This blog is my excuse to carry my camera around with me and take pictures like a tourist in my home town.
This is also my way of staying positive and remembering the good things when I'm feeling buried under the mountain of straw.
And finally, this is also where I may go from time to time to vent.
I'm not a holiday person. For the last few New Year Eve's I've managed to fall asleep early in the night then wake up just before/after the ball dropped. Not much of a big deal for us.
Quick game of liars dice while the DM sets up the map
This year we were invited to a party at our neighbors house. I'm sure it was a blast of a party, but again Holiday Parties are usually on our avoidance list.
We were invited to hang out and do nothing with our best friends as well. Our plan was to hang out and do nothing on our own, so this had a likely chance of being the perfect fit for us.
We were also invited to a classy dinner party with my brother, complete with prime rib. I have to admit, I was Jones-ing to go to this party and partake in that meal, but Cliff was already occupied with some of his friends when we got the invite.
A few weeks ago, Cliff was invited to 'game' with his buddies and he's been pretty set on sticking to that idea. This morning I woke up feeling terrible so I slept off my cold while while Cliff went to the gaming event solo. He convinced me to join him in the evening , it was just down the street and dinner with my brother wasn't on his agenda. We brought in the new year geeking out with his friends (great people) playing D&D 3.5. Very geeky, but for us it worked.
Our final Christmas for the year and I get to host it. I personally think I'm a terrible host, but since Mom was still the one actually doing the party I figured I had the space to host it. It worked out great! We had way too much food (better than not enough) and all of it was so delicious. Okay, some of it (freezer snacks) was not even close to as tasty as other things (did someone say "ribs"?) but it had a purpose and it served it well. Haha, served... Even better, I had lunch and dinner taken care of for days afterwards. Big bonus!
There were 20 people in our house but it didn't feel too crowded or too loud. Oh, it was loud and full, but not uncomfortably so. It worked out great, the younger kids ran all over the house in and out of the playrooms; the older boys went upstairs and played on the Xbox; and the adults had two couches and three rooms to mingle through.
I've been promising a sample of my Brötchen for awhile so I made a small batch. 12 large rolls and most of them were devoured happily.
I almost got away without getting in the pictures. At the end of the night a camera found me.
The party was a huge success (6 hours long!) and I'm pretty sure we all had a great time! I'm so grateful to everyone for coming, bringing delicious treats (why were there no rice crispy treats left? *sniffle*), and making this a brilliant way to end the year.
One final thought. I owe Debby a hugeThank You for taking pictures for us, and another huge Thank You both Mom and Debby for having such a great party and letting me be a part of it. This was my first time hosting the whole family (or really any real event) and it was fantastic. I loved looking outside and seeing my driveway full and hearing all the kids playing in the house. It was the perfect way to end my year.
I've been meaning to replicate this picture with age baby on up, but I've forgotten about it the last two years. This year was more of a rushed attempt so it didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but I'm still happy with it.
As much as it hurts me to deface a book, I found one at the dollar tree by one of my favorite authors that I was willing to turn into my art. My plan of course, was to leave the cover (and therefore authors name) viable, but I was wooed by a pretty print.
I wasn't going to wrap it but I really liked the polka dots and wanted the elastic to keep it closed. The pages are all glues shut but still viable.
Inside I added two more pieces of elastic to keep my iPod from falling out. It's completely unnecessary but I love being able to read my books and still have the feeling of a book. It was a fast job and there are some things I might do better next time, but I love it. It serves it's purpose and makes me happy.
She picked out her 'sparkly' dress and
wanted to show everyone her
princess curtsy.
After several failed dates we moved our family Christmas at Pops' house to actual Christmas. Who ever heard of such a thing, Christmas on Christmas?! Though it was out of the ordinary for Cliff and I, it was a very enjoyable way to spend the holiday. As usual, the spread of food was mind boggling and incredibly delicious! Due to lots of confusion this year, we were on a bit of a time crunch to fit in all the activities. Ronnie showed up late, and Jared had to leave early yet somehow we still got our Yankee Gift Exchange done in time. The rest of us hung out for a few more hours enjoying lunch and dinner before sleep deprivation finally hit Cliff and I strong enough that we had to wake our butts up and get off the couch to drive home before it was no longer an option.
