.::still blinking::.

Here are some photos I took over the Thanksgiving weekend. I love the cuteness of these kids and the gorgeous light that made everything glow in this house.

Also, aren’t my Aunt Adele and her granddaughter Kate so precious. I mean seriously. These photos make my heart swoon and my eyes a little teary.

And do you see Jonas smiling with his eyes, I swear he is about to break out the jazz fingers.

I made this hot chocolate today and it made me glad that I did not have cocoa mix at my house. You should try it, you will thank me and your husband will too.

Look how cute my boys are.

We are home. We only fought once and only on the way home and it was because JJ doesn’t read my mind (the nerve).

I will write more as I took lots and lots of photos. I need to fill your little eyes with the perfect perfection that is my life and not yours. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. (stop evil laugh here).

That last part was for my sister Kateka, that is really the name we call her although not her real name. She and I don’t like reading blogs about perfect people and the same crap over and over.

Also, do you stay up at night worrying about your money or lack there of. My inner worrying alarm wakes me up pretty regularly at 3am to worry. We are fine. Seriously. But still I must worry. And it really disrupts with my hot, hot dreams about Daniel Craig. Or Hugh Jackman. Sometimes both. I wish.

Guess who is learning not to wet in his bed at night and doing a pretty darn good job of it. Go JJ! I mean Gentry. Eight whole days. How does this work you may ask.

35 days + no wet beds = new kitty

We are pretty excited and trying to pay no attention to the fact that I am allergic and have never owned a cat. Hopefully I can handle it. Hopefully. Because we all want one. And G is working hard on his control. He is doing stellar though and big boys don’t pee in the bed.

And moving right along. Lets talk about Holiday food. These topics go splendidly together.

I am making Sweet Potato Casserole, which sounds dull, but is really so delicious you would ask to live with your face in a dish of it for a week. Seriously. There is more sugar here than nutrition.

Sweet Potato Casserole
4 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup melted butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sweetened condensed milk
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups chopped pecans (optional at my house)
20 large marshmallows

1- Cook your sweet potatoes in the microwave for 10 minutes. Wait for them to cool before continuing or you will burn your fingers off. Remember the game hot potato? It is not a joke. When cool, scoop out the insides into a large bowl.

2- Preheat the oven to 375. Butter a 13 x 9 inch baking dish and set aside.

3- In a large bowl, with a wooden spoon, beat the potatoes, sugar, butter, honey and salt until thoroughly combined. Add the sweetened condensed milk and cinnamon and mix well. Stir in the optional pecans.

4- Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes.

5- Remove the casserole from the oven and evenly place the marshmallows on the top. Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes longer, or until the marshmallows are golden brown and slightly melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

What!?!

I know I said I was going to post every day, but come on. Sometimes I just don’t have any thoughts rolling around in the old noggin’. Seriously.

Tonight I am going to eat out with a bunch of girl friends and I am sure when I leave Gentry will shed his clothing. He does this every night lately and runs around in his underwear, freezing and pretending he is Tarzan. And being the great parent that I am, I let him. Thank you all for not coming over in the evening unannounced. You would see us having Family Home Evening with one never nude (hi arrested development fans) child.

The time has passed to quickly. I remember thinking 6 months would never come, since than time has flown by. I cannot believe that you are four. We celebrated by throwing your first official birthday party. Since Dad and I love the design elements of the event we didn’t pay much attention to the big details like games and such. But the graphic elements we rocked.

Holy Batcakes, Batman!

T-shirts! We made a shirt for each kid. JJ did most of the work. I ordered the shirts from one of our vendors and I love them. They turned out really cute, JJ did all the screen printing. We are having visions of screen printing other things though. Like mens underwear. And lots and lots of onsies.

:: eating breakfast in the morning and actually being ready for the day ::

:: eagerly preparing for a very batman birthday party ::

:: sushi dinner tomorrow night :: black magic woman roll is my favorite ::

:: new ideas ::

:: a nearly clean house :: this is so rare and worked so hard for :: just one more toilet, tub and vacuuming :: yeah ::

:: exercising again :: hopefully :: i quit for about 2 months :: guess i needed a break ::

:: nearing the end of several books ::

:: learning to prioritize ::

:: bat fondant :: this should be fun ::

:: a little boy with a dry diaper in the morning :: also un-swollen junk ::

Gentry made friends this summer with my cousin Katrina’s daughter Kate. Kate recently got an email address so we have been writing to her. There correspondence is really cute.

Dear Kate-

I went to preschool today and I dressed up as Batman. My mom made my costume for me and I love it.

I am excited to go trick or treating on Friday and get lots of yummy treats. My mom and I have been singing the song that your Grandma Dale made up about witches and pumpkins.

My favorite dinosaur is a t-rex. What is yours?

Here is a picture of me and my mom making a funny face.

I love you,
Gentry

My JJ and Gentry look so much alike. Like I just went and changed the hair color and added whiskers. Neither of them look like me though. Which is strange to me.

Do this for yourself here.

:: having friends over to discuss a book ::

:: searching for perfect furniture to go in my empty house ::

:: beginning to feel the holidays ::

:: little eyes filled with wonder ::

:: all by himself he has started asking for things for Christmas ::

:: how calm he stayed with the crying baby :: he patted his tummy and drew him near :: he really did so well and was trying to hard ::

:: nearing the end of some projects ::

:: having a clean downstairs and and one bedrooms carpet cleaned ::

:: maybe I can clean up my room someday ::

:: preparing for Gentry’s birthday party :: he is super excited :: and I have never thrown one before ::

Some guys are super duper cute.