Homemade Christmas Ornaments

I got this neat book online for free. It is a countdown to Christmas, with an activity to do everyday. It has been so much fun. One of the ideas was to make homemade ornaments.

I made the salt flour dough (super easy) and then we put food coloring into some of the dough. I let Tobyn pick the shapes he wanted to cut out. He really liked the stars and trains, so ended up with a crazy amount of stars.



Zoё wanted to help too. So she sat on the counter, until she got bored. I put her on the floor and when I turned around to see what she was doing, I discovered her helping mommy with the flour. What a sweet girl....

We baked the cookies for about an hour and then let them cool. Then it was time to decorate. We used markers, glitter glue and puffy paint to make our ornaments pretty. Tobyn really like the glitter glue, especially the blue! I think he used the blue glitter on every ornament he made.

I sprayed them with a glossy varnish to seal them and preserve them. I think they turned out so cute. Tobyn decided he wanted to give some of the ornaments as Christmas presents.

Tobyn has already asked to do ornaments again this morning. But I think we will take it easy today. I am still exhausted from all that decorating. Hopefully I can recover before sugar cookie decorating!

TUTUS!!!

I got all my tutus done. I thought people would like to see the finished product. They turned out better than I had even hoped for. The blue one is one of Zoё's Christmas presents and the pink one is for my neice Melody. I am addicted to making tutus now...Brian is annoyed. What do you think???

Black Friday

This year is the first year Brian and I decided to brave the crowds of the Black Friday sales. We stayed in Boise for Thanksgiving, so we had a variety of stores to choose from. We got up at 4 am on Friday to make it Toys'R'Us by 5 am. By the time we arrived at 4:30 am there was a line around the building. Luckily, my cousins were already there saving us a spot in line!

My dear hubby cracked me up. He is so polite and did not want to push or be greedy. He just wanted to meander through the store. I just laughed at him. I told him, "Today is not the day to be a Looky-loo. You need to get what you want and we need to move on to the next store." We ended up getting all the toys on our list and we got them at great deals. The problem arose when we got ready to check out. There were "lines" going everywhere. People that thought they were in line found out they weren't. The store manager ending up stepping in and directing traffic. I hurried to spot in the new line and we were outta there after a 30 minute wait.

The Boise Town Square Mall was our next stop. We hit JCPenney's first and were able to get some adorable outfits for Tobyn and Zoё that ended up being 60% off. We went to a few other stores including the Disney Store, Macy's and Finish Line.

We met up with my parents for breakfast at IHOP. I enjoyed a scrumptious omelet and time with the kiddos and then we were on our way again.

Our last stop was JoAnn's Fabric for some items for homemade Christmas gifts. We ended up saving over $250! All in all, I think we had a successful first Black Friday shopping day and it is definitely something I will repeat.

A Sad Day

So it happened the other day. The day every mom dreads from the moment her baby is born. The thing that proves that their baby is now a toddler.

I asked Zoё to do something...I don't even remember what it was. She looked at me so innocently and said, "No." Since then she has learned to say it more emphatically and also shakes her head.

*Sigh* I guess it was bound to happen eventually. I was just hoping to keep her a baby longer.

Tobyn's Writing

Tobyn asked me to sit down and help him write his name. I wrote his name on the top of the paper and then told him to copy it. It was so cute. He was concentrating so hard and sticking his tongue out while he was writing. He did all the letters but couldn't quite figure out the "n." He did a great job. I am so proud of him. Here is the result of his hard work.

My Baby

1. What's your husband's name?
Brian Keith Jacobs Jr. But I call him Babe, Jr, and Lover

2. How long have you been married?
Almost 6 years in January! WOW!

3. How long did you date?

4 years

4. How old is he?
He just turned 27 last Sunday.

5. Who eats more sweets?
I think I do, but we both have terrible sweet tooths.

6. Who is the better singer?
Me

7. Who is smarter?
He totally is. Straight A's in school so far!!

8. Who does the laundry?

Uggh...I do

9. Who pays the bills?
Our checkbook and money are a joint effort. We both put in and both pay out...

10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
I do....I can't sleep when I am on the other side.

11. Who mows the lawn?
Me again

12. Who drives?
He usually drives because I drive too slow according to him.

13. Who asked who out first?
He asked me out.

14. Who kissed who first?
Don't guys usually make the first move....or they should at least.

I love you Babe! You are the most amazing Daddy and Husband. You are the best and I thank God for you daily!!

Been busy...

I have not been blogging as much in the last week. I have been busy trying to get homemade Christmas presents done. For each of my nieces I am making no sew tutus. I have made homemade gifts for all 3 sets of parents. Whew. I am tired just thinking about all the work!! But I have had a blast and I think everyone will enjoy the more personal, homemade gifts. I will post some pictures when I am done with everything.

What's going on besides all that???

Brian is half done with his 3rd term of school. He is doing great! I am so impressed with him. Straight A's!!! Good job baby!!

Tobyn has his 3 year check up at the Doctor last Friday. He embarrassed his Momma horribly. Doctor appointments were so much easier when he couldn't answer the doctor's questions. The doctor asked, "Do you watch much TV?" to which Tobyn replied, " I watch TV ALL the time. I watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Ratatouille, ....." So the doctor looks at me and says, "You should limit his TV watching to 2 hours per day." Then he looks at Tobyn and asks, " What kind of food and drinks do you like?" "Oh I love black coffee," Tobyn said. The doctor then says, "Coffee is not good for little boys," and Tobyn said, "Oh yes it is. Black coffee is really good!" After the wonderful chat with the doctor, it was time for shots. He knew it was coming and told me, "Mommy I am not getting shot today." He had to get 2 shots, the varicella and flu shot. One in each leg. It was not pretty!!! He screamed so loud and threw the biggest fit! So needless to say, I am so thankful that check-ups are only once a year now.