Every year we get the boys for Thanksgiving and in exchange they go to Kim's house for Christmas. Since we still have a Christmas at our house, we just celebrate it early. Luckily for us Santa sends his elves to deliver the presents the last morning they are at our house every year.
Evelyn insisted on wearing her
"sparkly dress" this morning and I
was happy to oblige.
Here she is doing her 'skirtsy'.
Baby Jaguar is involved in everything. Even helping
Evelyn find her presents.
Alex got an iPhone and Isaac got an iPod keeping them MIA the rest of the morning playing the new games.
Unlike her brothers, Evelyn was very delicate with every package. She took her time opening each one up, and played with each opened toy before she moved on to open the next present.
The kids all had an awesome Christmas morning and loved all their gifts! Another successful year.
Cliff has been growing his beard out for the last 8 months. He's been talking about shaving it for a many weeks now, but finally did it tonight. In the process he asked me if there was style I'd like to see on him before he removed it all. I wanted to see a classic stash but I had no idea it would be this hilarious.
He let me take a picture only if I promised to not facebook it, so I've strategically placed it here for all to enjoy. Meet my husband, Wyatt Earp: the 1970s Adult Film Star....
Honey, I love you. You are incredibly handsome. Always entertaining... and I really wish you kept this long enough for me to get a shot of you with your cowboy hat on.
For our Christmas dinner I made Alton Browns City Ham (minus the cookies because I forgot them) and these Apple Pie Baked Apples for dessert. Dinner was fantastic, but I rushed my apples. I forgot to put butter in the mix, I didn't precook the apples (I will next time!), I cut through several of my apple bowls, I didn't sweeten the apples enough, and finally the apples weren't stable and almost all tipped over while cooking or coming out of the oven. They were not pretty, but they tasted okay at least and it was a nice treat for our special meal.
This evening my Dad had a small dinner celebration for his birthday. We thought we'd be late but somehow we managed to arrive 15 minutes early so I figured this was a good opportunity to drink unnecessary calories. I got a hot chocolate and Evelyn recognized the whip cream instantly. She wasted no time in taking a bite (or several) for herself.
I love my breakfast shakes but I hate making the whole blender dirty for my single glass. Even worse, the kids always want one too, but not the blueberry kind I love so much. Thanks to the genius that is pinterest I discovered that there is a solution to this problem.
This morning I was able to turn this: into this:
In case you were wondering, yes, that is a mason jar used in place of the normal glass for the blender. I saw the idea used for a party where they made several different mixed drinks then placed them in a mason jar (with a lid on each of course) in a bucket of ice. Guests would grab a mason jar of their choice, add ice, blend, then enjoy. Brilliant!
Now I have my instant breakfast of my choice and it's even already in its own convenient cup.
So pretty when the blueberries first
get mixed in!
I can't wait until summer when I have these every day. I can prep several at once and it can become a very fast breakfast for anyone in the house. Add ice, blend, and enjoy!
Since our tree is bare and I don't otherwise have a card wreath (been on my wishlist for years) I thought I'd try something a little different. I'm putting my holiday cards on my tree! I'm sure this has been done many times but I've never personally seen it. I'm kind of in love with the way it looks! It's like having all my friends and family as the focal point of our holiday - which is sort of the point of the holiday season anyway.
Surprising enough, it doesn't take that many cards to make the tree look very full either so my tree looks good pretty early in the month!
I just may start doing this every year on my trees.
Every year when our Christmas morning happens I'm tired. I don't do well when I'm tired, it transforms me into a super bitch and the only thing worse than me tired and bitchy is when it's my own damn fault.
