It's all good . . .

Christmas Fun - Week 2

Last week was a little crazier, as Derek was very sick with a cold, and so our festivities were kept to a minimum, but we still had fun.  There was lots of cuddling watching Christmas movies (a perfect activity for a sick little boy), we did pretty well with our scripture a day, and we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional (which was fantastic).

I also dedicated last week to baking for neighbors and getting gifts to teachers, bus drivers, etc.  I like to bake bread and give it away along with some homemade jam, and so I did it again this year.  I must admit though, that after baking 12 loaves of bread and still having more people I needed to give things to, I decided to just give jam to the rest of my list.  Call it laziness; I call it re-prioritizing :).

 

One of the highlights of last week, however, was a wonderful and long anticipated visit from our friends John and Victoria.  They stayed for two nights, and even came to Phantom of the Opera with us (see post below), as they seem to be our Broadway buddies - they went with us to Wicked last year :). 

We had so much fun with them, especially our late night pinochle games.  The second night, Victoria and I each "shot the moon," decimating the boys, but not to be outdone completely, the boys came back and won the last game by shooting the moon as well :).  We even had them do a secret mission for us, and had them play Santa's helpers - I would tell you more, but I would give too much away ;).

Even with Derek being sick and me getting injured, it was a great week, and so continues our Christmas adventures.

The Phantom of the Opera . . .

. . . is there, inside my mind. 

It's true.  It has been two days since Kevin took me to see Phantom of the Opera, and the music is still running through my head.  In fact, it was with me so much, I even watched the movie of it as I folded laundry this morning :).  Then I sat down with the sheet music and have been singing all the songs.  I loved the music before I saw the play, but now it is part of me.

On Saturday, we dropped our kids off with some wonderful friends, and then headed to Durham with our friends John and Victoria (who came to visit from Savannah).  It was less than two hours away, and so I drove and gave the boys a chance to play Guitar Hero - for old times sake :).  Once we got there, we had a nice lunch at Mellow Mushroom, and then headed over to the theater.

The production was in a beautiful, new facility - the DPAC - and it was already packed with people.  We tried to find a good place to take a picture, but did not succeed - but hey, I am glad we remembered to take one :).  We went to our seats which were so close to the stage, I couldn't believe it.  Our view was fantastic.

 

Then it was time for the show to begin, and it was amazing!!  It sucked me in from the very beginning when the chandelier was lit and pulled up out over the audience.  My favorite part of the play was "All I Ask of You," maybe it is the hopeless romantic inside me, or the fact that the actor playing Raoul was wonderful.  The Phantom was also so talented, although, I have to admit that I cringed when Christine kissed him at the end - probably because they did such a great job making him look detestable. 

All in all, it was an amazing experience, and a perfect Christmas gift.  I am so glad the show was touring and that we happened to be in the right place at the right time to get to go.  Thank you, Kevin!

PS.  After we got home that night, as I was heading out to the garage to get in the car and pick up the kids, my foot went out from under me and I fell down the stairs, landing on the cement floor.  It was a miracle that I didn't sprain either of my ankles, but I do feel as if I have been hit by a truck.  My whole back is seized with pain.  However, I went to the chiropractor this morning, and with some other treatment, I should be good as new soon.  Kevin blames the cute shoes I am wearing in the picture - they are a 4 inch heel :).  Oops.

Christmas Fun - Week 1

My goal this year is to try to do something each day, however small, to make it feel more like Christmas.  Last week we managed to sneak in quite a few fun things, starting out with . . . advent calendars.

We have quite a few advent calendars - a felt one my sister made us years ago, a magnet one on the fridge, a paper chain that Derek made in preschool, and every year I buy the ones where you get to eat the chocolate each day (One for each kid - it is much easier that way).  The kids love it, and Lily is even better at remembering them than I am. 