Tobyn inherited another fish for his fish tank from one of my friends at work. He said, "My new orange fish is so cute." The fish has survived 24 hours at our house!

Zoë has been chatting like crazy! She is saying please and thank you. Thank you started out as "too-too" and has now become "tank too." Please sounds like"peas." So cute. She has learned the cuteness factor, especially when it comes to melting Daddy's heart. When she is in trouble, she just smiles and you can tell she is thinking, " I am so cute. How can you discipline me?"

We are trying potty training this week with Zoë. So far she has done pretty good. We have a couple accidents, but so not too bad. We shall see how the rest of the week goes....

Halloween

Tobyn, Zoë, and Mommy went shopping for Halloween costumes about 3 weeks before Halloween. I took Tobyn down the "boy" aisle to pick out the typical boy costume. I showed him the muscly Spider man, the Optimus Prime, and the Hulk costumes. But he didn't seem to like any of them. So as we walked, Tobyn saw a puppy costume and decided he had to be a puppy. I let him pick out Zoë's costume too. He thought Zoë should be a monkey. I was impressed with Tobyn's choice for Zoë. She is our little climbing monkey at home. The costume fit her personality perfectly!!

Tobyn was excited for Halloween the entire week. He would say, "Guess what Mommy? Halloween and trick-or-treating!!" It was so cute! When Halloween finally came, he was being quite a stinker. He would not let me paint his face and he would not put on his costume. I had to resort to calling in reinforcements (Nana) to do some over the phone convincing. Once he had his costume and face paint on, he was ready to go get candy! I could not get him to stand still for pictures. This picture is the only one that he would stand long enough for me to capture a shot.

Zoë, on the other hand, was more than happy to wear her costume. In fact, all week she kept going to the closet and pulling out he costume for me to put on her. She loves it. She sat very still as I put face paint on her. I think she is going to be a make-up lover like her mommy!

We had a great time on Halloween. We chili at my mom and dad's before trick-or-treating. One of my friends invited us to the "Trunk or Treat" at her church. We explained to Tobyn that he needed to say, "Trick or treat" to each person. He would say, "Trick-or-treating!" and would enthusiastically say, "Thank you!!!" to every person. Zoë ended up staying so warm in her costume, she became almost lethargic and began to drift of to sleep in Daddy's arms. We ended up only doing the "Trunk or Treat" because Tobyn's and Zoë's bags were so full of candy, they would not hold any more and Tobyn was ready to be done after about 45 minutes. After trick-or-treating we headed back to my parents for hot cocoa and to watch Iron Man.

Baking Cookies

We were able to make homeade cookies this weekend. It was Zoë's first time helping Mommy and Tobyn make cookies. We even enjoyed some of the batter together. He are some pictures of our fun....

Why do kids???

Why do kids always have to drop the cuss words at the most in-opportune moment. It makes it seem like all we do at house is sit around smoking, drinking and cussing. I feel like the worst parent in the history of the world.

We were at me parents house last night and Tobyn was playing with the Tinker Toys. He was pretending like one of them was an apple and he was looking for the worm in it. So he says, "Where the hell is it?" I say, "Tobyn, what did you say?" Non chalantly he says, "Mama, I said where the hell is it?" Luckily Brian was sitting there to swiftly tell him that is not an appropriate word to use.

I know you are thinking to yourselves, what is wrong with that? Well, that is not the end of the story. About 15 minutes later Tobyn is standing by me and says, "Mommy it is dark outside, huh?" I nod my head and he says, "Holy sh**, it is time for me to go to work." (I have no idea where he got that???)

About another 15 minutes pass and Tobyn is now sitting on Nana's lap. He says to Nana, "That man on TV is gay." At this point my dad looks at me and says in his best lecture voice, "I guess it makes you wish you watched what you said around him."

So...my question is why? Why do they wait to show off for Nana and Papa or when we are out in public? Why can't the bad words be reserved for the privacy of our home??? I guess it is just another one of life's mysteries of raising kids.

We are going to have a fun day!!

This morning I heard the sound of little feet. Then I heard a little giggle and Zoë was climbing into bed with me. Not long after, Tobyn was in bed saying, "Mommy, you need to get up. We are going to have fun today."

I got up and I made them German Pancakes for breakfast and they both scarffed them down. We went outside and raked the lawn and got everything ready for winter. Although, I hate yard work, it is not so bad when the kids are outside playing with me.

About an hour later, while we were sitting watching TV, I heard the drums from the Homecoming Parade, so we went outside and watched. My kids were the only kids watching on my block so ended up with tons of candy (which they tried to eat before we could even get back into the house).

Tonight, is the Boise State game and dinner at my parents. The kids are staying the night with my parents, so Brian and I get a night alone.

Tobyn was right....today was a great day!

Autumn Pictures

I decided not to waste the money on professional photographers anymore. They can never get my kids to smile and if they do, their smiles are cheesy and fake. So I took Tobyn and Zoë to the park the other day to get some Autumn pictures. Eventually, I would love to do photography for a living and be one of "those" professional photographers. lol.

Anyway...here are the result of the ones I have edited so far. I am pretty proud of them!

Decided to start a blog

Hey All!!

My good friend Connie talk me into starting a blog. I also think it will be a great way to preserve memories.

So here it is. A look into the fabulous life of the Jacobs family.