A Little Boy and His LOVE for Santa and Sleighs

I have written in the past about how much my little nephew, Trey, absolutely loves Santa. He truly believes more than any kid I have ever known. His love for Santa goes beyond a simple desire to receive gifts from that big Jolly guy. He especially loves to use different things as "reindeer" and fly his sleigh around the house. I believe this obsession is going on three or four years now. I sure hope it doesn't die anytime soon.

Trey with his sleigh about three years ago

Trey as a reindeer with the sleigh and Santa's bag of gifts

Trey with his sleigh and "pigdeer"

Just this past weekend Trey was at mama and papa's and wanted to play with their silver sleigh. My mom hadn't yet pulled out her sleigh this year and couldn't get Trey to stop begging her to get it out. After much begging I told Trey we could make a sleigh. I pulled out a box from a shipment and he went to decorating. Before I knew it he had a sleigh complete with Snoopy as the reindeer and a stuff Santa sitting inside.

This is one proud boy. So happy with his "homemade" sleigh.

Let the obsession continue...

Holiday Decorating for the Humble Abode

We had a very busy weekend (as you will see from multiple blog posts) but Tom and I really wanted to try and get a Christmas tree on Saturday. I thought it would be fun to cut one down ourselves as I have never done that before. I found a place just out in O'Fallon. We had a small window of time on a beautiful 60 degree December Saturday so we head on out there. Sunbrite Christmas Tree farm is a random little place with 70 acres full of trees. Tom and I grabbed a little cart and hike on out to find our perfect little tree. We couldn't hike out too far because of limited time so we hoped we would find a good one closer to the front of the property.

Tom with saw and cart heading out to find a tree

Some of the trees to choose from

We found the perfect tree and Tom had it cut down before I could even snap a pic

We loaded that little guy on the cart and head on back

Don't worry, I didn't do any sawing

Tom carting our tree back

After a busy Saturday night and Sunday we finally had an opportunity to decorate on Sunday night. Just a few things in the small space, but the perfect amount to get me into the holiday spirit.

This is the "mistletoe" Tom made me last year for our homemade Christmas gift exchange

We are ready for the season now! Bring on the holidays.

Spreading a Little Holiday Cheer

For many years I have been my family's official Christmas light hanger. I can't remember if I have been doing this job since high school or early college, but it's definitely been a good 5-10 years. Yesterday was a balmy 50 degrees so we decided to get out and get the job done. We got new lights this year since my mom was not such a fan of the LED lights we hung last year. The whole experience was better than last year since the ladder wasn't swaying from the wind....that was slightly frightening. It took just about two hours from start to finish and turned out beautifully.

Climbing the ladder to the second story roof

A picture of me all the way up there

My second job while up on the ladder is removing the leaves from the gutter.

So gross, but at least we kill two birds with one stone.

I may or may not have dropped the leaves on my dad's head once yesterday.

He was trying to be mad, but he thought it was funny too.

The views from up top

And.....TADA!

These two shots were taken the minute we finished.

Just in the nick of time before it was too dark.

Yummy Eats

Lately I have been loving to cook. I realize it is time consuming and really annoying at times, but I love sharing and/or consuming my finished product. Below are some yummy treats I have made in the last week.

These are bite sized s'mores. Everyone loves a s'more and these are just like the campfire favorite but without a campfire. They are pretty simple to make too! This is what they looked like before I dipped them in the chocolate to finish.

Ingredients for s'mores: graham crackers, butter, powdered sugar, hershey bars, marshmellows, and chocolate almond bark. The hardest part of the recipe: getting the little things out of the muffin tin.

These are bite sized peanut butter brownies. The first time I made these I used Gharadelli chocolate brownie mix. It was delicious but it was so moist and very hard to remove from the muffin tin. This time I used regular fudge brownie mix. You just fill these little brownies with soft creamy peanut butter and dropped a few chocolate and peanut butter chips on top. Yum.
Ingredients for brownies: brownie mix, oil, egg, peanut butter, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips.

