this is how we do

by the time matt gets home each day, ususally about 6:30 or 7 if we're lucky, the kids are so super sick of me.  they're excited to see matt & listen carefully for the front door to open so that the craziness of "ATTACK DADDY" can begin.

Sawyer goes straight for the legs, while Abram is generally too excited to stick to any one thing, so he alternates between riding on Matt's legs and running around the house screaming.

Then the wrestling on the bed portion of the evening begins.  And yes, that is a king size mattress & box springs in my front room.  You got a problem with that?  How else are we supposed to wrestle daddy & sleep under the tree?

Speaking of the tree, this is it. And that concludes the Christmas Decorations 2011 tour.  I was not about to sift through any boxes just to decorate a house that I barely care enough about to sweep.  Plus, we are in Utah for Christmas, so it's kinda just gonna have to be enough this year.  As it turns out, it is.  Christmas decor is actually not the life or death situation that pinterest would have you believe it is.  For our family it's the music.  Oh, and we've got music.

 

and cookies.  They are essential.  We've been making cookies about every day it seems like.

 and doughnuts. 

Doughnuts are kind of my Moby Dick. I will get them one day, I swear it.

 Not this day though.  See how gooey that big one still is?  So I kept making them smaller & smaller, and although they just kept getting cuter & cuter, they did not become less doughy inside.  Well, maybe a little bit, but no one seemed to mind.  I mean, geez, they're cinnamon buttermilk doughnuts.  How mad at them can you be?

 These little gingerbread buddies were a total hit.  I saw this recipe & had them baking in the oven about ten minutes later.  No lie.  Plus it uses whole wheat flour and molasses & honey instead of sugar. 

 or as Meredith puts it, "basically they're just really festive vitamins".

 the crap dollar store canned frosting however, not so much.  ew i hate using that stuff.  but it does help me not eat whatever i let the kids put it on.

 see, it's making my kids go retarded.  damn two mile long ingredient list.

 to distract abram from the cookies we gave him the rice crispie treats we had made the week before.  yeah, the week before. i make my kids work for their sugar, yo.  it was probably like gnawing on a rock.  but he kept at it long enough for sawyer to decorate all the cookies.

 'cept this one.  I did this one.  That's my very special Charlie cookie cutter Grandma Susie got me & I get to decorate my Charlie cookie whenever we do cut out cookies.

these ones are sawyer & abram holding hands.  how sweet is that?  ohhhhh I love my kids!