A Cocoa Daisy Layout--His Will is Strong

The pictures I hurriedly snapped this past rainy Monday (see this post), reminded me of a layout I had yet to post.

I am still amazed it rained on the first day of school. The rain plus the fact I was dropping all three boys off at three different schools made taking beginning of the year pictures difficult to take. To save time I decided to just use my phone to snap a couple before the boys got in the car.

Carter picked up Jude who was running around in the carport. Jude LOVES "side" as he call the outside. Anytime we go outside he is determined to get down and take off. So this time when Carter picked him up so I could get a shot of all three of them, Jude was not a happy camper. In both pictures he is wiggling, squirming, and protesting in an effort to get down.

His squirmy protests reminded me of a few months ago when the same thing happened on the last day of school. On that particular occasion, I was lucky enough to capture a few good shots with my big Canon camera. But then I tried to get a few pictures with my phone to share on Instagram and Facebook. The layout below shows the resulting chaos.

For this layout I used the May 2014 "Here I Am" Cocoa Daisy Kit . I also chose the title after considering Ronda Palazzari's One Little Word for May 2014 "Will".

This layout makes me laugh and is such a great snapshot of Jude at this age and how his brother's react to his new need for freedom. Jude loves to outwit the big boys and to wiggle and whine just enough to get his way with them. The big boys, as you can tell, find this behavior quite frustrating.

Oh how these boys keep me on my toes! Luckily, I usually have my phone close by to capture our everyday crazy.

Back to School

Towards the end of July the five of us begin to get tired of one another. By the time the middle of August arrives we are crazy tired of being together. Since Jess and I both teach, we spend all summer at home with the boys, which gives us so much time to make memories, but eventually the summer gets long and we are all ready to head into a more structured schedule.


 I am always amazed at how much my boys grow and change over the summer break. All three of them grew taller and after Carter's physical (he is going to play football for the first time) I realized he had also put on almost 7 pounds. No wonder my grocery bill has been going up! We have entered the "They will eat anything that doesn't eat them first" stage of boy raising.. Fabulous.


 Each year I take a beginning of the year shot of the boys and a last day of the year shot of them. It is always fun to look at the two most current photos and see how much they have changed. In this case the end of the 2013-2014 school year in May (daycare, 2nd, and 4th grades) compared to the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year this past Monday, August 18th (daycare, 3rd and 5th grades).

The first picture was taken on the last day of school and the second picture was taken Monday as we all headed back to school.

This year it rained on the first day of school, in August.. Weird. I can't remember a time when it has rained in all my years of attending or teaching school. So this years annual back to school photo was taken in the carport instead of by the dogwood tree in the front yard.

Taking these type of photos are a reminder of how quickly time passes. On one hand I want the school year to pass quickly so I can have a summer to spend with the boys. But on the other hand I hate feeling like I am wishing my days away. I treasure each and every moment with these three and the idea of them growing up and driving, having girlfriends, and then moving out and leaving makes me sad right now. It all seems to go by so fast.

It really is hard being a Mama with her heart walking around outside her body in these three.

Not a Wordless Wednesday

They say every summer has a story. Five weeks into our summer & this is our story...

Two baseball playing all-stars. One on a 7-8 Little League Pitching Machine team, the other on a 9-10 Little League Minor League (live arm) team. We have played in the morning, afternoon, & night (still playing at midnight...3 TIMES!). We have played in the blazing sun, the pouring rain, & wrapped up in blankets & jackets. All within the past five weeks. 

 Little brother has been happy to go along as there have been toys, snacks, his tennis ball & glove, and did I mention snacks? He has been up early, missed naps, been up past bedtime, & has done it all remarkably well.

The big boys have loved every minute of playing and still aren't done. There is one more State tournament to go.

I love watching my boys make memories, make friends, and become better ballplayers. I love watching little brother watch and imitate his big brothers & want to be out there in the middle of it all.

These are the moments I live for. The moments when my boys show me who they are & what they love.

I love them and the things they are passionate for. I'd follow them and their dreams to the ends of the Earth.

This is what we do

Over the weekend I snapped this picture of Jude watching his brother play baseball. This photo reminded me of another picture I had taken in May 2007 of Ethan watching his cousin, Brittany, play  t-ball.These two photos say so much about our family and who we are.

Jude- July 2014

Ethan- May 2007

I knew when I married a coach that I would have children who participated in sports, which was fine with me. I grew up a ballet dancer and a band member & completely lacked an interest in sports and more importantly, lacked athletic ability.:) My younger brother on the other hand was blessed with athletic ability and as he grew up I sat through many a baseball game. I loved watching him play and especially enjoyed summer ball when my dad coached him.

