Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. We hope your holiday is as bright and blessed as ours! Thank you MeMe for our great matching PJs!

The Wife's Birthday

Today is Christi's birthday. Although she probably doesn't want me to share it she rolling onto 34. I just wanted to use this forum to extol her virtuous nature and lavish her with praise. She is a wonderful mother and a terrific wife and I truly wish her birthday came more often because I do not do a good enough job of pampering her on a daily basis. She works her ass off in a little glass office( not a euphemism) to bring home the bacon while I stay at home with the little ones. I do try and clean the house, but I do not have an eye for finer points of clutter removal and the end result leaves much desired by the Mrs. I do build the pantry cabinets, tend the garden, and keep the kids from dying. Even today I hung a new door from the pantry room to the garage, but this doesn't make up for the layer of filth that these projects leave behind.
If you know her you know that she works hard without complaint, both at the paying job and around here, and doesn't really ask for much so wish her happy birthday and give her a smile. Maybe that will make up for some of my shortfalls. If you read this honey, I am about to get up and go sweep something up or maybe put a lego away to make the house a little more presentable for you on your birthday. Happy birthday babe and I love you very much.

A Glimpse

I thought I'd share a glimpse of me and my not so simple life . . . "Simple House" maybe but simple life, never. Here is the page from my journal yesterday morning:

So much flippin' stuff to do that I don't know where to start . . . can't relax for a second . . . even finishing my book today was a chore on my list because it's so overdue that I could have bought the book by now with the late fees I'm going to have to pay.

Also read some magazines today but not for pleasure but instead to make sure they got read before the holiday so the great ideas and recipes don't become useless in the post holiday diet season.

My window of time is dwindling as P won't play much longer alone and who knows how much longer D will sleep. I've already baked two loaves of banana bread, folded 2 baskets of clothes, made the bed, and gotten dressed and it's only 10:25am.

Still to do:
water/ feed plants
finish laundry
clean bathrooms
wrap presents
print Xmas cards
address envelopes
go to library
go to store
p/u prescription
(call in prescription)
start chicken
hang lights

And somewhere in there I need to spend time with the kiddos and maybe JP. Is it any wonder that Mondays back at work almost seem relaxing?

That was just the list of must dos today but I've got another 5-10 items that should get done.

What I'd love to do is a) go to yoga and b) finish shopping including finding myself some new boots and getting a bigger jacket from Old Navy for the warm up suit I'm currently wearing.

So, there you go . . . my thoughts as of 10:30 Sunday morning. What's sad is that shortly after I wrote this I remembered that we needed to go see Santa which took 2 hours out of the day so we were still doing many of those items at 9:30 last night. The chicken wasn't defrosted so that got scratched. Instead I tried to make french fries from scratch (yet again) and baked JP an apple pie. He did get the lights up and I did wrap some presents, but the plants are still suffering. Oh well . . . Tis the Season!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

The annual fun began with a lengthy discussion of WHERE to put the massive tree. It's almost as wide as it is tall! This hour-long contemplation included moving the couch 3 times as well as the tree so we had quite a mess! Next the lights . . . Of course Pickle had to inspect what she could; she got a little scared once she was back there but she found her way out.Brother really got into the event this year!


Here's Pickle "accessorizing" with the garland and "tasting" the pickle ornament! I am sure she will appreciate it in the years to come!Have we mentioned to anyone how much she likes the vacuum cleaner . . . ?
Finally, here's a picture of us on Friday night as we headed out for my company's Christmas party . . . don't we look nice!

It's Real Life . . . Friday

It's another "Real Life Thursday" challenge that I am getting posted on Friday because, well, it's real life and life is busy with 2 sick kids, work, and holiday shopping. This week's theme is Store It: Kitchen which I am excited about because of our recent upgrades to our storage options!

