Making cookies, decorating and playing in the leaves

I love Christmas. It's my absolutely favorite holiday, and I look forward to it every year! Sometimes it's hard to get into the holiday spirit when it's 80 degrees outside, but the two older kids have been getting super excited about Christmas, which also helps me get excited about it again, too. :-)  Buttercup had been asking for about 1 month if it was time for us to put up a Christmas tree, so last weekend we finally went out and got one! We also decorated the tree, decorated the house, made some Christmas cookies, and some Christmas crafts -- all in the same day. Whew!  Lots of fun.  :-) 

 

Theodore didn't get to help make the cookies this year, but he did enjoy climbing up onto the step stool and sneaking some! 

He also liked swiping the cookie decorations off of the counter. :-)

I love this sweet boy!

And I love this sweet girl!!!

 
As per our usual tradition, the kids picked out a special ornament at Hobby Lobby. Oliver picked out a dinosaur (which I forgot to take a picture of) and Buttercup picked out this black horse. She insisted on hanging it next to the stable, because . . . that's where horses belong! :-)

I gave Theodore a couple of soft ornaments to hang on the tree. He ran around the living room with them for a little while, then threw them on the rug. Then he picked up his dirty sock and stuffed it in the tree (in the picture below). He was so proud of himself! I love that sweet baby!!!!!

The kiddos were getting a little crazy after eating cookies and being inside for too long, so we shooed them outside in the back yard.  Theodore was perfectly happy playing in a big pile of leaves!

Buttercup had fun being herself . . .

. . . and then she had fun trying to make leaf angels! 

Theodore tried to make leaf angels, too. :-)

 
Then Oliver came over with a wheelbarrow full of leaves for his baby brother, and all 3 kids decided to have a leaf dance party. :-) What a fun day!

More Buttercup-isms

Here are some of the funny things Miss Tootie said earlier this week. :-)

-- We were in the car, driving somewhere, and I put on some of my chapstick. I used to not let Buttercup use my chapstick, because it's strawberry scented, and she would always take a big bite out of it. So on this day, she asked me if she could wear some of mine. I said, "No, you can use your chapstick when we get home." She said, "I'll just put yours on my mouth, Mama. I don't eat your chapstick anymore. I only eat mine."  :-)

-- Buttercup was sitting on the couch, looking at a book about dinosaurs. She asked me, "Mom, do dinosaurs still lay golden eggs?" I said, "No, dinosaurs are extinct." She said, "What does that mean, that they moved to Africa?"

-- After school one day, she was singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but she couldn't remember the word "reindeer." She tried to say it a couple of times, then she said, "Mama, what do you call that deer? You know, the Christmas deer?" 

-- We were on the way home from Oliver's gymnastics lesson, and everyone was hungry. Oliver asked what we were having for dinner, and I said, "We're having chili, doesn't that sound yummy?" Buttercup yelled, "NO! I don't LIKE chilis, and I really don't like to eat cooked food!!! The only food that I don't like that's cooked is CARROTS!"  (Does that make sense to anyone?)

Buttercup-isms

I still haven't gotten around to reminding my sweet hubby about the hiking pictures (hopefully this afternoon!), but since I have a minute while the younger two are napping, I wanted to write down this funny conversation that I had with Buttercup this morning.

Buttercup, Theodore, and I were at the table, drawing with markers. I bought some new markers the other day, and Buttercup and I were testing them out. While we were drawing, we discovered that some of the markers were scented! 

I picked up the orange marker.
Me: "Oh, what does this one smell like?" 
Buttercup: "Hmmm. Oh. It smells like papaya!" 
Which was really funny, because for one thing it obviously smelled like an orange, and why did she think of random fruit like papaya?!  Ha ha ha.

Then I picked up the yellow marker.
Me: "Hmm, what do you think this one smells like?" (Thinking that she would give an obvious answer like lemon or banana.)  
Buttercup: "Hmm. I don't know."
Me: "Do you think it smells like lemon?"
Buttercup: [sniffing it] "Oh yeah! It smells like women!"
Me: "Not women. . . lemon!"
Buttercup:  "Oh yeah, oh yeah! Lemon.  I was just trying to speak Spanish."  