Fast forward to today with our three boys. We spend a great deal of time at ballgames. Basketball in the fall and spring and lots of baseball in the summer. I love that this is who we are. We show up to almost all of Jess' high school games, during the school year,  to cheer on Daddy and his players, then on Saturday's we are there to cheer on Carter and Ethan as they play basketball. During baseball season we are at all the boys games encouraging them.

There are so many great things about being a sports family, but the absolute best part of it is that we are all there together making memories and cheering each other on. I know as adults my boys will look back on these years and the biggest memory I want them to have is that their family was there supporting them and loving every minute of getting to watch them play.

This is what we do & who we are. Love my sweet family!

Adventure

The layout I am sharing today was made using the October 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit“Sweater Weather”. 

I started out with the April Sketch seen here and it kind of took off from there. I love sketches; they just make scrapping easier for me, because I don’t have to think about the design. Instead I get to focus more on the story I want to tell and the pictures I want to include. Cocoa Daisy puts out great sketches each month for their sketch challenge  and I also print off the monthly Page Maps sketches and keep those in a binder that it always close at hand.

This layout includes 9 pictures that I took over a twenty-four hour time period at my parent’s house. It was a quick trip and actually may have been less than twenty-four hours. My parents live two hours away and this particular weekend Jess’ basketball girls were playing in our High School Basketball District Tournament, which was taking place about 45 minutes from my home town. So after the finals Saturday evening, which we won, the boys and I drove to my parents for the night.  

I grew up on 90 acres of open land with lots of trees, ponds, and creeks. I know every inch of those 90 acres from constant exploring as a child.  The way Mom kept an eye on my brother and me was to yell across the pastures every once in a while as we were out exploring.  As long as we answered her yell, we were good to go. I do the same thing with the big boys when we visit. I love that this tradition continues for my boys.

When we are home visiting the boys feel a great sense of freedom and they take full advantage of every minute of daylight. It helps that they have cousins right across the pasture to play with and that my Mom has a no technology policy at her house when the kids are all together.  They literally wear themselves ragged playing.

Jude hasn’t figured out how much freedom he has quite yet. He loves to explore Mom and Dad’s large yard, lounging dogs, and have the attention of his grandparent’s and older cousins. He has also taken a ride or two on the go-cart while riding in Mama’s lap and loved it.

This layout captures the busy and the worn out.  I think it still lacks a little embellishing, but I still love it. Right now it is still sitting on my scrap desk. It may get a little more embellishing or it may just go into an album.  I have yet to decide. 

Happy Scrapping! 

Aspire and Dream

Yesterday I shared my love for Ronda Palazzari's monthly One Little Word's. Today I want to share two more layouts, one for January 2014 word #79 Aspire & one for March 2014 word #81 Dream.

For Aspire, I wanted to share how proud I am of my big boys and the amazing people they are becoming. I am the first to admonish them when they make mistakes, but I am also their biggest champion. My mother heard a speaker on American Family Radio speak about raising children and shared some of the wisdom with me. The biggest thing I took away from our conversation is that many parents spend their time trying to raise great children, when in fact parents should be trying to raise their children to be great adults.

That really resonated with me & it is exactly what Jess and I try to do on a daily basis. We want our boys to be able to leave our home and be responsible, Christian young men. I don't always feel like we are accomplishing it, but I am always willing to get up the next day and try it all over again.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that we use often in our house to remind our boys that God has even bigger plans for them than we do & that his plans are more important than any we can make for them or that they can make for themselves. They just have to be willing to be patient and listen to the Lord.

This verse was my jumping off point for my Aspire layout, along with sharing with the boys what I hope they aspire to do in their lives now & in the future. 

For this layout I used the January 2014 Cocoa Daisy Kit- Blueprint along with stamps from Technique Tuesday and some labels from My Mind's Eye. 

My second layout was for the word Dream and I knew immediately that I wanted to scrap pictures of all three boys sleeping. The biggest obstacle for this layout was picking a single picture of each boy to use from the 4,580 sleeping boy images I have saved. That number might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much, because I love catching the innocence of them as they are sleeping. 

There are not enough words to describe how much I love this layout. I am thinking that this one may end up hanging in a shadow box in the house somewhere. Such a calming layout and beautiful pictures of my little boys. Such a brutally, sweet reminder at how quickly time passes. 

