So Long 2010!

If you are reading in chronological order, you already know we had an exciting trip to Grandma and Grandpa's on Christmas Eve. In addition to the moose we saw a flock of wild turkeys, two golden eagles, and the usual deer, antelope and geese.

We arrived in time for dinner. For dessert Great Grandma made Uncle S an angel food cake. Angel food cake is not my favorite so I don't make it for the girls. Flower thought it was pretty good. When we told her it was called angel food cake, she looked at Grandma and said, "Did you shoot an angel?".


Keilie dog was ready for bed on Christmas Eve…she didn’t want Santa to pass us by.

On our way home we saw a gorgeous sunset. I considered pulling over to take a photo, but we were on the interstate and there was quite a bit of traffic. Princess asked why I didn't want to pull over. I told her I didn't want anyone to stop to see if we needed help. (Note: Princess and I had a tire blow out on the way to school a couple weeks ago on the interstate.) Princess shrugged and said, "Why? No one stopped to help the last time." Good point.

We have spent the week hanging out at home playing with our new Christmas toys. The girls got a new dance game for the Wii which is a big hit with them and very entertaining for the rest of us as well. A big storm rolled in Wednesday and dumped a bunch of snow. A cold front followed it so today we are supposed to reach a balmy 5 below.

The girls and I didn't leave the house yesterday and might not today either. Dear Husband braved the cold and went skiing yesterday because he couldn't pass up the fresh powder. He is complaining about being old and sore today.

We might break out the fondue pot tonight. Princess likes fondue on New Year's Eve...that's how we ring in the New Year. For those of you with big plans for tonight, have fun, be safe, and Happy New Year!

Mooseltoe

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

We were headed north on the cut-a-cross
With snow in every direction, from Mother Nature’s toss;

When to our surprise, a moose did we see;
Feasting upon a cottonwood tree!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

Since I didn't have time to write anything this month, I thought I'd post a few photos of what we've been doing (Christmas programs, piano recital, decorating the tree, baking cookies...you get the idea). Merry Christmas!

December - Week 1

I remembered why the end of November always makes me grumpy. It is because the first week of December is always crazy. Here is how it goes.

December 1st - start of 3-day conference for work...now I'm behind at work.
December 2nd - Dear Husband's office holiday open house.
December 3rd - ice skating party.
December 4th - annual trek to cut down our Christmas tree.
December 5th - festival of trees and photos with Santa.

Between the above festivities I need to fit in laundry, cleaning, shopping, and decorating. I think I'm going to need a case of red bull.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Easter!

We were at Nana and Papa's last week for dinner. As we were leaving Princess spotted a unique tumbleweed caught next to Nana's car. She said it was an umbrella and gave it to Grandma M. Grandma said she would make something with it. She wasn't kidding. Look at the centerpiece on the table, isn't this the prettiest tumbleweed you have ever seen?

Happy Green Patrick’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day is here and spring is just around the corner. In case you haven’t noticed, I have not had much motivation to blog lately. I would like to say it is because we have been really busy, but that would be lying. Flower picked up a nasty cold last month and we just keep passing it around so I am blaming my lack of ambition on this virus.

February was filled with birthday parties, which lead to the previously mentioned cold virus. Flower and Dear Husband had it first, and then Princess and I picked it up at the end of the month. At the same time Princess got strep throat. She is over the strep, but still fighting the cold. Flower is finally on the road to recovery so I am feeling very optimistic that we will have a healthy spring. The weather is gorgeous and we are done being sick.

Last week we celebrated Flower’s birthday. I’ll post some photos soon. We are still working on potty training and Flower seems to be doing pretty well….at home. Daycare is a different story. Sigh.

Princess has been preparing for a leprechaun to visit her classroom today so we have been talking about St. Patrick’s Day a lot lately. I looked all over town for a shirt that Princess could wear today and had no luck finding something green that she will wear. I guess I should have been Irish, I could have really used some luck. Every place we went Flower wanted to know if she could get a green shirt too….and I could not find anything in her size either.

Last weekend we took a road trip to GF for lunch and shopping. We found a t-shirt for Flower at Old Navy and she was ecstatic. All week Flower has been talking about wearing her new green shirt on Green Patrick’s Day. She is driving Princess crazy because she refuses to say St. Patrick’s Day, but hey, isn’t that what little sisters are suppose to do?

