While I was away...

My little brother Tommy got married.

Sam was a flower girl and Ben was a groomsman (I think this is the only picture he smiled for)


We are so happy for them

We had ourselves a merry little Christmas

Christmas 2010 has come and gone.

We everyone came to our house for dinner and presents

Now I'm looking forward to the new year and the frest start that comes with it.

I hope that you all have been enjoying a relaxing holiday with family and friends :0)

Thank a Vet

Here is a picture of my two favorite Vets. My dad and his best friend Ken. It was taking at Fort Lewis, WA when I was about a year old (that's me in the pink coat)

My dad was supposed to go to Viet Nam, but he didn't. I'm glad because so many never came back. Shrapnel in the Heart is a collection of letters and essays left at the Viet Nam War Memorial. You will definitely need a box of Kleenex or two, but it is an amazing, heartbreaking reminder of the true cost of war and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Home of the free because of the brave

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend.
I spent mine:
Baking with the kiddos.

Turkey Trotting with the girls.

Eating lots of yummy turkey with the family.

Puttering around the house.


It was great.

Today is Tuesday, you what that means???

We are going to have a special guest... Not really, but I always think of this song on Tuesdays. It's from the Mickey Mouse Club (the original and only good one). Every Tuesday was "Special Guest Day", so the mouseketeers would "get out the broom and sweep the place clean" (shows like the MMC just remind me how icky kids programming is today. Was it really so bad that kid programming used to be an hour in the afternoon and 4 hours on Saturday with a little PBS midweek if you were home sick?)

Anyway, in honor of "sweeping the place clean", I am on day 2 of my housekeeping regime. BTW, yesterday's 45 minutes was more like a a couple of hours. That's okay, the more I clean, the cleaner the house becomes, the less time it should eventually take to maintain, right?? It was nice not to get my usual "what did you do all day" question :0) I was able to get everything done plus a little extra. The laundry is still "in progress", but that is okay because all the laundry that was done actually got put away (that is a big deal around here)
So here is my Tuesday To Do:
Make Beds
Dishwasher
Sweep Kitchen
Tidy Kitchen
Tidy Family Room
Scoop
Vacuum Downstairs
Clean Bathrooms
Not a bad list. I do have to say that I really hate cleaning the bathroom. I know it doesn't take very long, but I still don't like it. The good news is that 2 of the 3 bathrooms are in pretty good shape. Our bathroom, the one that NO ONE ever sees, is another story. No, no, I must not focus on the negative, but be excited for the joy a sparkling bathrooms brings. Maybe if my bathroom looked more like this I would be more motivated to clean :0)

Today is my mom's birthday and we all getting together for dinner. I don't know what we are having, but I do know that we are getting some cupcakes from Costco. We usually get a cake, but they are just too huge and the last thing that we need lying around the house screaming "EAT ME, EAT ME" is 10 pounds of cake and butter cream. The nice thing about the cupcakes is that they come in a "variety" pack so we can avoid the whole "should we get chocolate or white" debate. For the record, white with cheesecake filling and white butter cream (not that godawful "whipped" frosting) is the best. I know these cakes can be pretty sweet, so to combat we usually buy it the day before and "let it breathe". The only draw backs to these cupcakes is that they are kind of ugly. They just do a big swirl of frosting and that is not very "fun". At one of the local bakeries they do cupcakes that are nothing but roses on top. How cute is that?
Happy Tuesday everyone :0)

We had ourselves a merry little Christmas

Well, another Christmas is in the books. Although it was off to a bit of shaky start (everyone but me was hit by the flu bug) I think it turned out pretty well.
Before the plague hit our family, my mom and I were able to bake up a bunch of cookies. The plan was to put together some cookie trays for friends, but that just didn't happen. So here we were on Christmas Eve with tins full of naked cookies.
Sammie and I decided we would frost the cookies, since we had to leave some for Santa anyway, and it turned out to be a very fun time. In fact, I think this will be come a new little tradition. We had "It's a Wonderful Life" on in the background, we frosted cookies and after leaving a few for Santa we drove around and looked at lights. It was a nice way to wind down Christmas Eve and then kids were almost asleep by the time we got back which made bedtime a snap.
Christmas morning Ben came in very early and wanted to go check out his stocking. I told him he had to wait for Sammie, who was still sleeping, and he actually did. Poor Ben, Sammie slept in until 9. There is a running joke in our family as to the contents of stockings. When I was in Jr. High, my brother took my Journey tape and used it to document his Christmas Eve. At one point he goes and does a little recon on his stocking contents. He states he had received an orange, a candy cane of M&M's and 2 lottery tickets, both losers. He signs off with "wish me luck under the tree". Of course at the time, it was not funny but now I wish I still had the tape. So now Santa always leaves oranges, candy canes full of M&M's and 2 lottery tickets. Santa also leaves on ornament which reflects the interest of each kid. It is kind of fun to see the progression of interest from Elmo to Clifford to super heroes and now Star Wars. Ben got the "Death Star" ornament which lights up and talks. Sammie's ornaments have gone from Jojo to Dora and now princesses. I'm trying to avoid the whole Disney princess thing, so I found a marshmallow princess. It is very cute.

