Christmas Eve...

Leavenworth

We love Leavenworth! Last year we actually spent Christmas there and had such a wonderful time. We would have loved to do it again but it's just to expensive. So we opted to spend a day there. We talked my mom into going along with Michelle, Nick and Landon. There was no convincing my Dad to tag along though. He really hates the snow and just couldn't see the value in purposely walking around in it. It sure was cold, about 15 degrees out there. We had a good time though. I always love to shop and the kids had a great time sledding on their hill. We ate traditional German food that was way over priced for lunch, then decided Subway was a good bet for dinner. Here's a few pictures I stole from my Mom's blog since I left my camera in the car. Lucky you, you get a rare picture of me and might I say I'm looking quite fabulous without makeup and in Taylor's hat! Not to mention the fabulousness of Alan and Lu's hats as well. I think Alan is one of the few men in this world that can buy a hat like that and pull it off!

Oh the snow...the dreadful snow!

So it's been snowing on and off since Saturday night. It's now Thursday...I think! I'm a bit delirious from being cooped up for the week. When it snows people go bonkers around here and desperately need snow tires. So Alan has to has to work like a dog. We're talking, he leaves around 6:30am and he gets home between 9:00 and 10:00pm. This has been going on for 5 days now. Tonight were not sure if he'll make it home at all.
I got so sick of being cooped up with the kids that this morning I said, "screw the snow and ice, were going to the mall!". So we left the house at 11:00 this morning and we spent the day shopping and going to lunch and a movie. We finally decided it was time to head home at about 5:00. Apparently today was not the day to say "screw it" to the snow (excuse my language, sometimes there's no other way to say it)! It took me over an hour and a half to go 5 miles. Actually it took me over an hour to go about 1 mile. Once I got off the main roads it was smooth sailing. When I say smooth, I mean really smooth and slick! I'm grateful for a gigantic 4X4 SUV today. Last month when it was costing me over $100 a week to fill up I wasn't so grateful, today I am. I'm also grateful for a husband who taught me how to drive in ice and snow without panicking 12 years ago. We had a bit of drama in that hour and a half but we made it home safe and sound. We had the inevitable pit stop to pee behind a dumpster (3 of us)...yes, me included! I blame it on this gigantic movie theatre soda! It's like a 2 liter for crying out loud! I think I'm going stay holed up in the house for the next few days, I learned my lesson.
Here's a little reminder to never get your tires at Les Schwab. Discount Tire is the only way to go. Support my poor, dear husband who works so hard to keep you all safe and sound! He just called and he's on his way home now at 8:15, who know when he'll actually get here!

Snow, Sunday & Yumminess!

I was a cynic and I didn't believe it would snow. Whenever they start forecasting a "winter storm", I roll my eyes and expect the least. Well it did snow but it wasn't any kind of storm. We got an inch or two, just enough for the kids to wake up and feel like a storm blew in while they slept. Alan and I slept in thinking that surely they would cancel church (when it snows in western Washington, everything shuts down) but we were wrong. We missed sacrament meeting but made it to class at least. Hopefully we get points for our effort to get there, even if it was only for half.
The rest of the day was spent lazying around, taking naps, kids tracking snow in and heat out. I had the makings of two of our favorite appetizers in the fridge begging to be prepared. So we decided to forget about having a real dinner and just eat appetizers. I have to share these two recipes because they are simple but OH...SO...HEAVENLY!

#1 - We'll call it Jalapeno Heaven! I can't take credit for this, I got it from The Pioneer Woman website. Here's how it's done.

First of all buy way more jalapenos than you think you'll need!

Half them and scrap out the seeds and membrane (unless you like hot)

Next fill them with softened cream cheese.

Cut a pack of bacon in half. Roll half a piece of bacon around the jalapeno and secure it with a toothpick.

Bake at 325 degree for 20-25 minutes and Voila, glorious goodness!

I can promise you that even if you don't do jalapeno (I do not) you will drool and salivate at the mear thought of these once you have tried them.

