A New Start

Wow!

It's amazing that I haven't blogged since last year. Exactly 3 months ago in fact. Obviously I need to try a different tactic.

What I want to do...

• Blog

Why...

• Let family know what we are up to.
• Try not to let the rust get to deep on the writing.

What is getting in the way...

• Opportunity - I have a night owl and an early riser and only one napper. This leaves me no time alone to blog
• Pictures - I take pictures but it may be days or weeks before I get them onto the computer. Or I get them on right away and then forget about them.

What to do...what to do...

• Try again with the mini blog sessions. Don't use pictures!
• Completely random catch up picture posts. It will happen when it happens. I make no promises.

Let's see how how it works!

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Christmas In The Mail

Whenever a package is delivered to the house, the kids immediately embark on a guessing game...Who is it from?...Who is it for?...What is in it?

What are they really hoping for? Presents from Grandma and Grandpa in Arizona!

Luckily everyone was in the house on the 23rd for the most recent surprise. No waiting around! Dive in right away!

The race was on to see who could rip open their present first. At two, Gabe really "gets" the opening present part this year.

And tools are one of our favorite things this Christmas. He plays with them all the time. Gabe will get upset if they are put away. Safe to say that this was a score.

Malissa loved everything she received. She has already made a couple of things for her hair. She has also worn the earrings and attempted the origami. According to her the shape of the paper makes the origami shapes have a LOT of steps. Something for her to work on!

Good Grief! I am suddenly drawing a complete blank on what Megan received but I know she liked it. She is already asleep or I would go ask her.

Laura is going to look so cute in her hair clips. And piles of fingernail polish. Fingernail polish is a very big thing in this household. Every other day its a new color.

Karla loves her Anna doll. I don't think I can properly express how much Frozen means to this child. When Laura and Karla are acting out parts of the movie, Karla usually plays the part of Anna. Not a day goes by when we are not serenaded with music from the movie. To make it even more complete, Laura received Elsa from Santa Claus. There is no stopping them now.

Thank you Grandma Sharman and Grandpa Bill for your thoughtful gifts. Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Traditions

We have attempted many Christmas traditions in this house. Some of them have met with a limited amount of success. Others have been unremitting failures.

You read blogs and hear your friends talk about all the successes going into the Advent season. By the time December rolls around you are ready. This is the year that Christmas cheer is going to happen. We've successfully mined Pinterest, the abode of those of us with questionable track records and no artistic talent, in our search for "The Perfect Christmas" hoping some of the magic will rub off.

This year we did have one successful new attempt. Hopefully it will be something we can continue each year.

The Gingerbread House.

We actually constructed a village. And yes this was a kit. It came with 4 little houses, enough for each girl to make their own.

Different years have seen many ideas. Some were executed better than others. Once I tried to become a cookie maven with a new cookie every day. After that bust I didn't make cookies again for 6 months.

For a couple of years we attempted to light an advent wreath. With only 4 candles this should be doable. Usually while trying to insert the candles, at least one would break. By the time Christmas would roll around only 2 candles were ever lit, while the baby tried to eat at least one of them.

This year I actually managed to remember to buy an advent calendar for the kids before advent started. I had visions of us all standing around faithfully each evening  in anticipation of seeing the little picture beneath each flap. We did manage to get 2 days into it before we gave up forgot about it. I understand there is one that dispenses chocolate. Maybe we can jimmy up something like that next year. Bribes work wonders for motivation!

In the case of the gingerbread house, the motivation is in the tasting too. Once the girls were finished making their creations they got to dig in. I just talked them into letting me take one more picture first.

Six more days until Christmas!

A New Smile

Last week Megan embarked upon a new adventure.

I'm very sure that she does not have a very high opinion of her current undertaking. I was, however, very impressed at the amount of complaints. Now that she has a little over a week under her belt and they no longer bother her, I can tell you about the little tiny bits of metal that have been glued to her teeth.

