Looking for my next contest....

...because unfortunately I did not win the super cool coughHPcough touch screen computer from Mckmama and neither did you Julie...better luck next time...

Merry Christmas!

This year we celebrated our "Christmas" on Christmas Eve which meant that Christmas Eve Eve was our Christmas Eve...follow? The kids and I spent the day in and out of the kitchen baking lots of goodies...for Santa of course...we didn't make all the normal Christmas cookies but made some new recipes out of our new holiday cookbook from Aunt Claudine. Eli made yummy brownies, Autumn made a 6 layer cookie bar, Lucas made chocolate truffles and I made Santa oatmeal cookies. We even made our traditional Christmas Puppy Chow and that barely lasted 24 hours...it was so yummy!

We still have Santa at our house, with one true believer, one on the fence and 2 who think they know everything...and since Eli forgot to buy Santa some caviar, Lucas made sure that he had a little plate of goodies. We left carrot sticks for the reindeer, 2 chocolate truffles for the helper elves and a nice brownie for good ole' St. Nick...and wouldn't you know they only left crumbs! Lucas was so detail oriented that he moved some of our Christmas decorations away from the fireplace so that Santa could step over the screen...

I love it that Lucas wanted to leave Santa a note...and the only reason all of the kids' names are on it is because Autumn came in to the art room while it was being written and made him add their names...see how much bigger his name is? He wanted to be sure Santa knew who was naughty and nice...see the heart? (such sweetness there)

After Santa's plate was ready, the kids tried to bribe us so they could sleep in the living room...they REALLY wanted to catch Santa...but contrary to popular belief...no matter how many times you beg...the answer is still NO... :) We read the Christmas story from Luke, talked about the true meaning of Christmas and then all the kids were off to bed. While they were supposed to be brushing their teeth I heard lots of commotion...it always sounds like elephants are upstairs...and when I peeked around the corner all of the kids were dancing...and not brushing...so we wrangled and finally got them to bed...

Proof that Santa was here...WHO ELSE would move the fireplace screen??

On Christmas morning the kids were up at 7:30 and Santa Mom had only been asleep for 3 hours...but we all got up and made stuffed french toast for breakfast...and the kids begged us to eat faster...and reasoned with us and tried to convince us that they weren't really hungry...and that they couldn't wait one. more. second...but the new recipe turned out great and we ate as slow. as. we. could.....

Because this has been such a hard year for us financially we decided to make most of our Christmas gifts for each other. We drew names and worked on special presents but were pleasantly surprised by the extra gifts that were left by Santa. I painted miniature MU paintings for Noah, made several bracelets for Autumn, one for mom, one for Eli, made Christmas ornaments for each of the kids, made business cards for Scott, painted a Jayhawk on Eli's bulletin board and painted a pirate ship wheel for Lucas' room (it was supposed to be a birthday present last Sept.). Scott painted Andy Warhol style Jayhawk paintings for Eli, Lucas painted a ceramic fish for grandma (to replace Boomerang), Noah wrote a comic book for Scott about his HERO and his battle with Lyme Disease, Eli made me a bracelet, necklace and earrings (so beautiful), Eli and Lucas made a bracelet and necklace for Autumn (that they made with their mom), Autumn made a recipe book for Noah with personalized recipe cards and grandma made Lucas a tshirt with his very own Jayhawk drawing. Autumn even got duck tape (yes, it really is duck) in her fav. colors so she could make a purse. It was a lot of fun to make most of our gifts (with things we had) and I think/hope they meant more to the kids. I know it meant more to me to be creative than to worry about the money we didn't have.

We were also very blessed this year in that we still have Grandma to celebrate with. She has been living with us for 2.5 months now and she is getting stronger every day. She has been pushing herself with her "chores" and she is steadily increasing her stamina. In the past month, she has washed dishes, loaded/unloaded the dishwasher, folded clothes, made breakfast, lunch, dinner and done some kitchen cleanup. She still has bad moments where she is sick to her stomach and once she got over her winter cold, she bounced right back. I wish we could figure out what was making her feel so sick because that seems to be the main thing holding her down. Since Grandma loves to sing, we splurged and got her a book of Hymns that tells the story behind each song. She loved it. We also got her little barbels so she could get stronger. She did pretty well on Christmas and pushed thru her sickness to celebrate with us...we even got her to pose for a couple photos...

