Christmas!

Merry, Merry Christmas morning!! It looks like santa came to the Walling house hold. Preston's 1st reaction to the gifts under the tree was sadly not excitment, but insead a slight bit of disappointment that he missed Santa before he left. He apparently has a very important question for the Big Jolly Man. A question so important, he still has not told Price or I what it was. But all that disappointment disappeared when stopped for just a moment and realized all the presents and overflowing stockings under the tree!



Allowing Ethan to tap into his stocking 1st was a BIG mistake, as soon as our little 'chunky' caught eye of the candy in there...it was OVER! He no longer had any interest in the toys. He just sat back, munched away, and waited for Preston to opening everything...then he moved in to play! Live and learn :)



Preston also enjoyed the stocking treats, but never lost focus on the big picture...PRESENTS!!



Santa left a few interesting things in the adults stocking this year...Pin Up Girl lipgloss, bullet shaped mints, corona mints, Jack Daniels coffee (not pictured)...



And the paper starts to come of...



An art easel from Aunt Ashlee and Uncle Jeff...



Price gave me a B-E-A-utiful diamond necklace...




As soon as the gifts were done, the boys hopped in the bath for about 2 hours to play with the bath paints and bubbles they were given...



Then...as promised, Preston and I made Aunt Ashlees Holiday sugar cookies!!



He really likes trying to flatten the dough...



Our Sugar Cookie Family...when all else fails and you can't get everyone in a picture to smile, just make a sugar cookie family with sweet frosting smiles to represent your own! Ha Ha Ha



At the end of a low key Christmas day, the boys cuddled up on the floor with bowls of popcorn, and watched Prestons new favorite movie... X-men Origins: Wolverine...totally a kids movie :)



I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs
XOXO Brogan Lee

Xmas Eve

Prices sister Melanie spent a few days with us this week. She came in from Colorado and was greated by San Diego with strong winds and massive amounts of rain...exactly the weather everyone expects to find in S.D. (NOT) Every day she was here it rained and poured. The plan was for her to catch a train from S.D. to San Luis Obispo on Christmas Eve morning, but due to the glorious weather, the tain tracks were washed out! Happy Holidays, right? Luckly the weather cleared up on Friday and the tracks were in good shape a little further north up the coast. So we all piled into our little car and drove up to Solana Beach. I'd just like to say...I WANT TO MOVE HERE!! It is a beautiful, slightly mountianous, little town on the water. We got there an hour before her train so we killed some time at the park, which is on a hill overlooking the ocean. I took a few snap shots...


The benches at the park have these really pretty designs and quotes all along them...






After Melanie got on the train to spend Christmas with her parents and sister, we drove back home, dropped the kids off at the house and Price and i headed out to do a little shopping for ourselves (and a lot of damage on our credit card).


If youre thinking it's been a busy day so far, were not even half way done yet...oh no, not even close! Next we took the whole family to the dog park where we met up with one of my moms friends and a few of the dogs she was looking after. The boys were in heaven! They love dogs and i'm really pushing to add one to our family :) The dogs were not the only ones marking their territory... yes there was a bathroom several yards away, but apparently they are overrated. :)


Dog park adventures complete, we went home, had dinner...


Preston rocked George to sleep...


The boys opened 2 gifts each...


They put on their matching holiday pj's...


Preston put out a few cookies and some milk for Santa, only sneeking one for himself. (Don't judge, I was really tired, hence the oreos, homemade cookies to come Christmas day)...


AND FINALLY...with the boys in bed, Price and I CRASHED!! Tommarow is bound to be an exciting day! Yipee!


Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs
XOXO Brogan LEE

Two Days!

It is two days to Christmas, and what am i doing???.....WORKING! Can you believe it? Ugh! All I can think about is being home with my two sick little babies, my hubby (who is only home for 2 weeks), my mom and sister in law.

BUT...at least i have a new picture of my little stud with Santa at my desk to remind me of home and keep me in the holiday spirit!



One of the great things at out company is that around the holidays, the "big boss" walks around with little gifts (in stockings, easter eggs, etc.) for everyone. The majority of them have a dollar and a piece of candy in them, but if you're one of the lucky ones,(which i wasnt) you get things like: $100, a Wii, Kindal, digital camera, gift baskets..you get the idea. It's pretty sweet!