For this layout I used the January 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit- Pemberley, some older Heidi Swapp ghost shape stars covered in Slate and Silver Alcohol Inks, a Technique Tuesday stamp, and some small wood veneer stars from Studio Calico.

Magic & Calm

Hello All,
It's been a while! February and the first part of March are always super busy with all the high school basketball that we watch. We won our State Basketball Championship again this year. It so amazing and a stressful journey to win in back to back years. I feel this journey deserves a post all its own, so I will leave the details to another day with maybe a layout or two :).

Today I want to share a couple of layouts I have made based on Ronda Palazzari's One Little Word. Ronda puts up a new word each month on the fifteenth and I have been playing along here and there for the past few month's. She has the uncanny ability to pick words that touch a cord in me and usually makes me immediately think of a photo and story I want to tell. I can honestly say that many of the words she has picked have led to really heartfelt journaling on my pages. It is amazing how a simple word can pull such emotions from within you, such as this one I did in September 2012 based on her word Unlock.

The two words/layouts I want to share were from December 2013 #78 Magic & from March 2014 #80 Calm.

When I saw the word Magic I knew immediately that I wanted to right about the Magic of the Christmas Season as seen through the eyes of Jude, who had just turned a year old. There is nothing better than watching a young child taking in all the wonder and sparkle of Christmas.

I love this picture of Jude, you can definitely see how magical this Christmas season was for him. These are the moments I treasure and I am so glad I scrapbook them for the boys when the are older. They may not remember these times, but they will have the memories from my thoughts and stories. 

I made this layout using a Page Maps sketch & the February 2013 Cocoa Daisy Kit Double Feature. Calm is so very overrated at our house. The boys are very busy, all the time, and unless they are sleeping or entranced by technology there is always some sort of activity going on. Luckily all three of them get along really well & I usually find them playing altogether or at least playing in the same room. I am also very glad that we have a basement playroom that houses the video game systems, a pool table, and the majority of their toys. It is great to send rowdy, big boys downstairs to play on days that it is too cold or wet to play outside. 

I have two more layouts to share using some of Ronda's wonderful words, so please check back tomorrow to see Aspire and Dream.

Until tomorrow!

Phew..Somebody Needs to Blow the Dust Off This Blog!

Wow! It is incredible that I haven't posted on this blog since November. Lots of things have happened in the past six months. Many of those things I will try to share in the next few weeks/month. Right now I will share the most important that has happened to our family and the number one cause of my lack of blogging. This little guy arrived December 13, 2012 and he has definitely shook up our world!

1 day old

6 months old 

(This was taken by a professional photographer who also took newborn shots of him...love her!)

Jude Henry or "Tiny" as we call him is a bit more demanding than the other boys ever were. He is also a lot more spoiled, especially with two older brothers who adore him and run to him anytime he starts to fuss. It also doesn't help that he is the last baby so his Mommy is always holding him and whispering in his ear, "stop growing so fast, my Tiny." Daddy seems to be the only one who isn't completely swayed by his charming ways or at  least Daddy doesn't show how smitten he is until the two of them are alone. 

Tiny likes to be the center of attention and has wanted that since day one. He has a big demanding personality and wants all eyes on him. Right now the rest of us are suckers for his sweet smile and give in easily. That is not a good thing. He makes it quite difficult for us to get much accomplished around the house. But I am more than willing to play and hold him while he is little, since he is my last baby. Dishes and dusting can wait. I know I won't get these days back. 

Besides ignoring the blog I have also not been able to scrapbook much at all. I continued to get my monthly kits from Cocoa Daisy, because I love them, but I didn't get to scrap with them. This for me is not surprising and I have a backlog of kits from the past few years. Scrapbooking for me is a huge creative outlet, but there  are times during the year that it is all I can do to get the everyday tasks accomplished. So sometimes scrapbooking ends up on the back burner.

This week things have finally slowed down a little and all five us are actually home together without any big commitments to deal with. It's nice to relax a little and just clean when I want to clean and play when I want to play. 

Today, I finished a layout that I had been working on the past few days and I made a card as well. I used an older Cocoa Daisy kit to make both. The kit I used is from June 2012 and is called Hello Sunshine.

The link will take you to the Cocoa Daisy Design Team's gallery for this kit. They always put up the most amazing and eclectic galleries full of inspiration. 

I did use this kit some last summer to make a few layouts which made it easier to cut into this time. I always find it easier to cut into a kit when I have already used some of the elements. Weird...I know! 

