I am not sure if I have ever blogged for so many days. Because of Thanksgiving I did end up missing 3 days, but really blogging every day is only a bit difficult.
I am looking forward to next month, making cookies, finishing up presents, doing my December Daily Album, caroling with the kids, loads of stuff... and a couple of freebie patterns to come too! I'm all about free! Aren't you?!
Have you been to Durango? We sure love it there! I took the above shot on a very very rare childless moment. Grandma agreed to watch all of the kiddos so my sister Nicole and I could do a little errand running on Friday. This is Deitz Market. It's a fun trendy stop on the way into town. Loads of tourists in their fur lined vests and suede boots.
So the first day: We loaded up most of the kids in my sisters big SUV for the trip up there! MMMM can you say heated seats for mamas and built in dvd player for the kiddos. We made 4 potty stops on the drive up. A 3 hour trip quickly became 4hours. Here's our car full of girls:
When we got there on Wednesday, we knew rain was coming. I went out immediately for a run, got 5 minutes out and got a phone call that my B had an (bathroom) accident, so I turned around to go help out. I figured I could catch an early run on Thanksgiving. But we woke to rain on Thursday. I love waking to rain! And it was great cloudy cold rain. Then just as the Macy's Day Parade Santa made his appearance, it began to snow! It was like magic! I thought for sure it would pass but it only got thicker and began sticking all over the valley. I laid down for a nap when there was only a light dusting and woke up to this:
By the end of the night we had another 4 or 5 inches
The next day (before our trip to Deitz), my sister and I hung around the house with our kiddos while everyone else went shopping. We had to chase of a small herd of deer eating grandmas landscaping
We had good food, had some fun with my brother and sister, enjoyed the parade down main street, but I think we'll be waiting a few years before we do it again... a bit too many littles under the age of 5 and no dads around to help made it pretty difficult for my sister and I. Anyone have any good fun suggestions for next year? ;)
You know I love working. I love running off to some location and running around for an hour with anyone who doesn't call me "mommy." And then I love the quiet time I have a night, editing pictures, putting up galleries, and sending in orders. But all that fun added to the responsibilities I have during the holidays leaves me a very tired and stressed gal.
Instead of working today, Miss B and I made Hubs a birthday cake (German Chocolate, his favorite, my least favorite... it is always a little too dry for my taste and I'm allergic to the nummy frosting but eat a little bit of it anyway!!!)
After the cakes got into the oven we made pumpkin scones to take to CO. She begged me to make MnM scones, peppermint scones, chocolate scones...anything but pumpkin scones... she's not a fan.
The kids and I leave tomorrow to drive up to CO to spend Thanksgiving with my grandma. This is what we do most years. She lives in one of those great old mining towns with a great old steam engine, and a great old main street. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving the town has a citizens parade down main street. Everyone meets at the park at one end of the street and walks down the 5 or 6 blocks caroling. At the end of the street is where the train station is, Santa waiting with cocoa and cookies. It is the one thing we must do each year to really usher in the holiday season. Last year we all stayed here and had them come down...it just wasn't the same.
This year we will celebrating without my grandpa who unexpectedly died from an infection last spring. We'll sure miss him, his tradition of us all saying something we are thankful for before we pray for our Thanksgiving dinner, walking by his office and seeing his face all lit up by the computer, him shuffling into the kitchen and breaking out the oreos.
This whole year has gotten me to thinking about not loosing the connections I have with new and old friends. About getting to know people and being real. I've been wanting to start documenting stories my grandma tells me. Things I dont want to forget about her. Ali Edwards posted some great links to NPR's National Day of Listening project, complete with a question generator encouraging people to listen to each other's stories. Also if you are participating in Jessica Sprague's "Stories in Hand" class then you'll have plenty of prompts for questions to ask a loved one, to get their stories out. If you can, record one of the interviews. I have a recording of my great grandma from about 30 years ago. It's so nice to pop it in a tape deck (hahaha) and hear her voice again.