Merry Christmas family & friends!

Christmas Fun... Part II

On Tuesday afternoon I took the kids to Union Station to see the huge train exhibit. None of them are really into trains but I thought it would be neat to see. They really enjoyed looking at every inch and Lucas really soaked up all the details. We saw an accident, Disney World, Union Station, villages, cities, mountains and everything in between. It was a great set up.

One of my goals for the nice day was to get some good kid shots. After the trains, we explored more of Union Station and took some fun shots. If you have kids, I am sure you can relate to the madness. How many shots do you REALLY have to take before you get that perfect photo? You know, where all the kids are looking in the same direction, not moving and showing their true smile? Sigh...I do enjoy the funny out takes that we get along the way though...Can you just imagine how crazy and insanely loud our house can be??

After Union Station, the kids asked to go across the street to Crown Center. Autumn wanted to see the Gingerbread exhibit and they all wanted to see Santa's Candy Cane Village. The Gingerbread was really neat but it only took about 3 minutes to enjoy all it had to offer...though we did appreciate the skill it took to build such big and elaborate cookie houses...it made us hungry too. When we got to Santa's village, the boys were not sure they wanted to go in (after seeing the line) but Autumn begged us to wait...and while we were waiting I had an opportunity to teach the kids a lesson...no matter how frustrating it can be to have your mother ask you to wear a nice sweater for family pics...it could always be worse...they could be the poor family behind us who were dressed in matching santa dresses, hats and rudolph sweaters............ When the kids got inside the village, they found their favorite part and stayed there most of the time. They loved the carnival like concave/convex mirrors that made you look funny but since we had seen santa 2 weeks earlier we skipped the $9 photo session.

As we left Crown Center I tried once again for that PERFECT photo...

Christmas Fun... Part I

Last Saturday, we took the boys back to Lowe's so they could make their puppies a Christmas gift. The project was a doggie treat dispenser and it was actually one of the most complicated builds we have ever completed. Noah made his for Lady Bug, Eli made his for their other puppy and Lucas made his for his Nana's dogs. (I think...) Merry Christmas pups!

The kids' last day of school was Monday and we were so excited to have them home again. We get the first half of their winter break and their mom gets the second half. It gives all of us extended time but it also makes us miss them even more when they are gone longer than normal. Scott gets a few days off from treatment and I am so happy to have him home and out of treatment. On Monday, we took Grandma with us to pick up Scott from his last treatment and then we headed to a local town for their Christmas in the Park. We have attended their Christmas in the Sky for the last 2 years but had never made it to the park's light show. We were pretty excited and thought it was going to be fantastic...but after inching our way down a winding road for TWO HOURS we weren't sure we wanted to make this an annual tradition. By the time we finally got to the light exhibit...we were ready for some action! Scotty took a nap during our wait while the rest of us sang Christmas songs and critiqued the dancing elves that were spaced along our route. The final light exhibit was amazing, action packed and delightful but not really worth a 2 hour wait...I think we will skip it next year...

Eli's Amazon Vacation

Do you remember how excited we were after our parent/teacher conference with Eli's 4th grade teacher? She was recommending him for the gifted program and Eli couldn't wait to get started. The first step in this process is a special project. Eli chose to research the Amazon rainforest and then to create a brochure. After a few weeks of research at both houses, we worked on a mockup where he laid out all of his text and space for drawings. He stayed up late working out all the details and had it ready to turn into his final brochure...but the next time he came home he talked about making the brochure into a book. He would like to write a children's book so the thought of a book really appealed to him. We talked it thru some more and decided on a combination of brochure and book. He created a postcard brochure of his travels thru the Amazon Rainforest. Each post card was written to a family member and shared some of the things he had learned on his trip. Each post card features an Amazon image on the front (animals, flowers, waterfalls) with a description on the back side. Each postcard was full of research facts and it turned out fantastic! He even made stamps for each of the postcards based on the flags of the countries from the rainforest. It was a huge project but he did such a great job! He worked on this final phase all weekend and finished it Sunday night. We even laminated the front of each of the cards to give it that professional touch. The postcard collection is in a photo album that he is going to decorate tonight at his mom's. He also decided to draw a map of the rainforest tonight to add that to the back of the project. The project turned out GREAT and we are so PROUD!

The proud owner... :)

Some People Really Know How To Decorate For Christmas...

