Wordless Wednesday

Family for Christmas

Mark's family

So expressive!

Great Grandma

My family:

The girls played for a looooooong time with a package of balloons.  

My parents

An artistic picture from Elise:

"Grandpa Bob's head is just flat enough to hold my popcorn bowl!  YAY!"

A few of my favorite Christmas things...

Pulling out all of the decorations, like this nativity set, given to us by one of Lily's old homecare nurses.  Her son had outgrown it, and she thought we might appreciate it.  Thank you so much! 

Decorating the tree.  It was Elise's turn to put the top on this year.

A few favorite decorations:

This one Mark made out of pipe cleaners at a work party.  Cute, isn't it?!

My s'mores man!

The snowman Aunt Sharon made for us one year.  

(I have several others as well, but some of my pictures weren't the right file type, and I was having difficulty loading them.  Oh well, another time.)

My Christmas Cactus.  

Last year it didn't bloom until Valentines Day because I didn't know you aren't supposed to water them for a month if you want them to bloom.  This year it was right on time!

The Christmas Display at Macy's:

This year they did "A Day in the Life of an Elf."  

I took this picture of the girls afterward.  None of them would smile the entire time we walked through the display.  Seriously, you'd think it was tortuous for them to walk through it (even though I know how much they enjoy it)!  Anyway, after we'd walked through, we got gingerbread cookie treats, then I attempted one last picture.  (Essentially, yes, I bribed my children with cookies to get them to smile for me!)

Elise's Christmas program at church.

She was a peasant in the choir.

Our brand new Christmas tree Mark got on Christmas Eve.  It's beautiful!  7-1/2 feet, pre-lit wispy pine.  A $200 tree marked down to $35!  WOW!  The girls were so excited they took all the ornaments off the little tree and put them on this one.  Of course, we don't have nearly enough ornaments to decorate this big tree, so it looks a little naked.  Oh well.  We have lots of time for making ornaments next year!  

This house!  No, it's not our house.  I wish!  Actually, I was driving home from Lily's PT appointment one evening.  The roads were really bad, and what would normally be a 10-15 minute drive took over an hour.  Then, when I finally made it to our street, I couldn't turn in.  Police cars, a tow truck, and at least 2-3 other cars were blocking the road.  There was no way to squeeze in and too many cars behind me to just wait, so I had to go around.  Going around means I had to drive another couple of miles out of my way.  On the way back to our house, I caught a glimpse of a house that appeared to be decorated like a castle.  So, on Christmas evening, Mark and I drove by it again.  Impressive!

Tell me can you feel it? Tell me can you feel it?

"Tell me can you feel it?  THE HEAT IS ON!"  (Are you singing it in your head now?  I am!)

It took the furnace guy less than 15 minutes, in and out, I think.  Apparently it was some switch that needed to be reset.  Praise God it was an easy fix, and we're warm in our home again!  

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  

Sleigh bells ring. Are you listening?

"Sleigh bells ring.  Are you listening?  In the lane, snow is glistening.  It's a beautiful sight, but we're freezing tonight, living in the Trana Family pad."

Yes, that would, indeed, mean our furnace is out!  We awakened this morning to a chill in the air.  After checking the thermostat, it was only 55ºF upstairs!  EEK!  Mark ran downstairs to check on Tinkerbell (the bird), and thankfully she was fine.  (Birds can get sick and die if it's too cold in the house, though they can generally handle it a little cooler than probably I can.  I'm a wuss, and I'm not afraid to admit it.)  

We started the oven, left the door open, put a space heater in front of Tinkerbell's cage, and stuck a load of laundry in the dryer.  Unfortunately, the furnace people can't come out until tomorrow, unless we want to pay an obscene amount of extra $$ for the one-hour emergency service.  Still, God warmed things up, and we were pretty comfortable downstairs most of the day.  It did get as warm as about 67º, so not too bad.  

The girls were layered in thermal underwear, a couple pairs of socks each, warm pants, a long sleeved shirt (over the thermal underwear) and another fleece jacket.  Mark and I each had our winter hats on.  