I love my silly girl. :-)

This is my new favorite picture of her, by the way. It's so her.  :-) 

Thundercloud Subs Turkey Trot 5 miler race report

I have time to blog today! I was originally planning on putting up a bunch of beautiful pictures from our post-Thanksgiving hike last week, but I still have to get the pictures from my hubby's computer to my computer, so . . . instead you get an awesome race report. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Every Thanksgiving, there's a 5 mile race downtown. I'd never run it before (and never planned to run it, since downtown Austin is nothing but hills and I hate running on hills!), but a good friend of mine recently started running races, and she talked me into running it with her. Another good friend signed up, too, and our kids were all signed up for the kids' race, so it looked like it was going to be a fun morning!

I decided to skip a couple of easy runs that week so I would have 2 days off before the race.  I also decided to use the race as my hill workout for that week. :-) Going in to the race, I was hoping to run under 35 minutes. However, that goal quickly went out the window since it was a warm morning, and because of the HILLS! Oh my word, the 3rd hill in particular was so difficult. I don't understand why so many people sign up for the Austin Marathon -- I could hardly do 5 miles on those hills, much less 26.2! 

Anyway! My goal was sub 7 minute pace, but I didn't meet my goal. I did, however, finish in 36:39, which got me 9th place in my age group (I think that is my best placement in a big Austin race!) and was also about 30 seconds per mile faster than my pace in the Statesman Capitol 10k in March. :-)  Whoo hoo! 

My splits were pretty even:
Mile 1: 7:15
Mile 2: 7:33
Mile 3: 7:18
Mile 4: 7:08
Mile 5: 7:13

Overall, it was a really fun race, and a great way to start the Thanksgiving holiday! Here are some pictures from the race (Theodore was home with Aunt Anna and Granddaddy):

Christmas card pictures, 2012 edition :-)

Over the weekend we went to the trail to take the kids' pictures for our Christmas card. As always, we had very low expectations (and a bag of M&Ms, ha ha). I was planning on only using my camera, but at the last minute Dennis brought his camera, too. Which ended up being a GREAT idea, since I didn't get any good pictures of the kids, and all of his ended up being super cute. :-) 

Here are a few of the pictures, enjoy! 

I'm pretty sure this was when Oliver told Buttercup that there was a spider near her leg (there wasn't one). 

 

Pictures from the weekend!

This was the best picture I got of all 3 kids together in this spot. :-)

Theodore was banging a stick on this tree marker, like a baby conductor. :-) 

A very intense baby conductor!

Theodore loves his baby!

First (real) haircut and some kid artwork

Theodore's hair was getting long and shaggy again, so over the weekend we took him to a kids' salon to get his hair cut! This was the first time any of my children have gotten their hair cut anywhere but our yard, ha ha.  :-)  

Theodore was amazingly good for his hair cut! Aunt Anna and I both had our phones out to entertain him (Dora videos on Anna's phone, Theodore's favorite songs playing on my phone), and he did so well. Toward the end I had to give him a lollipop so he would keep his head still while the girl trimmed his hair line, and he was as still as can be while she finished up his hair. What a sweet little guy, I love him so much!

(Once again, sorry for the blurry phone pictures!)

Pre-haircut:

He really liked looking at his robe at first. :-)

Looking at Aunt Anna's phone:

Eating his first lollipop!

Sitting so still, enjoying his candy. :-)  What a sweet, sweet baby!!!

After his haircut was finished and he had eaten all but a tiny piece of his lollipop, I quickly took the rest of his lollipop away while he was distracted with something else. This was the cute face he made when he realized I had taken it away and was asking for it back:  (Strangely enough, he never got mad or anything when I didn't give it back to him!)

Here's something Oliver wrote for me yesterday afternoon. He had gotten into trouble on the way home from the park, and I had put him in time out right when we got home. After his time out, he went in his room and wrote this for me. 

It says, "I love Mom. She is the best Mom I ever had."  He even dated it for me. :-)  

And this is something that my sweet little girl drew this morning for her daddy. I know that Dennis is the person in the middle, and I think Buttercup drew herself

on the left side, but I'm not sure who's on the right. :-)  

She also carefully wrote "I love you" at the top. So sweet!! 

I love my sweet kiddos, they are so special and fun!!!!