One of the things our family likes to do is look at Christmas lights. Last year, we were kidnapped by Aunt Tweety and dropped off at Crown Center in our PJ's so we could look at the lights. The kids loved that and still talk about it today. They keep asking when Tweety is coming back to get them...and I am sure she will stop in when they least expect it! Last year, she showed us this house which to adults...is insane...but to a 7, 9, 11 & 12 year old it is the GREATEST CHRISTMAS HOUSE EVER!!! The kids and I jumped in the van on friday night (poor daddy was feeling horrible so he stayed home with grandma) and went in search of the famous house. I had just seen a blurb about the house on channel 5 (YES, the neighbors love him that much...not) the day before so it only took me 10 minutes or so to find the house...and the guy actually lives close to us. I tried to take some video just to show you the Christmas Spirit that lives in KC...and even though its dark...I think you get the idea...

The best part of the evening was when Noah accidentally crawled up on Santa's lap...which he has NEVER done before (at least with us). The last time we tried this was in 2006 when Santa made a visit to us at the Potter's Wheel. Lucas and Eli loved it and sat on his lap while Noah completely freaked out. He wanted nothing to do with him and stayed with Daddy. This year, Santa told him to come on up...and Noah (being the obedient child that he is) walked right up and sat on his lap! Then, Autumn and Eli walked away while Lucas gladly climbed on up. I would have to say that even the children that are on the "fence" are still very willing to write their Santa letters and wish for those special presents. Lucas is always very concerned with how Santa is going to find us and how he will be getting into our house. This year he is concerned because we put decorations in front of the non-working fireplace...I am pretty sure that Santa is going to move some decorations just to show how he made it in the house...OH! And I am pretty sure he is going to leave boot marks too...hmmm.....OH! And did I mention that the kids are trying to trick the adults by leaving food for Santa that their parents don't like? Eli was going thru a long list of items...Do you like: Fruit? Yes. Veggies? Yes. Popcorn? Yes. Asparagus? Yes. Hmmmm....how about Caviar? Um, well, I don't know...but if you wan't to leave Caviar for Santa, I am sure he won't mind.... :)

Christmas Swag

On Saturday, I took the kids to the Anita B Gorman Discovery Center to make some FREE Christmas decorations. We each got to make our own Christmas Swag out of native plants. We used Bluestem prairie grass, evergreen, sumac, milk thistle, pine cones, leaves, acorns and other dried plants. It was so much fun! The kids and I agreed that this was their best event ever...although Lucas still prefers the dug out boats we made this past summer. Our family made 5 of these beauties and all of them have been given away as Christmas gifts. Eli made his for his mother, Noah made his for one of his Uncles, Lucas made his for our great neighbors, Autumn made hers for her mother and I made mine for my mother. Everyone got their gifts this weekend while the evergreen was still fresh and aromatic. :) Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the discovery center? It is awesome, free and educational! I just love it!

Autumn and Eli jumped right in on the swags while Lucas, Noah and I made leaf print cards on a printing press.

Noah worked really hard on his swag to get it just right. When we were deciding who we would be giving them to, he chose a family member who he heard wasn't having much of a Christmas. He wanted to be sure they had a nice Christmas decoration for their house.

This table smelled so good...

Hard at work designing their decoration and then using the hot glue gun...by themselves...except for Lucas...Sissy and I both helped him with the glue.

The center provided hot chocolate and cider while we worked and the kids loved that. Here are our final products...didn't they do a great job?

This is a close up of mine. Autumn is holding mine in the above photo in her right hand. None of us had ever made one of these before and it was really a lot of fun. I was pleasantly surprised.

If you are one of the lucky ones who received these you should know that the kids put a lot of time, love, patience and work into these swags. They were so excited to give them to you and we all hope you enjoy them! Merry Christmas!

Same Band...New Sound

Aren't they adorable??

Lady Bug....the Circus Dog!