(btw this is my favorite picture of my grandparents and my grandma would kill me if she knew it was on the internet! But this was after we had all just walked down main street 3 years ago. My grandpa, who loved his family so much but very very rarely showed it with words and even more rarely with physical touch, he and my grandma got a little goofy with each other in one of these rare moments and my grandma threw her arms around him, gave him a little shake, and then planted a kisser right on his cheek and he didnt even flinch :)
(Just some of my recent flick faves)
We had a yummy evening. I pulled out the Candy Cane Oreos, turned on "Elf", pulled out some of my crafting, let the kids (and the hubs) be a little wild.
C and I were watching "White Christmas" on the computer last night and the monitor crapped out! It totally went blank. We're picking one up from my FIL tomorrow, but I'd really like to get mine fixed...right now we're using an oldie the size of a small boulder!!! Maybe yours is that size? But for the last 4 years we've been using a a wide screen flat screen dealy and I'm just not used to it. argh! Technology has me in a death grip!
I wrote up the recipe the way I like to read it. Sure, it's always nice to have all your ingredients lumped together in one spot, but I like following a recipe from top to bottom without going back to the ingredients list to see what the quantities are and then losing my place in the recipe directions.
She WAS asleep, but T was yellin' (cause the boy has NO indoor voice,) and the hubs was chatting rather loudly on the phone with an old friend of ours he hadn't talked to in a while, oh, and then there was the sudden getting ill all over mommy that resulted in a quick jump in the shower for both of us.
Here she is campin' out on a bean bag with a towel and my old bunny doll. She was mid "mama" in this picture. I think what she was trying to say was, "Lady, could you please put that dang camera away already?!" I can't believe how old she looks now!
After she falls asleep I am going through this list to see if I can find any good old Christmas movies on you tube
or
use this pattern Raesha posted to use up some good yarn
or
come up with a peppermint scone recipe
or
clean...
I confess! We've been playing Christmas music every time we are in the car, sleeping, on the computer, basically anytime we are near it. However, there is one time we do not play Christmas music, that is when Hubs is home and awake. So from 4-9:30 all Christmas music must be off. C-bug even reminded me before we got in the car tonight to change the station. Poor T and B, who don't quite get it yet, protested. Daddy explained to them that "Christmas is a month away guys!"
WHAT!? WHAT!?!!! only a month away?! Does this man know what he is saying?! I explained to him that it may be a way-far-in-the-distant-future-thing to someone that doesn't make Christmas lists, bake Christmas cookies, make/buy presents for the teachers, make gifts, help the kids make gifts, plan parties, address cards, decorate the house.. LOL the man lives in blissful ignorance! What about your man?
I've been busy today. No craftiness to show you, only a cute pic from my client session this evening. Really great kids! Awesome weather! So pretty outside!
In the mean time I have asmall batch of orange kool aid dyed roving that needs to be spun (NO NOT SHEARED OFF MY OWN SHEEP JESS!) I'll use the nubby yarn with some that Raesha gave me for the "Woldorf style doll that I am making for B....and so much more than that going on. But the awesome thing is the session today was my last session until next year. Last year I worked well into December and didnt get anything done that I needed or wanted to until the very last minute. This year, even though I love doing people's pictures, I decided that I would stop doing sessions the weekend before Thanksgiving, allowing me more time with my family and holiday festivities. So as blog readers you can expect a little more on the crafty/baking/homemaking side of things.
I've been thinking a lot about what my church brothers and sisters are going through in CA and AZ. Enduring mobs, violence, persecution. I was feeling very on the fence about the issue. I want to accept every one for who they are, allow everybody the same rights, but I know that ultimately my own way of life will be attacked and possibly my own rights to worship how I please, the way I please, and even where I please can be taken away from me. I'm sad that instead of this being a simple issue of taking care of families regardless of the make up of it, it will be viewed as a war between conservative Christians and the homosexual population (and those that support each side.) I want to always be able to find the peace in this building that I can now.
Working on Christmas projects.
Gingerbread pumpkin pie 
This guy for being a rock awesome dad and studly too!
Raesha for letting me vent and being so patient about it, plus being my all around great craft buddy.
She's got 2 cute activities you or your littles can play. Dress Zoe Christmas Edition and Home Sweet Home. They are both very fun!