The only good part about working this close to the holidays is the POTLUCKS!!!! People bring in some pretty delicious treats! I brought almond roca (recipe courtsey Mrs. Jessica Marcum) and peanut butter bon bon (courtsey Mrs. Margie Blach). This yummy little number below is a "banana pudding split" aka Y-U-M-M-O! Thank you LaTonya.



This was my breakfast...soon to be followed by an extra large helping of heartburn!! But well worth it!


Only a few more hours and im home free for three whole days!! Yippee. Merry Christmas everyone,

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

Truffles

So this whole diet thing...yeah, it's not working out. I l-o-v-e the holidays and i l-o-v-e holiday treats! I also belong to a dessert club at work and this week was my turn to bring something. I settled on truffles!...Actually to be perfectly honest, i was waiting for an excuse to make some, and this seemed like the perfect occasion.


1st up...La Dolce Vida Candy Cane Truffles...they taste wonderful, but i must have done something wrong, because they would melt within about 2 minutes of being outside the freezer.


2nd... Chocolate and Raspberry Truffles...these seemed to be the big hit at my office.


3rd...Dark Chocolate Truffles...a pretty classic taste


4th and lastly...Aunt Margies Peanut Butter Bon Bons...(i added my own little touch, and drizzled melted butterscotch chips over the top) these are mine and Ethans favorite! I had to postpone making them until after he went to bed, because for every one bon-bon i rolled, Ethan would eat one. I wasn't making a lot of progress :)


In the end, i had over 5 pounds of truffles and about 3 dozen bon-bons!


For my 1st time making chocolates, i was pretty happy with the results...but my waist line...NOT SO MUCH :(


Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving morning: in preparation for the very high calorie meal we were soon to enjoy, i thought we'd start the day off right and have a low cal breakfast...NOT!! Cinnamon rolls and bacon washed down with a little oj is my go-to breakfast when we have company. And our company this week was none other than my one and only little bro...Martin Charles Barrett!! Our as Preston says "MY MARTIN"

Preston l-o-v-e-s bacon almost as much as candy, so for once he stayed at the table for a meal...

Ethan is not so much a bacon fan...but frosting covered, sweet bread? Yeah, that's right up his alley!

I have a little (ok a huge) issue with touching raw meat, so when i heard that the neck and giblets are still inside a turkey when you buy it, i decided to make chicken breasts instead...the only issue was i forgot to thaw them out :( oops!

I did the whole spread; mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, CHICKEN, cranberries, candied yams, and green beans. The only thing i forgot was that i was only cooking for two people so we had a LOT of left overs.

So we all sat down to enjoy a meal which included something like 8 sticks of butter, (like i said, TOTALLY low cal).

My 1st helping...

Martin, super stoked to be trying candied yams and cranberries...also his 1st helping...

Preston with his Thanksgiving corndog and yogurt, i was unable to convince him to try something new :(

Yummy, yummy, yummy...

Our sister Ashlee has a rockin' sugar cookie recipe, which she was so kind as to send me, but i couldn't quite nail it :( I'm thinking after a few more times, i might get a little closer. She really is a pro at these things though.

On one of the many blogs i follow, i saw these adorable little cookie/candy turkeys and thought i'd give making them a shot...they didn't quite turn out as good as the ones online :(

Cookies...

...cookies...

...AND MORE COOKIES!!!

I drank a little crazy juice and decided to take a crack at Black Friday shopping for the 1st time EVER...and lets just say it was INSANE!! We live very close to an outlet center which opened at midnight. So i stayed up after the boys went to bed, bundled up in not near enough clothing, made a cup of java and hit the highway. I got to the outlets around 11:30 and had to park a good 10 minute JOG away. I made it in and out of the 1st few stores with no problems, but then after waiting in line at GYMBOREE for 2.5 hours, i ran in 36 degree weather back to my car and got to Target by 3:30am for their 4am opening. Despite the massive amount of CRAZY shoppers, i was able to get all, yes all, of my christmas shopping done and get back home by 5:30am. I slept for 45 minutes (ugh), then ate, got dressed and headed out to Mission Beach.

Preston tried to convince "MY MARTIN" to get his new shoes a little sandy and come play, but...no luck. We had a stroller-guard and photographer instead!

Sadly, whenever i want to get a good group picture, one of the boys seems to have a melt down...this time Ethan took his turn :(


Oh, well! We had a great food-filled weekend. I hope you all had a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving!

Lots of Love and Bunches of Hugs,
XOXO Brogan Lee