Hello 2010

I am going to start the New Year right and post something. I am sitting at the counter enjoying a cup of tea while looking around at the mess. There is a dead reindeer at my feet (Flower says it ran into another reindeer and died), My Little Pony pieces scattered about, a very sad dog laying at the top of the stairs, and random piles of Christmas decorations that need to be put away.

We spent the morning drinking coffee and watching the Rose Parade. The floats are amazing. The girls headed to the basement to jump on the trampoline. I have not been down to survey the mess yet and plan to ignore it....for today.

Princess woke up a bit congested this morning and her eyes are looking a little "off". I am not sure if she is getting pink eye or not. I guess we will see what the day brings.

Flower moved into Princess's bedroom two nights ago. She woke up twice each night but other than that things are going well. The first night it took them almost an hour to go to sleep. Last night they were very tired and went to sleep in less than ten minutes. I'm sure it was just a fluke.

We are planning to hang around the house today. Dear Husband and I might go skiing tonight with some friends. We are bringing in the new year in our usual quiet way.

Goodbye 2009

Since I have been terrible at posting lately I thought I'd jump online and say farewell to 2009! Happy New Year to everyone and I'll post more next year. That statement probably jinxed me.

Here are a few things that have kept us busy during the past week:

1. Christmas Eve activities - baking cookies, decorating a gingerbread house, candlelight church service.
   
2. Christmas - Santa was very good to us.
3. Pink eye - Flower's Christmas gift to us.
4. Knee surgery - Keilie dog blew her knee out Christmas day. We saw our vet yesterday for x-rays and have a consult with a surgeon on Monday.
5. Trip to the northland to visit Grandma and Grandpa - with the pink eye kid and limping dog.
6. Desperately trying to find new homes for all the wonderful presents we received.
7. Great grandparents - the girls have five greats, one fell off a stool and broke some ribs yesterday and another one had a minor heart attack. I'm happy to report only one is in the hospital, due to be released tomorrow and the other is home resting.
   

'Tis the Season

December is half over. Only ten days until Christmas. I’m not done with my Christmas shopping. I’m still trying to figure out where the last 15 days went.

In case you are wondering what we have been up to (I’ve been a slacker, heck I almost forgot the password to my blog!), here it goes: craft/bake sale at Princess’s school; holiday open house at Dear Husband’s office; holiday skating party; festival of trees to see Santa; practice for Christmas program at church; homeowners association meeting; church membership meeting; DH’s office Christmas party; special movie night with a friend; sledding/tree hunting; and the church Christmas program.

This week we have a Christmas party and program at school. Then I think we may be done. Now to get on the shopping, wrapping, decorating, and baking. Ho, ho, ho!

Sprouts

About a month ago, or maybe longer, we brought some peas home from Nana's garden. They were shelled in a plastic baggie. We put them in the crisper drawer and forgot about them. You'll see where I'm going with this in a minute.

Last weekend I was rummaging through the crisper drawer looking for a veggie to accompany our pb&j sandwiches for lunch. I grabbed a bag of carrots and discovered the peas.

The peas were a bit moldy and many of them had sprouted. Normally I would have thrown them out, but the day before Princess brought home a book she made at school about a boy who planted pumpkin seeds which sprouted, grew vines, flowered, and grew pumpkins...or something like that.

When I saw the sprouts on the peas I got out the book and we read it again. When Princess got to the page about the sprouts I showed her the sprouts on the peas. We discussed how the seeds sprout, grow plants, flowers, etc. Then we decided to leave the peas in the fridge for a while and see how much they would grow. I should also add Flower was sitting right next to Princess at the counter and was party to the entire conversation.

Last night we were watching TV and Flower was in the fridge. I heard her open the crisper drawer but didn't think much of it. I asked her to get out of the fridge so she shut the door and walked over to the living room...with a mouth full of sprouted peas. That kid will eat anything.

Happy Halloween!

We're done trick-or-treating for another year. The girls are shoveling the candy in as I type. I'm trying to decide if we should just let them eat it all right now and put them to bed when the sugar coma hits, or make them save some candy for the rest of the year.

