Ourselves the Elves

We're getting pretty excited about Christmas around here.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Can you tell?

Merry Christmas Monkey.

Christmas sewing has begun.

I just finished this little gal for Mckinlay. I think she'll like her.
The pattern was free and I got it here if you want to make one too.

Monkey is supposed to have a beret, but I'm not really feeling it. I'm thinking I'll add a bow or a flower or something. We'll see.

Happy holiday sewing!!

Melted chips and melted hearts.

I have so many fond childhood memories of doing...Not scowling and sitting on the counter pantsless (which, for the record, I swear she owns pants), but memories of sitting on the counter eating cookie dough and brown sugar straight from the bowl. I think I did this just about every time I went to Grandma Hallstrom's house. And sometimes, if I was super lucky, she'd let me have a Maraschino cherry too!

I come from a family of food lovers. We plan vacations around where were going to eat. We make treats all the time. We have food traditions. If we don't have parsely on the Turkey tray at Thanksgiving, we look towards heaven and say "sorry Grandma." We have gallons of hot fudge in our food storage. I didn't know that most people didn't have dessert after dinner every day or that some people consider Jello a dessert and not a side dish with Sunday dinner.

I'm so glad I lived a sheltered life.

However, I didn't know that a rubber scraper wasn't really called a "cheater" until I was in the 9th grade. I blame you mom for my embarrassment that day in cooking class when I asked for someone to pass it to me.

It's so fun making memories like I had with my little dough snitcher. And by golly I'll teach her it's called a "cheater" too.

And I'll tell you another thing that's fun:

(It's the ONE good thing about Ty not being home.)

Mckinlay leaned her forehead against mine and whispered:
"i ove you."
Que heart melt.
I think she likes dinner while Daddy is away too.
Hee hee.

Dancing in heaven.

Grandma Tutu passed away this evening. She was 97 years old.

It makes me smile to imagine her dancing around the spirit world surrounded by her loved ones. I know she is happy to be
dancing again.

Mckinlay and I were able to visit with her while we were in Utah this summer. Tutu loved watching Mckinlay running around her room (and stealing all her M&Ms) and she was so tickled that her name was "Mckinlay."

I took this sweet video of "Tink" and his "Shweet-hart," and thought you might enjoy it too.

I love you Tutu! And I want to join with the rest of the McKinlay family in thanking our Heavenly Father for the blessing she was in our lives and for the blessing it is that she is now on the other side.

A good day.

I've been so frustrated with Mckinlay today. She has this knack for pushing all my buttons at once. And I'm sure my frustration is escalated by that fact that Ty has been out of town for the past three days. Anyway, poor me. Wah wah.

I was pulling some banana bread out of the oven and heard the sound of crackers scattering and crunching all over the kitchen floor. I couldn't, nor did I want to, turn around (I was mid-turn-the-bread-out-of-the-hot-pan), but when I did, I found:
Mckinlay with broom in hand.

(Never mind the fact that her sweeping skills spread the kitchen mess into the living room.)

Then I was hit with a fresh perspective and guilt for all my frustration--
So we put a blanket out in the middle of the mess and ate some "nana bread."

It's been a good day!

And if you feel like making some "nana bread" too. Make this.
You're welcome.

Aren't they darling?

"How I love ya!"
P.S. Brennan turned 29 yesterday. No worries.

B.

Happy birthday big brother!

Gotta love those matching eyes.

No matter how old you get:
"One of these days I'm gonna catch up to you!"
XXXOOO

Halloween highlights.

I did add something to the brownies...just not bugs or quarters.

One word:
Di-vine

Rarrrr!

If I had one wish, we'd all be at Grandma Hallstrom's tonight.

I'm considering baking spiders and quarters into some brownies just for old time sake.

Wanna come over?

Happy Halloween!

Dental Skills.

Not everyone can make themselves a pair of real fangs.

I knew dental school was going to pay off.

Yesterday....

...was a good day for photos. Here are my three favorites:

Mckinlay drew on the couch with a BIC pen yesterday. So she went to time out. After time out, I took her over to her mess to show her what she did...after we were done talking she went in the other room and grabbed a baby wipe.

I love this picture because it shows two things:
A) I truly believe a baby wipe is the best cleaning tool. Ever. Kitchen table dirty? Wipe. Floor needs to be mopped? One wipe under each foot. Haven't used a mop since Mckinlay was born. I could go on and on, but maybe I should stop because I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed about that or not.
B) Mckinlay is really learning! It's so cute seeing her do things that Ty and I do. But we do draw the line when she asks to help "wipe" when we use the bathroom. Silly girl.

We went to Halloween story time at Ginger's and decided to sport last year's costume just for kicks. Remember the sucker/Kit Kat incident last year?

