The Millenium Falcon

in peanut butter and honey form!

Grandma got Star Wars sandwhich cutter for Luke this Christmas. Tomorrow is his first day back at school after Christams break and being sick last week, so we decided to break them out. Of course, Evan had to have one too!

Snow!

It snowed here this morning and the boys were so excited! It was about an inch on the ground, but since they don't get to see snow much, it was enough to cause hysterical excitement here.:)

They played outside in in and then came in for hot chocolate....we have to fake our winter wonderland moments here in Texas;).

Hoping the roads won't freeze and cancel school tomorrow!

Evan Reads To Luke

It was just as cute as it looks!

Evan is in a "I want to do things by myself" stage. He has started showering in his Jack and Jill bathroom by himself. After soccer yesterday, he insisted he was stinky and needed to shower and then showered again before bed. We still have to supervise, but still...very happy about this stage.

Jon and I were getting our dinner started....a fake date night, when we have dinner after they go to bed. After they were bathed and we were busy, Evan decided he would do stories for Luke. He read him 4 books by himself. Notice, Luke has to be snuggled under his arm for stories.:)

We are so proud of Evan's reading progress.

My week....in picture form

Yep, that's it! Luke has been sick since Monday morning and I have been in the house all.week.long. He has a virus with fever, congestion, cough and general yuck! My poor little man ventured off the couch a little more this afternoon and proceeded to puke after working himself into a coughing fit.

I have watched so much Max and Ruby and Star Wars that I am starting to dream about it. On the upside, the house is as clean as possible, my underwear and sock drawers are organized, I have read 2 books and every single shred of laundry has been washed. I knew insisting we get a treadmill would be good for times like these, I would never have remained sane without it this week.;)

15 minutes till cocktail hour...

Lost Message

Somehow my little Hugh Hefner didn't get the message that vacation is over.....Luke is still dreaming away at 8:30. This is my kid who would stay in his jammies all day and a just have me bring him snacks and such to his easy chair! All he needs is a smoking jacket:).

Lucky for him, he isn't back at school till Wednesday!

Short Rib Tacos

Jon flipping tortillas

Short Rib Tacos from Brigit Binns Slow Cooker book...I bought it for myself for Christmas.:) They were absolutely delicious and Jon raved for days about them!

Christmas Day

Evan being silly with Jesus' Birthday cake

Dinner at the Stouts

Mmmmmm......cake!

Riding the world's smallest bike

We had a fabulous Christmas! I need to make a note to take more pics. We have the habit of doing all video on Christmas morning and then Jon never gets it edited so it can be posted.

The boys made out very, very well! Luke's big gift was his Imperial At-At Walker and Star Wars Sheets for his bed.....plus the smallest bike I have ever seen. Evan got his Nintendo DSi, games for it, a new bike from Grandma and Papa and lots of Super Hero stuff. Luke also got a Star Wars apron and cookie cutter from Grandma and Papa. Both got sleeping bags and lots of Legos.

Jon got me a electric air pump for my car. Isn't that romantic?

We had a very lazy day, a delicious breakfast and lots of coffee. Both Jon and I ran so we had room for a delicious dinner:).

We packed up and headed the our friends, the Stouts. We spend Christmas with them every year and alternate who hosts.

Holly had a wonderful menu that included: pork tenderloin with a yummy sauce, salad with roasted beets, roasted veggies(including sun chokes which I had never had), cheese grits, deviled eggs, homemade rolls and peppermint red velvet cake. It was so delicious and I could have had 5 servings of cheese grits.

We played a fun game that added some humor to the day after the kids went to bed. After breakfast, Holly and I headed out to go shopping and have a wonderful lunch together....another great Christmas tradition.

Christmas Eve Food

Party Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking.....the boys favorite part of the meal:).

Meat Lasagna from Lidia Bastiniach's Italian American Kitchen

Tomato Basil and Mozzarella

My meat sauce...it was SO good. I made it on Thursday.

Jon took the boys out on "errands" Christmas Eve. I had already made my sauce and lasagna, so I baked my cake. It was a huge victory for me, because I am notorious at having huge baking failures. It was white cake with lemon flavor, buttercream frosting, raspberry jam for the filling and coconut on top. It was a party cake because according the boys it was Jesus' birthday party.

We went to church at 4 and sat with friends and then headed home for a nice meal. Jon and I had already done all our wrapping, so we watched It's A Wonderful Life and just enjoyed the evening!