Dipping Chocolates......Oh so delicious

Clearly I'm a bit behind, because my fabulous sister-in-law blogged about this last week:) But, better late than never is the motto I live by these days!

Last Saturday we (meaning the Hutton women) did our yearly tradition of dipping chocolates. This is something Mary has done with her family forever. She did it all growing up and he continued on with the tradition. I have to say, it's one of my favorite traditions too. The first year I ever did this (when Brian and I were engaged, I was a little skeptical as to how much fun dipping chocolates could be. I was wrong for thinking that and am so glad that it's something we still do ever year. My waistline doesn't necessarily need it, but I sure enjoy it regardless:)

Erin and and I are the family dips. Meaning we get to dip our hands in a big ole' pile of chocolate and cover the centers in chocolate. Man do I love chocolate, so dipping is fun. And you get to smell like chocolate the whole rest of the day:)

Now that the kids are older, they always come over for a bit and get to try their hand at being dips. This was the first year for this little miss. And she did a fabulous job. I showed her how to do it one time, and she was good to go and went to town decorating her marshmallows. And she looks pretty cute in an apron too.
I will say, my kids hate having dirty hands though, so dipping for my children was very clean (can't say the same for my niece and nephews, they aren't afraid to get down and dirty with the chocolate!)

Last year Eli didn't want anything to do with dipping. He surprised me by actually doing some this year. He dipped a few candy canes and then decided he'd had enough and ran off to do "manly" things like look at train magazines or something:)

And here we are with all of our chocolates (well almost all of them, Mary and Erin were finishing up the nuts....I had to get home to get a handsome little baby down for a nap). It's a good thing we only do this once a year:)

Handsome

This little man has started to develop quite the personality. He's such a fun loving little guy! He gives tons of smiles and will "talk" with you if you talk to him. So cute. He's growing up so fast!!!
He's also decided that it's fun to wake up in the middle of the night (before it's time to eat). He wants some one on one cuddle time with his mama. I think this is a little dose of karma.....I used to wake up in the middle of the night and be so wide awake and alert and think it was time to play. Not cool. Thankfully, he usually sleeps in my arms (knock on wood:)), but I'm going to have to put a stop to that soon. Good thing he's SO. STINKING. CUTE.

So cute I might just sleep there

Earlier this summer, before Parker was born, we moved Eli and Kamdyn into the same room. Even though we were finishing the basement, I felt like Eli was too young to be down there by himself (why, i'm not real sure, he plays down there by himself all the time). So, we attempted the whole sharing a room thing. It didnt really work so well for us. Eli is not always the best sleeper, and he started messing with Kamdyn's pretty good sleep habits. She wouldn't go to sleep before 9:30 (bedtime is at 8:30) and Eli often woke her up in the morning around 6 when he was getting up. All of it was frustrating, but I told myself it would eventually get better. I waited and waited, and tried new things. There was one night that settled the whole separate room issue for me. Eli kept coming out of their room and it would upset Kamdyn so she started crying. I'd take Eli back to the room only to have him leave 5 minutes later "because sissy was crying". I would tell him she was crying because he kept leaving, and if he stayed in his bed, she would go to sleep. So I took him back to his room.....same thing happened again...and again....and again. Finally by 10, I took Kamdyn out of their room and Brian layed in bed with Eli. At 11:30, Kamdyn was still awake! End of story there for me. Clearly a shared room wasnt working for our kids, and I was tired of poor sleeping for both of them. I asked Brian what he thought about moving Eli downstairs and he said he thought it was a good idea. So, the room switching began! I was excited because this gave me an excuse to do over Kamdyn's room and give her something cute and girly. Eli's room is fun too, but it's still kind of a work in progress, so more on that later.

I'm in love with the grey and yellow color scheme, so that's what we did in her room. I also love damasks....so I got a big ole' stencil and stenciled a wall. I. LOVE. IT. So much so, that I'm jealous of my two year old daughter's room. There are still a few things I want to do in there, but for now, it's done. She doesn't really seem to care much either way, but someday I know she will:) I lovingly asked Brian if he would help me paint the room over Thanksgiving break when his mom had the kids for a granny day. He agreed (thanks babe!)