Lady has a new nickname at our house....Circus Dog!! She is truly the smartest dog we have ever encountered (sorry Choo Choo & Shadow) and she loves to learn....so like all good gypsies we are teaching her new tricks every week. She has mastered laying on her back to show her belly for a "belly rub" but her 2 newest tricks are cuter. She is great at sitting, so we start every trick with that command and build from that. When we say "up" she will stand on her hind legs and balance. Sometimes she walks and other times she will just stand. She LOVES ice cubes as treats and will do just about anything for a piece of ice. Lucky us! Cheap dog treats! So, after she mastered UP we turned that into TWIRL...and now she will twirl for ice. :) I tried it earlier today, just to be sure it stuck and she did it without the promise of ice. She is awesome!! (Sorry about the blurry videos.) The first video is from a couple days ago when we first taught it to her. The second video is her first experience with Snow on Tuesday. Since she seems to be an ICE dog...she LOVES the snow and asks to go outside all the time. When she gets outside she runs and glides like a gazelle and then races back inside to her bed to warm up. She is a funny dog.

Eli's Home Movies...

We always knew there was something special about Eli...and that he would grow up to be something special...but we had no idea that his specialness would make an appearance so soon...I found these videos on my phone and I think you will agree that they are S.P.E.C.I.A.L...

Christmas Concert

Last week we were wowed by Noah & Eli's musical playing abilities. The boys have been working hard at both houses, with practice, practice and more practice. Noah is playing the clarinet (with the hopes he can switch to the sax next year) and Eli is playing the cello. This concert had 4th, 5th and 6th grade strings, choir and band. The boys did a great job and looked so handsome in their dress clothes. Even Lucas dressed up for the event! I took lots of photos but when your in a big gym, they all kind of look the same so I made 2 collages. We learned after the concert that Noah's band teacher said he (and one other girl) are the best students he has had in 10 yrs and Eli's teacher said that Eli is her best student in strings. We are very proud of the boys and so excited about their interest in music.

I love this cute pic...they become more and more alike every day. Love that!


This cute little musician is currently playing the saxophone...he is doing a great job and can really make that thing sing!

I'm Not Really Into Contests....

...but I thought I would try this one. I hate to admit this...but I have been enticed by an HP...shhh...don't tell my MAC....but I was thinking the *cough(HP)cough* would be a good touch screen computer for the kids...and if I blog about it I get ONE chance (entry) to win it. I hate to tell you about it because then YOU might go to the other blog and enter to win...but I guess I will have to take that chance...just don't tell my MAC! You can find this contest HERE.

Christmas Dancing & Decorations

Ever wonder what really goes on at our house? Well, here is your chance at a glimpse in the life of the Dawsons...but let me warn you...it is usually loud, crazy and fun! We had a lot of fun decorating for Christmas over our Thanksgiving break and at one point in the afternoon the boys begged me to dance with them. We usually dance at night before bedtime and they love to dance, be twirled and then a dip for the grand finale'. They love it and it completely wears me out! So...we did some Christmas dancing...

We also did a lot of decorating over the holiday break. Scott, Autumn and I made Christmas trees on Thanksgiving night. We bent some wire hangers into spiral tree shapes and Scott bent the ends of the wire to make stars at the top. We spray painted them red and white and then covered them with star ribbon. They were really cool! We had the boys help us make more decorations by wrapping white candles with sparkly, star garland and placing them in glass vases. We also made 2 small Christmas trees out of tomato stakes and greenery. We wrapped ribbon around the "tomato" trees and topped them with the newly made wire trees. It was nice being creative, thrifty and "green" while we decorated for Christmas.

Here are some photos of our final decorations.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ok...so I am a little behind when it comes to blogging about Thanksgiving but I got sick the week of then had about 4 good days and then woke up sick again last friday with a whole new set of symptoms...so I haven't been on top of it lately.

We celebrated our family Thanksgiving last Saturday and had a wonderful day of cooking and family time. Scott had 5 days off for the holiday and felt pretty good on Saturday when he was teaching Noah how to dress and cook a turkey. We made 2 turkey's this year and each chef created their own version. Noah made a savory turkey and Scott's was a little sweeter with a secret ingredient... The boys had a great time cooking together and you should have seen the smile on Noah's face while he spent time with his daddy in the kitchen. He spent all day in the kitchen with us and helped with almost everything we made. I set a fancy table with the beautiful china that my dad bought me while I was in college. Grandma was very sick at this point and could not join us at the table so she got to eat her turkey in bed. Even though Grandma was sick, we were glad that she was home with us and we could take care of her all day. We really enjoyed our family day...Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!!

Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony...

