Gingerbread Championship 2011

For a couple of Christmases, my mom has had a "gingerbread" house competition, where we build things out of graham crackers. The last one was won handily by Ken and Meredith, and, if you know them, it will not surprise you to be told that they made t-shirts that said "Gingerbread Champions 2009" and wore it on the plane. They are always good for a laugh.

But I was not to be put off by their braggadocio. And after all was said and done, I was the Gingerbread Champion 2011.

Here is my house. The snowman put it over the top.

I also had a pond and a garden in the back. Ken--a sore loser--pointed out that my house would be awfully cold, what with the open roof. Details, details.

This was Nathan's contribution, a Batmobile.

Meredith's house, which caved in. Ken called it Concave House.

And Andrew's creation, which was . . . are you ready for this? . . . a prison.
Ha! The lifesavers are rolls of barbed wire, and there's a helipad on top.

After all, nothing says "Christmas" like a prison.

Let the Christmas Posts Begin

Noah's class did a little Christmas presentation at Mother's Day Out. And who was Joseph, I ask you? Noah was!

However, he definitely has some aversion to performing in front of crowds, because he makes this face afterwards every time. And, if you remember, the Thanksgiving presentation was a bit of a fiasco. But he sure did make a cute Joseph!

Afterwards, there was a party, complete with an edible craft. They smeared icing all over an ice cream cone then decorated it with candy. As you can see, it made my kids very happy.

And, in fact, we bought our own pre-made gingerbread house later and decorated it at home. Well, actually, Noah and I decorated it. Jane just ate the candy.

More later!

Have I Slipped So Far?

To keep this from being the saddest month ever on the blog in terms of number of posts, I'm blogging tonight, on the last day of January. Wow. Has it ever gotten so sparse? No! Never!

I apologize, dear readers. I've been busy, distracted, and tired. And the result is that I have a backlog of pictures that I'm not sure what to do with; do I leave them off because we are so far beyond Christmas now? or do I post them, since otherwise I'll never display them anywhere else? I think I'll end up posting them. They'll just probably be a series of pics with captions, and will therefore be far less interesting than they would have been had I posted them right away, with memories fresh and time aplenty. So I guess I should tell you to be prepared. :)

In the meantime, if you pop on in over here and there's nothing new, check out Mark & Kim's blog. They're some old college friends from Rice, and they have a fantastic food and travel blog. Lately, Kim has been posting a lot of little gems, so check them out. Their food is wonderful and different from what I generally cook, which to me is refreshing. Plus, their pictures are fantastic and Kim's writing makes you want to take part in everything she finds interesting. Their blog draws me in whenever I read it, so I thought I'd share it with you guys, too.

A Birthday in New Mexico

Recent Pics

A few recent pictures:

At their favorite restaurant.

In her doll's baby carriage.

My mom got the girl earrings.
Oh, does she love those earrings.

New pajamas are for being silly!

The earrings reemerged a few days later.

Oh, but let's not stop at earrings. Let's add a necklace and some heels.

After having sneaked some cake off the counter. As you can see, she is shameless.

At Mother's Day Out.
Cuties.

You Didn't Know How Creative They Were, Did You?

Noah got a big, long, red stuffed snake for Christmas, which he loves. He insists that the snake's name is "Big Red Snakey." How's that for originality?

Jane got a baby doll. The other day, Granny had this conversation with Jane:
G: What's your baby's name, Jane?
J: Baby!
G: Why don't we give her a name? How about Molly?
J: [adamantly] No! Baby!
G: [persuasively] I sure do like "Molly."
J: No! Baby!

Of course, sometimes she will say her baby's name is Livvy, but that's not much of a stretch, since one of our cats is named Livvy.

If they didn't otherwise demonstrate some real original thought, I'd be worried they're missing a creativity chromosome or something. But most of the time they crack me up with the nutty things they come up with, so perhaps this is just a phenomenon reserved for naming stuffed animals. Funny little guys.

Happy New Year

Hey peeps!

Long time no post, eh?

Well, we've been busy, as I'm sure you all have. Prep for Christmas, last-minute shopping and wrapping, one family's Christmas, another family's Christmas (where I did have time to blog but didn't bring my computer), and returning home and putting our life back in order--I still have laundry to do, toys to put away, and Christmas decorations to pack up. And my current project is planning Noah's birthday party, which happens in four days and for which I had done nothing until late last night.

My little boy is turning four!! Can you believe it?

For at least six months, he has been talking about having a volcano cake for his birthday. We're not sure where he got the idea--whether we told him about the one we had at our wedding or whether he came up with it on his own--but, regardless, he is completely attached to the idea. Come to think of it, last year he was very attached to the idea of a train cake, though not for six months. Perhaps his birthday cake is always a big deal to him. I'll have to remember that....

Anyway, I have lots of pictures to post from the last few weeks, but at this point they're still forthcoming. First, I've got to make sure my Noah has a volcano party to remember!