The layout is about Carter, my now 10 year old, when he was barely a year old. Today I showed him the finished layout and he was quite embarrassed that I took naked photos of him and then scrapped them and stuck them in an album. So when I edited the photo of the layout I chose to airbrush out his business and also chose not to tell him I was putting the layout on my blog. Tee Hee. The layout makes me very nostalgic, especially since he is now ten and we have a new baby who will grow up just as fast as he did...*sigh*. Some days I wish I could just slow down time...

Naked Sprinkler Baby

The card I made is from scraps left over from the kit. Cards are one of my favorite ways to use up all the left over odds and ends from kits. I also make filler & header cards for Project Life out of the little bits and pieces. This particular card is headed to one of my very best friends who appreciates a nice handmade card. The patterned paper on this card wasn't quite long enough to cover the front of the card, so I chose to split it towards the bottom and then cover the split with ribbon from the kit and a flower from my stash. This little trick comes in handy, especially when playing with scraps. 

Just Saying Hi

All the boys are in bed now and I guess I can't really avoid the dishes any longer. Tomorrow I hope to scrap again and also do some blog adjustments. My info still says I have two boys, sure glad that little one can't read yet! He might feel left out!

Hope you are having a wonderful week. 

Hugs,

O

Wordless Wednesday..Almost

I shot this picture Sunday afternoon as the boys were playing on the trampoline. Sometimes the trampoline sitting under a thirty year old oak tree is a blessing, sometimes all the leaves make them mad. Today it added to the fun as they made a huge leaf pile and took turns hiding a football in the pile. 

An Update & More ATCs with the boys

How about a quick update:

Our summer has been such a whirlwind! Between pitching machine all star baseball, vacation, VBS, summer camps, and swimming lessons we have barely had time to rest at all. I'm not complaining by any means, but for us summer is typically a slow down season, since we run so heavily during the school year.

This summer has been the exception and we have finally reached a point where we can slow down and I (and the small child I am carrying) are very excited about it. I spent the first trimester of this pregnancy feeling queasy after every meal and loving a nap whenever and where ever I could get one. At four and 1/2 months I am feeling much better and I am making lists and plans to get this house in top shape and uncluttered before "Three" graces us with his or her presence a week or so before Christmas. I know, I know great timing for a basketball coach's family, but we are excited none the less. We will find out what we are having Wednesday, August 1st and we are very anxious and excited..

Now onto a little crafty-ness :)

Because of our crazy summer the boys and I have done very few ATC craft projects. This one was my idea, since I was in a heat embossing kind of mood today. The boys always want to paint, so we compromised on a heat embossing/ Twinkling H20 watercolor project.

Here the boys did their own heat embossing, with supervision of course. :)

Here they are using Twinkling H2O's to paint their ATC cards.

Here are our final pieces.

We started with a lattice stamp from the March Cocoa Daisy kit- Pier 39. I believe the kit and the stamp are both sold out, sorry :(. The boys chose to use a gold glitter embossing powder from Stampendous and I used American Crafts Zing powder in white. The watercolor paints we used were Twinkling H2Os, which are available through Creative Imaginations. My heat gun is from Ranger and I think I picked it up years ago at Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby.

These ATCs took us about 45 minutes to complete because of the small spaces that the boys were painting. I always love listening to the boys talk back and forth as they paint and they always end up asking an art related question or giving an art related comment. Today we talked about primary and secondary colors. The boys had learned about both in their school art classes during the year and it was nice to see and hear them tie the learning in with what they were working on today.

I hope to post again this week with some pictures of layouts from the June Cocoa Daisy Kit- Hello Sunshine. My kit is now in bits and pieces which I love because I am really wanting to tear into July's kit- Note to Self and its addons. I also want to post some current pictures of parts of my scrap space and how I store my Cocoa Daisy stamps. While we are on the subject of Cocoa Daisy here is their current sneak peek for August's kit- Santa Fe Sunrise.

Thanks for stopping by!

Olivia

ATC Mini Art Projects

Tuesday, I posted that I was planning on continuing the mini art projects with the boys. This is something that I started doing with them this summer as a way to tear them away from technology. I was skeptical that they would enjoy doing them, but once we started they were hooked. We started out doing one every day, but then it kind of dwindled to every other day or whenever we got a chance with our busy summer schedule.

Below are three of the projects that we created this summer. The first is Carter's favorite-we painted the background with watercolors, then used a foam stamp and acrylic paint to stamp our first intial. The second is Ethan's favorite- we used the exclusivecoffee/tea ring stamp from the March Cocoa Daisy kit and stamped it in black ink, then used watercolors and Twinkling H2O watercolors to paint the whole thing. The final one is my favorite- We used Modge Podge and tissue paper to create pictures. I finished mine with a white pen and a rub-on word.

