Santa!

Dylan visited Santa at Walmart this year! We wondered if he might be scared of him, but when we got there, he climbed right up on Santa's lap and started posing for the pictures. Then afterward, Santa asked him what he wanted this year and he replied very matter-of-factly , "I want a fish, turtles, frogs and a dolphin." And that was that! We knew he wanted the first 3 , but the dolphin was a small surprise.

Papa Dan

Dan came to visit for a couple days last month. Dylan loves it when he comes to see us (well, we all do!). He brought him a "Cars" flashlight, which was the greatest toy ever!

Advent

This is my advent calendar I made for Dylan. He ended up stealing a couple candies, but I think he understands what it is. (kinda) He told me yesterday that when all the candy is gone, Santa will come and bring him a present. Don't worry, we're working on the true Christmas story too!

Christmas Tea

Me, Cheri, Jennifer and Tanya


Last Saturday, our church had it's annual Christmas Tea! The men served us a wonderful dinner, we had singing, a skit, and a great guest speaker. I hosted a table so I got to decorate and bring in place settings for everyone at my table. It was really fun!

Piggy Banks

Here are some piggy banks I painted for Dylan's cousins. It's their Christmas present, so Aunties if you see this, you'll know what they're getting. Hopefully, the kids won't see. Dylan helped me by making some coffee mugs with his markers.

New Furniture

Before

So Eddy and I had a large couch that was so uncomfortable that we would actually fight over this old, broken lawn chair. So we decided to break down and buy ourselves some new chairs. They are much better! Eddy got his recliner and I actually got a recliner too, only it's smaller and way more comfortable. Dylan got this banana chair and he seems to like it ok.

mine


Eddy's recliner


Dylan's banana chair

Lazy Cat

Here is a picture (didn't turn out too good) of our fat cat, Kramer, drinking water. He literally lays by his bowl to drink. It's pretty funny.

Halloween

For Halloween this year, we went to Boo at the Zoo! Eddy had to work on actualy Halloween so we went a few days before. We just walked thru the zoo and saw the animals and then there were tons of booths set up for the kids to trick or treat at and some had games for them to play. It was actually really fun, except that it was freezing that evening so we ended up rushing thru the end. Dylan thought it was fun and of course loved the candy. Then on Halloween, I took him around our neighborhood and he got some more candy. He knocked on the doors all by himself, but one of the first houses we went to he knocked and then was almost going to open their door and go on in. He liked to chat with all the people - mr. jabber jaws. Most of his candy was thrown away within a couple days - after a meltdown from eating too much.

Pumpkin Carving

We thought Dylan would love carving pumpkins this year! But he would not even touch and of the pumpkin guts. Guess we'll try again next year. He thought it was fun to watch us do it!

Pumpkins Pumpkins!

Today, we went to a local pumpkin patch. Dylan went thru a small maze of hay, and then him and Eddy picked out a couple good pumpkins. It was pretty fun!

Dylan's first church performance

Today in children's church, the little kids came out to sing for us. They were all dressed in their Armor of God and were supposed to sing Jesus Loves Me. When they all got out on stage, the audience ended up singing and they all just stared at us. But they were pretty cute!

I've fallen and I can't get up!

Dylan got stuck in his Lincoln Log bin - he was crying for me to help him out, but I had to get a picture first. Then the camera batteries went dead, so he patiently sat there while I loaded new batteries in and posed for a few. Then finally I let him out. Too funny.

Circus Day

A couple weeks ago, Dylan had circus day at preschool (to help them learn the letter "c"). They all came out with faces painted and hair sprayed different colors. I guess he didn't want his face painted, but they painted a cute decoration on his hand instead. He immediately wanted it washed off when we got home.

Another funny preschool adventure - I went to pick him up last week and when I was walking up to the door, one of the teachers came walking out and says, " we can't find him, he was here a minute ago and now he's gone." So I went in and the other teacher was heading upstairs to look if he had snuck up there. She told me to walk around and call his name in case he was hiding. I didn't see him anywhere. She ended up heading out to look outside - even though she said she was sure he hadn't gotten out the front door. So by now, I'm starting to feel quite panicked and finally one of the little girls says, "there he is" - and pointed under one of the little tables. He was hiding under there, just grinning from ear to ear. I had him dressed in "camo" that day, so maybe that's why no one saw him, ha! The teachers were both just sick over it and I lectured him the whole way home about not doing that again. Quite the adventure.

New Craft Blog

So I finally got around to making a blog just for my crafts - primarily jewelry right now. To view it, log onto www.craftsbymandy.blogspot.com . It's still a work in progress and hopefully the pictures will show good enough tht you can see what this stuff really looks like! Pass it onto your friends to see too!!

PreSchool!

Dylan started pre-school last week! He did great! The pre-school is in a residential area, so they don't allow us to drop and pick-up at the school. Instead, we meet at a corner and the kids all hold onto a rope and walk down to the school. I thought he might be nervous with me not going with him, but I explained about the rope beforehand and when we got there, his friend Seth was there, and he grabbed on to the rope and left. Didn't even say goodbye to me ! When I picked him up I asked him if he had fun and if he did crafts and played games, etc. and his answer was, "No, I just hit, it's my new favorite thing." I asked his teacher today and she said he hasn't been hitting. So he's just making up stories I guess. They said he's been doing really good, just not sitting still very good, but that is normal for this early in the year. He comes home each time with a writing sheet where he has practiced writing the letter of the week, his name and then colored a picture. He usually has a craft they've made too. They are learning letters, numbers colors and words like "a, the, and" etc. etc.

Crafty

Here are pictures of a crosstitch I made for Eddy (my friend Cheri helped me frame it today). In case you can't see, it's just a picture of a man, boy and dog going out to fish. And the other picture is the latest addition to my living room- I just put vinyl letters onto the frames and then picked out paper to put in the background. I plan to change it out for holidays. I'm also thinking of starting my own craft blog so I can show off the jewelry I've been making and possibly sell some. We'll see!

Lemonade

We had a yard sale last weekend at my sister's house. I set up a little lemonade stand for Dylan. He was a great little salesman - everyone that came to the yard sale, he would run up to and yell, "Hey! I got remonade!" (he can't say the "l" sound yet). So needless to say he drummed up quite a bit of business! I would tell him to wait and see if they asked for lemonade and he would say, "but mom, do they have moneys or not?".