Birthday Treats

I found the idea for these cookies online and thought that they would be cute for Carter's birthday treats for school yesterday. They aren't perfect, but I have to say I am pretty proud of how they turned out considering I am not at all crafty.

This is what they were supposed to look like:

I did ok, considering I had to improvise with some of the candies.

Anyways, they were a hit with Carter and his little classmates, so score one for Mom!

Gingerbread Men

My good friend Jessica just happened to post her recipe for gingerbread men just as I had been thinking of making some. I took it as a sign that it was meant to be and here are the results:

I have to say that they turned out pretty great for my first try. Carter had fun with them.

As for catch up, it's been a busy month! Thanksgiving was awesome. The food was delicious and we were able to get Mike's mom here for a few days, which I know made her happy. My favorite sister, Amber, came out for the week, and even though we didn't get out to do anything amazing, it was so much fun having her here. The kids absolutely adore her and they were both sad to see her leave. We are still trying to convince her to move out here.

Since then, I have just been trying to get my house cleaned up and get ready for Christmas. Mike had the idea to paint the basement and make a toy room down there for the kids' Christmas. For those of you who haven't seen our basement, this is what we are up against:

Except now we have all of our storage down there as well. Needless to say, it's been a project (all of those shelves are built in and had to be broken down), but it is coming along nicely. I knocked the strange room pictured here out a while ago, so that has helped (anyone who really knows me shouldn't be surprised to find out that demolition is my favorite part of any project). Really all we have left to do is paint the floor, get some carpet down and move the toys in. I really want to frame it off, so the utilities are in a separate room. but for now, I am just going to have to come up with some cute partition ideas. Anyways, nothing exciting, just life!

Like a Virgin

An eyebrow virgin that is. I got my eyebrows threaded yesterday for the first time and it was amazing! I can't believe that I have never had my eyebrows done before. They are nice and evenly shaped, no strays. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. You will never go back, I promise.

Yes, I know I have been absent from the blogging world forever and I will catch up later. Although you would think that I have a lot of spare time now that I don't have to worry about my eyebrows, somehow it hasn't worked out that way.

Bummer

Yes, my car seat order was cancelled. Target sent me an email stating that the price was wrong, but if I wanted to order it for $247 I still could. Whatever. What I find funny about the whole situation is how upset some people are getting about this. I am disappointed, but I will deal with it and move on. There are people calling their local news, boycotting Target and setting up groups to barrage them with emails. So funny.

Puppy Love

Carter picked out Homeward Bound for our movie last weekend and ever since then, I have seriously wanted a golden retriever. I know it's strange and out of the blue and yes, I do have 2 cats (I am secretly hoping it would eat them - kidding! Kind of). Anyways, I have always thought that little boys should have dogs. And, Carter is super cute with dogs that he knows. I have been looking at the GR rescue sites - there are 2 in Wisconsin! Who knew there were so many dogs to be rescued? Anyways, how can you not love this face? I would get an older one so I wouldn't have to deal with all the puppy energy and training. I know they require work, but it would be fun, right? It's all I can do to not fill out the application right now. But I won't, I think my plate is full enough. Someday soon, though...

Update

Thank you to everyone who has been asking about Mike's mom. We really appreciate your concern. At this time, she has decided to do hospice care. Which means that she has gone off her meds and could go at any time. Whether that is a week or a month we don't know. The hardest part right now is that she wants to come home to die. I have some serious concerns with Carter witnessing (even indirectly) the process. That, along with some other issues make it difficult for us to agree to that. For right now, she will be staying in the nursing home. We are exploring the possibility of her coming home for Thanksgiving day. Things change everyday, so who knows. Anyways, we appreciate your concern and will let you know if there are any changes.

Party Animal

I just have to say that although we struggle a lot with Carter (he inherited more of my traits than I would have liked), he is such a joy. We were at my good friend Jessica's birthday party tonight and he was just the life of the party! He absolutely loves these get-togethers. He talks to all the adults, entertains us and then hugs everyone as we leave. Tonight as we left, he said "well that was sure a nice party!" He is such a ham at these things. He was so disappointed last week when he couldn't come to Karen's baby shower. I honestly think that he would have more fun if we invited all of our adult friends over for his birthday next month than if we had a party with his friends. He totally cracks me up. He says the most mature things at times, and I just have to do a double take to make sure that it was really him that said it. Like tonight he was telling Jessica good job for something and it was like he was almost talking down to her. "Good job Jessica, you did that really well!" or something like that. He definitely keeps us on our toes!