Christmas 2016 and Now

I don't particularly like Facebook but I do love how I've been back in touch with a lot of friends.  And I particularly like how Facebook shares my memories of previous photos that I had posted throughout my usage of this social media.  Well, a couple of days ago this photo showed up:

Awww... aren't the boys so cute!  I thought I'd try to recreate this moment.  Here's Charlie and Graham 4 years later:

They have both grown so much!  I think the biggest difference too is that Charlie is almost as tall as Graham!  

It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be trying to get these two monkeys to pose like the old photo.  Plus, next time I'll have to do it during the same time - for example, in this case to perhaps take the photo at night so the Christmas tree lights would be more visible like the old photo.  I'm sure I'll have lots of other opportunities to work on these photo remakes :-D

Christmas Eve

There was just one real thing to do really for Christmas eve and that was to bake cookies for Santa!  Since we had 2 more bags left of sugar cookie mix, I decided we would just bake those instead of holiday shortbread. And this time, Graham and Charlie did the cookie cutting.  I thought they did pretty well!

I just have to figure out how not to burn most of them.  Ha ha!  I obviously have some cookies placed too close to the corner of our oven - like the ones in the far left corner.  Good news is all the cookies still get eaten :-)

My good friend Linda came by and dropped off a whole bunch of gifts!  She is such a great person and friend:

She even packed some home-made soap.  They are too pretty to be used!

Time to decorate some cookies for Santa:

Here are the ones I decorated although I ate these.  He he...

Charlie loves sprinkles!!!

Graham has his own little way of decorating too.  These boys couldn't be more different:

And for dinner, Bobby went out and bought some wagyu rib-eye.  I have never cooked steak on a cast iron pan before. By the way, the pan was also a gift from Linda that I had just received on Christmas eve:

Well, funny thing... all that smoke from the grilling on the cast iron pan in the kitchen set off the fire alarm!  And it was the alarm that was connected to the security company.  I couldn't get the fan quick enough to blow away the smoke as I was busy tending to the steak.  And by the time I looked up from the stove, the entire kitchen was so smoky!  And soon enough, I was yelling to the boys to find my phone because I knew the security company would be calling.  I felt so bad that I had to apologize to the rep and of course, couldn't help laughing about the situation too.  Oops!

Anyway, I think we were able to save the steaks!  It did make a mess of the entire stove from all that splattering.  And also in the oven as I had finished off the steak in the oven.  What a mess!!! But the steaks were super yummy and tender and juicy.  I'll know next time not to put it on such high heat and not too much oil was needed either:

If anything, the stove and oven got wiped down.  And oh, also the floor and even the microwave since I was already cleaning so much of the kitchen. 

Meanwhile, after dinner the boys are searching for Santa on the "Santa Tracker" on the internet:

The cookies and milk are set for Santa! 

Graham left a little sticky note on Santa's milk mug:

I'm not exactly sure what Graham wrote but Bobby and I interpreted it as "This year I would like a go-cart".  A go-cart???  I should check with him on that one!

Once the boys were sound asleep, Daddy begins to eat up one of the cookies the boys decorated.  Oh wait, I mean "Santa" ate the cookies...

And by the way, here is Charlie's wish list/note for Santa on Christmas eve.  It's so much more elaborate.  Ha ha!

The big items are obviously an Nintendo Switch and any type of new Nerf gun.  Although, didn't he just get a Nerf gun from his brother?  I love how he wrote "and I think the... Nevermind."  It's so funny how he changed his mind about what he was going to write to Santa. LOL!  And then, he even said "And last but not least a new lego set".  Well, I think Charlie will be a very happy boy on Christmas day!  We are definitely spoiling the kids this year:

Even the Christmas socks are filled up to the rim:

And I know it's only Christmas eve but "Santa" came in earlier and wrote back to the boys - something about needing to listen more.  Hmm... I suppose that's a good start :-)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Days leading up to Christmas

2 days prior to Christmas, I decided to let the boys open up one present.  It was constantly "Momma, may I..." and before Charlie can finish his sentence I already know he wants to get back onto the computer.  Sheesh, soon enough he will be wearing glasses too! 

So we let Graham and Charlie open up a present from a close friend.  Oh wow, a new super-duper marble run!

The boys spent hours on this.  I guess I should be minding the mess on the floor at this point:

The next morning on Christmas Eve, the boys are allowed to open presents from each other.  Charlie is almost always super overly excited about opening presents. I suppose at his age, who wouldn't be:

As if we needed more nerf guns!  But anyway, here goes... ya, I let this happen.  Ha ha!