Princess went as a doctor and Flower was an elephant. Flower has been telling everyone we've seen (including strangers on the street) for the past week "I a erwa-phant".



We carved pumpkins last night. Dear Husband pulled a fist full of pumpkin guts out and moved his hand towards Princess who immediately shrieked and began to cry. DH didn't meant to freak her out so he told her it was just a vegetable. Flower looked at her and said "Yeah, no cry Princess, it just a vegetable!"

Finally, we had a photo session outside in the wind today so I thought I'd post a couple pictures.




Oh yeah, don't forget to set your clocks back an hour tonight....unless your Auntie C!

Happy Easter!

Easter weekend is officially over. We had a nice weekend. Thursday we dyed eggs. Friday we played outside. The weather has been really nice the past few days. Saturday we had a play date with Homestead.

Today we got up early, donned our new Easter dresses, checked out our Easter baskets, and found all the eggs the Easter bunny hid in the front yard….all BEFORE church….the 8:30 service I might add.

Then we went to the potluck Easter brunch at church and came home for a short rest before the big Easter Egg Hunt. At noon we headed to a friend’s house for the annual hunt where we get to see the Easter Bunny. Flower loved the Easter Bunny. Princess is still not sure about a 6-foot tall bunny that doesn’t talk. I overheard her asking the Easter bunny why he, or she, doesn’t talk.

After the hunt we went home for naps and Dear Husband and I began to prepare dinner. Actually, DH finished the roofing project on the storage shed he stared yesterday while I started dinner prep. Nana and Papa join us for an early dinner followed by a short walk and key lime pie.

Flower is sleeping, Princess is brushing her teeth, I’m typing, and DH is watching baseball. A fantastic weekend if I do say so. We hope your weekend was too!

Our Last Day to Play

Tomorrow life as we know it starts again. We’ve all been off work and daycare for almost two weeks and it’s been fabulous. I love not worrying about bedtimes and nap times and schedules. I love just hanging out at home.

We’re all tired. It’s been two weeks of late nights. I’m hoping to get everyone to bed early tonight in hopes of making tomorrow a little easier on our daycare lady. Auntie A and Uncle L are at the airport waiting to head home as I type. Normally we would see them off also, but the last few times Princess has went to the airport the farewell has been very tearful. In fact, last fall when Auntie C and Cousin H left I thought we were going to lose Princess to airport security. She took off running down the hall to give Auntie C one last goodbye hug and kiss. Luckily Auntie C wasn’t through security yet but it was close. So we decided to sit this one out. It seems less traumatic for everyone (Right Auntie A?).

With that, I’ll post a few pictures and call it good. Work will be very busy for the next few weeks, or months, so you may not hear from me on a regular basis. Sorry.

Where Does She Get This Stuff?

As I mentioned yesterday, we hosted New Year’s Day at our house. Today is Auntie A’s birthday (Happy Birthday Auntie A! I’d tell the 4 people who read my blog how old you are but they already know.) but Papa had to go back to work today so we celebrated her birthday last night as well. After the big bash we chatted a bit and then everyone started to head home.

The girls were up a couple hours past their normal bedtime (whatever that is these days….vacation does terrible things to our schedule) and wanted to go with them. So I grabbed the girls and took them over to the front window so we could watch and wave to Auntie A and Uncle L as they pulled out of the driveway.

We waited for what seemed like 10 minutes but it was probably only 2 and Princess says, “What are they doing out there? Kissing?”. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a mouthful of wine at that moment. A few seconds later Auntie A comes back in the house to ask to borrow an ice scraper because they couldn’t find Nana’s and their Albertson’s Preferred card wasn’t working so well.

I thought we were doing a pretty good job of monitoring what the girls watch on TV but I think I’m going to re-evaluate.

Happy New Year!

359 days until Christmas….or something like that. I just wanted to start out the New Year on the right foot and post something quick. I’d like to say my New Year resolution is to post every day but those of you who know me will know that won’t happen. I’m not really a resolution kind of person. I never follow through; a year is a long time for some things. So I figure, why set myself up for failure, right?