Here is a look at how I have been storing the mini art projects. We each have our own baseball card page and when we complete a project it is dry, we just slip it in. I am currently using an American Crafts D-ring album and these baseball card pages fit perfect.

Once we start to work on a project it was amazing how quietly and intently we all work. Many times the boys will work really hard for over thirty minutes on their little mini masterpieces. Thirty minutes of sustained work and attention span is HUGE for little boys.

I am also amazed at how much I enjoyed working on these little projects too. For me it is a chance to work in different mediums and to just play and create without worrying that I was going to mess up my end result.

All the art projects start with an ATC (2.5x3.5 in) sized piece of white textured cardstock. I usually have in mind what medium I want to use with the boys before we start, but sometimes I just let them choose what they want to work with. Most of the time we work together on projects that are all similar, but sometimes the boys will show up while I am scrapbooking and want to work on a project by themselves, so I keep extra ATC cards on hand for these type instances.

Here are some pictures of the boys working on our latest project and then a picture of the finished pieces.

Inking and using the Big Shot

Splatter painting and misting

Final result

Besides spending quality time with the boys creative playing and talking, which is the biggest benefit of the mini art projects, I also love that they are learning about different art mediums and learning that art is not perfect. Plus I am using up bits and pieces of my scrapbooking materials….Gotta love that!

I plan to continue these mini art pieces more consistently through the month of December; so that the boys can add them to their December journal (I will share this with you in a later post).

I am also thinking that we will continue these in 2012 as part of my Project Life album.

I hope you find the time to make mini masterpieces with your kids or even your husband. It is an amazing way to creatively play, talk, and share. There is nothing better than quality time spent together making memories.
Here’s to creative play and wonderful messy memories! Hugs!!
Olivia

Thankful- Nov 5,6,7

How about a thankful weekend?

Friday was our last home football game and Senior night. Mendy has become a dear friend and confidant over the past few years and her son Colton is an awesome guy. Carter and Ethan love Colton and he is so good with them. When we moved here I worried about making good friends that would help me feel like Malvern was truly a home for us. Mendy is one of the first true friends I have made. She is an amazing single mom and a courageous and strong independent woman. I am truly grateful to call her one of my best friends.

Saturday...a lazy Saturday! I was able to sleep in a little bit and then spent the day cleaning a little and crafting a little and most of all watching and listening the boys interact with one another. It was a true luxury to be able to just stay home for the first time in months and to just relax. I am thankful for the little everyday moments I was able to capture and savor. Moments like these:

Hot Chai Tea Latte

Jess bought me this hot tea maker a few years ago for my birthday. It has become one of my favorite gifts. In the fall it is so nice to have the time to fix a Chai Tea Latte and to savor how good it is. I have yet to master the recipe well enough to rival Starbucks, but it is still really good.

Puzzle Working

Ethan got this puzzle out of Carter's closet and started working it. Not long after he started working it, Carter showed up. Instead of arguing and hogging the puzzle, Ethan quietly moved over and let Carter in to help him work it. They worked quietly and diligently until they had it worked. I love that they can be so sweet and cooperative with one another.

Caramel Apples

Last weekend Grandma Nita gave us some caramel apple wraps and two apples. I remember making caramel apples as a little girl with Mama and I am thankful she continued the tradition with the boys. I wanted to wait until we had time to make and enjoy them, so after Ethan had asked for a snack for the four hundred thirty-seventh time I got them out and made them. They loved them and I know that Carter ate all of his. Ethan I'm not so sure. I know he ate all the caramel off, but he may have thrown the apple away. He is sneaky like that.

Trampoline Football

It was a little cool in the morning, but by mid morning it had warmed up enough that I sent both boys outside. They wanted to jump on the trampoline, so they got on and began sweeping the leaves and acorns off. I ended up using the leaf blower to blow most of the leaves off and then used it to play with the boys. They loved having the blower blow up their sweat pants legs and shirts, then they figured out that the balls on the trampoline could be blown up in the air too. After I got off the trampoline they played trampoline football for a while and luckily no one got mad or injured. I am definitely thankful for that, because it is rare that they don't hurt one another. On another note, I have no idea how they play trampoline football and I'm not sure they do either. The rules for these made up games change every time they play them...usually thanks to Carter. After trampoline football was over they got off and tried to sneak into the house, but I swiftly sent them back out. Ethan got out his dump truck and began loading it with acorns. The next time I looked out they were shelling the acorns and when I asked them about it they said they were doing it for the squirrels. I ended up giving them a nutcracker, they were using their fingernails and teeth...Gross. They shelled acorns for over thirty minutes and then placed them on the table on the back deck. I hope our lazy squirrels appreciate their efforts.

