Better Late than Never

So here I am slicing my bananas for banana brownie bites and have 25-30 minutes to kill while they're roasting.....what to do, what to do? Tree's all packed up, my room looks like someone dropped and A-bomb on it (that's an Ali bomb, you know), but I think I will do a Christmas post!

Christmas this year has been busy, with us on the move to a different house every day, for 3 days straight, not long journeys in between, but with 2 little ones and a crap load of toys it begins to wear on you.  We went to the Christmas Eve church service with my parents and had our annual Chinese take out dinner. We opened presents and got into our new Christmas PJ's. 

My mom and dad with the girls.

Giselle looking very excited about something...there must have been paper being torn.

Now, look closely at this one...I pretty sure only another mom could decode the look on my face.

The boys, looking at some gifts. Smile, Caleb.

Showing off my Pink shirt! 

I have been told that I am really hard to buy for, and I think that I'm the easiest person to shop for. I like things that sparkle. So I ended up getting the pink sparkly shirt from Ben, and my mom who took me literally got the me Martha Stewart Glitter set. (which the very next day I did the glitter pedicure that Stacey found online!)

I told them, easiest person to buy for, ever!

Christmas morning we stayed home and opened up our gifts to each other and the gifts from Santa.

Venice had a BIG present from Santa!

IT'S A KITCHEN!!!

And then she just stared at it...

Giselle lovin' that Glo-worm!

Ben opening up his present from Santa (looking pretty pleased if I do day say so).

A new sledding Jacket!

But wait...there's more...

I just love the look on his face, "WHAT?!"

Yup, an avalanche airbag. 

After we opened presents and had a quick bite, we headed out to Ben's parents for more presents and a great turkey dinner.

Boxing Day we went back to my parents house for a champagne brunch, complete with perfectly poached eggs benedict. It was so nice not to have more than one turkey dinner.

Now you know how we spent our holiday and  I really should get back to my banana brownies.

I'd love to hear how all of your holidays were!

Jingle Bells!

 With Venice seemingly giving up on naps altogether, I've had to find quick and easy crafts to keep those busy hands busy.

Luckily, Martha has a great kids craft section on her website! 

I tend to be a little on the controlling side when it comes to doing crafts with Venice, but this one went Ok, maybe I'm realizing that having fun is more important than them looking perfect. 

Freshly painted egg carton cups.

A tidy bundle of vintage yarn from the Sally Ann.

Staples of crafting (and life).

I did the glue and she glittered.

      

I don't have a picture of the finished project, but I threaded the yard through the tops of the egg cups and tied bells inside.

Venice hung the jingle bells in our laundry room so she'd hear when Daddy comes home from work.

On a completely different note, I had made some cotton rags from an old tea towel and wanted to make ringlets in her hair just like I used to when I was little girl.

Clearly you need really long hair and lots of it.

Venice had a huge blonde 'fro! This picture was before I picked through it!

Needless to say, she went to school with pigtails.

Snowed In

So, it's been longer than long since I last posted. Not sure why I was on hiatus, but I'm back and I've got lots of post all banked up!

This was a few weeks ago, or maybe even longer than a month, but it was back when we got a ton of snow. It wasn't as if we were really snowed in but there was just so much of it, that it was hard to make yourself go anywhere.

So I put Giselle down for her morning nap (I heart naps), and Venice and I started some roasted beet borscht with fresh dill and cheddar scones.

Here are the beautiful, rustic beets and baby potatoes, seasoned with olive oil, cracked black pepper and kosher salt.

My sous chef, mixing up some dry ingredients.

"I'm helping!"

Get those paws in there, peanut!

Voila! Just in time for Ben to come home for lunch.

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Just a short little post, but it feels good to be back. I can't wait to post our crafting time and our vacation!