Upstairs (where the bedrooms are) it's still cold though.  We've got the beds loaded with blankets, and the girls have layered their jammies over their thermal underwear, so we should be snug tonight.  I'm sure Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, and Carrie Ingalls would think this was rather balmy weather, but I'd be spending every winter in Hawaii if I could, so there you have it.  I DO NOT like being cold!  

However, I'm thankful I didn't have to break the ice in the bucket before washing up, and I'm thankful (as I'm sure Mark is as well) that Mark didn't have to shovel us out of our beds this morning.  Tomorrow, I'll be thankful to have a working furnace again, and please God, help it not to cost too much!?   

Amen. 

Wordless Wednesday (mostly)

Living room forts, complete with birthday balloon chimneys.  

Not Me Monday Tuesday

Feel free to visit MckMama's blog, home of "Not me!  Monday" and tons of laughs free therapy.
To start off, I am most definitely not late, just, um....making an entrance!  Yeah, that's right!  
In the last week, I did not start composing my "Not me!  Monday" post in my head, then promptly forget what I was even going to say when yesterday came around, hence my entrance today.  Nope!  That didn't happen at all!  
I did not stay up until 5:00 in the morning on Monday (Elise's birthday) decorating her birthday cake, then sleep in until 10:00 while the girls watched TV downstairs.  I am so much more prepared than that!  Seriously, who do you take me for?
On Tuesday, I absolutely did not wait until the last minute to decide exactly what appetizer I was bringing to the truffle/cookie exchange party some friends (from my knitting/crocheting/assorted stitchery group) and I were having that night.  Then, I didn't  have to search online to find one I could make using ingredients I had in the house.  Again, preparation people!  I am way more prepared for whatever comes my way!  There is no way I decided to make vegetarian samosas, knowing that they're a lot of work to put together, on a day where I just didn't have a lot of time.  And, I didn't succumb to peer pressure when my friend told me she was craving Indian food, and I just had to make them.  So, I didn't set Elise to work peeling potatoes for the samosas we're not making.  Also, I did not knead the stinking pastry dough for 10 minutes just because I didn't read the recipe thoroughly enough beforehand to realize that I could've used my food processor and been done in seconds.  Uh-uh!  Not me!
Of course, there is no way I worked on these right up until the time I had to take Lily to physical therapy (along with the other girls because Mark couldn't take off work to stay with them).  Then, I didn't have to quickly change out of my comfy lavender fleece pants, long sleeved t-shirt, and non-matching hoodie, throw my unwashed hair in a ponytail, rub on some deodorant, and brush my teeth before rushing the girls out the door.  I am the Queen of prepared, people!  
After therapy, of course I was able to come home and relax for a bit before leaving for the truffle party.  So, NO, I did not have to finish frying the samosas and try to figure out how to finagle a 20 -er-5 minute shower into the mix!  Realizing that a shower was not going to be an option, I surely didn't take my hair out of the ponytail and try to pin it up really cute with little claw clips and bobby pins in order to throw everyone off the "no shower" track.  Besides, I always take the time to fix my hair, and the standard "mommy ponytail" just doesn't happen around here! 
Sadly, there was no time to bake cookies, and that part really is the truth!  The rest of the evening went very well, and the samosas were dee-lish, even though I had to fake (substitute) garam masala because I don't have any in the house.
My children would never in a million years whine for an hour because they got the wrong color cup!  Come on!  They get what they get, and they don't get upset.  Whining and fussing for an hour or more because you got the green cup instead of the orange one?  Puh-lease!  Not my kids!  And, there is no way I allow my children to whine and complain about the food I serve them.  Each one of my daughters is a fantastic eater, and not one of them would even think about complaining about corn chowder for lunch!  Certainly, I would not get so tired of the not complaining and have to leave the table.  Nope!  [[shaking head]]
I'll leave you with this...  Yesterday as I was getting Lily's Prevacid, I did not accidentally drop the foil wrapper on the floor (technically, it didn't fall out of the "too full" garbage can, but whatever).  In a moment of laziness mommy efficiency, I didn't decide to pick it up on my way back into the kitchen and promptly forget about it.  Ten minutes later, I definitely did not hear the cat playing with it.  I always pick up my litter immediately, for goodness sakes!  Where do you get these ideas?!  Certainly not from me!           