Once the stocking were done, the wait began. We were having everyone for dinner around 5 and then we would open presents after that. Ben and Sam were such troopers. They didn't beg to open presents too much and kept themselves busy. Everyone was coming to our house for dinner. We decided to keep the menu easy: Prime rib, potatoes, asparagus, salad, rolls and cheesecake. I had never done a prime rib before and besides forgetting to season the meat (ugh), I think it turned out well.
Present time was fun and everyone got good stuff. Even though we don't really go overboard with gifts, there was quite a big pile.
Ben had asked for an electric blanket, gotta love a kid with a practical side, and Sammie asked for a fishing pole.
I love the fact that our kids asked for simple things. In an age of "I'll text you a link for my gift registry", it makes me happy that my kids are still unjaded. Our family wants for nothing and they seem to get that.
Today will be spent cleaning up the aftermath. I thought I did more last night, but oh well, at least I got a load of dishes through the dishwasher. Joji is at work and Ben is off at a friend's house so it is just me and Sammie. I think a little mommy/daughter bonding time cleaning the kitchen is in order, lucky Sam :0)

Cupcakes and parties and pumpkins, oh my!

Well, it has been a doozy of week around here. Busy, busy, busy.
I was in baking overdrive. I am in love with cupcakes. They could not be easier. So little effort and a whole lot of "ta da". Seriously, 5 minutes of prep and you are rewarded with a bounty of yummy. I made 3 batches on Friday (72 in total) and discovered the joy of piping the frosting onto my cupcakes. I usually smear a big plop of frosting on top, but that just seemed too slow. I have a big tip and collar, but I couldn't find my pastry bag so I pulled a "Sandra Lee" and used a ziploc bag. It actually worked and held up to all the refilling. I was very glad. Usually when I try and use a baggie, it bursts. I guess I just lucked out. All in all the cupcakes were great. They all went at the cake walk and a mom even thought they were store bought (I'm taking that as a compliment)
Saturday was a whirlwind of parties. Preschool Harvest Party, Haunted House for the kids and another birthday dinner in the month long celebration that is Jojifest. 9:30 rolled around and we were wiped out. Good thing the kids went to Joji's mom's house to spend the night. It mean no one would be tapping me on the cheek at 1 am wondering where apple juice comes from. I'm pretty sure I spent most of Sunday sleeping. Although I did manage to make it into town to get a 4 tiered swing arm serving stand. I can't wait to use it for the Christmas party. Hopefully, I can get some recoup time, before that fun begins.
Every year, it seems that we are frantically carving our pumpkins at 5:30 on Halloween. The kids have fun, but it can be a little stressful. This year, Joji took the kids today to get some pumpkins an we actually got them carved tonight. Well, all of us except Ben. When we took the lid off his pumpkin it was all black an furry inside. He is getting a new pumpkin tomorrow.
I don't know about you, but in our family people always seem to get the same kind of pumpkin. My dad ALWAYS gets the tall pumpkin and carves flaming eyes with a scary smile. I always get the cute round type and make circle eyes and a 3 tooth smile.
This year as I sat down to draw out my circle eyes, Ben suggested I draw the whole family. So breaking from tradition, I did and I LOVE it. Had I planned better I would have made the faces bigger but I will know better for next year.
Hope you all are finding a little time to stop and carve some pumpkins :0)

Happy Father's Day!!

When we got married, Joji's hair was jet black.
The addition of kiddos sure changed that in a hurry.
Thanks for being a great dad, even if it means a few grey hairs :0)