Having step kids can be is a delicate balancing act come gift giving events. Getting presents they'll love, not breaking the bank, not getting the same toys they have at the other parents house, and making sure no one appears to be getting preferential treatment- it's a headache. I despise shopping (especially during the holidays) so every year I get all my shopping done by Black Friday but I question my purchases making sure everything is super fair up until the morning night I wrap everything.
Why do I wait to wrap??? Inevitably, when the kids wake up (way too early for anybody's sanity) I'm grumpy and tell them they need to go back to sleep and not shake the presents. 20 minutes later they're still next to the tree shaking presents and not going to sleep (like there was ever a chance!) so I'm forced to wake up and give them the okay to open before they break something shaking. I'm so tired and resentful of having stayed up too late wrapping presents, that a) I'm annoyed when they just rip the paper to shreds and not even notice what is inside or belongs to whom when I spent hours putting it all together; and b) can't believe the gifts I put the most thought into they literally toss aside with the trash but the $2 stocking stuffer I got to buy me that 20 minutes of sleep in the morning becomes the coolest (albeit easily broken) present ever! Why do I even spend the money? I should just be getting them very large cardboard boxes and some McGyver tape.
Let me also say that I happen to be a huge grinch. HUGE. My sister only broke the spell on me and put a little jolly in my step a few years back and sadly it's starting to wear off.
Oh how I despise the season of the gimmes. For everything you say it is, it's not. It's not represented right, it's not celebrated right, and it most certainly is not seen right (you need to buy methis- um, no).
Anyway, this year I'm trying very hard to forget Grinch and let the magic shine. I've been eager to cancel Christmas all summer and it actually was canceled just a few short weeks ago (I'm almost ashamed to admit just how giddy that was making me) and then someone *cough* stopped with the bad apple routine. I will be the first to say I am thrilled at this side of him I'm seeing again (even if only for a few weeks). So thrilled in fact, that I want to make this year special (like I do every year) even when I thought there wasn't a chance in Hades that I'd ever bring it back when it took this long to straighten out. I'll take this moment to personally thank my family for raising me with the 'better late then never' mantra.
I did all the Elf work this year before the big night (it really helps that I'm aiming to dial that down by a thousand!) and tonight I finished wrapping all the presents minus the iPods for the kids (I want to get all their requested movies/songs on them first) and 1 sd card that hadn't come in the mail yet. I even went and wrapped my Elephant Bingo gifts and January Birthday presents gifts all at the same time.
We're still going round and round a bit this year how our celebration can/will be but at least I'm trying....
...then she put on a bucket hat and grabbed
her star wand and decided she was 'a witch'.
Evelyn picked out her outfit this morning from the clothes a very dear friend let us borrow. She was so excited to put this on and it was so adorable on her I couldn't help but think of pure sunshine running around my house.
I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am for our wonderful friends. I have tried but I am incapable of typing what I have to say (or think, or feel) about them with anyone else having a chance of understanding it. I love our friends, for without Cliff I surely would never have known them.
I am so extremely thankful for their companionship and their very giving hearts. There are no words to accurately describe just how grateful I am or how wonderful I think they are.
Friends are truly the family that we get to choose.
The annual Gingerbread Party returned with even more candy filled fun. The food was amazing and kept us all full enough to stay away from the unneeded sugar temptations. When the houses and trains were assembled to satisfaction everyone went outside to run and play.
At one point Pops climbed a tree.
Just because he could.
For variety, a broom was brought out for curling
All the boys got involved in a game of soccer while the 5 and 6 year olds went off to dig holes.
While we were all playing outside two world war two style fighter plans kept flying overhead. Seriously cool, but I failed to obtain a picture. However, Melissa did get some entertainment gold inside.
Trying to stay awake includes games like trying to be a cat. This includes all cat like distractions... like window watching behind the couch. She did eventually pull the curtains down on her head which scared the kitties off and ended the fun she was otherwise having with this game.
Every night after his shower, Athena man handles Alex until she successfully licks every last inch of his hair. Normally she is never allowed on the table but we tolerated it this one time for the purpose of trying to capture this video. She crawled right up his back while he was finishing his homework and worked her way around and on top of (yes she was literally on top of his head) him until she finished. I'm starting to think she waits outside the bathroom door for him to shower because she doesn't miss a second of it!