Sunday we got up and even made it to Sunday school. The extra hour of sleep that we got may have helped us wake up a little easier or maybe it was the fact that we stayed home Saturday, but whatever the reason we made it! Both boys were so excited to be back in Sunday school and Jess and I really enjoyed the young adult class too. It felt great to be in class with people we consider friends and family. We are so very thankful to have found this church when we moved to Malvern. It has truly become a home and a family for us which is a blessing considering that our immediate family is over two hours away. The church is full of wonderful and loving people and we are so grateful that they love us and especially the boys so much.

Not only is the church full of beautiful, loving people, but it is also one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. This window is just one of the many stained glass windows in the church. It is gorgeous! Sitting is church is a treat when you are surrounded by such beauty.

Where has summer gone?

I have no idea where summer has gone. It seems to have flown by so quickly. I had plans for summer and needless to say most of them weren't accomplished. I feel a little let down, but I also realize that I have taught summer school, which benefitted some really sweet soon-to-be 2nd graders. I also have almost completed 9 hours of graduate school, which benefits me and my family. With those 9 hours down, I am left with 6 hours this fall. Meaning I will graduate in Decemeber. I CAN'T WAIT to get back the extra hours that grad school has required and use them for something I really enjoy, like my family. So I guess I have been somewhat successful this summer, but I still want to have more time watch him do this:

And watch him do this:

And spend more time relaxing and doing things like this:

But I guess like the card says, it's time to get up and going again. I'm ready for a new year and new kids and all the knowledge they bring.

Here's to a new school year, new games in the win column, and new time spent with my wonderful husband and kiddos.

Everyday is a crazy and wonderful, God-given blessing and I absolutely love every minute of it!

Olivia

Card info: Cardstock-Bazzill, Patterned Paper-Scenic Route-Sassafrass Lass, Stamps- Hero Arts- 4 Apples- Old text writing-Little Owl (from set of 24) Tim Holtz- Big Flourishes, Rubons- 7gypsies, Making Memories, Ink-Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick & Antique Linen. embroidery floss and yellow ribbon.

December Daily- Day 2

December 2nd: Christmas Snacks



Tonight after the boys bath I got out some Christmas platters and served the boys a bedtime snack. Carter was very excited to see two of his Christmas favorites: Little Debbie Christmas cakes and Hot (more warm than hot) Chocolate. Ethan on the other hand, who had been VERY grouchy all evening, was not interested in either. The Hot Chocolate was too hot for him and he said he didn't like those cookies...even though he had eaten one the night before...Little Scrooge! He did come back later after I had eaten his Christmas cake and asked for one of his own.

Jess is responsible for us enjoying Christmas trees cakes. He loves the things! It is one of the very few Little Debbie's he will eat. He has no interest in the Zebra Cakes that you can buy year round, which in my opinion taste the same. He swears that they are nothing alike. As soon as the Christmas tree cakes hit the store shelves we scoop up boxes of them. It is kind of overwhelming to open the pantry and see boxes and boxes of Christmas tree cakes. But since they are only available for a short time we hoard and enjoy them. I can't make fun of Jess for doing this because I tend to do the same thing with Easter Peeps. I am fully aware that they make Peeps for other holidays, but I only like Easter Bunny and Chick Peeps. This is just more proof that Jess and I are perfect for one another. No one else would understand or endure our strange idiocies!

Hot Chocolate is my contribution to our family. In the winter I could live on the stuff. Combine hot chocolate with Chai Tea Lattes and Apple Cider, then throw in a little milk and water on the side and you basically have a list of all the drinks I drink during cold weather. The boys really like hot chocolate as long as it isn't HOT and only if there are marshmallows involved. Carter got his first Starbucks drink last Saturday when he and I were out shopping. His drink of choice was hot chocolate and he loved it. I imagine that next time we pass Starbucks he will ask for another one. I love that I am passing on my love of Starbucks to him. Jess of course will probably just roll his eyes and complain that we are spending way too much on a drink, but I'm o.k. with that.



Here is my tag based on Tim's tag for his "12 Tags of Christmas" Day 2.



I'll post again tomorrow!
See you then~

Olivia