Guess I never washed it. But who is really surprised? This is when I like to throw in "You knew what I was when you picked me up."

After naps, we had the rest of the day with nothing to do. I decided it would be a good time to try this "microwave-cake-in-a-mug" recipe I found. Sounds too good to be true, right?
It was.

MAYBE it would be good if you cooked it a little less. And doused it in cream. And hot fudge. So disappointing. But probably for the best, because if we could make yummy cake any time we had an afternoon with nothing to do:
T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Happy Halloweek!

When Happy Jo was here, we took Mckinlay to Mt. Auburn for another Halloween photo shoot (Can you believe how much she has changed in the last year? Crazy, I know.). In honor of "Halloweek," I thought I'd post a few of my favorites. I wish I could post them all, but believe me, we took way too many pictures. And since this is her Halloween costume, this is only the beginning of the pictures that will be posted of her in it. Heaven forbid I over do it on the li'l witch photos.

Enjoy!

"Broadway here I come!"

A new tradition:

We watched Robin Hood.
I think this is the best tradition yet.

Bibbity Boppity Boo!

Girl's got it right.
Suede snow boots are much more practical than glass slippers.

(This was Mckinlay's prize for 3 days with no accidents.
Thanks Happy Jo.)

just call her...

Someone keeps stealing my applesauce apples.

Go Crimson!

Yesterday was Allston/Brighton Day at the Harvard Football Stadium--meaning we got free tickets to the game and had a free lunch before hand.

Don't we look Harvard-y in our Harvard garb?
It was super cold and it didn't help that we were sitting on 100 year old concrete. But it only made it that much more enjoyable. The stadium is small and you could really see the game since you were sitting so close.

I'm sure the team appreciated our cheering section, as the game was less than crowded. Thanks guys, for making it a fun outing! (Sorry Melissa, I didn't mean to cut off your face. Oops.)

And thank you inventor of the "Pottette". We couldn't have done it with out you.

"Mommy's Wowed..."

"I'm a big girl now!"

Mckinlay and I have spent the past 3 days at home potty training.
(Hence the reason for the towel sitting.)

Day 1:
Super excited about her new "big girl pants."
(Thanks "Happy" for making her so happy!)

Day 2:
Queen of the potty

Day 3:
Rockin' the "Melmo" pants.

I have heard rave reviews about this 3 day potty training method. A woman who calls herself the "Potty Training Queen" published an ebook about her methods (a friend sent it to me, but I believe you can get it here.). In a nut shell, you stay home for 3 days, cut out anything in your regular routine that would distract you from giving full attention to your child, throw away all the diapers in the house, follow your child around, give them LOTS of liquids and fibrous foods...all the while using a lot of positive reinforcement, trust, and rewards. It worked really well with Mckinlay and her personality.

Before starting, I thought I was going to go crazy by the end of day 3, but it has actually been, dare I say, a fun experience. Not the cleaning up "peepee" part, but spending so much one on one time with the little girlins (correct me, the big girlins) without other distractions. (But let the record show, if I never color another picture of Elmo again in my life, I'm completely fine with that.) And who can help but be excited by her face every time she heard the "peepee" or "poopoos" fall into the toilet!? As part of the training, she wore only a t-shirt and her big girl pants. Ty and I just couldn't get enough of her walking around on her tip toes with her little wedgied bum. So. Darn. Cute.

I'm so proud of how quickly she has taken to using the toilet. Knock on wood. Who knows what will happen as the novelty wears off, but if anything we're off to a great start.

A week with Happy and Papa

We were lucky enough to have "Happy" and "Papa" come out to visit us last week.
Here are some highlights:

Mr. Bartley's followed by Sacco's Bowl Haven.
"Uncle Bill" came along too. He was a really bad influence.
(The next morning Mckinlay woke up asking for "Happy," "Papa" and "Bill.")
We kayaked the Charles.
Mckinlay almost went overboard several times,
but somehow still managed to keep drier than these two.
(Aren't my parents the cutest!?)
We toured Fenway Park.
(Apparently someone didn't read the sign.)
We donuted and took a hay ride at Wilson Farms.
Mom and I made the cutest little witch costume. Ever.
(There will be plenty more pictures to come.)

And we ate, shopped, played, visited and ate some more. Thanks for the marvy week mom and dad. I don't know about you, but we're tired. Having fun is exhausting!!

"yuckies"

"Stir Them In My Witches Brew..."

Breezy and Mom, you may be the only other people who remember this song. I've had this in my head for days.



Oh Mr. Hartley.
Best. Music. Teacher. Ever.

Enjoy!

A fall day.

A hay ride

+

giant pumpkins

+
your bff
= a perfect fall morning.

Oh. And did I mention there were apple cider donuts involved!? 'Cause there was.

And serenading.