Santa was very generous this year. He brought me a new laptop, which is much faster than my old laptop so posting is much quicker now. Check the comments in a few days….I’m sure Homestead will have something to say about “speed”.

Today we’re watching football with Auntie A and Uncle L. Nana, Papa and Grandma M are coming over to help us devour the prime rib in the oven. I hope the New Year finds you happy and healthy. God bless and Happy 2009!

It’s Over Already?

December 31, 2008. Wow. That’s all I can say. Seems like Flower was just a baby and we were getting ready for her first birthday and now the year is almost over and we’ll be getting ready for her second birthday pretty soon.

Princess has turned into a lady this year….at least sometimes she acts like a lady. She is a wonderful big sister. She is very patient with Flower. She is always explaining things to her and trying to teach her things like what a cow says or colors.

We have a houseful of family right now so I don’t have much time. We received a Wii for Christmas so everyone is huddled in the living room around the TV. Just wanted to post one last time in 2008 and wish everyone a safe evening. Not sure if we have plans yet, it will depend on the weather. We’ll probably be eating junk food, watching a movie, and hopefully we’ll be able to find a channel that will show the ball dropping in NYC so we can go to bed before midnight. That’s how we celebrate New Year’s Eve around here.

We Were on the Nice List

Santa stopped at our house on Christmas Eve. Princess was very worried that night because she hadn’t been very cooperative getting dressed for church. So at bedtime she and Daddy set out some milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. As I was snuggling her into bed she confided in me that she hoped she was on the “Nice” list.

Turns out we made the Nice list this year. Santa was very nice to us. Princess found a dollhouse waiting for her under the tree and Flower got an inchworm. We spent the morning opening gifts and playing with our new stuff and went to Nana and Papa’s for more gift giving and dinner. The snow started to fall around noon and we got a few inches yesterday. It was a beautifully white Christmas.

We had an amazing day and today we are recovering. The girls put their snow gear on this morning and we headed out for 4 wheeler rides, a little sledding, and to try out the new cross-country skis. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well. Enjoy and photos.

We’re Patiently Awaiting His Arrival

Santa that is. As the girls get older we realize how important it is to teach them there is more to Christmas than receiving gifts. Christmas is, most importantly, a time to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. Flower is still a bit young to understand Christmas, but Princess needs to know that Christmas not about getting the best gift or the most gifts. So that’s my objective. I want to keep all the magic of Santa for the girls but I also want them to know how truly wonderful it is to give to others.

I need to come up with a game plan for next year but for now we’re trying to focus on making and giving to others. Last weekend we made fudge, caramels, cookies, and caramel corn. Flower thought caramel corn was the best thing she’d ever eaten, or at least that’s what it looked like as she was shoveling it in. We assembled some goodie bags for friends, co-workers and relatives to enjoy. Princess wasn’t sure about giving away so much of our treats, but in the holiday spirit she complied.

Princess and I are planning a scavenger hunt for Daddy on Christmas morning. I’m not very good when it comes to shopping for Daddy. He always thinks of wonderful things for me but I can never seem to find that perfect gift for him. Although this year I did get something he’s going to like. He’ll be surprise too because I had to do some leg work and ask his buddies to help me pick it out.

Santa came early for me this year. I won an iPod nano at a conference a couple weeks ago so I’m set. Princess asked Santa for a dollhouse….one with a round thing that makes the other thing go up….aka an elevator. Flower isn’t old enough to ask Santa for a gift so I suggested an inch worm to Princess and she told Santa on Flower’s behalf. Hopefully “Santa” will check the boxes tonight to make sure all the required parts were included in the boxes so assembly will be successful tomorrow.

That’s it for another year. I think we’re ready for the big day. Ho, ho ho! Merry Christmas! Happy holidays from our house to yours.

Deck the Halls

Earlier this evening Princess and I were in her bedroom getting ready for bed. We can hear the Monday Night Football halftime show in the background. Chris Berman says, “Deck the Halls” and Princess starts to giggle. She looks at me and says, “Mommy, did you hear him? He said ‘Deck the Halls’. He meant to say ‘Shrek the Halls’.” And she rolls her eyes as if to say “Boys can be so silly sometimes….” Apparently we’ve been watching too much of the big green ogre lately.