 

This year I decided to do something special as a family as well, and make a Scripture Countdown - one scripture about Jesus Christ for every day until Christmas Eve.  It has been so nice to have that daily reminder about what Christmas is all about.  (If you would like a copy, I put it in a PDF file, and you can download it here: Download Scripture Christmas Countdown pdf)

One night last week, Lily and I got to take advantage of the fact that Derek fell sound asleep at 6pm, and I let her help me wrap his birthday and Christmas present from her.  She had been begging me for days to wrap some presents, and so it was perfect - complete with her singing along to the Muppet's Christmas Carol soundtrack :).  After we finished wrapping, we had some hot cocoa and read our books side by side at the table.  It was a great night.

 

We also took the time to watch a few Christmas movies as a family.  There is nothing quite like snuggling all together on the couch with the lights from the Christmas tree glowing down on you.  One of the movies we watched was Home Alone, and I picked that movie thinking that the kids would love it and laugh all the way through. 

Well, Lily got the memo that it was a hilarious movie, laughing the whole time, but Derek was watching a completely different film.  In his eyes, the movie was a tragedy in which Kevin and his mom spent the whole movie separated.  He cried through the whole thing, asking us when he would get his mom back.  (I'm not kidding either, he had big fat tears rolling down his cheeks and the saddest face you ever saw.)  When the movie finally ended for him, he climbed up on my lap and said to me, "Thanks for letting me watch the movie mom.  It is my favorite."  What??  Pretty funny.

Another thing we did last week was get packages ready for our missionaries, my nephew Scott and our friend Hayden.  I had gathered up the things for the packages, but left the Christmas cards to the kids to make.  They loved it, and Derek was especially excited about "accidentally" gluing his hands together.

 

Lastly, on Saturday, Kevin and I got to go on a date to the Raleigh temple, and then shopping at both the outlets and Costco.  We even stopped off at Chipotle for lunch.  It was such a wonderful day, and it just wouldn't have been Christmas without checking out all the great stuff at Costco - speaking of which, we both came home with a pound of amazing fudge for our stockings.  Those samples will get you every time :).

And so now we are on to this week, and we will see what fun adventures await us . . .

Oh, Christmas Tree . . . and other Decorating Adventures

December is here, and we are taking it a day at a time, trying to get into the spirit of things.  It all began with the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and our attempt to get a live Christmas tree.  You see, I grew up having a real tree every year, but since we got married, it was never an option to have one in any of the places we lived.  Since Kevin knows just how much I love them, he said we could go out and get one this year.

I know that maybe I should have looked around more and found the best deal, but there is this Christmas tree lot on a main road in town that has their sign up all year round.  Every time I passed that sign since we moved here, I have thought about how excited I am to get a tree this year, and so when we went to buy one, we went straight there.  I am glad I did - their trees were beautiful, well taken care of, and reasonably priced.  Plus, I felt better giving my money to a family business than Home Depot or Walmart :).

It literally only took me a minute to find my tree, it was beautiful, the right hight, symmetrical and the right type of pine tree.  The kids loved watching them put the netting on, and then our van smelled so amazing on the way home.

 

Once we got home, Kevin took a break from putting on our outdoor lights to help get the tree up so Lily and I could decorate it.  What we thought would be pretty simple, was not.  It had been a really long time since I had helped my dad put up a tree, and I remembered him using a bucket full of rocks to stabilize it, and so I thought, "We have a bucket, I don't need to buy a tree stand."  Big mistake.

Unfortunately, even though our tree looks very straight, the trunk itself is lopsided, which makes it lean to the side.  This little detail, and both of our lack of experience, led to two hours of trying to get the tree to stand up straight - this even included a trip to Walmart to buy wire to fasten it to the ceiling and wall.

We did eventually get it to stand up straight, and then in the two minutes we both left the room, it proceeded to fall over.  By this time we knew that my bucket idea was NOT going to work, and so Kevin went to the store and bought us a stand.  (A really nice one that you can even water your tree with, which was one of my main purposes of using a bucket in the first place.  How was I to know that since I was child, they had created such nice tree stands??)  Fifteen minutes later, the tree was standing up perfectly.  We live, we learn.

By this time, both Kevin and I were completely exhausted, but knew that we had to finish what we started.  So he headed outside to finish the lights - which turned out perfect, as usual - while Lily and I decorated the tree inside.  Thank goodness for Lily's enthusiasm, since mine had disappeared somewhere during the earlier tree escapade.  We had a great time, and everything turned out beautiful.

