Holiday Lights - Reindeer Win!

So last weekend, we decided to take the boys out on a car ride to look at all of the holiday lights in our neighborhood. I kept thinking of ways to keep this interesting as I knew about two houses in, Andrew would designate the activity was "BOR-ing!". Everyone put on their jammies and piled in the car. We took a pad of paper and a pen with us so we could tally up the items we spied along the way. The boys started by listing the common items they thought they would see...reindeer, Santa, snowmen. As we drove around the neighborhood, the boys were calling out their findings faster than I could tally....reindeer, reindeer, Santa, reindeer, snowman! After 49 reindeer, I realized I was spending more time writing than soaking up the spirit of the season. As I expected...."Mom, this is BOR-ing"! Here is our final list of items and tally....the reindeer are taking over the neighborhood!!!

Reindeer - 49
Snowman - 32
Santa - 11
Penguins - 7
Elves and Trains - tied at 5 each
Polar Bears - 4
Big blow up Grinches - 2

Carriage Ride in Annapolis

What a beautiful night for a carriage ride! We tried to do this last weekend, but it rained all day Sunday so they canceled our trip. It was around 40 degrees tonight and with warm blankets over us, we had a great ride around Ego Alley, the State House, Church Circle, and Main Street in Annapolis. Andrew was complaining before we left that it was going to be boring. After he met "Lexi" the horse and found out she eats hay, carrots, apples, and peppermints, it wasn't so boring after all.

Andrew has turned to the Dark Side!

This may not translate as well on video, but Andrew loves his new Darth Vader Voice Changer mask and the Speed slippers pull the outfit together. We came home from dinner tonight and I went running into the family room to find him sitting on the sofa wearing the mask watching TV, not what I expected! Enjoy!!!

Christmas Cookies

Here are a few shots of us making Christmas cookies this past weekend. The boys had a great time as usual, missed Grandma Doris who was here with us last year for this activity!

Favorite Christmas Ornament

Merry Christmas all!


I know you were all tired of looking at the Halloween photos over and over again. So, tonight I have created three new posts. I couldn't go to bed tonight without wishing you all a Merry Christmas and sharing my favorite ornament with you.


Matthew made this at school and he was very proud of his gift when he gave it to us this morning. He had it wrapped up in a brown paper bag that he had decorated himself. It is just terrific...too bad it's not a bobble-head! We love you Matthew!

Sugar cookies shaped like trees with green sprinkles

We took the boys to the mall in Annapolis a couple of weekends ago on a Saturday night. The center section of the mall was completely overhauled and the Santa set up was really nice. We only had to wait in line about 20 minutes. The boys sat on Santa's lap and we had the obligatory photo taken. Santa was really terrific with the kids and completely looked the part.


All was well until Matthew started to walk away. Then he realized he didn't get Santa's cookie order. Matthew turned back to Santa and asked him what kind of cookies he liked. Santa replied "Well, what is your favorite kind of cookie?" Matthew answered, "sugar cookies". Santa agreed but went on to add that he preferred his sugar cookies shaped like Christmas Trees with green sprinkles on top. Good Grief! Can I get you a glass of organic chocolate milk to go with your cookies?


So we spent the weekend before Christmas making sugar cookies, some of which were shaped like Christmas trees with green sprinkles (see future post).

Matthew's 2nd presentation (12/13/07)

Matthew's second oral presentation this year involved him picking a "community worker", finding an age appropriate book, creating his presentation and either dressing as the worker or bringing some of the tools they use to complete their job.


Originally, Matthew was very serious about being an children's book illustrator when he grows up and thought that would be a good topic for his presentation. We had a bit of trouble tying it in as a "community worker" and then we had trouble finding a book. Matthew decided that a good alternative would be a mail carrier.



Matthew did a great job reading his book and creating his presentation with a little help from Dad. We decided to make a mail truck from a cardboard box and multiple colors of duct tape. Then we made a sample envelope and he also took his book with him. He is very fond of his mail truck, he did all of the lettering by hand.