Merry Christmas

It's been exactly a year since I've posted an update....so sorry!!  But Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

Christmas Morning...

Christmas morning is always spent at our own homes, while my mom flip flops between our home or Heath's home to watch our kids open their gifts.  This year, we got her....although I don't have a single picture of her with us! oops.

The boys have certainly reached the "sleeping in" stage and we had to wake them up when Grandma arrived.  Our tradition continued with three gifts: something you need, something you read and something you want.

 This year they got WDW season passes for their "want" gift.

 fishing poles for their "need" gift

 and an assortment of books for their "read" gift.  

 This year however, they did get one "bonus" gift.  Our friends gave us their old Mac computer for free and we decided to surprise the kids with it on Christmas morning as well!

 After we clean up our mess, and get cleaned up ourselves, we headed over to my brother's house for Christmas brunch and gift exchange with his family!  I've been SOOO bad about photographing our experiences lately, so unfortunately all I got was this self portrait with Peyton! :)

Christmas at Dedi's

We go to Dedi's house every year for the "McCann" side celebration.  Her and Tom always serve their infamous gumbo, with lots of side goodies, and we have a great time!

This year the boys got their own gifts to give to their beloved Dedi.  Ashton, our garage sale king, was so proud of the "finds" he scored for her:  lighthouse salt and pepper shakers for the beach condo.  Ethan hand made her a Valentine's Day wreath that says "Love Lives Here" out of styrofoam, just like my wooden wreaths I make.

For the past two years, Dedi has given the kids "outings" they can do together instead of a toy gift.  Last year Ashton went to the Monster Jam and Ethan scored Florida Gator bowl tickets.  This year, my mom joined in on the gift and got both our boys tickets (and a weekend away with them) to Florida State's Homecoming game!  Of course Ashton was over the moon....Ethan, not so much.  Bless his heart.  He tried to hold it together, but he really was a bit confused why this Gator loving sports fan got tickets to a Florida State game.  LOL.

 They even got him a shirt made that says, "I'm a Gator fan all year, but I'm a Seminole Today!"  I know he was a bit taken back by the gift, but he is going to LOVE being up there for the weekend in Tallahassee with some of his favorite people, amid all the excitement of game day, the Homecoming Parade, the cool hotel room, etc. He'll have a ball!

Ice skating Florida Style

To kick off the "Christmas Season" our homeschool group planned an outing to the ice skating rink that the City of Winter Park erects for the holiday.  It really is quite funny, since all it is is a big pop up tent with a square "rink" of ice inside.

The boys enjoyed themselves.  Ashton was a bit more daring, while Ethan spent most of his time hugging the walls.  It was warm outside, and since it's in an outdoor tent, I was sweating while watching them. LOL

Ethan turns 11!!

For Ethan's 11th birthday (ummm...WHEN did he get this old?!  Seriously.) we had a CSI Mystery party!  He wanted to do a who dunnit type party at our house, but considering the home we are living in is only 1000 sq. ft. with a very tiny dining room, I thought it more feasible, and fun, to take the party elsewhere.

He had several classmates from Circle, along with his cousins, meet us at the CSI Experience off International Drive.  It was great to just show up and not have to worry about decorations, food, or the experience itself.  They then became super sleuth mystery detectives, trying to solve the crime by the clues left at the scene.

The "experience" also included a showing of a CSI television show while they ate their pizza, but unfortunately it was NOT appropriate, so I ran to the TV and turned the power off as quick as I could get there.

He had a great time though and it was nice to pay our bill and leave the clean up to them! LOL

Halloween photos, or lack thereof...

I was a terrible mom last night and did NOT take very good, or many, pictures of the kids dressed up in their costumes.

Ashton went as a tie dyed guy...full body suit from his hair to his toes.  It was fun.

 Ethan went as a gangster.  Cutie pie...you can have whatever I've got! :)

Frankenstein Treats

A couple of weeks ago I woke up one morning to find this cut out article lying on my laptop with a hand scribbled note beside it that we should make these, along with They're HEALTHY!  LOL  The writing alone led me to believe this was the work of Ashton! :)

We had plans to go over to my Sister-in-Law, Shannon's, house to trick or treat with the cousins.  She does a BANG UP job decorating for every holiday or occasion with food and adorable decor.  I wanted to contribute SOMETHING worthy for the night!  I thought these would be a great idea.

So I got the supplies and Ashton and I got to work.

 In order to make authentic Frankensteins we had to color the marshmellows green with dye.

 Once everything was sufficiently stirred and created, we put it in the tray to cool properly.  A few hours later we cut them into squares and put each one on a stick.  Then the real fun began...

 We used candy corn for noses, black icing for hair, colored gel for lips, eyes and whatever else tickled our fancy.

 Daddy walked in the door from work, saw what fun we were having, and wanted to jump in and create a few on his own! :)

 See "Princess Leia"?? LOL

 Ashton with our creations!

 Daddy was washing dishes, but I wanted him to take a photo with one of his cute creations!

 Aren't they cute???  Too bad we totally forgot to get them out of the car when we got to Shannon's house!  Yep!!!  Can you believe that!?!  UGH....so mad when I got home and it hit me that we didn't bring them inside.  So bummed.

Like we need more sugar on top of all the other sugar we got going door to s