Just as the boys were about to head outside, Bobby said to turn the TV on as he sees a lot of helicopters in the air.  It's another car chase! I have never seen so many televised stolen car pursuits since living here in California:

Well, back to the real action - it's a nerf gun fight in the backyard!  Graham is hiding out in the tent and Charlie is obviously happily aiming in his direction.  It is actually drizzling a bit so that's why Charlie is in his jacket:

I'm hoping the boys will get past this nerf gun stage.  We have too many nerf bullets laying around the house and it's driving me crazy!  And as Bobby would always say, "That's not a very long drive!".  Very funny :-P NOT!

New/Used table for Charlie

I guess Charlie didn't really need a table but it was rather cute when I saw it advertised in the neighborhood App.  And Charlie doesn't really have a desk in his room and this one looked perfect!

Charlie's room is already quite "cozy" so figuring out where to put this new desk was sort of limited to this corner:

And... here it is! Tada!!!

I sort of like that old-school style too of the desk.  Isn't it so cute?  At least Charlie has a little spot to write if he needs to.  

Okay... this is it. No more new/used furniture!  Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.  People are giving away pianos and antique desks and I really can't help myself.  Especially when Bobby says "Sure, let's get it!" and sometimes I'm wondering if he is serious or being sarcastic.  I guess we will find out soon enough when another thing catches my eye on the neighborhood App.  I wonder if Graham and Charlie will grow up like me??!  I hope they don't become hoarders??!!!

New Kokedama plant

I had never heard of Kokedama until just a couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine in Abu Dhabi had mentioned it.  And then, I see that a lady is selling them on the neighborhood App.  What a coincidence!  And funny enough, it was only a minute or two away from a used/free desk that I was going to pick up for Charlie.  And yes, also found on the neighborhood App :-P

I'll show you the used desk in a minute. I'm too excited to show you the Kokedama plant! Here it is:

Isn't it so cute??! I'm keeping the vine one for myself and giving the other one away to a friend for Christmas. 

So Kokedama is actually a Japanese art-form for growing plants.  They cover the roots in moss and then wrap it with string.  I super love it!  Right now, I am hanging it in the she-shed on a dead branch.  The branch was sprayed for another project that didn't get used, so it looks like it was meant for this plant!

The good news is the plant/ball of moss doesn't need to be watered every day.  It needs to actually be soaked in water for a good 30 minutes or so every week.  But since I have it semi-outdoor, I may soak it twice a week.  I hope I don't forget!  I don't go into the she-shed a lot but I have another project going on in there, so it's been nice to see some green in there.  Wish me luck that it doesn't die too quickly!

Caulking boy's bathroom

I've been wanting to this for the longest time and last week, I finally decided it was time.  It's just one of those things that keep bugging me and obviously not a fun thing to do.  It's a simple task but it just takes a while with all the prep.

This is what I'm dealing with here.  See that yucky brown gunk along the sink/backsplash? Blah!

But first, I have to clean the entire sink.  I mean, I might as well. The white stuff is actually baking soda  I told Bobby to buy me a box of it for baking and it bought me this mega box! So there's plenty to spare :-)

Okay, here comes all the "artillery".  So thankful that blue/painter's tape was invented:

Nice and clean and looking so much better!

And what's funny is I ended up cleaning inside the sink too/just under the countertop.  The caulking around there was nasty! I don't remember how I saw it but when I did,  And of course once I did, I couldn't un-see it.  I'm just glad I didn't cut myself with the exacto knife while trying to get the old caulk off.  I always try and make the effort now to wear working gloves.  

So glad this area is also looking pretty now.  Yay!

Speaking of exacto knife, my poor friend's little boy cut himself with an exacto knife today - on Christmas morning!  Poor kid.  They were in the ER most of the day getting his thumb stitched up.  So it is definitely a reminder for me to always wear my gloves anytime I'm handling anything sharp.  I even have to think twice sometimes when I am doing a project and just using regular scissors! You just never know. I mean, we all know my history with the screwdriver. Still brings chills when I think about it.  AaaahhhHHH...!!!

Chalazion

As if there wasn't enough going on in this household, Charlie ends up with a chalazion on his right eye-lid.  At first we thought it was a stye.  We emailed our pediatrician about it and they suggested warm compresses and eye-lid wipes. Well, this started back on Nov 11. 

A week later, it wasn't that much better although at some point, it looked as though the swelling might have gone down a bit.  The scabbing started when we started using the eyelid scrub:

By the end of the month, it was time for the boys' annual physical.  I think the only part they really remember of this physical is when the doctor has to take a peek at their private part.  It's so funny how they giggle about it now and feel shy about it.  Ha!