Oh how I've missed my Noah! It feels like forever since we've had him!
Lucky for us we got to have a playdate with him today! Evelyn woke up after he arrived and insisted he hold her hand the whole walk to school!!!
Waiting for the boys we all snuggled together and played with the camera feature on my ipod. Both kids thought it was hilarious to push the button and see their pictures.
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Walking home the boys wanted to run across the field in the park so naturally Noah and Evelyn had to follow.
The day went too fast, but we sure had a fantastic time together!
I love aprons. I love them so much that I honestly with they were fashionable acceptable to wear around town. Yeah, I know that makes me a loser. I'm comfortable with that.
Today I got to give my new custom apron it's first test drive when I made the kids waffles for breakfast. Taking a picture of yourself on your iPod is no easy task, but here's a peek at my pretty utility piece.
I love it!
This may be the start of another addiction obsession....
No kids for a few hours today so I chose to bring a little 'merry' into my home (early!) without making my husband loose his mind. I battled the garage to find the Christmas tree and sorted the ornaments myself (finding my long lost crochet patterns in the process). Then, I set up the tree before Cliff got home as a surprise. Unfortunately my tree had broken lights that I couldn't seem to fix and in my frustration I didn't accomplish anything else- like cleaning or at least straightening the Christmas mess in my front room. When Cliff got home (to my red and green tornado) he worked on it without success until I made him set up the other tree, moving the first tree to the adjacent room.
Sadly I don't trust my cats (with good reason) so the ornaments I sorted all stayed in the box (and probably will not leave that location this year). I did place some old target snowflakes and glitter balls on the broken tree to test the cats but that leaves our main tree naked except for lights so I'll have to figure out something new to try.
I even started wrapping my presents with my pretty coordinating paper!
I failed this year. We normally get our holiday pictures taken by November first and our cards mailed out before we leave town for Thanksgiving but this year we didn't get to our pictures until the week before we left. Needless to say they were not holiday cards this year, they were Christmas/New Year cards. Better late than never. Stamped, addressed, and stuffed. My cards are still mailed off by the first of December. I'll take it!
sidenote: They were done and ready yesterday before December but I realized since the postman wouldn't pick them up until today it didn't really count.
So the advantage/disadvantage to me being unsure of my clutch abilities was that Cliff had to drive the entire distance home. It's not that big of an issue but most years I at least drive a small stretch so he can cat nap and this year it wasn't really a choice. We considered several options for when to drive home and although leaving early wasn't desirable it did seem to be the best option.
We picked up supplies last night for this mornings breakfast. Someone had mentioned that they were hoping for Cliff's biscuits and gravy so this morning he made a dynamite batch before we packed out. Well actually to be fair, Cliff made dynamite gravy, Shelley made the tasty biscuits.
It was a peaceful morning and we started towards home about the time we planned. Imagine that!
The skies were clear and traffic was light the whole way home. We made fantastic time which we've assumed was caused from the lack of my granny-like driving skills. From door to door with a long lunch break in just 10 hours. Awesome!
a train bridge off the freeway. Surprised my camera caught it so well
while traveling at high speeds...
We did hit some vicious fog in Woodland, but it just made me appreciate living in Antelope and being home that much sooner.
Black Friday is supposed to be a sport that starts no earlier than 4am on Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, most stores (or at least our favorite ones) opened at 10pm Thanksgiving or midnight on Black Friday. Really?! Thanksgiving hating Jerks!! It is unacceptable in my world. I love camping out at the stores and all, but not if it means I miss my Thanksgiving dinner or have to leave it early. I'll pass, even if I do love the sport.