Here are Kevin's lights (To capture it correctly, the house doesn't show up, but know that they aren't just floating there - Kevin is magic, but not that magic.):

  

And here is the infamous tree (Pictures don't do it justice.):

 
  
And just for fun, here are pictures of some more of our decorations:

 

And a few odds and ends:

And my kitchen:

 

And my new favorite thing, my wreath:

 

Luckily the rest of our decorating was pretty uneventful, and now we are free to just enjoy the Christmas season :).  
  

Farewell to Fall

   I find that I am always very ready for a new season/holiday once one has ended.  I am really excited about December and Christmas this year, maybe it is because we are in a house now, or maybe because the air has a bite to it here that we rarely felt in Savannah - that cold edge to the air that makes it feel like winter.

That said, we did have a wonderful fall, and although November flew by faster than I could believe, it was full of wonderful times as a family.  AS I looked back on the month, I realized that there were a few little things that never quite made it into any posts, and so I thought i would include them before the Christmas festivities begin.

Since moving here, I have been going through withdrawals when it comes to photography.  I had been doing an average of two photo shoots a month, and have only had one in the six months I have lived here (and that was of a friend in Savannah).  Because of this, and my need to take pictures, I have had to stretch the other side of my photography skills, and have been taking pictures of something other than people :). 

It is something I have always loved to do, but didn't focus as much on when I was busy doing portraits.  A few weeks ago I had the best time capturing the cotton fields, and to see more of my pics, go to my photography site: www.thatbrowngirlphotography.blogspot.com.

One weekend this month, we also had a sweet little girl stay over as a favor for a woman that Kevin works with.  She is ten and Lily and Derek adored her!  She played so well with them, and even played Legend of Zelda for them on her Nintendo DS :). 

And then there was the last of our yard work for the year (or so I hope - we had a warm spell that might force me to weed again).  We had gorgeous weather on a Saturday and spent the day outside weeding, mowing, and getting the yard ready for winter.  The kids thought it was especially awesome when Kevin let them help him push the lawn mower :).  I guess he is starting them young - he he!

 

And then there was the day after Thanksgiving, the day that I am usually up at the crack of dawn to hit the sales.  Kevin and I had decided that we were not going to go this year - we would save our sanity and money.  However, after Derek woke me up at 6 am, I couldn't stop thinking about the tricycle I wanted for Derek at Target - I know, I am crazy. 

So, at 7:30, I turned to Kevin and said, "I keep thinking about that stuff at Target."  Being the awesome husband he is, he immediately got out of bed and went for me, bringing home, not only the tricycle, but some other fun stuff as well. 

 

I guess Thanksgiving just isn't Thanksgiving without the Black Friday sales :).  We spent the rest of that day hanging out with our friends, the Ek's.  The kids played, Kevin and Cameron went golfing, and Amy and I talked for hours - so fun!

It has been a wonderful autumn, and I am so grateful for all the amazing blessings we have.   But now I am ready to move on to Christmas.  In fact, the cards are in the mail, the presents are purchased, the lights are up outside, the tree is decorated, and the house is almost finished with all its touches.  But I'll say more about that later :)

Turkey Dinner, Turkey Dinner

Turkey Dinner, Turkey Dinner

Gather 'round, gather 'round

Who will get the drumstick?

Yummy yummy yumstick

All sit down, all sit down

Cornbread Muffin, Chestnut stuffing

Pudding Pie, one foot high

All of us were thinner

Until we came to dinner

Me, oh my, me oh, my

Song Lily performed with her first grade class this year

sung to the tune of "Are you Sleeping"

I love Thanksgiving, and although the food preparations are not nearly as fun without my mom or sisters here to help me cook, I still have a lot of fun with it.  Last year, inspired by my mother-in-law, I wrote out my Thanksgiving shopping list, recipes, and even an agenda for when I needed to cook what.  It sure made this year earlier just to pull out my Thanksgiving directions :). 

