Baker Boys

Last week was Don's birthday.  It was also my birthday.  Yeppers, we share the same birthday, though not the same birth year.  I will always be the younger gal in this relationship.  I thought it would be cool for the boys to have total control (yeah, this was hard for me because I like to help...too much) over making their dad a cake.  But bake they did and an awesome job too. 

Benny read the instructions and measured the ingrediants while Jack mixed it all up.  They were super thrilled with themselves.  The most exciting part I am sure was mixing up the frosting!

Once their creation was baked they set to work to carefully decorate it.  I had bought two containers of frosting so you can imagine just how much there was to get onto the cake.  But very carefully and with love they got it all on.  Most of it piled into the center of the cake (believe it or not there was a hole in the middle of that cake)!

The result was a fantastic gift for their dad.  Of course we all enjoyed eating it.  Well, except for Jack who is far too picky about his cake. 

A Bad Day For Gingerbread!

I spent a few years wishing both of you were older at Christmas time.  Looking back I see now that that was the single most silly thing I could have wished for because now that I have my wish I want to take it back!!!  I wished you both were old enough to be crazy excited for Santa to come, old enough to absorb some of our Christmas traditions, old enough to really participate in all that is Christmas at this house.

I got my wish but what I din't count on was all the side effects of my wish.  For example, a neighbor reported the following statement from her son the other day...

"Ben and Jack are getting rocks for Christmas because they don't believe in Santa"

"WHAT" I asked?  How could this be.  However it is true, my Benny boy at 7 years old (soon to be eight) heard the nasty rumors on the playground.  You know the ones that go around every year around this time and then again at Easter.  The only thing is that this year he has given them some consideration.

I spoke with him and asked him if he believed and he looked at me and asked in a most serious tone,  one that made me feel he really needed the truth and he trusted me to give it to him,

"Well Mom, is there a Santa"

It was an awful moment because generally I try to be quite honest with my boys and if the question had been about anything else in the world I would have told him the truth.  

I didn't though.  I lied.  I lied so he could have one more year of magic.  So I could have one more year of magic.  I had no idea this might very well be the last year both of my boys believe.  I know that Christmas will still be super fun even if they don't believe but I just wasn't ready for it to be over.

So I have vowed this year will be Christmas overload!!!!

And so this week-end we indulged in some gingerbread cookie ornament decorating.  Oddly enough it really didn't go to plan.  I blew up the mixer before the frosting really got mixed which resulted in thick lumpy glue that the boys had a hard time piping onto the cookies.  Then after we hung the cookies on the tree they kept breaking on falling off the tree.  Blamed this on our little dog for the longest time until I realized what was happening because it has never happened before.

Despite these little setbacks the boys had fun and I had fun doing it with them.  You know one day they will be teenagers and likely not so excited to decorate gingerbread so until that day comes I am going to absorb these moments, commit them to memory and take them with me into tomorrow and all the other days to come.

Sucking It All In, The Christmas Edition

This year something hit me hard.  I really know now that you guys are getting older and I am acutely aware that the Christmas season we enjoy now is going to change as you both grow.  A couple years back Christmas was filled with crafting, wrapping, and baking.  Certainly these activities are still well enjoyed by you both but I detect a change in the excitement level.

Paper snowflake making just does not make you bounce off the walls the way it used to.  One year Ben, you made paper snowflakes for hours.  We covered the basement with them...this year you did it for a half hour before asking to stop.

Of course with this change in Benny brings change to Jack as well who this year mastered the art of snowflake making.  It was very exciting to see you open each snowflake with excitement to see what you had created.  You were also the one to roll about 50 shortbread cookies all by yourself...not bad for a five year old!

Perhaps this is where tradition takes over?  What we used to do because it was beyond exciting becomes the things we do each year to carry on our own little unique set of Christmas rules and regulations.  Yes, there is a movement towards the understanding of tradition and activities that occur each year as part of that.  This brings some comfort because even if the uncontrollable excitement is gone I can handle it as long as we still retain the group spirit in making Christmas happen.

So this year I am totally sucking the marrow from each step of Christmas preparation so my barrel of memories of the two of you will be full full full.  I have it all planned...paper snowflakes, foam houses (4 different varieties), baking, decorating, wrapping, Christmas bags for your school friends, gingerbread decorating party with your friends from the street, Play clay Christmas ornaments, foam ornaments...

Just promise you will let me do this for the years to come even if it does get a little lame.  In exchange I will stop planning parties to decorate gingerbread ornaments well before you are fifteen years old...because that isn't cool right?

Spoooooky!!!!!

One thing this family loves is some Halloween fun! Every year we decorate the house inside and out. We started a few years back because we really wanted to have one of those houses that all the trick or treaters remember from year to year and look forward to going to year after year.

When I was a little girl no one really decorated the way they do now but there was this one house that had spooky music and I could not wait to get to it. I think that we are one of those houses in our neighborhood now. I say ONE of those houses because the competition is pretty hot and heavy in this sub-division. Though we were one of the first to decorate in a grand way we have most certainly been surpassed at this point!

I have to say that my two boys have definitely taken to this season just as we have. The spirit that fills this house is incredible. Picture two little boys ripping through boxes of decorations and setting up their own little spooky places. This year both of you even worked with us to choose the spooky background music giving thumbs up and thumbs down to the final selections.

I can picture you both doing the same with your children when you becomes fathers. Ahh what fathers you will be. Wonderful.

The Bike That Jack Built

Don and I were in the garage last night and looked over at little Jack's bicycle.  We realized that he has slowly given his bike a makeover.  It happened so slowly that we hadn't realized it.  Almost like when you see your friends children and comment on how much they have grown and your friend says "Oh, do you think so?"

And so we see:

The Christmas Teddy Bear Grandma and Grandpa gave Jack when he was two years old tied on the bicycle with a string from his string art kit.

The pinwheel he got from a loot bag fastened with way too much packing tape.

Dollar store horn that toots an extremely irritating toot.

Two foam balls, one stuffed into the horn and the other in the handle bars.

About ten spoke beads left over from Ben's reign with the bike.

All together it creates quite an impression.  That's my Jack!