Since the office is in disarray the computer is coveniently set up on the kitchen table and a perfect spot for browsing and watching a "Will and Grace" rerun (that I have seen so many times, but is still funny! It's the one with Gene Wilder...love that guy! Wouldn't that be a fun voice to be able to impersonate?!) I really wish I had some more pumpkin. This recipe has just enough twist to be different from regular pumpkin pie. It gets it's unusual flavor from using brown sugar instead of white and a tablespoon of molasses. We love pie for breakfast and it's pretty justifiable in my opinion. In a whole pie there is 2 eggs, cream, and a can of pumpkin...all good for you in some way or another. I am only going to list the ingredients, not the directions. The directions are the same as they are for any pie (mix sugar eggs and molasses first, then add puree, spices, and salt, lastly, add cream and mix...well there's the directions ;)
2 eggs
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp. molasses
1 can of pumpkin puree (15 oz)
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. heavy cream
* I used powdered ginger, cinnamon, and cloves instead of the spices listed. I used the last of my tiramisu coffee creamer instead of heavy cream.)
They also made a topping you put on near the end made from crystallized ginger, pecans, butter, and crushed gingersnaps... mmm
My sister gave me a gift subscription to "Cuisine at Home." She's an awesome cook and just pours over this magazine every month, she saves them all in a big 3 ring binder, makes notes about how she changes the recipes, whether or not her family likes them, etc. After making pumpkin scones last night, I had half a can of pumpkin left over, not enough for a whole pie, but enough for 4 of these mini loaf pan sized gingerbread pumpkin pies. I dont know if I will ever make pie in a pie pan again. I like the compact, down home feel of a little rectangle pie. And the crust recipe is a simple butter only one, so yummy and a bit sweet too. mmmm
I spent the morning crafting at church with a bunch of ladies for our annual "Super Saturday" which is mormon for "Day on which we craft things with decals and black paint for Christmas gifts" (That's a little dig at these gals...we always do the same thing...some sort of black plaque with stuck on words or what not.) SO I just crocheted a little sweater for the baby I made instead and then ate yummy soup (Zuppa Toscano) that my sister made and chatted with our friends and came home and cleared out the studio because new cabinets and desk were coming and half of them got installed today and I am super excited about having somewhere to put everything...I hope everything. sorry for the run on sentence.
We had the (LDS) missionaries over for dinner tonight. For us, no dinner with the missionaries is complete without Hubs breaking out the light sabers. After they left, Little E picked one up and started swinging it around! No joke!
I love the action in this one! Look what happened to B who was just sitting watching the show!
This is what I was working on. I gave my finger a good poke once and almost bled all over the poor thing. Want to know what she is made of so far?! A sock of Ceili's that has had a missing match for 7 years (since we bought them!) a peach rank top I wore once and some unused quilt batting! I am so using what I have tonight!!! The only problem is I need to find some great bits of yarn to do the hair.
She is totally inspired by these cuties and I used a couple of tutorials I found around. I want to make another one for B but seriously doubt I will.
I'm just busy making a doll for the Baby's Christmas present and got so busy with chatting with friends at the same time. I am doing a lot of stuff and this is a boring post just to post something! argh!
I managed to re-stash the pile of stuff that was in the front room. The good news (for all of us here in this house) is that a charity called this morning to ask if I had any donations they could pick up tomorrow. What a wonderful coincidence!
Miss B is set up in the other room with a stack of Christmas videos (she already watched Charlie Brown and is starting on Miracle on 34th Street.) The baby did me an awesome favor and fell asleep for her morning nap in less than a minute. I think I'll grab a book, my organizer, my journal and a cup of cocoa and join B on the couch!
Things I love about B:
1. She makes the wackiest faces all the time. I should take some pictures and do a whole post about it
2. Her hand feels so tiny when I hold it
3. She sings with no restraint
4. She likes to take special trips to the grocery store just to buy gum from the gum ball machine
5. She reminds me of my mother in law who she never knew.
6. She says things wrong and funny like "there's none more"
7. SHe just came in to let me know the couch is broke and says she she did not jump on it "nope, I didn't" so I better go see what's up.
