I Spy

One of Caleb's favorite things to do is read this "I Spy" book that we have. He is quite good at picking out everything in the book. So I thought I would make up my own. Here is one for you:



See if you can find:
2 snowmen
4 blue ornaments
6 bows
2 white ornaments
1 clear ornament
1 snowflake
1 white hanger

Interesting choice of decor to use a white hanger, huh? The other night, I was sitting in the living room with a big project spread out all over the floor and for some reason this big hanger that magically made it onto our tree (right in the middle and front, mind you!) caught my eye. I just started laughing. I have no idea how long it has been there. But I do know that this particular hanger was in our trash can a couple weeks ago, but it somehow made its way to our tree. When Chris got home, I asked him if he had noticed the hanger on the tree recently and he had not. We both had a good laugh about it.

So if you've been to our house in the last couple weeks and noticed a hanger on our tree, you are apparently more observant than we are. I'm guessing it's been there for quite awhile.

I do think, however, that "whoever's" little hands thought to add this hanger to our tree has quite the imagination and is quite the decorator with good taste because at least it was a white hanger and matched the decor of our tree. We may start a new tradition and have a hanger on the tree every year. I think it adds a nice touch.

185 Reasons To Slow Down

Chris received quite the Christmas present today! On his way to a church meeting, a nice policeman pulled him over right outside our neighborhood and gave him a nice $185 ticket for going 12 miles an hour over the speed limit. Thank you Mr. Policeman! And Merry Christmas to you, too! :)

I told Chris he should have told the policeman, "Well, you can give me that ticket, but I'm going to have to take the money out of the amount I was going to donate to The Salvation Army. I hope you feel good about your decision." Hindsight is 20/20.

My only beef with the ticket is that it was at the bottom of a hill and you actually have to brake the whole way down the hill to be even close to the speed limit. I know because I tried it soon after on my way to a concert and waved to the nice policeman that was there waiting for his next victim. Good thing Chris called me and told me or we probably would have had 370 reasons to slow down. :)

This was an expensive week as we also had some surprise repairs on the car too! But...it's all good. We just figure we're donating to our local law enforcement and to the local economy through our local auto shop and that just makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Or something.

Bottom line...if you are coming to visit us...please slow down unless you want to meet Chris's new friend. If you see him parked on the street near the old folk's home, waive "hi" from us!

Getting Ready For Christmas

We LOVE Christmas at our house and have been busily trying to get ready for it!

The day after Thanksgiving we started pulling out all our decorations. We picked two bad days to put up the lights outside though. The first day it was FREEZING! We were all bundled up but still cold!



As a side note...Caleb really likes the hat and mittens we bought him for Utah. He refuses to ever wear a coat or jacket without a fight, but likes to wear his hat and mittens 24/7. People look at me funny when we go places like, "Um, lady? You know it's 80 degrees outside and you have your kid in a winter hat and mittens?" But I say he looks cute in them, so who cares?! Whatever makes him happy! :)



The next time we tried to put up lights, it was warm again, but pouring down rain. Can you tell how much fun Caleb had though? The boy was soaked! So we decided just to do the lower part of the house this year and try putting up the second story lights another year. Here Caleb and Chris are consulting one another on the best way to put them up:



And here, Chris was trying to show Caleb how to do cheesy sarcastic smiles. Maybe they want to be like Uncle Kip who will never really smile for the camera--he only gives his sarcastic cheesy smiles. :)




Here Caleb is helping Chris put up the tree:



Then he helped us put all the ornaments on. He would carefully put one on like this:



And then he would clap for himself:


It was hilarious because he liked to put everything in one spot at the bottom of the tree like this:





But Caleb has done really well again this year with not touching the tree after it was decorated. He loves the choo choo train that goes around the tree and is VERY careful with it. He can turn it on and off by himself and then lays on the floor and says hi to everyone as they pass by on the train. Too cute!



Caleb also LOVES the lights! Everytime he sees some he squeals "Lights!" and then says, "More, more! More lights?" It's so much fun to go anywhere with him becuase he can spot lights anywhere! We love to drive around in the evening to look at lights! And of course, we can't leave the house without the hat, mittens, bus, and airplane. He likes them piled up like this, even though I don't think he can even play with them like this:



Our house is themed with snowmen which is convenient because Caleb LOVES snowmen too. He squeals, "Snowman! Mom, more, more?" He has a good eye for them...sometimes he will squeal snowman and I think, "No, silly Caleb...I don't see a snowman." And the next thing I know, we pass the one he was trying to point out! Here is Caleb hugging one of his favorite snowmen:





He also likes to wear my snowman candy bowl on his head:



And this is the snowman Caleb likes to sing and dance with:



Caleb got to recently sit on the lap of Santa for the first time this year. We went to see the middle school perform some Christmas songs since Bradley and Daniel were playing. There was also a really cute elementary school choir that sang. They had Santa there too. Caleb did well sitting on his lap and loved that Santa even gave him some candy when he was done. I tried to prompt him to ask Santa for a choo choo since I have a hunch that is what Santa is bringing him this year.... :)



We've also started some of our holiday baking...and of course Caleb loves to help with this too. The other day I got out the Kitchen Aid and put all the ingredients in the bowl and then plugged it in. I didn't realize that somehow the power switch was turned to high. Powdered sugar went flying EVERYWHERE! (See my last post for how I cleaned it up. :) Caleb's face and hands were covered in it--along with the countertop and the floor. He looked at me like I was crazy, and said, "Uh-oh! No, no mom!" I started cracking up. He is usually a bit OCD about having his hands and clothes dirty, but he soon realized that it was fun and had some good playtime with powdered sugar. If you look close, you can see it all over his face. Oops! My bad!

Must Haves

Ok, this is a totally random post. But I've REALLY been appreciating some random modern cleaning inventions lately. Here is a list of must haves. And a shout out to my sisters-in-law Brandy and Christy who introduced me to most of these!

First there are scrubbing bubbles.

Not only are they awesome bathroom cleaners, they are also good carpet stain removers. When we bought our condo in Logan, UT there was this big black stain in one of the rooms. We tried every kind of carpet stain remover but couldn't get it out. My sister-in-law happen to be visiting and said to try Scrubbing Bubbles. Totally worked! Now we use them all the time!


Next on my list is the Swiffer Sweeper Vac.

I don't know why, but sweeping is not one of my favorite things to do. But this little machine is a vacuum and sweeper thing all in one. It works awesome for a quick kitchen clean up. Like when dry cereal or crumbs for example are dumped all over the kitchen floor from a high chair. Totally hypothetical situation, of course! But it sweeps and vacuums them right up! And, as an added perk, Caleb really likes to "play" with it, so our floor gets cleaned a lot! :)


Then there is the Swiffer mop.

The mop solution stuff is always ready to go and can just be sprayed onto the floor by the touch of one fun button. When Chris and I first got it, we would battle over who got to mop because it is just fun to use! Not necessarily good for deep cleaning, but great for spot cleaning or a quick once over--like when a bunch of milk is spilled on the floor from a midnight game of kitchen basketball. Again...totally hypothetical situation. Wouldn't happen at our house!


Lastly is the Little Green Machine.

It's like a mini steam cleaner vacuum thing. Somebody pees on your floor? Or pukes in your bedroom? (Not that that ever happens at our house!) No problem! The Little Green Machine can be stored with the water and solution ready to go. And you don't have to touch the mess with your hands or get out the big steam cleaner thing.

Ok, that is enough randomness. But if you have any other great modern inventions that make cleaning so much easier--please share! We're always looking for good stuff!