Well, bad news from the pediatrician about Charlie's eye is what seemed to us as a stye has now become a chalazion.  I have never heard of this word before!  It happens when the opening of the oil-producing gland in the eyelid becomes blocked. But if it doesn't get treated, it can eventually discharge or burst spontaneously and/or even affect one's vision! YIKES! Well, it didn't take us long to make an appointment with an ophthalmologist and she sent us home with an antibiotic eyedrop and also an antibiotic ointment.  We were back to see the ophthalmologist 2 weeks later. And thankfully, it looks so much better!!

We are continuing both eyedrops and ointment but reduced from 4 drops to 2 drops a day and using the ointment once a day vs twice a day.  Still using the compress twice a day for 10 minutes. Quite the chore but so thankful the chalazion has reduced in size:

We have one more follow-up in 3 weeks and hopefully by then it will be all gone.  Otherwise, I hope there are other options other than having the chalazion surgically removed. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Gingerbread house

On Graham's last day of school (Dec 18), their class had arranged for a fun day which included building a gingerbread house.  How fun! Charlie didn't get to do one this year, so he was "supervising":

Looking pretty good so far! The roof did fall over a couple times but I think it is fixed now:

While waiting for the icing to dry, it was time to clean up a bit.  Nothing like trying to just lick away at the icing to clean up. Ha ha! By the way, did you know that you can't lick your elbow??!

After the quick break, the kids even set up to have hot chocolate with their candy cane.  More sugar!!!

Although Charlie didn't get to participate, we did buy another gingerbread house (a reindeer, if I'm not mistaken) from the store.  So he'll get a chance to build one too later.  But the school did have Pajama Day so he was quite happy to be an Elf for the morning:

A fun last day of school!  I'm looking forward to sleeping in without the guilt for the next 2 weeks. :-D

Baking holiday cookies

 As per usual, this is the time of year where we bake a lot of cookies.  I normally hand out Holiday Shortbread cookies. The boys SUPER love these cookies, even if I missed out an entire cup of butter in it! Ya... I was using blocks of butter that was given to us by our neighbor.  They were clearing our their fridge/freezer as they are moving out.  Well, I thought the one block was enough and when the cookies came out, the entire sheet of it was cracked??!

The cookie sheet had pulled away from the pan too. By now I knew something was not right!

I couldn't even cut into it with my cookie cutters!!!

So at this point, I rechecked the recipe.  I mean there are only 4 ingredients.  How could I possibly mess up??!  Flour - check, butter - check, sugar - check, and salt - check!!!

Well, it didn't matter too much how much butter was missed in this batch as the boys still enjoyed eating these imperfect cookies.  Ha ha!  

Next batch was a lot better thankfully:

There,... these look a lot better:

We get to eat the leftovers and thankfully nobody minds :-)

This year we decided to bake some sugar cookies from store-bought cookie mix/bags.  Gosh, this is probably why I don't enjoy baking cookies.  You have to be so precise!  As you can see, the colors of the cookies are not all consistent:

2nd batch was a little bit better although I did also burn a few of the Christmas stockings.  As usual, boys are more than happy to "take care" of those :-D

You really have to make sure the cookies have enough space to expand on the cookie sheet.  This angel has its head lifted up a bit and looking like its saying "Hello" or maybe more like "Don't eat me!". LOL!!!  Okay, yeah... perhaps I have been baking for just a bit too long now:

I did get the boys to help out this year with the sugar cookies.  I think I may do this again next year.  The big huge box from Costco was really affordable and it comes with 5 bags of mix cookie dough. And each bag makes about 35 cookies. What a bargain!

On a side note, I finally juiced up some oranges and carrots.  We love fresh juice and really miss having that every day.  We were definitely spoiled for choices when we lived in Abu Dhabi.  It was available every single day in the supermarket.  Anyhow, our juicer spits out a lot of the pulp so I ended up making an orange-carrot cake with most of this pulp. I'm so glad the boys love this cake (even when I had reduced the amount of sugar).  It definitely gets all that fiber into their digestive system!

We'll be baking more cookies today on Christmas eve.  It will be our 4th bag of cookie mix! I've also bought some icing so it should be a fun icing-day some as well.  We have to get some cookies ready for Santa when he comes tonight!  I think Charlie still believes in Santa although he has his doubts about "How does Santa come into the house when we don't have a chimney?" or "How does Santa come in when all our doors are locked and the security alarm is on???"  I think Graham knows for sure now that Santa is really just us, but I'm so glad he plays along for Charlie's sake.  What a sweet brother he is!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!