It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!

Well, first things first.

Yesterday was a semi marathon day.
And luckily everything went down without a hitch!

Ava came and spent some time with us.
Our friends Nate and Chelsea are moving back
to the mainland.
Boo.
:[
So they had movers packing them up yesterday.
Dmitri loves his friend Ava.
They seem to have a good time together.
There were a few fights over sippy cups
{a straight tug of war}
and over a computers and a watch.
Otherwise they played nicely!
Even without naps!
So that was very nice. And we always love
having Ava over.

I also spent most the mid afternoon making
ginger bread. I made 5 of them.
I made a test one because I wasn't using the
recommended pan, and I switched up the prep
of things.
They still turned out good!
Thank you Betty Crocker.

I made the loafs for the ladies that I visit teach.
So my partner and I went and distributed them.

We were thinking it'd be nice and quick, but
it took a little longer then expected.
Luckily I had started dinner for Daniel and Dmitri.
OOo! So I made homemade chili!
I through all my ingredients in the crock
pot - and let them cook for a few hours.
It turned out SO good! I will toot my own horn on
that one :}

I skipped dinner with them, because once I got home,
I had to grab my pot luck salad and leave. We were having
a surprise baby shower for my VT partner at
church. And luckily I made it before she did!
I didn't want to spoil the surprise. Even though
I almost did a couple times leading up to it.

But it was really fun! We played a different game.
It was "guess the price of these baby items."
Sad to say - out of 11 items - I got one right.
Lol one.

I think it's because I have a boy - and most the
items were for girls ;}

Alright - so today Dmitri and I did a quick
Costco run. I also stopped by Target for
some ingredients. I wanted to make cinnamon
rolls - but Target didn't have either of the
ingredients I needed.

And then I got distracted by items one would need
to make peppermint bark. Which I've been
meaning to do for the past 5 years.
That's a little bit further down in pictures though.

After those two we went to Home Depot. I had
a suspicion that they might have a scrap Christmas
tree pile. And they did!
Giant branches for FREE!

They said I could take as much as I wanted, but
I only took as much as I could carry, with
Dmitri in my other hand.

They smelled so good in my car! I stuck a sprig
that Dmitri and I kind of stole from Costco
{we were smelling Costco wreaths and a piece broke off into our cart}
{{so I left it in the cart and took it home:}}
in my car air vent, and it filled the car with the
wonderful smell of Christmas!
Which was good - because Dmitri pooped on the
way to Costco............
:]

Here's my pile.
And Dmitri inspecting.
And tasting some of our peppermint bark ingredients.
His first candy cane. It was a hit!
{i love peppermint candy canes!}
{{Dmitri has started fixing his own hair}}
{{{I put the gel in and spike it, but then he goes and re-spikes it...}}}
So I made a makeshift wreath, because I need
a wreath form.
Dmitri made one of his own.

He took a branch and tried sticking it on the door.
It didn't stick, and fell to the floor.
I guess that was good enough, because he then
tried shutting the door.
What a good little helper :}
i stuck some branches on top of the bookcases
And stuck some branches in between the bare parts of our
artificial tree.
My makeshift wreath.
He looks a little sad in this pic.
:[
I had no where else to put them - so I stuck some
in the light above the kitchen table.
We really don't use this light, so I'm not worried
about a fire hazard...
Dmitri was being silly. He sat on here forever
just talking and rotating his sippy cups.
And here is my peppermint bark!
I was SO happy with the end result!

And it's dang good! I have to keep it in our
fridge so it doesn't melt.
It's still stinkin' hot here.
But it has dropped to 80!
I saw these on Martha Stewart today.
Well - I think they were on a few days ago,
but I just watched the episode today.
They're made out of magazines. I used a Sephora
and a Victoria's Secret catalog. Because I
didn't want to waste my magazines!
They worked.
I want to make one more, smaller one, but
need to find another catalog.

I think the Sephora one {left} turned out
pretty - because of the colors. It matches our
tree :]
But the VS tree had more pages - so it's fuller.
It was easy and fun! I did them both while
watching Dog the Bounty Hunter.
{They didn't spray paint their's on the show, but
the pic they use is spray painted. I kind of like it}
Dmitri woke up at 1AM last night crying. He would
not stop for almost a half hour.
I don't think he was totally awake because his
movements were really jerky, and sometimes
he seemed not to notice me.

Once he came to, we watched an episode of
Sesame Street - then I laid him back down at
3, and he went to sleep no problem.

He woke up at 8:30 today and was in the
BEST mood! He has been so funny today.

He has a little plastic basketball that he's
started to pretend to eat. He kept doing it all afternoon.
The first video, I tried to get him to do it
for the camera, but he'd just hide it in his
drawer.

The second video I caught him doing it.


Daniel was supposed to have an early day today, but
his floor got swamped, and they wanted him
to stay until 7.
He ended up getting off at 4:30, which is still
good, but meant he sat in traffic for almost
an hour :[

He ended up giving Dmitri his bath, while I
crafted, instead of doing the dishes like I
intended too :}
And then he put Dmitri to bed.
I'm hoping Dmitri sleeps through the night tonight!
Two nights of wake ups in a row might be ruff :[