Christmas Top 5

My favorite things about Christmas this year:

1. Walking through Winterhaven to see the Christmas lights. Both kids loved it!

2. Sewing: The Christmas deadline got me to finish some projects. I just wish I had taken pictures of them! I made a few taggie blankets, lots of beanbags, and a stocking for Haley. Imagine a red stocking hanging next to the other three. :)

3. Christmas cards: If you didn't get one from us, don't be offended. It just didn't happen this year. But I still got excited every day to open the mailbox and find pictures and news from friends.

4. Mary and Joseph Sighting: An unusual couple walked into Wendy's the other day while we were having lunch. They weren't exactly homeless, but the man had a full beard, the woman had long, wavy hair and both were dressed a little scruffy. Trevor stared at them and quickly turned to me: "Mom, I see Mary and Joseph!"

5. Time with Family: My brother Allen and his wife Lori have a boy Trevor's age and a girl Haley's age. They live in Utah and we rarely get to spend time with them so this Christmas was so fun for both families. We also saw Birch's sister Marie and her family who moved to Boston this year. And don't forget THREE missionary phone calls on Christmas!

Haley & Kaitlin

Trevor and Benson at Christmas Eve dinner. Pretty serious faces!

Grandma and Grandpa with the baby girls on Christmas morning.

The Smells of Christmas

A few weeks ago I was baking gingerbread and got hooked on the smell. It lasted for days! It got me into the spirit of Christmas so when it finally went away I looked for other yummy smells that remind me of the holidays.

Trevor gets all the credit for decorating this beauty. If this much candy ended up on the house, just imagine how much was in his tummy!

After gingerbread I found the recipe for cinnamon ornaments. These are equal parts cinnamon and applesauce mixed into a dough, rolled flat and cut into shapes, then baked at 200 for 2-3 hours.

Some of the cinnamon ornaments ended up on the tree and some I tied to rafia to decorate other parts of the house.

Next aroma was an orange-clove-cinnamon potpourri. I don't have one of those mini crockpots so this was simmering on the stove all day.

On Saturday I stopped by a Christmas tree stand and picked up their extra branches. I love the convenience of a fake tree but it's nice to have a little scent of pine.

Thanksgiving in the Sand

Both of our families have started a funny tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving at the beach. Usually whoever we're spending the holiday with will rent a house in Rocky Point but this time we stayed in San Diego. Don't you love the ocean when it's stormy?

Trevor wasn't too sure about getting in the water but he loved the sand!

Haley was squirmy as usual, and it was hard to keep that sand out of her mouth.

Our swimsuit model. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Clothes Make Kids Expensive

People always say that kids are expensive and I've never believed it until recently. First, I've been lucky to have an easy time with breastfeeding so we've never had to buy formula. We have to buy diapers but the generic Target brand works for us and since not buying diapers isn't an option I don't really see that as an extra expense.

I also didn't realize how spoiled we were with baby showers. I was excited to have a party but didn't see them as the huge money-savers that they were. Now when I think about the clothes, blankets, toys, and misc. baby items we received, it makes me want to write those thank you notes again. We hardly spent a penny on Trevor thanks to generous friends.

Those friends also included a few who shared their hand-me-downs with us. (And if you're one of them, this post is NOT to make you feel guilty and give us more. Really, should we be passing clothes on until our boys are in college?) So once the baby clothes from showers were gone there were still clothes to use and save us money. Until...

That boy got bigger and a baby girl came along. Now I'm finally shopping for kids' clothes and it's putting me to the test. My biggest problem is figuring out how to budget for it. I'm learning to buy ahead and shop at the end of the season for sales, but there's no telling when I'll find a good deal and need to spend extra money.

So finally I do agree: kids can be expensive. And if not expensive, then finding good deals is time-consuming. Really, I don't want to spend most of my days out shopping so I'm trying to find a balance. Looks like it's time to re-write the budget.