As I started cooking, I decided to document it all in pictures, so here goes:

Wednesday - Baking Day

I always make my pies the day before, because it makes things so much easier.  This year I cut back on my pie making, only making lemon and apple and leaving out the pumpkin roll and pumpkin pie.  (We have 6 pumpkin pies still in our freezer.)

Here is the pie crust - I thank my sister Cheryl for teaching me how to make pies, and my sister Wendy for giving me my crust recipe - so flaky and light!

Then there are the fillings, first apple . . .

Then the lemon pie (and you can see the finished apple pie in the background) . . .

I also make the finger jello the day before - this year the kids picked orange :).

Usually I make the roll dough the night before too and refrigerate it overnight, but this year I saved it for . . .

Thursday - or actual Thanksgiving

So I made the roll dough in the morning, and then I always have the rolls ready to go in the oven as soon as the turkey comes out.  I have so many great roll recipes, and this year I made Cousin Pat's recipe - yum!

Then it was time to take care of the turkey.  This year instead of just rubbing it with butter, I mixed some herbs in with the butter.  It tasted really yummy, but Lily was highly suspect of the green stuff on the turkey.  (And another funny thing, I bought a turkey breast again this year, instead of a whole turkey, but when I opened it up, it was a whole turkey, just missing the legs - I guess I should have payed attention to whether it was boneless.  The leglessness made it rather tricky to carve, but it's all good.)

I make the gravy once the turkey comes out, which is also when I put on the potatoes to boil.  I realized that I never got a picture of the fluffy finished potatoes - oh well - trust me, they were so good.  I even indulged and mixed in cream when I whipped them instead of milk - yum!

And then, after all that work, dinner is ready.  Yum!! 

 
 
All that great food, and my favorite part of the meal was playing the ABC's thankful game.  We started at "A" and had to take turns coming up with things we were grateful for each letter of the alphabet.   The kids were so sweet and cute, and reminded me that I have more things to be grateful for than I can count :).   

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast as well!

PS.  If you want a copy of my Thanksgiving plans, you can download them: Download Thanksgiving recipes

Fieldtrips, Programs, and Silly Kids

Last week both Lily and Derek had special things to make life just a little more exciting.  Derek had a preschool field trip, and Lily had a Thanksgiving program.  Not only was this fun for them, but it was especially fun for me, since I got to be there for it all :).

Derek's Field Trip

Last Wednesday, the four of us mom's took our kids on field trip to The Airborne and Special Operations Museum.  It was really cool, and although it had me rethinking the fact that Kevin is going to Airborne school, the kids loved it.  They ran from exhibit to exhibit, acting out the scenes from different battles.

After we finished at the museum, we drove to a park to have a picnic, but the rain decided to change our plans.  Instead, we went to Caroline's house and had our picnic.  It was so much fun and another successful field trip.

Lily's Thanksgiving Program

On Friday, all the families of first graders were invited to come to a Thanksgiving program and picnic.  Each of the classes took turns singing fun Thanksgiving songs, and then we got to have a picnic with our child out on the lawn.  Since Derek had a cold, and Kevin needed to stay with him, I was the only one who got to go, but it was still so fun.

Lily is my little drama queen, and she was so cute in her costume that she had been making for the past week.  I especially loved her little turkey drumstick that they held up in the song :).   I was a little mad at myself for forgetting the video camera, but at least I remembered my other camera to take pictures.  (And my neighbors videoed it for me - I just need to get around to getting it from them.) 

After they were done, we enjoyed the break in our rainy weather and ate our picnic of popcorn and apple slices with caramel dip.  (We were supposed to bring snacks the pilgrims might have eaten, and even though they probably didn't have the caramel, we thoroughly enjoyed it.)

Derek Randomness

Poor Derek got sick at the end of last week, and now has a full blown cough.  Poor little guy.  I noticed that he really wasn't feeling well, when on Friday morning he slept in until 6:45 am - unheard of - and then didn't want breakfast.  I should have know something was up, when on Thursday afternoon, he lay down on the floor next to me and fell sound asleep.

 

He is starting to feel better though, thank goodness :)

Lily Randomness

And Lily, she is as amazing and silly as ever.  Yesterday morning, before church, she decided that she was going to write her own cookbook.  It was so cute and fun that I scanned in the pages that she wrote so you can see them :).