See! I told you. Even Lula thinks she's gonna get her hands on them. Don't worry, we did not feed Jalapeno heaven to the Lu!

#2 Cowboy Caviar

Oh the yumminess!!! This is soooo goooood! Did I make that clear enough with enough !!!!! and extra letters?



I won't give you the play by play, just dump all this in and stir.

1 can of black beans drained
1 can of corn drained
2 or 3 avacodos diced
2 roma tomatos de-seeded and diced
1 handfull of cilantro chopped
1 bunch of green onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic or red wine vinager
1 t of cumin
3/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper

1 bag of scoops tortilla chips, because you'll want to spoon this into your mouth!

Bad Santa

Ok so Santa wasn't really bad but meeting him WAS! Every year we go to the Super Mall with Alan's family for Santa pictures. Side note: Alan never comes, he's always working. My mother in law loves to have a picture taken with all of her grand kids surrounding Santa. There's twelve grand kids now so you can imagine how well that goes. It never fails that at least one kid is crying every year. We all expect it and it's really fun to see the pictures progress over the years. It's really a great tradition...but this year...oh this year! I'm still in recovery right now so the wounds are so fresh. Not literal wounds but mental and emotional wounds. We got to the mall at about 3:30 and got in the insanely long line...with 11 of the 12 grandkids. I of course own 4 of those 11 and I was doing this alone, no hubby. So an hour and 15 minutes into waiting in line Santa needs a break. Apparently Santa needs to eat and pee like the rest of us. But when waiting in line for over an hour we become a little more naughty than nice and I for one didn't care what kind of physical needs Santa needed to take care of! But Santa didn't care how I felt and took his 45 minute break anyway!!! Now 2 full hours have gone by and most of those I have spent holding a 20 pound tub of baby lard. While holding the lard I am pulling Tanner down from any thing that can be climbed on, keeping Tate from hitting every person that comes near him and convincing Taylor that she does not need every piece of clothing the mall has for sale! Santa comes back from break with great fanfare, hands waving, people clapping. Me...still feeling naughty, I would like to hit the guy up side the head right about now. I promise I did not hit Santa, I waited like a good girl for our turn. An hour later, I was paying for my precious little picture that only took 3 hours to obtain. For the price I paid for that one picture I think I could have hired the guy for 3 hours! Remind me to do that next year and stay far away from the mall! Ok, I have to go take a nice relaxing bath now because my entire body hurts.

Just in time!

There's nothing like a bright sparkly tree to motivate a 7 month old to learn how to crawl. She's been trying for a few weeks now and just hasn't gotten it figured out...until now! The tree went up, the lights went on and Lula found her muse...

My little sister!

I love this girl/woman. She'll always be a little girl to me. This is her little family and there's another little boy on the way. Aren't they just to cute!!! These were taken up in Marysville at Jennings Park. That park is a photographers dream come true, I just wish it wasn't two hours from my house. I need it in my backyard!

Are you getting excited?

We are! We LOVE Christmas around here. I am just itching to decorate as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Alan used to try to make me hold off but he knows better now. In fact he said tonight that we should go get a tree tomorrow!!!! This is a HUGE breakthrough. My one compromise has been that I wait to put up the tree until 2 weeks before Christmas so it doesn't die. I've never been really happy with this deal and I think maybe my decorating bug is be rubbing off on him. We'll see if he let's us get one tomorrow or not.
Today after church Alan got all the decorations down from the attic and the kids and I spent the afternoon decorating. I have been the "head decorator" since I was probably 8 or so. I can't remember exactly when I took over but take over I did! We all did the tree but the rest of the house was mine. I'm so grateful for a Mom that let me have creative license. I would actually rearrange the furniture and nick knacks around the house on a regular basis, not just Christmas. I look back and wonder how my Mom could let me turn her house upside down when ever I got a decorating itch. What great memories...Thanks Mom!
Anyway, back to today. I actually took a deep breath and let my kids really help. You know how you sometimes "let them help" but your really doing everything? No...is that just me? Well I'm a bit of a control freak and I want everything perfect. I'm determined to give them creative license with the tree (I can rearrange later).


