Christmas 2011

We have survived the holiday season of 2011!

I made homemade popcorn for our friends and neighbors.

 Peanut Butter with Reece's Pieces & Butterscotch drizzle

 White Chocolate with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

 Nutella with Chocolate Drizzle

 Cinnamon White Chocolate with Craisins and Sugared Pecans

 The kiddos did an amazing job making sugar cookies.  

All those years of letting them have at it and 

keeping their cookies separate from the edible ones

has finally paid off!  

They did A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

 This is what our house looked like when we left for 

our Wyoming Christmas.  

(We definitely left a white Christmas behind)

 Taking some time for a little pre-Christmas shooting!

 They grow up too fast!!  

Here we are:

Crazy as ever! Living life to the fullest!

and ENJOYing every little minute of it!

December Kindsight

I was in my kickboxing class yesterday and the instructor mentioned something about "Kindsight." 

I didn't comprehend everything she said at the time 

(I was doing jump squats...cut a girl some slack)

but said "kindsight" over in my head 10 times 

so I could remember to google it when I got home.  

And this is what I found:

Breathe

and ask

What was I learning?

*****

As a woman who likes to

"make things perfect"

&

"not rock the boat"

I have found the holiday's especially stressful, trying to make everything perfect instead of living in the moment and making memories.  If I look back to my past 3 years I am amazed at all the things that I have learned.  By opening myself up to what the universe wants to teach me, i have learned to stop and breathe.  I am not perfect at it. But this journey has been worth the effort. 

I am looking forward to being in the moment with my family this holiday season. And I hope that I can treat myself with Kindsight.

My wish is the same for you!  

Thanksgiving

We left a festively decorated house this year 

For a cozy family weekend in 

Estes Park Colorado

with Grandma & Grandpa Daniel

 We stayed in a darling swedish inspired hotel

Did some shopping downtown

 Ate Carmel Apples

 And Ice Cream

 In the winter of course.

 ****

 We had Thanksgiving dinner at the charming onsite restaurant!

 Grandma and her only Grand-daughter.

 Our beautiful meal.

(My favorite was the savory squash)

I didn't get pictures of the Holiday Parade on Friday night

because as we were 10 minutes away from it starting

a major winter flurry

hit us head on.  

We all took cover but were walking snowmen within 3 minutes.

It was crazy.  

We had to watch the parade sideways.

 The view on our way out of town.  

That is snow blowing off the peaks...not a cloud.  

Estes Park is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S

and we can't wait to go back to visit.

Locks of Billie's Love

Billie has been begging me to let her cut her hair again for charity....

for MONTHS.  

So he we are BEFORE 

on our way to the appointment....

a little wind blown! 

 Brittany did a wonderful job. 

We ended up with 4 pony tails

12 inches each.  

 I was freaking out inside a little bit.

 But not as much as dad was...

He liked her long hair....ALOT!

 AFTER:

 Don't worry daddy.

It'll grow out.

And it went to a wonderful cause.

Her heart, makes mine swell 10x's bigger.

She is so thoughtful and amazing!  

Thankful Moments

 November FLEW BY!

WOWZER...

Grant and Billie went to their first Middle School Dance.

All the kids wanted to wear white because 

it was black lighted.  

James celebrated his 10th Birthday on 

11/11/11

We talked to Grandma & Grandpa's

and then we skyped with G&G Daniel

because:

Our cousin came to share his birthday with James. 

They were born on the same day.  

It was so much fun.  

We played, had dinner at Red Robin (YUM!), shopped at the Lego store,

Opened Gifts, Had Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake,

Played XBOX Kinnect, legos, watched Cars 2, swam at the hotel

and most of all made wonderful memories!

November Nuggets

November 1st:

The morning came all to early after our Halloween Candy Hangover

but we trudged along, 

glad when the day came to a close.

November 2nd:

A winter storm crept down from Wyoming

blanketing us with a good amount of snow.