Here is the cover . . .

This is the first page - I can't remember if the things listed in the box are different sections of the recipe book, or names of possible restaurants :).

The Dessert Pizza actually sounds pretty delicious.

The "Yum! Soup!" recipe is the one she told me she wants to try tonight :).  But hey, who can go wrong with frosting and candy, right?

 

What am I going to do with my Lily?  I especially loved the illustration she did for each recipe.  I sure do love those silly kids of mine :).

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

This morning as I was working on my Nursery lesson, and i happened upon this video on www.lds.org.  It definitely made me smile and realize how many things I have to be grateful for.  I hope you enjoy it as well :).  In the Spirit of Thanksgiving.

Sweet Success

My sister Holly has been working hard trying to put together a recipe book for our family.  You know, one of those books that has each families favorites and is so handy because everything you make is now in one book.  Well, because of this, for the last year, I have been scouring my recipe books to find any and every one of my favorites, and then furiously typing up my recipes so they could be included. 

I wanted to make sure this would be a great book for Lily and Derek to have - one that not only had family favorites, but also included basic recipes, like how to cook hamburgers or make mashed potatoes.  Something they could take to college or on their mission and be really set.  But I also wanted it to have some really fun things too, which really brings me to my story . . .

You see, I am a collector of recipes I would LOVE to try, but with my picky family and limited time, I rarely end up doing it.  And so, my list of untried recipes grows.  Well, with the deadline for getting my recipes to my sister looming, I looked at that stack and just knew there would be a diamond or two hidden in it that I would really want in that book. 

Because of that, I started experimenting.  I usually saved it for days when Kevin was in the field, but sometimes he got to try them too.  I had a few great winners, like the cheesy broccoli soup and the yummy cornbread, but I also had some sad failures - like the macaroni and cheese that was okay, but not at all worth all the work I put into, not to mention all that cheese that went, literally, down the drain. 

Soon I found myself down to a few days left and one last recipe - chocolate mousse.  I had found this Tyler Florence recipe one day when I was playing around on FoodNetwork.com, and it looked so good!  And, let me tell you, it was :).  It was definitely a sweet success, and worth the extra steps to have such a fun and yummy dessert.  And there were a lot of steps - melting chocolate, whipping meringue, whipping cream, and folding it together.

 

But it was totally worth it!  What a yummy reward :).  I am so glad I didn't give up on this final recipe.  (It was especially a favorite of Lily, who ate four servings of it - he he!)

 

Moments . . .

There are moments as parents, and particularly for me as a mother, where I am completely overcome by feelings of love for my children.  It can be sparked by something as simple as a smile, a hug, a snuggle, or the look of innocence on their face as they lie there sleeping. 

These feelings usually hit me hardest just after I tuck Derek and Lily into bed.  After sharing a special moment of reading a story, reading scriptures, and then hearing them pray, I can't help but be reminded that I have been entrusted with these precious souls.  That I am responsible to love and teach them, and that they came to Kevin and I straight from our Father in Heaven. 

In the October Visiting Teaching Message, I was particularly struck by a quote from Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley:

"Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these His little ones. . . . Rear your children in love, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Take care of your little ones. Welcome them into your homes, and nurture and love them with all of your hearts. They may do, in the years that come, some things you would not want them to do, but be patient, be patient. You have not failed as long as you have tried" ("Words of the Living Prophet," Liahona, May 1998, 26–27).

Parenthood is a sacred responsibility, and it is so easy for me to forget that as I get caught up in the daily grind, and especially when I am frustrated or angry at my children.  And so, I am very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who allows me these moments where I remember, not only how much I love my children, but who they really are.

Here are a few of my moments from last week . . . We had just returned from some crazy errands, and upon returning home, Derek  immediately curled up on the couch and fell asleep.  The other was the night Kevin had to be at work the next day at 2 am, and so instead of him tucking Lily in, she read him to sleep.  I sure love those kids of mine!!

PS.  I am also very grateful for my fantastic husband, who blesses my life every day.