You might get a kick out of these...

Tallula's stocking is above.
Tate's is below...don't judge, we let him choose and he picked naughty.


I really wanted to have leftover turkey this year so today I cooked my first turkey EVER! In Georgia I was to scared to cook one so I would buy the pre-cooked turkey that you just heat up for an hour. So today I did it and it turned out awesome! Ya for me! Now I'm boiling the carcass and planning to make homemade turkey soup tomorrow. What do you know, I may be a little domestic after all!


When we were getting out decorations we found a little craft I had bought last year with big intentions that were never fulfilled...the story of my life. So I let the kids have at it, no interference by me. I'm in rare form today. I didn't help them AT ALL, and when I say help them I mean do it for them so it's perfect.


And last but not at all least. Probably the highlight of a great day is this...


I know your wondering what in the world this is. It's Alan cleaning out the couch. Not just one couch but two couches and he vacuumed them as well. This is seriously a RARE moment in my life. A moment worthy of taking pictures of, blogging it and sealing it in my memory forever. Alan is many things, clean is not one of them. He did this all on his own, I don't know what came over him. He's been so helpful lately, I just really appreciate him. I don't know what I would do without this guy!

There is hope for my sanity...

Twilight...opening night!

At 12:01 on Thursday night the lights went down, hundreds of girls and their middle aged mothers started to scream. We then escaped into our favorite world full of vampires! I loved every minute of it! It wasn't exactly the best movie ever made but I wasn't going into it expecting it to be. I have to say that Robert Pattinson did an awesome job as Edward. He made me feel all mushy inside a few times...sighhh! You could have looked over and caught me with a silly little grin on my face. Second best actor was the guy who played Charlie, I loved him. I never really connected with Charlie in the books but I loved him in the movie. I was really not impressed with the acting ability of all the high school friends (Jessica, Mike, Tyler, ect.). There was some serious awkwardness to the dialogue most of the time, but again I wasn't expecting oscar quality. All in all, it was great entertainment, I'm looking forward to the next 3 movies! Now I have to go read the series again, I miss my vampires!

He Loves her to Death...

Tate has decided that Lula is big enough to play with now. He's been making her sit with him like this. He even thinks it's ok to pick her up and tote her around...not OK with me! She's not always to thrilled by the idea. She absolutely adores him but she's always a bit cautious when he get to close. That's how we all feel! You never know what this little guy has in mind! He's been know to poke you, lick you, smack you or just hug and kiss you. You really just never know. It's funny Lula has already figured this out. I think were in for some fun times with these two.

Not quite a gingerbread house!

When we went to my parents for dinner on Sunday the kids made gingerbread men with my mom. That went pretty good so she decided to make mini gingerbread houses with them at our house. She came down to visit on Wednesday and they attempted to make a little village. This is how it ended up...




They still had fun though and that's all that matters. But...now Alan has it stuck in his head that he needs to make a huge gingerbread house that he can shellac and keep for all time. I'm not really looking forward to it...we'll see what happens.

FRAUD

Well it happened to us. Our identity was stolen this weekend. We think it happened when we payed for our hotel online. We had thousands of dollars stolen from our account. Whoever has our account numbers was trying desperately to get to Egypt.


They tried to purchase tickets to Egypt four times. Four times it processed through our account and the bank would flag it and reverse the charges. Unfortunately they succeeded in purchasing two cell phones and buying a bunch of other stuff. Luckily the bank will refund all our money. It's just a long annoying process to get this all cleaned up. We had to close all of our accounts down and start new ones. The bank suggests that everyone have two separate checking accounts. One that is you primary account and one you transfer money into anytime you make an online or over the phone purchase. I know that may seem like a pain but after 3 long days of dealing with this fraud it's worth it to me. The bank said that right now is fraud season. So look out my friends...I never thought it would happen to me either!