This rocks BLOWS!

Literally!  See the pretty glass pony?  Guess how long it might take to make one.  Well, if you're me, it could quite likely take a very long time.  However, if you were a really good glass blower, then maybe you could finish one in 30 seconds or less.  (And, I'm not even kidding!)  

Sunday afternoon, Mark and I took the girls to an open house at a local glass blowing studio.  Two and a half hours later, we were still enthralled, and Elise was begging to stay, saying, "Please?  I've been good!"  All three of the girls were just mesmerized by the whole experience, as were Mark and I to be perfectly frank.  

The guy in this picture is making a vase.  

This guy here is making a handled mug.  I would love to learn how to make stuff like that!

And, this will end up being a robot.  The guy who does the robots is the same one who makes the ponies.  He always does them as kind of a practice thing before a project, and most of them he recycles later.  However, he did give the girls one to take home, which was really awesome!  The girls were just thrilled!  

The guy doing the robot had at least 1-3 other people helping him pretty much the whole time.  I never considered how much is really involved in doing glass blowing, even though I assumed it would be a lot of work.  Before this, it never occurred to me how many people it takes to complete one project.  Oh, a person can make some beautiful things though!  

The girls all want to be glass blowers now (Mark and I have been doing some research into it for a little while, which is why we went to the open house the other day), so maybe one of these days we'll turn into a Family that blows!

Love Thursday

On this Love Thursday, I want to introduce you to the first Christmas tree ornament Mark and I received as a married couple.  It was handmade for us by my good friend, Cindee (who also happens to be married to Mark's best friend...Mark and I met at their house, but that's for another blog entry...or not).  It took us 3 years before we got our first Christmas tree to hang it on.  Every year, I make sure to place it in just the right spot.  Each ornament we have holds a special memory for either Mark or I.  Several are his from boyhood, a few are mine, many are handmade, and some are ours, but this was our very first ornament.    

Happy Love Thursday!

Stupendous Seven

Elise Nichole...

On Monday, December 8, my very first baby turned - sob - 7 years old.  A few fun facts about the day she was born:  

Of all the babies born in the hospital that day, Elise weighed the most (8 lbs 5 oz), AND she had the most hair (Come on!  Are you really surprised at that?)  I can't say this for sure, but I'm also willing to place bets that Elise also had the most dimples (one under her left eye, one under her right, two in her right cheek, and one in her left), all of which are still there today! 

Pictures Past:

After a long day of being discharged from the hospital, mommy and Elise settle in for a much needed nap!

Her first Christmas - at my Aunt Peggy's house, where I believe I spent half the time attempting to nurse the little turkey (getting her to stay awake for feedings was more than tricky and involved quite a process of stripping her down to a diaper and tickling her for an hour just to get her to wake up enough to eat.)

I was trying to get a picture of her sleeping, but you can see how victorious I was.

First birthday.

Pictures Present:

Elise's birthday cake.  She saw this cake design and fell in love.  It's my first ever attempt at fondant, and I'm quite pleased with the outcome.  Honestly, if I had to pick a cake to try out my less-than-stellar fondant skills on, this was a perfect choice because the yarn strings (all hand rolled, btw--and Mark helped with that) covered up any mistakes!  

Zoey liked this little kitty too.  We came out to the dining room after opening presents and found her licking the kitty's face.  (I threw the kitty away, but not before an unsuccessful attempt to get a picture of it.  Don't worry, I took the kitten off the cake before said unsuccessful attempt!)

"I'm supposed to make a wish?  I don't think I know how to do that, mom."  

Our neighbor girl E.  Her birthday was the next day, so the girls celebrated together.  

Leah

Lily

"O-oh, now I get it!  Binoculars!  Cool!  Thanks mom and dad!"