I'm a little bit melancholy tonight. I've been missing a friend of mine who is busy working a TON! I am worried about our family friend, Mr. B who is an awesome guy, but has his life a little upside down. I was thinking about my trip to CO this month and started feeling a little sad about it being my first Thanksgiving up there since my grandpa died (it's gonna be tough.) And my knee hurts and I haven't been able to run as long as I normally do, which worries me because it's been about 3 weeks since I woke up and had a stiff knee for no apparent reason. But you know what? Through a couple of different avenues, through my picture I made of the Savior, through my signing up for December Daily, through stuff, I've found some yummy blogs and beautiful photostreams I didn't know about. And tonight after I get the front room cleaned up, I will sit down and soak it all in.
Here they are for you to enjoy:
-The Good Report with lovely posts like this one.
-Molly Irwin who is super creative and just started her One Good Loaf blog
-My Merry Way for her happy mommy posts.
-Carin well really I met Carin back in February, but I'm always checking my bloglines for her updates! If I was up in Utah, I would soooo hire her to do my family portraits. (p.s. I love your house, Carin!)
-(building) a little house by the big woods because she is doing what we all want to do: making a dream into reality. And she does such a wonderful job blogging about it!
-Rockstar Diaries Here's the thing...I dont know if you have to be a mormon house wife to be in awe of another mormon housewife living in the big city???? But I am. And so I read it and daydream about what it would be like to live in the big city.
-Cakies for being so stylin'!!!
-Leaca's photostream is soooo beautiful in that delicate and cool way that life is
Mmmm that's it for now. I've really got to get cracking on this front room.
Little Christmas Faeries in a Jar
I caught a little faerie
Poking ‘round the tree.
I wonder if Santa sent her
To secretly spy on me?
Will she say I was naughty?
Did she see me pout?
If she promises to say I’m good,
Then maybe I’ll let her out
The idea is you can hang her on a tree, put her on a shelf, hang her from a necklace, or finagle a Christmas light into the jar to light it up. I only made enough for the swap and I hate cutting out all the detail (the faeries are less than an inch tall), but now I want one for me!
It's been cold this week. I'm day dreaming about getting cozy in thick sock under a soft blanket. I want to sit at the computer all day chatting with friends and listen to the wind outside (and not stepping into that blustery wind.) I'm making some cocoa tonight with the peppermint mocha creamer and getting my work done and then getting cozy with a book
It totally warmed my heart tonight to see the 3 oldest curling up on couches and rocking chairs, flipping pages in our new library books. Jumping onto the getting-ready-for-Christmas-in-November bandwagon, I loaded the bag up with almost a dozen Christmas books. Some of my favorites so far are:
I picked out a handful of business books to go through and a few novels I want to try to read and renewed Martha's baking cookbook, cause baking seems to make me happy lately.
1. Recylced Sweater Stockings made from sweaters!
2. Emroidered Blocks too cute huh?!
3. Partridge ATC totally thought of you when I saw this!
4. deciduous quilt this one too! I've never done hexagons!!!
5. cathedral window quilt in progress frickin' amazing! One of those challenging things we should try sometime
6. project in progress-half way just pretty
7. Pretty pink cupcakes yum! right?
8. My Ticket to World Domination Totally love this soap! It's in her shop on etsy and I would totally buy some but it would get used and mot be so pretty to look at, or my kids would try to pick all the buttos off, I'd start to feel like my grandma who always had a tray of fancy soaps in the bathroom that nobody actually used! oooh fun childhood memory! My grandma is a very classy flamboyant lady and the guest bath downstairs was mirrored wall to wall and the ceiling too I think...that was a fun bathroom! You could watch yourself pee from 5 different angles! LOL!
9. CupCake Pincushions cute, aren't they?!
10. Crocheted Hat Love the sewn edging on this!
11. In my Craftroom This is just a yummy picture of craftiness!
12. vote so you, so us! cause we're sexy like that!
13. Custom I WANT one of these dolls for B, but there's no way I am paying $150 Canadian for it! I am considering the energy and dedication I need to muster up to make something like it...
14. can't have one without the other this is from my online friend Cathy...it's her view of nursing and knitting at the same time!
15. Chai tea in apple cups from a new flickr friend. Isn't that delish?!
16. Chai tea in apple cups oops I posted this twice instead of linking to another one of her great pics
this one here
Love you jess!