I was very grateful to Amazon prime and Target's free shipping for card holders because that's how I got 80% of our holiday gifts this year. Cliff and I did decide to check out Walmart for socks and underwear that was unavailable online and see if we had any luck in getting a TV for our cousins. When I got to Walmart there were no lines for the big ticket sales (weird), lots of people in customer service doing returns, and tons of people with multiple full carts just hanging out around the checkout lines. I should of taken this all as a bad sign because when I got to the underwear area they were sold out of both the underwear and socks. Really?!
Had I not found the perfect present for our Elephant Bingo and a few other bargains ($4 crock pot) I would of just walked out. Somehow I convinced Cliff to come inside to grab the english muffins I forgot (and really needed) and after he got them he hung out with me in the massively slow lines.
It was all just kind of a joke this year. We realized that people purchased the sale items the day (or days) before Black Friday and then came in Thanksgiving evening to return them. Once returned they put them in their carts then gathered the rest of their little items from around the store. Items, there were not supposed to be put on the floor until midnight, but workers can't be bothered with such technicalities. Then, they just waited by the checkouts until midnight when the sale prices were active.
To make the whole situation worse, I saw better prices a week ago then I did today. I am so glad that I didn't wait to get my camera because I sure was doubting my pre-Thanksgiving purchase.
Even with the crazy lines Cliff and I returned home (after he made me drive the clutch) by 1am. It didn't seem right to be getting to sleep so early on Black Friday so we finally watched Cars2 before heading to bed. When we wake up there are home made McMuffins on the breakfast menu. It's no leftover plate, but I'm excited about it all the same.
I will NOT be going to Walmart on Black Friday ever again. I know I've said that before, but I was trying something different this year and I realized Walmart just doesn't care about this sacred holiday sport like I do. I think from now on I'll be sticking to online sales.
This whole I-can't-drive-a-stick-shift-comfortably is really starting to come in handy. In the wee hours of the morning Cliff went to pick up my holiday paper at the gas station. He's under the impression that he could of gone for it at a more civilized hour and there would still have been hundreds left, but I don't trust chance that way. Apparently the guy in front of him was also purchasing a paper and he wanted to complain to the attendant of the $2 price tag versus the regular daily cost. Wish I could of been there to witness the lady remove all the ads before handing him his paper for the daily price. She then told him if he wanted the ads as well it was going to cost him the full $2.
The day started off bad, I had a crazy painful swollen eye. No clue why or how, but thankfully after some Advil and a cold compress it went away. After Evelyn's bed tricks in the hotel, we've kept her sleeping on the floor. Lucky for us she slept in this morning, and she looked so peaceful too!
It was a very mellow day hanging out in the kitchen prepping dinner and drinking mimosas. Very good tradition indeed. The deals in the paper this year suck and the stores are opening way too early so I may not have a Black Friday experience this year. So far, I've just been buying my things online.
As usual, dinner was divine! Evelyn loves olives, and jellied cranberry sauce, and this year she even got to have apple cider in a crystal wine glass (child sized) like the big kids. She was in heaven! She did so well being careful with her cup.
I wish there was a way to share just how delicious our meal was because it is something I look forward to every year! It is the highlight of our year and I look forward to it for years to come.
After yesterdays drama in the parking lot we parked down the street. The only draw back was that we Cliff had to wake up and move it by 7am. We had our breakfast and then packed everything up to leave the city.
We arrived at the Pacific Science Center just before they opened (as opposed to just before they closed like we did on Monday) making it probably the first time this trip that something happened exactly the way we hoped. Since it was raining, Cliff - our personal night in shining armor- dropped the three of us outside while he parked the car. Our ticket included a movie and I have to admit that Alex picked the one that interested me the least but after watching it I was so glad he chose it!
I had read that the center was really big and to be honest I was a little surprised that it wasn't bigger. I think it probably was but the floor plan was a bit confusing making it difficult to see everything. I will definitely admit that if I lived near this I would purchase a membership and bring my kids often (maybe not if I had to pay for parking every time...). If we had a full day to explore each area of the center I'm sure it would be oodles of fun for the kids and there are gobs of lessons you could teach using the place as a tool.
