Cleaning Up

I found out I have this cool rack for the inside of my dryer that allows you to dry shoes/caps without them tumbling inside the dryer. I put the kids shoes in there on Tuesday.
While we were gone sledding I had a lot of the inside of the house painted. LOVE it but am still unearthing and putting the house back together.

Hannah elected herself to be the one to put the outlet and light switch covers back on.

While Simon painted his car.

I am almost done downstairs and am starting on the upstairs.

Happy New Year's Eve

Hannah & I have been wearing out hats since this morning.
I am doing a quality control check on the raspberry martini's for the party tonight.

Yum, tastes good to me.

A Day of Sledding

The kids & I along with a bunch of friends (two vans full) went sledding in Flagstaff. We had a great day.



Kyle...

Paul....

Devon...

Kim.....

Kristin (Devon & Kim's Mom) & I....

Emily & Hannah....

Sally....

Jon & Jonah.....

Simon & Kyle....

Shelby & Hannah...
A great day with 50 degree weather. We always know when it is time to come home when the kids feet get really cold!

The Day After....

I bought my FIRST ever set of silverware. I had used mostly gifted silverware since I moved out on my own and inherited what was at the house when I got married. Now, I have half the married set which is only 6 place settings...not enough.

So, today, when I went out for my after Christmas trolling at the mall I found 12 place settings on clearance, clearance, clearance for a very reasonable price. It is in the dishwasher right now. I feel so grown up...yeah, yeah, yeah...know I am 40 and should already be grown up. ;)
I also used my new immersion blender to make a.....
Curried cauliflower soup. It is a wee bit spicy, might have added to much roasted jalapeno. It sure is good though!

And I made tea with tea leaves in my new press pot!

I love useful gifts!

Random Thursday

A new paint color....hoping to get it all painted (by someone else) next week.
A Diva apron for my girlfriends. It says "I like cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food".

There is another one I made that says "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History". I am making that one for me.

Christmas in Phoenix

We started the evening at church where the kids sang a nice song during the kids service.
Can kinda see Hannah in the middle of this photo. They gave all the kids "gifts" after the sermon in a paper sack. It reminded me of when I was a kid in MN because inside was an apple, orange and candy canes. It made me tear up actually when I thanked the pastor after the service.

In front of the tree.

Reading Donkey Daniel before dinner.

The Christmas dinner table.

Ooohhh...and immersion blender. I am going to make a curied cauliflower soup later today.

Grandma Linda....

Grandpa....

Hannah & Simon opening gifts.

Santa presents.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Monday...

I had a few extra kids today..me home, single Mom's....kids home, got a few more.

here is Simon & Kyle in the Captain Underpants reading tent after the junket to the library.

The girls after some stash diving into my yarn bins. A whole lotta finger weaving going on.
boy's still in the reading tent!

A good day with good friends.

Chemo Cap..

Is finished. One of my co-workers started chemo about 6 weeks ago. I offered at the time to knit a hat...I did not get the yes, I am interested vibe, so I didn't.

Last week, the hair decided to take a hike and so, he asked me if I had started knitting a cap. Um, no. We went on a field trip to a yarn shop at lunch on Weds. and picked out yarn for two caps.

I finished the first one tonight (5 evenings of knitting). Pre-blocking.

Taking a bath...
Drying on my cooling rack because I want to deliver tomorrow.

Experimentation

So, you leave my kids to their own devices and then, you see Hannah coming out of the pantry with a bunch of interesting items.

So I asked, "whatcha doin?". We are going to make water bottle volcanos.

And they did...multiple times.
Gotta love science. ;)

Saturday!

Being mostly German, we used to have potato sausage on Christmas Eve for dinner and I am continuing that tradition with my children. There are two places in Phoenix that sell it, the gourmet grocery and Stanley's Sausage. If I can, I try to get to Stanley's because it is a locally owned business. Their sausage shop it about the size of a postage stamp.
And there was a 20 minute line. They make all kinds of sausages plus perogi's. I tried to get 3 dozen potato perogi's but the lady just laughed and said she might have more than 1 dozen later....I bought the last dozen.

It continues to be my birthday...a necklace set and handmade purse from my Mom.

Sassy Sweet Treats cookies from my friend Kristina. Yum, I already ate some white chocolate & cranberry cookies. Kristina's friend owns the company.

And a travel jewelry case from one of my college friends, Tamara.

Half the inside...the other half holds necklaces.

Another gift I felt on my birthday was friendship and love. I had so many well wishes sent to me starting at 12:18 am on my birthday and right through to the evening. I got so many gifts of love that could not be wrapped and I felt blessed all day and continue to do so each and every day for my family and the "family of friends" that I have in my life.

I am LOVING 40.

Birthday in Review

My kids gave me a nice gift. Homemade candy canes and chore coupons.
After dinner photo.

My co-worker gift bags.

Banana bread for bags...

Gift from my brother in MD. Coffee smells great. Looks like breakfast on Saturday.

My sister sent Chipper's for the kids & I for Christmas. Nothing like chocolate covered potato chips. Sounds bad but tastes GREAT!