The finish products:

These treats were a HUGE hit at Tom's family Thanksgiving dinner. I felt like Betty Crocker :)

On Friday night I made sushi at home with Lara. It was nothing special but so yummy for something I generally reserve for a meal out. We made sushi rolls with cream cheese, tuna filet, and avocado. Incredibly yummy.

Naples Recruiting Trip

Organizers of tournaments and conventions aren't stupid. They always schedule these big events in locations where anyone would want to visit. The past three work trips I have taken have been to Southern Florida. Last weekend I went to the largest college recruiting trip of the year. I decided it would be fun to take Tom along this time. We have been anxiously awaiting this trip for quite some time and were so excited to see 80 degrees and sun in the forecast. We left early Thursday morning in order to arrive by noon.

Looking good on the plane :)

After we arrived, we picked up our rental car and checked into our hotel. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and walked to the beach. It was a beautiful afternoon. We spent a couple hours out there before heading back to the same restaurant for a little happy hour.

The Shady Palm Pub was a couple doors down from our hotel with a good happy hour menu and a patio. Couldn't ask for anything more on a beautiful November night in Southern Florida.

Tom showing off his Oregon brew for our friends in Portland

The next day we woke up to cloudier skies. It was raining a bit too. Just when I was about to get disappointed Tom suggested we drive about an hour to visit the Florida Everglades. Despite all of my time spent in Southern Florida I had never made this trip. When we arrived in Everglades City the skies had cleared a bit. First we took a look at this baby gator and then we waited for our airboat ride. It was beautiful there, but I had no idea what to expect.
We finally got on the airboat and went for a ride. This is the other airboat out on the water.

We got a glimpse of "yawny" gator.

We rode around for awhile then went into the mangrove trees.

It provided a narrow waterway for us to pass through. I absolutely loved it!

So gorgeous and a surprise around every corner.

The trees occasionally opened back up into a larger area.

One time we found a gator swimming around in there.

A couple pictures on the boat.

I am so happy Tom suggested a day in the Everglades. It made the rain much less disappointing and was a fun experience. When we returned we went to the outlet mall and then watched some games at the lacrosse tournament.

The next day we woke up to beautiful sunny skies. We packed a cooler and headed to the beach.

It was a perfect beach day mixed with clouds and sun.

We even saw a stingray swimming around.

After a morning on the beach I went to watch some more lacrosse games. It was a great weekend mixed with work and fun. We had a wonderful little tropical getaway. Perfect lead in to the holiday season that is upon us!

Trip to Ste Genevieve

This past weekend Tom and I decided to go to Ste Genevieve and spend some time with my sister, Stephanie, her husband and their sweet boys. It's such a quick and easy drive and we were so looking forward to more one on one time with the boys. We arrived Saturday morning and hung out for a while before heading to the Crown Valley Brewery. We had a groupon so we had some lunch, a couple drinks, and bought a growler to take home for the evening. It was fun to just hang out and watch some college football.

Tom and I at the brewery

When we left the brewery we called my sister to wake Dane from his nap so we could go hiking at Hawn State Park. Tom and I went backpacking in the park about a month ago and really enjoyed the trail. I thought Dane would love it since he loves being outside. He totally did. He ran down the trails, jumped off logs and threw rocks into the water. He had a smile on his face the whole time. Below are some pictures from our adventure on the trail in Hawn State Park.

Tom and Dane starting their hike

Dave and Dane take a break during the hike

Dane was along for the ride

Getting ready to throw a rock into the water

Finishing the hike. Dane ran out saying "I see Daddy's truck!"

That night we hung hung out at home with everyone. We made some pizza and relaxed.

Me with baby Reese

Sweet Baby Reese

In the am... hanging out with my sweet boys

What a great visit! It was fun not having to share the boys with any other aunts and uncles.