Evelyn was getting tired and grumpy (big surprise, she hasn't napped in days) and all she wanted to do was play with the water table. By some miracle we distracted her long enough to walk her out of sight of it and by then she decided she only wanted to play with the 3D puzzle pieces. Tired child! We made our way past the naked mole rats (eww!) and to the butterfly house. Oh my, that could of been such a disaster but luckily her mood improved long enough to go inside with Daddy, Brother, and me. I think a butterfly landed on her head because she freaked out, luckily stopping when she saw how excited we all were when one landed on Alex.
90 minutes wasn't nearly enough time to do all our investigating but it did allow us enough time to see a little of everything before our movie started. The movie was "Born to be Wild" in Imax 3D, narrated by Morgan Freeman. I was really worried that Evelyn would NOT want to wear glasses for the movie and without them it's hard to see but she did great keeping them on (even with her grumpiness). I'm sure it helped that they had glasses in 3 sizes so they were a comfortable fit for everyone.
The movie was very 'close' and sometimes uncomfortably so. It was hilarious to watch Evelyn try, multiple times, to grab or move things that were put in front of her. It was a very sweet movie following two people: one who raises orphan elephants, and the another who raises orphan orangutans and then both put them back into the wild. Evelyn didn't care much for the Elephants, she wanted to see more about the orangutans. Probably because they were so silly.
The only drama came at the end of the movie when Evelyn had to give her 'sunglasses' back. Oh boy, did that make her mad. Good thing we were ready to leave town because she kicked and screamed the whole way out of the theater.
We were urged to head out of town around noon if we didn't want to hit traffic and we got back to our car by 12:30. Not to bad in my books. Our plan was to meet up with a friend of mine in Olympia but she got called into work so we found some snacks in the truck and started out for home.
We should of taken the advice to heart. Or at least more seriously than we did. In a town that has a 24 hour carpool lane you need to be scared! OH. MY. GAWD! Can't say we weren't warned.
The traffic was from hell! The funny thing about canceling lunch with my friend (who was1 hour from where we started and 1 hour from where we were going) was that it took us four hours to get to her town, right around when she got off from work. We stopped for food at a Safeway in Olympia-or at least near to it (and the restroom that I had planned on using at the PSC but chose to hold it so we could get on the road then had to keep holding it). The Safeway Starbucks restroom was one of the worst ones I've ever seen. It was more than I could bare! The bushes outside were looking mighty inviting though. Still trying to float away I picked up some lunch meat and cheese from the deli so I could make sandwiches in the car. Deli meat may seem like a pricier option, but it meant that a) didn't have to store leftovers, b) everyone got to pick what kind of sandwich they wanted, and c) was 75% cheaper than getting a store sandwich for everyone.
When I returned to the truck I discovered that we had a flat tire -are you kidding me?!?! Cliff tried to repair it with that spray can of flat tire fix it only to realize it was sidewall tear and not repairable. UGH! To access the spare tire we had to move the kids, the car seat, and all our gear we had stashed inside the cab. The aggravation was so high for Cliff and I, but then we remembered it could be raining and we remembered a way to get it all done and still love each other. This was especially true, when Cliff agreed to drive me over to a 'cleaner' restroom once we were back on the road.
After my scare with not remembering that Evelyn was eating a burger when I got in the car accident I've been a bit neurotic about eating in the car. I checked on Evelyn when I finished my sandwich only to see turkey hanging out of her mouth and her head slumped sideways. I start to panic thinking she'd choked and I didn't notice so I started shaking her and saying her name loudly (now freaking out driving Cliff as well) still with no reaction. Just when I'm about to completely loose it and freak out her eyes flutter open and go to take another bite of the sandwich I was trying to pry out of her hands. She was asleep! I told her if she wanted to sleep she needed to spit out her bite of food-which she did- then I tried to put my heart back into my chest.
7:30pm and we finally made it back home (not really home I suppose, but it feels like home to me). Only took us 5 hours longer than it should have. No, I'm not grumpy at all (anymore), I'm just glad we're home.
