Christmas Pajama's

This is the first and LAST year that I will make matching pj's for everyone! Since they were supposed to be a surprise, it was really hard to get the fit right for everyone. Even though I tried to use their pants as a guide . . .

Jerry's fit him like a pair of tapered-leg woman's jeans
Mine were too tight in the hips
I think Darren's were okay
Claire's were too short
and Miles had a big pooch of fabric on the rear
I didn't even try to modify the pattern to fit Sammi

I will say that I was proud of myself for finishing them.

Darren's first piano recital

Several other piano teachers and I gave a combined Christmas recital. It was Darren's first one, and he did great! He played "Silent Night" as a duet with his teacher, and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" from memory.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I pulled the Santa card the other day when the kids were being really rotten, and reminded them that Santa only comes to kids who are being nice to each other! Well, I'm not sure how effective it was, because later in the day, I heard Claire giving this explanation to Miles:

Claire: "Miles, Santa has a list about you, and after you do a hundred bad things, he doesn't bring you any presents. Just a rock." (I like how they get to do a hundred bad things before anything happens.)

Miles: "Ohh."

Claire: "But don't worry, you'll still get presents from Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa Collingwood, mommy and daddy, and Uncle Taylor, Aunt Christy, Uncle Ellis, Uncle Paul, and Uncle Jon and everybody else.

Miles: "Okay."

Miles on his bike

Over Thanksgiving break, Grandpa taught Miles how to ride a bike! He is still working on using the brakes to stop instead of his feet, but otherwise does pretty well, and hasn't had any major falls. A couple weeks ago, I let him ride his bike up to the school to pick the other kids up. On the way back, he wasn't able to stop quick enough and ran into all of the kids that were waiting at the crosswalk. Since he wasn't going very fast, no one got hurt - but all the kids on their scooters toppled like dominoes - and they were NOT happy!

All of this for $30!

Ever since I was little and my aunts Debbie and Sally took us "garage-sailing," I have love going to garage sales. It is especially fun here, because each neighborhood does a community garage sale, and they happen every weekend for a couple months in the spring and fall. Some of my favorite deals this year were:

1. easy bake oven + 8 mixes and a box of cooking accessories: $12
2. solid wood rocking chair (more on this, later) : $20
3. 2 bikes (I looked them up, and they were $175-200 bikes) and a razor scooter: $31
4. Cat-in-the-Hat Costume for Miles (his FAVORITE movie character) : $1
5. Pottery Barn Kids surfer peg rack - totally goes with the decor in the boys' room: $1

I only bought stuff that looked new, and ended up saving most of it for Christmas. All in all, I think I spent less than $100. How cool is that?!