Recent Goings-on

Will is continuing his adventures on the potty.  He even tells us he needs his "privacy" sometimes!  Mommy taught him that word when she was working with him on #2.  :-)  Even after one successful "go," he is NOT interested in any more attempts.  Even with a standing bribe of M&Ms.  It will happen, right??!!

Will has enjoyed making phone calls to Meme and Pawpaw and Memaw and Pepaw.  He was on a streak of making calls every evening after supper.  I think the grandparents enjoyed this!!

Instead of just letting him play with the Guitar Hero guitar, Mark decided to show how to "wear" it.  Will did him proud by showing that he knew what to do with it right away.  Between the guitar and the piano at Meme and Pawpaw's house, I think we have a musician on our hands!

Matt has introduced us to a new card game called Fluxx, which he received as a Christmas gift.  Here's a quick description of the game from the game's website:

The card game with ever changing rules! It starts out simple, with just the Basic Rule card: draw one card and play one card during each player's turn. But New Rule cards quickly make things chaotic.

Even the object of the game will often change as you play, as players swap out one Goal card for another. Can you get the Rocket to the Moon before someone changes the goal to Death by Chocolate?

I have found some wonderful recipes on Pinterest, and I tried a couple this past week.  One is "Cake Batter Dip," which I found here.

Cake Batter Dip

1 (18 ozs) box cake mix

1-1/2 c. yogurt

1 container Cool Whip (I used light)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until blended.  Cover & refrigerate! Serve with graham crackers or vanilla wafers.

Pictured above is my first masterpiece - I used a Strawberry cake mix with vanilla yogurt.

Pictured above is my second masterpiece - I used Funfetti cake mix with vanilla yogurt.

(Out of my two attempts, I preferred the Strawberry!)

Another recipe that I LOVE was "Easy Crockpot Potato Soup," which I found here.  I LOVE that it is SO easy and SO delicious!!

Easy Crockpot Potato Soup

1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns

3 14oz. cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {Don’t use fat free - it won't melt!!!}

In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese.  Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat.  About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted.  Serve with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, green onions, or whatever else you think would be good!!

NOTE: For today's soup (pictured above), I added a can of corn and did a trick with the cream cheese.  The first time we made the soup, we noticed the cream cheese did not melt all the way.  When it was time to put the cream cheese in today, I microwaved it for about 30 seconds, then blended it with a bit of the soup in a mini food processor.  This was definitely worth it - SO creamy!!

After a nap one afternoon this week, Will held a concert in the kitchen.  A little "Mr. Sun" and "Jingle Bells" were on the lineup.  Pants on the head were a plus for concert-goers.

Visit with Memaw and Pepaw

Memaw came to visit the day after Christmas, and we had so much fun during their visit.  It was so much fun opening presents from family in Tennessee (and a few leftovers from Mommy and Daddy from Christmas Day) - Will loved all his gifts!

We went to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond for the GardenFest of Lights, which is held every year after Thanksgiving and through the Christmas season.  Below, you can see that Will loved riding in Memaw and Pepaw's van.  He loved jamming to 60s tunes, too!

It was pretty cold the night we went, and Will turned into Liam while we were there.  Sooo... Mark and I managed Will (Liam) inside while Ross and Brenda finished their tour:

We picked up supper on the way home, and Pepaw taught Will how to take some BIG bites!!  :-)  These two were hilarious!!  They gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "cheesing it up"!

We took a few pictures with Memaw the morning they left.  Will loves Memaw and Pepaw!!!  We can't wait to see them again!

Christmas Season

I love Christmas; I really do.  I love the trees, the decor, the lights, the spirit.  Everything.  What is less than fun is cleaning up after Christmas.  Since we put our tree up before Thanksgiving, we were ready to take the tree down earlier than normal.  We still have a few items that still need to be packed away, however.  With school gearing up to the end of the semester, it just hasn't happened.  It will soon.  But I thought the Christmas Blog Post should come first!  :-)

We were privileged to be the Advent family at the service early Christmas Eve night.  The service was really special, and we enjoyed our traditional ride around to enjoy Christmas lights on the way home.  The annual Christmas Eve luminaries in our neighborhood take my breath away every year.  Here is Will with his friend, Marc, at church:

Now for Christmas morning - here's a quick photo of the scene that Santa left before Will came downstairs:

We hope to begin a tradition of taking a picture of Will coming down the stairs every Christmas morning:

Will had SO much fun playing with his new toys and opening presents on Christmas morning.  He even called Santa (see phone photo below; this was completely his idea!) to say THANK YOU.  :-)

Meme and Pawpaw came over a little later in the morning.  They delivered an awesome present - Will's "Froggy Chair"!  Check out his expression... priceless!

Will seemed to be so overwhelmed by the gifts Santa brought him - pictured below are the gifts FOR HIM that he wasn't interested in opening all day (and night) on Christmas!  Can you believe it?!  It was as if he was saying he didn't need anything beyond what he was currently playing with!  (We finally DID get him to open these presents the night after Christmas when Memaw and Pepaw arrived.)

A little Barney-watching in his new Froggy Chair:

We went to church on Christmas morning - there was only an 11am service - and joined the handful of folks who came out to sing Christmas carols.  Will did a great job in the sanctuary and participated in Children's Time with Pastor Jan (he is on the far right):

Uncle Matt came over after Will's nap so he could open the gifts from Bernice and him.

That evening, we went to Meme and Pawpaw's house and had a fun "appetizer" Christmas dinner, a few more presents, and some Barney/coloring time with Pawpaw.