Fa La La La Lunatic

Like most of my out of control projects, this one started easily enough. I volunteered to host the monthly playdate for Blue's preschool class. The premise is really simple - invite the kids somewhere (house, park, whatever) to play so they can get time together outside of school and so that the parents can get to know each other.

So, I invited them over. Then thought, "well, we could do something...maybe a little craft project...it's almost Christmas...how about gingerbread houses?". I didn't think, "But wait, you don't have a pattern, you haven't made gingerbread in over 10 years, and oh, yeah, you still have a million things to do for Christmas and the end of the year in Primary - forget that you might want to sleep once in a while".

Blue and I designed a pattern, dug out the old gingerbread recipe, emailed a WONDERFUL friend, and gave it a try - and repeated 14 more times. Here are the naked houses:
And after being attacked decorated by 3 and 4 year olds:

Blue, working on his house (to his credit, he did ask permission before eating his way through a pile of candy):

I don't have any siblings (if I did, they might talk me out of some of these ill-conceived projects), but I wonder if Blue or Pink will resent having to share everything or be grateful that they were each included in so many activities. Probably the former. Oh well, they each got a house:

Wishing you much sanity in the final days before the real fun begins!

Tie?

I may or may not have forgotten about the Thanksgiving wishbone until today...when Red and I each grabbed a side with our pinkie fingers...made a wish...and ended up with this.

The pieces are the same size (as exactly as we can estimate without really scientific equipment).

Cyber vote needed: who wins? Do we both get our wish? Neither one of us?

Welcome to the House!

We've found a new home on the web, and hope you'll stop by and visit once in a while! To spice life up a little (who doesn't like spice?), we've all changed our names. Yes, we've become crayons - and not the fancy kind like chartreuse and magenta - just Red, Green, Blue, and Pink. And with a toddler and preschooler, all the crayons in our real house are broken, so why not here in cyberspace?

To start things off (and probably ensure that you never, ever come back here), I'm playing catch-up/Christmas greeting by posting a few highlights from 2009 - aka, the longest blog post you will ever see here:

January 2009: Here we are, one happy family to start off the year. Well, except Pink. She never smiles on command.

Pink did turn 1 in January, and we did manage to get a smile, but probably by holding up candy. Or more likely, bacon, her favorite food.
February 2009: In February, it's still pretty cold where we live, so we brought Blue's trike inside and he learned to ride on his "track". I took the tape off the floor after a while, but not before inviting all his playgroup friends to bring their trikes over!

March 2009: Red and Green celebrated 13 happy years of marriage! Lucky us!

And warmer weather - nothing as good as getting out of the house again!

April 2009: We had a fabulous Easter visit with Red's family. Do I get to make up names for them, too? If so, here is where the real color would come in - these are some of my favorite people in the whole world, and I wish we lived closer.

May 2009: We camped with our church group. Pink was less than thrilled, Blue couldn't get enough of it. Blue talks his dad into wearing these shirts anytime he can.

June 2009: We participated with a youth group from church in re-enacting a pioneer handcart trek. This was an amazing experience that I hope I get a chance to repeat again sometime in the future. The distant future, when I have more time to prepare my body for the intense Texas sun and try to avoid heat exhaustion.

July 2009: After mastering tie-dye (well, not exactly mastering), I decided we could wear matching 4th of July shirts for our trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I was trying for red, white, and blue, but ended up more aqua and magenta. Nevertheless, the family cooperated nicely, and we got lots of funny looks and dumb comments.

August 2009: We did whatever we could to cool off.

September 2009: Our family vacation for the year was in Hawaii. I can't say enough nice things. It was absolute paradise, and we all enjoyed spending time together and getting away from our regular life!

Blue also started preschool in September, and totally loves going to school like a big kid.October 2009: Blue turned 4, and was thrilled with a visit from his grandparents.

And of course, we ended the month by dressing up and begging the neighbors for candy - a tradition I do not even try to understand.

If you've made it this far, thank you very much! I hope you'll come visit again. And think of us the next time you open a box of crayons and maybe find some of them a little broken.