The boys came home on Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and we got started decorating for Christmas right away. Our tradition (I LOVE holiday traditions!) is to turn on Christmas music while the KIDS put up the tree (I LOVE that part even more!) and then we decorate the tree, mantel and the rest of the house. Scott, Autumn and I got started Thursday night by making some new decorations and we decorated the mantel but wanted to wait for the boys to finish the house. We got the tree up and partially decorated before we had to get ready for the Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. Since the boys missed out on the first 2 nights of fun, I thought it would be fun to take them to Crown Center. We found a great parking spot and found a spot close to the stage. We saw the mayor, a celebrity (though none of us knew him), heard more great Christmas music and joined in on the countdown to light the tree. They passed out candles, sung Silent Night and passed the flame from the front of the crowd to the back. It was a beautiful sight. The Christmas tree is 110 feet tall and is bigger than the tree in Rockefeller Center and the President's tree. All the trees had white lights and after the countdown we saw another amazing fireworks show set to music. It was a lot of fun and the boys felt like they got to participate in our yearly traditions...funny how fireworks make you feel good about life, huh? After we got back home we had hot chocolate, watched a Charlie Brown Christmas and finished decorating our tree. It was a great family day that got us ready to celebrate our Thanksgiving on Saturday.

Christmas decorating...loud and fun...click the pic for a closer look...


Click the pic for a closer look.

Plaza Lighting Ceremony

This year we had a very quiet Thanksgiving day with Autumn. We all slept in and had a pajama day at home. Grandma was pretty sick and was in bed for over a week and I had the same thing as Grandma. I was feeling a little better by Thanksgiving day and Scott was feeling pretty good with his 5 day holiday break from IV's. Autumn and I had planned to go to the Plaza and watch the lighting ceremony that night and even though it was c.o.l.d...we ventured out to hang out with half a million of our closest friends!! We found a fantastic parking spot on one of the main roads (this was a total miracle!) and I parallel parked the VAN!!...and we found the nearest coffeehouse and enjoyed a Mint Mocha while we waited in the warmth.

The plaza is always blocked off from traffic and a stage is set up for all the musicians/choirs/entertainers. Channel 5 was there and there was even a huge screen set up a block away from the stage so more people could see the action. Autumn and I made our way up to the front where we were right next to the Channel 5 reporters and we think we were even on TV a few times. We had talked to the boys earlier that day and they were so bummed that 1. they had missed our Christmas in the Sky tradition and 2. they weren't going to get to see the Plaza lights either...so we told them they should watch it on tv with us. We found out they didn't get that opportunity but Autumn and I sure waved to them each time the camera came our way! We heard some great live Christmas music, joined in on the countdown and enjoyed another fantastic fireworks show...we were nice and warm in that huge crowd and even managed to get out of there pretty quickly with OUT hitting anyone! It was a lot of fun and all the kids would like to make it another holiday tradition.

This is as close as we could get...look at all the people!


It doesn't look too cold does it?


This was our 2nd fireworks show in 2 days...I LOVE fireworks!

This is as we are leaving the stage...look at all those people!

This is one of 3 that I shot as we were getting closer to the van. I used one of this series as our blog header. Have I mentioned all the people??

Christmas In The Sky

We have a new family tradition that we started last year when we moved to KC. We have always loved listening to KUDL's Christmas music and when we heard they sponsored a Christmas light/fireworks show we knew we had to go. One of those "bonus" mom things is trying to plan traditions and family activities around our ever changing schedule and unfortunately we did not get the boys until after Thanksgiving...so Scott and I continued the tradition with Autumn and we had a fabulous time. We grabbed some food, found our parking spot on the bridge over the river and ate our dinner while we listened to Christmas music...and then enjoyed a fantastic fireworks show. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed our one-on-one time with Autumn.

I got a little carried away in Photoshop playing with some new actions...I LOVE actions...all you do is press play and photoshop does the rest...it. is. sooo.cool...

Blog Work

I have lots to blog about but I have been rearranging, redesigning, learning, researching and grrring at my blog. I am still working on the columns, placement and margins so bare with me as things move around. Tonight I added Snowflakes courtesy of Dynamic Drive and made more changes to the header/nav bar and cross column...but I'm still not done...I promise I will post about Thanksgiving before Christmas gets here! :)

PS- Scott just recorded his second episode of The Lyme Light Podcast and posted it online tonight. It features his 2 favorite girls and gives you an intimate look into our Lyme ridden life. It was a lot of fun to work with my hubby and I hope you will listen and learn something about Lymies... There is a permanent link at the top of our blog or you can just click HERE to get to the podcast.