These are some cute hoops from my friend Mindy, etsy shop. I just thought they would go perfect in her room.
I found a table cloth at target that I loved that was the right colors, so I bought it and made them into curtains (don't look too close please!)
Her amazing stenciled wall. Oh how I love it. I didn't even mind doing it, kind of just got in a groove. It only took me a couple of weeks to finish by doing three or four here and there when I got a chance, and I was able to finish it up last week when I had a granny day (those granny days sure bail me out a lot when it comes to getting projects done! Thanks Mary!!) This picture doesn't really do it justice either. You gotta see this wall in person:)

Just a glimpse of the other wall in her room with my cheap Uppercase living art and the silhouette I did of Kamdyn. Oh, and her awesome clock I got from Hobby lobby:)

There you have it, Kamdyn's "girly" room all made over.

Jesse Tree/Advent Calendar

The Christmas season is upon us. I can't believe that Christmas is just a few weeks away now. Holy Smokes! Not sure where the last 12 months has gone, but it's sure gone fast. This year, I wanted to do some fun stuff with the kids. They are getting old enough to enjoy some Christmas traditions, so I decided we should get some new ones started:) One of those new traditions is the Jesse Tree. This is a fun thing to do with the kids to get them in the bible. We got a special tree for their ornaments.....each day, they get to open up a box that has an ornament in it with a picture on it. The back of the ornament has a scripture reference on it, so we open the bible and read the verses on it to learn about Jesus. The kids really like the ornament part. At three, Eli doesn't care a whole lot yet for the bible verses, but I think the older he gets, the more he will enjoy hearing stories about God and Jesus and his promises to us.

Another tradition I am starting up is the advent calendar (I will post some pictures of our advent activities at a later date). It's the same concept of the Jesse tree (do something different each day leading up to Christmas), but it's more activity based in our house. For those of you that know me well, you know that this might be a stretch for me:) I had to come up with 25 "Christmas-y" activities to do each day. I say this might be a stretch because several of the activities are crafty, or involve baking with the kids. I love being crafty, and I love baking, but not with the kids. I am not one of those moms that does fun crafty activities or bakes cookies with the kids on a regular basis. I wish I was, because they love doing this kind of stuff, but it just sort of stresses me out. So we don't usually do it. SO, December is going to be a special month for them:) And who knows, maybe I will learn to love some crafting and baking with the kids and we can make it a more regular thing.

Thankful

Since it's December 1st, I thought I would blog about our Thanksgiving:) This is what happens when I'm too lazy to get the pictures off of my camera......two weeks between posts. But, don't worry, I have lots of posts up my sleeves for the coming months!

Our Thanksgiving was great. Thanksgiving isn't one of my favorite holidays....mostly because turkey is probably my least favorite "holiday food." I'm a ham girl through and through. I still eat it and enjoy it, but I just don't look forward to it like I do Christmas dinner. BUT, I lucked out this year and got two thanksgiving meals that didn't involve turkey:) Delicious food non-the-less. I think I probably gained a few pounds from two meals. We had some yummy prime rib at Brian's parent's house, and chicken and noodles (one of my personal favorite foods of all time!) at my mom's house. Yum-o!!

We have so much to be thankful for this year (just like every other year too.....we truly have been blessed).

First and foremost I'm thankful for this man that God put in my life. Such a great hubs and amazing daddy. I'm thankful that he knows this mama is often at her breaking point with the kids by the end of the day and stays home and plays with them while I escape the chaos and get out with just the babe. He deals with other people's nutso kids all day long and is still awesome about coming home and playing with our nutso kids everyday (he has quickly become their favorite.....think it has something to do with the fact that he lets them crawl all over him, throws them onto pillows, and just really pays attention to them (helps that he doesn't have daily house upkeep to do!!)) He is pretty amazing:) I'm thankful that he has a good job that pays the bills and gives him so much time off during the year (the kids love this too!).
I'm thankful for family......for great-grandparents that have the opportunity and the ability to love on and watch our kids. Because really, great-grandparents are pretty awesome.
For food on the table, everyday. One of those things that I know I just take for granted. I've never once gone hungry, and that alone is a major blessing. Even our horribly picky 3 year old goes to bed with a full belly every night.
I'm thankful for this sweet baby boy. While adding a third kiddo to our mix has been an adjustment and total chaos:), he is absolutely perfect. Can't picture our lives without him in it. I love him so much and he's already growing up way to fast for me. This face.......so. stinking. cute.
I'm thankful for one child who isn't a particular eater. She makes me smile. This one is a firecracker, but she sure brings lots of joy. She oozes sweetness from every pore of her body (starting to get mixed in with some sour too, but she usually redeems herself very quickly). And she LOVES her food:) She was eating everything her big brother wasn't.
I'm thankful for Aunts and Uncles to play with our kids. Our kids are lucky because they have lots of loving aunts and uncles her in town. And lots of cousins. Family get-togethers are loud, but so fun.
I'm thankful for this boy. Our firstborn......very stubborn. Oh how he tests me daily. Toddlerhood is not a good stage for me, and this kid gives me a run for my money, but I love him so. And man does he say the funniest things!
I'm thankful for sweet moments between family.
And for little girls who are goofy and find no greater joy than putting on her grandpa's boots and trotting through the house (as best as she could...those things were as tall as her legs!) You gotta watch your shoes around this one. It's starting young, she loves to wear other people's shoes around the house:)
I'm thankful for so many wonderful grandparents to spoil on our kids. And they all live here, double bonus.So many blessings. Such a great day full of food and family. Now we can move on to the Christmas season! Wanna take any bets on how long it will take me to get the house decorated?? I'll give you a hint......It's December 1st and while our tree is out, it's not decorated.....the stockings and everything else is still in the attic.