First up is plastic storage. It is a typical mess especially because I have a one-year-old who has taken "ownership" of the cabinet. I really like how we keep all the tops in one place so we only have one place to dig. You either find the container you want and then search for the top, or you identify the top and then go searching for the container. It looks a little bit empty in the picture but the dishwasher is full!
This next picture is of "big" stuff that we occasionally use . . . the crock pot, waffle maker, griddle, etc. This is part of our NEW pantry! Our toaster and blender are in a cabinet under the microwave and the mixer is on the counter. Another area of the NEW pantry is holding serving platters, bowls, and other miscellaneous items that we use for parties. I am very excited about these shelves since I used to keep all this stuff piled on top of each other in various other spots in the house (see cookbook area and auxiliary closet below). It is now so much easier to find and safely remove an item.Here are some of our spices . . . we also have some in the cabinet but I didn't take a picture of them. Here is the top of the refrigerator. I hate having things on top of the refrigerator and when we redo the kitchen I plan to have cabinets over the fridge so it doesn't continue to be a collection site. Right now it primarily holds tupperware that is a hassle for Pickle to take apart, bread, and leftover pie.Another item on the list is recycling and compost - we have some under the sink and then another bigger receptacle in the pantry area. The compost bucket is small (and disgusting) and it gets taken out to the mulch pile daily. I can't believe I am sharing this picture . . . it is AWFUL.Another area that I like is the shelves and cabinets in the Breakfast Room that JP built soon after we moved into this house. It had been an awful closet with a folding door and it has now turned into this! Right now I have taken down the usual plates and bowls that live there and replaced them with Christmas items. This is also where we keep cookbooks as well as in the cabinets below.Unfortunately my camera battery died before I could upload the pictures of 1) cleaning supplies and 2) "good" dishes. Right now my cleaning supplies are in part of the NEW pantry and the "good" dishes are kept safely in their storage bags (thanks Mom) in the "Auxilliary Closet." That's a huge mess right now so I'm kind of glad the battery died . . . .

Friday - The Birthday Party

Pickle's 1st Birthday Party was held on the Friday after Thanksgiving because well, that was when she was born.
















She was dressed in a new outfit - brown and pink of course and she showed it off well! We had some play time in the backyard in the new wagon and then unwrapped packages!




















Thank you Cee-Cee for my Pickle Pig book and baby doll and thank you Kris for my ball and hammer toy and I heart Pickle Teddy Bear!









































Cee-Cee made the gorgeous Daisy cake which was perfect and Pickle REALLY enjoyed it. She started with her fingers and then tried dipping a piece of celery into the icing!

Friday - The Zoo

Friday finally brought the usual sunshine and thus the kids got to go to the zoo. Our nephews have been to the Phoenix Zoo each time they have visited and it has become sort of a tradition that they love. Please note how Ranger picks up his leg when watching the Flamingos . . . something he does every time!

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Thanksgiving

My favorite holiday . . . and what a feast yet again! If you have not picked it up from a previous post; JP's sister, husband, and three kiddos are here this week! Even with just 4 adults and 5 kids we still did ALL the favorites including cranberry sauce which we made from scratch for the first time. It was so easy . . . not sure why anyone would buy the stuff in a can.

It was a fun lazy day starting with cinnamon rolls and quiche while reading the paper and shopping the ads and then watching the parade and cooking the turkey!

Cee-Cee came over for her annual Thanksgiving craft and this year she had a larger class. She even thought to include the girls in something.The boys made Pilgrims out of terra cotta pots as well as little snowmen ornaments.Anyone else notice Pickle stealing Cheerios . . . ?Even though the day started out rainy it cleared up in time to be able to eat outside. After dinner we lit a fire in the chimenea and watched the kids run wild.So much for which to be thankful . . . .

Tuesday - Tonto National Monument

On Tuesday we adventured over to Tonto National Monument via the Apache Trail half of which is a one-lane dirt road. The drive was very pretty along Tonto Lake and then Apache Lake ending at Roosevelt Dam. We had to take two cars with the boys in one and the girls in another. Everyone enjoyed the drive . . . even the girls who were giggling as we bumped along!

Tonto became a National Monument in 1907 and preserves several cliff dwellings of the Salado people that were inhabited in the 13th, 14th, and early 15th centuries.The boys took part in the Junior Ranger Program that began with an 18-minute movie and included a short hike to the Lower Cliff Dwelling in which we were allowed to tour.We now have three Junior Tonto National Monument Rangers!