Merry Christmas!

Making Cookies..

My little elves hard at work:)

Sinks & Faucets

The faucets & vessel sinks are in, but still no plumbing.. not too far away though:)

Monday Music

Sunday..

I love Sundays..for some reason they feel longer than Saturdays..isnt that strange? We were busy this afternoon with our normal Sunday afternoon stuff, but one special thing added to the day, was going to see BalletMet's Nutcracker downtown. It was beautiful & so much for fun for all of us. I didnt take the camera, so no pictures to post of that. Imagine lots of snow, sugar plum fairies, dancing flower ballerinas, a theater filled with lots of excited little ones. Maddie couldn't stop asking questions during the performance. Her favorite character was the funny grandma in the beginning scene. Jack liked the fast dancing children.

I also made a version of the "Maple Rosemary" by Catherine Newman http://family.go.com/blog/catherinewman/maple-rosemary-popcorn-1008185/ My rosemary has withered away, so I didn't have any to add nor the cayenne pepper. I followed her recipe exactly minus those ingredients. The kids loved helping. Their favorite part, I would say was popping the corn upstairs:) I moved our machine to the kitchen for this recipe. & they loved melting the butter & mixing in the maple syrup. I thought it was going to be tricky to make, but it was easy & I think the popcorn came out yummy... a bit bland so I can see how the rosemary & cayenne could spice it up some. It was easy to put in containers..I reused glass jars from pickles & pasta sauces. Made a sweet little treat for friends & family.

One Moment..

On our walk today..

More Gift Making..

Maddie & I made a few cat nip pouches this morning...




Lou had a blast...



And then took a nap.


Later in the afternoon, Sally had some play time too. Moo isnt a fan of the nip, just the heat vents on a cold snowy day like today.

Bathroom Update

It's been awhile since I updated the progress we are making in the bathroom..(maybe I should rephrase,) the progress John is making in the bathroom. He's pretty much done it all, thanks babe!

The walls are now, 'liveable green" from sherman williams. It's a bit scary going from the dark brown walls, which I liked to the light, bright bathroom. I was ready to say goodbye though to the brown, which was here when we moved in & the same color as our bedroom. It feels good to have picked the color even though it's still growing on me. John says, "it's here to stay," so I'm optimistic that when it all comes together, it'll feel complete when the green.






The faucets came yesteday..I dont have pictures of those, they are still in the box. But hoping to be able to brush my teeth in my own bathroom this weekend. We are still deciding on the faucets for the tub & shower. The shower door had to be special order, so it'll be 2011 before it's installed & ready to be tested out:) & the hardware is here, but still be put on the cabinet doors.

So mostly the new completed updates are the walls, counter, sinks (kinda) & tile. We both love the tile & John did an awesome job with all the geometry involved. I'm glad we went with the border that matched the floor vs. the backsplash border we picked. We orginally thought about putting the small tile all the way around as the border.

I'm excited & antsy to have come this far with another home improvement project. Hopefully the next post on the bath will show it all done!

Gift Making..

You can never make too many wristwarmers...right?



Neckwarmer/Wristwarmer Set



Peppermint Bark adapted from Bon Appetit 12/98 found on Molly Wizenberg's blog http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/12/look-at-that.html
I read her book, "Homemade Life" a few summers back & totally recommend it even if you aren't a foodie. I definately dont consider myself one, but I love learning about family recipes & her story is one about more than just food.

Monday Music

Snow!!!

The past few weeks, we've been teased with snow showers here & there. Just enough to cover the ground & freezing temps, but this morning we awoke to LOTS of the white stuff. The excitement of the first snow never seems to die. The kids are loving it! & the furry kids too:)

Here are some pictures from this morning.
Maddie being the ornery sister that she is:)
t

The forced shot:) Hurry up mom!!

Decorating

With our little Lou...aka mr. michievious running around, we opted to keep the big tree in the box this year. Instead, we have Jack & Maddie's sweet lil trees to admire, plus lots of crazy lights.

Bloggin & Popcorn

One really cool mom, author & blogger that I love reading is Catherine Newman. She wrote, "Waiting for Birdy..." which I still think of & grin at how much fun that was to read & how I found her writing, when I too was waiting. I remember feeling like she wrote so eloquently what I felt as a new mom.. I think it was an article she wrote when Jack was a baby, babycenter emails maybe, I can't remember, but I'm so glad I found her writing. She's definately one of those moms I admire virtually. She even has her own recipe spot over at http://family.go.com/blog/catherinewman/maple-rosemary-popcorn-1008185/
Her blog is even better www.benandbirdy.blogspot.com.

I've been trying to think of some homemade gift giving ideas.. & this recipe Catherine posted for "maple rosemary popcorn" sounds delicious! I'm also hoping I can pull off the pretzel bark..yum. It' s funny how the world of blogging opens up so many avenues to finding people you enjoy..people you wished you actually lived near, maybe even on the same street, you could just walk over & see their lives up close without peeking into their windows. Some bloggers I wonder if I will outgrow or read until we are old & gray..drifting in & out of our lives without our kids to document, but maybe grandkids to blog about by then. But blogging will be so old-fashioned, something filed alongside mixed cassette tapes. Will the cycle of technology & recording all our thoughts so publicly spiral into everyone disconnecting their computers & actually writing in their old scratchy diary hidden beneath their mattress. Hmmmm, I dont know, but I'll still have this yummy popcorn recipe to whip up. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Monday Music

Wed ramble..

we walk side by side
you gracefully let your guard down
we kick the snow
our hearts racing as we go

Happy December~

December is here! Snow is falling & we get to start our daily December countdown cards.

Today the card chosen is "write a letter to your grandma." We all came up with different ideas for each day counting up till the 25th! Jack typed them out & Maddie decorated with festive stickers..