Oddly enough, despite the above picture, they actually look pretty cute on her. This is fortunate because Megan, after having them put on in Kansas City, is going to have to continue to wear braces for the next 15 to 18 months.

Muppets on Friday

What is Friday night in our house?

 

MOVIE NIGHT

 

 

As you may be able to tell from looking closely at Gabe, we started out with pizza. After stuffing themselves, everyone settled down to watch The Muppets: Most Wanted. It looks pretty promising! Amazingly enough, all four girls are co-existing on the sofa. 

What Gardening Should Look Like

You may have noticed that one of my normal topics has lay dormant so far this year. Usually I would have brought up gardening a time or two. But...not this year...because...well, there isn't really a reason. Somehow it seems to have slipped through the cracks. But finally, we've hauled the last of the tomato cages,  needing to be separated from the long since withered up vines, inside for the winter.

But this summer it looked like this...

I would love to tell you that I have finally developed that all essential green thumb. My gardening skills have advanced to the point were my garden looked like a lush, riotous jungle of self-sufficiency.  Except that I know what really happened.

#1 Planted seeds and then immediately began watering like a mad woman. It was bone dry. Few seeds bothered to poke out their heads.

#2 Any seeds who did sprout soon were to regret that poor decision. They were given a trim by a late frost. Worst hit? Green beans. Spent some time trying to decide if I wanted to try and replant. Decided against.

#3 And then it began to rain.

#3.1 And rain.

#3.2 And rain.

#3.3 ...

#3.9 It wasn't one of those drowning type but it definitely was enough to keep me out of the garden for a couple of weeks.

#4 Those green beans were weird. They came back from the root. The half of the seeds that didn't sprout decided to make it happen. We had green beans staggered at a variety of maturation periods.

#5 The end result was the garden in the above picture. My job was to pick the produce and keep ahead of the weeds. And the weeds (aka grass) had a field day too (because it was a field once).

So we planted tomatoes, corn, potatoes, green beans, onions, broccoli, peppers and put in a patch of strawberries.

We concluded that next year we will plant more tomatoes, its easier to buy broccoli from the store, same with the green beans, and we hope the strawberries survive.

I froze a big pile of peppers this year. This is the first time I have had to freeze so many.  Besides the peppers, I canned a lot of tomato sauce, salsa and ketchup but could definitely stand more. The tomatoes didn't do as well as expected because they kept getting eaten by every bug and caterpillar in the area.

Time to start dreaming of next year!

It's The Little Things

I had a pleasant surprise this evening. Feeling that the best way to start off this blogging session was with a glass of wine I looked in the frig and was completely unimpressed with the selection.

I ended up picking out an unimpressive homemade raspberry wine with the idea if it wasn't any good I could toss it.

Opening the bottle I was shocked: it had drastically improved after 10 years in the bottle. Mama is a happy camper.

So where should we start? Right now everyone wants to see the Halloween pictures so here it is!

Karla is a bumble bee, Laura is a gypsy, Gabe is a dragon and Malissa is Annabeth (of Percy Jackson fame). I'm sad this year because Megan decided she was too old for trick-or-treating. I'm sure the wicked cold weather had nothing to do with her decision. Oddly enough, Megan had no trouble "helping" to inhale the treats when we came home with the loot.

In other news Gabe turned 2 this last week.

He did an excellent job of blowing out his candles.

John had his birthday party at the same time. Malissa, who is in charge of the cake making, had a separate cake for him.

Karla made certain she was right there to help. My little tomboy suddenly wants to dress-up in cute dresses all the time. We are doing lots of barrettes and pig tails too.

I would like to point out that while Gabe was opening his presents we were watching Game 6 of the World Series, The picture is too fuzzy to tell who is up to bat but, it is the bottom of the 2nd, Royals are up 1-0 and the bases are loaded with 1 out. So it was early in the run up of the score. Too bad it didn't extend to Game 7.

A Happy Birthday shout out to my Dad who squeezed a birthday in last week too.

And now everyone is all messed up from the time change.

Have a great November!