from the Dollar Tree.  The cat and the bats are just construction paper.  And some pumpkins, gotta have them.  Super cheap and easy.


Fall Leaves.  When I first put the decorations up, I had leaves EVERYWHERE.  It was way too much, so I had to take some away.


More pumpkins.  And it wouldn't be fall without some good smellin' Pumpkin Pie candles.


The chalkboard in our kitchen.  Jason wrote the message.  Isn't he the sweetest? : )  And yes, my cell phone and sunglasses "belong" on the shelf.  It's high enough that little hands can't get to them, and small enough that nobody else can fill it up with their stuff.  The perfect mommy shelf.


The cabinet in our foyer.  More pumpkins, leaves, and a big pine cone we picked up this summer in California.


The front door.  I love my moss wreath!  Every season I just put something new in the center, and it works perfectly.  This is my old faithful Halloween cat.  I think I've had him for almost 15 years.  This year he got a makeover.  Some glue, some paint, and some sealer and he's like brand new again.


The mirror in the foyer.  More of my Halloween postcards, some more skeletons, and some indian corn.  The John Deere hat isn't part of the decor, but, it, or one of it's cousins are usually hanging there when they're not on their owner's head.  Just keepin' it real. : )


I don't have a good picture of the outside of the house because it's been raining, but we put up spider webs, and the scarecrow and the jack-o-lanterns are out there.  Jason told me he wants to put up a graveyard, but I think we'll have to save that project for next year.


Brennan's decorations.  We love the Dollar Spot at Target.  I got two packs of gummy clings and the little man has had the best time moving them around.  (And ripping arms and wings off by the look of it.)


More of Brennan's decorations.  We have a pumpkin patch in the kitchen!

We'll that about covers it.  Nothing too scary, but you can definitely tell it's Halloween time.



Besides, I have these guys, and they're all the scary I need.

Just a Drowned Worms Kind of Weekend

I would love to say we did something really exciting this weekend...

but we didn't. 

It rained and was cold and was gearing up to snow all weekend.  Snow?  Yes, really.  The forecast says it will be snowing early this week.  I was hoping it would wait until at least after Halloween.  We were going to go up the canyon on Sunday to take a family picture, but the weather kept us at home.

Sooo, we had a good old, long overdue, plain old, weekend at home. 

We watched a few movies, read Brennan his whole library of books, and just vegged out on the couch.  Jason caught up on some sleep, watched football, baseball, and cleaned out the garage and laundry room.  Brennan constantly reminded us he didn't much like this staying at home stuff, and kept requesting that we "ride in Daddy's truck," and to go "back outside."  I did get the umbrella out and take him for a walk in the drizzly rain Saturday afternoon.  After our walk around the neighborhood, he has a new found fascination in umbrellas, and also in the worms that drown themselves in rain puddles.  Ewww.

I did some fun stuff like laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, and scrubbing down the kitchen, but since that didn't take very long, I ending up browsing for recipes on the internet, and then, of course, I had to cook up my finds.  I ended up making beer bread and beef stew on Saturday.  On Sunday, I made whole wheat blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  I made a double batch, so I would have some to freeze.  I was so glad I did because they were really good.  For supper we had liver and onions.  That was mom's recipe though, I don't think I could find one as good as her's on the internet.

Boring post, huh? 

I try. 

On a funnier, cuter topic, Brennan's newest thing is "honking" the door bell every time he comes through the front door.  Honk, honk!

Well, I'm off to see what we can get into today.  Have a great day!

What a Difference a Year Can Make

It's hard to believe we've lived in Utah a year now.


This was Brennan last year right after we moved into our house.


And here he is now.

Where does the time go?

Carving Pumpkins

After our trip to the farm on Saturday, we had to come home and carve up our finds.  We'll we actually only carved up one of them, because carving pumpkins with a two-year-old can take awhile.  I carved up the rest of them (mostly) by myself Monday morning during Sesame Street. 


I got one of those kiddie carving sets at the Dollar Tree.  If anything, Brennan enjoyed wielding the carver like a scepter.  This set of pictures also made me reconsider growing out my bangs (again).  I actually cut them Sunday morning, but I don't have a picture of them because that would have meant me fixing my hair today.


It fits!


Daddy gets in on the action.


After our day at the farm I was feeling all Pioneer Woman-ish, so I saved all the seeds with the intention of roasting them.  I didn't realize what a pain it is to separate the seeds from the goop.  We'll see if the effort was worth it.


Brennan didn't know what to think about the pumpkin goop.


He thought he'd check out to see how tasty the top is.  (Or the "hat," as he calls it.)


I thought he needed a closer look at the pumpkin goop.


I don't think he thought that was such a good idea. : )


OK, maybe that wasn't quite so bad.


"Smile for Daddy!"  By this time Jason thought this project was taking forever and was going back and forth from the living room to the kitchen.  Hmmm, football or hour long pumpkin carving.  See the dilemma?


Brennan looks like he's ready to retreat with Daddy.


Wow!  The pumpkin got much more interesting when we started on the face.


Finally done and by the front door.


I think he was happy with the finished product.

The only bad part (besides pumpkin goop all over the kitchen)?  Brennan liked him so much he didn't want to leave him outside.  We had a big display of tears when it was time to go in.

If Brennan had his way, Mr. Pumpkin head would be sleeping in his bed next to him.

Ewww.