Your face is funny

Hello all! Did you miss me?? I sure did:) Sorry for the lack of posts.....I'm getting grief from Brian for not updating this in forever. We're still here. Keeping busy, and obviously not taking any pictures or doing anything exciting or blog worthy. Not that I'm complaining about the fact that there's really nothing too crazy or exciting going on in life right now. I'm totally 100% completely okay with that. The three littles are just keeping me busy, driving me crazy, and still saying the funniest things. I've said before that I don't really enjoy the toddler stage, but man do they say some funny things! Brian is done with soccer (at least for a few weeks before pre-season training starts for girls). Can I get a Hallelujah!! It's so nice having him home. But he's really been trying to talk me in to getting a puppy. Funny huh? Never gonna happen.....at least not for several years.....then we can talk. I figure I should probably get the kids "house trained" before I have to deal with a puppy! At this point I think he might go blue in the face before he convinces me that a puppy is a good idea.

Okay, enough of my random ramblings. Let's get to the meat and potatoes of this post:) Several weeks ago, Brian's friend from college (and photographer:)) was in town for the weekend. He had some openings for some photo shoots, so I figured it was about time to get some updated family pictures. The last ones we had Kamdyn was only 6 months old. She looks so different now and we've added a sweet little boy....time for some pictures on the wall with him in them:) I've recently realized that we are pretty darn lucky because we know/are friends with an awful lot of people who take photos. Good thing too because our kids sure cooperate for them a lot better than me! Anyways, Luke was in town and took some family pictures for us. He did amazing. Not that I expected anything less from him:), but I was very happy with the new pictures I have. I really wanted to put all of the ones he took on here, but I didn't want to get too carried away. Guess you'll just have to come see us to see them all. So I put a few favorites up. And I do mean a few, because really all of them are my favorites (is that even possible??).

Truly amazing.....ALL of us are looking at the camera....even our 3 year old, 1 1/2 year old, and (at the time)9 week old. This may not ever happen again.





I sure do love him. He puts up with me and my craziness on a daily basis. Not easy to do folks.....this man is truly amazing and I'm thankful he seems to love me too:)

The lazy way to decorate a pumpkin

Let me be up front from the beginning.....I hate Halloween. In my opinion it's the dumbest holiday, and if we didn't celebrate it, there would be no tears shed by me. BUT, it is cute to see the kids dressed up in costumes:) So despite my dislike for the holiday, every year we get our obligatory pumpkins to carve. Only I also hate carving pumpkins. Geez, I'm such a scrooge, aren't I? Our poor children:) It's not that I don't actually like the look of carved pumpkins, I do, it's just that it grosses me out to touch the "guts" of the pumpkin. Not really my idea of fun. So we went the lazy route this year with the kids. It was probably a good thing too, because this way they could actually both be totally involved in the decoration of their pumpkins. They got to paint their pumpkins. It was a pretty big hit. I just had to bite my tongue and let them get busy crafting and not try to make everything perfect....not the pumpkins, just the paint and themselves....all those colors got mixed ,hard for me to be okay with that!:)

At this point I said to Brian, "this is why I don't craft with our kids." Kamdyn is a very messy artist. But she was sure funny. They were stripped down to diapers because I knew they'd make a mess. But Kamdyn would get some paint on her fingers, look at them, and then proceed to wipe her hands on her chest. She was quite the beautiful painting when she was done. Her pumpkin was too:)
We even had daddy decorate his own pumpkin for us.
This will probably be the tradition in our house for several years to come. So much cleaner than carving!!