The kids had a snow day, 

(the roads were terrible at going to school time.) 

The satellite was not cooperating with their morning cartoons.

So Billie put her boots on over her jammies 

and borrowed daddys jacket to clean it off. 

We ended up with 8 or so inches by the afternoon.  

 November 3rd:

Grant whipped out a batch of brownies for me.

From scratch, I might add.

I tossed him a bag of Mini reece's pieces

and he incorporated them nicely. 

 (yes he is getting tall

we haven't measured him lately

but 

he is definitely taller than me

and not much shorter than Bill these days.)

 November 4th:

James' last day of school until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

I took in Lofthouse Sugar Cookies

and Juice Boxes to share.

While the kids were singing happy birthday to him

he kept pointing to himself.  

I then promptly checked him out of school

because he hasn't been feeling well, had a sore throat 

and I could feel his temperature creeping up.

On the ride home he asked me if he was going through puberty 

"because my voice sure has been changing a lot!" 

We must have a teenager in the house.  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pumpkin Spice Waffles for Breakfast....

(My sad attempt to make a jackolantern out of them 

the kids didn't care they weren't perfect

I had em at waffles and chocolate chips.)

 For 13 years I have dodged the bullet 

on having to do 

major face painting...

(Thank you Billie for thinking enough to grab the camera and get some progress shots!)

 Pretty Tabby Cat

 Stealthy Ninja

Zombie Skateboarder

(aka candy passer outer)

 

2011 Halloween

We had a terrific night.  We have such a fun active neighborhood.

And I guess now that Halloween is over, 

winter can officially start!  

Happy Anniversary COLORADO

On October 23rd. 2010 we said good bye to Arizona early in the morning.

We pulled into our new home @ 12:30 am

(I guess traveling with 2 vehicles, 3 kids and 2 dogs is slow going.)

On October 26th, 2010 our things arrived a Bekins moving truck.

They removed all the doors on the house 

and for a good part of the day, brought all our things in. 

The weather that day was in the high 40's and the house was chilled.

Nothing like October 26th, 2011

Where we woke up to this:

 Good thing we blew out the sprinklers,

Dug out the snow shovels

and put the ice scrapers in the vehicles.

 It continued the whole day....

 But it's okay.

Cause this is why we moved here. 

And I am ready...set...go!  

Halloween-ish house

Last year, at Halloween, we were still surrounded in box after box.

(Wow!  Does time fly.  I can't believe we have been Coloradans for 1 year now.)

This year I determined to be decorated by the middle of October. 

(It helped I was hosting the neighborhood Halloween Bunco party on the 15th)

 I love my fireplace....

It is really hard to decorate though 

because it is massive

& 

because it is a 2 story room, it goes all the way up!

 One of my obsessions this season is 3D letters. 

 I made these fall letters

out of old shoe boxes and cereal boxes.

(Now I want a whole 3D alphabet wall, watch for XYZ to come first.)

 These are my take on a Pinterest find.  

It took 1/8 of a yard of stripe fabric, and some black scrap fabric.

I sewed little magnets into the the top 

so we can rip em down when we need/want the fireplace on.

And the pumpkins in the tub...

in 2009 I had a great idea to have the kids write what they were thankful for.

We then embroidered them into the stripes. (Grant and Billie did their own sewing

and I helped James do his.)

I wanted a little keepsake of their handwriting and their thankfulness.

(This will probably be the last time with THIS particular tradition. It was time consuming)

 I used up the leftover strips from the thankful pumpkins to make a runner for my end tables.

I love stripes.

 18 foot ghosts...

 Ginormo Jack o lantern...

one of my favorite decorations EVER...

Even though Bill hates storing and moving it. 

 Replaced all the picture frames with Halloween pictures past. 

I am embarrassed that I have

NOT ONE

Picture of halloween last year.  Grrrr. 

I know this is the bathroom, but this is one of my favorite views.  

Or maybe because I have a Apple Cider Warmer in here, so it always smells like fall.