leotard

Anyone with a daughter in gymnastics/ballet will know how I felt this morning when Lucy put on her leotard.... She starts next week, you can bet there will be a blog or two during the season!

santa was here...

Turns out, Lucy and Violet were on the "nice" list! Christmas day started at 6 a.m. and Lucy was shocked when Daddy brought her and her sister down the stairs.... Lucy asked Santa for a dolly and he threw in a dollhouse(and a few more goodies)...
It was a super fun day that ended with our traditional family dinner...

reindeer food

Lucy is getting ready for Santa's arrival and made reindeer food this morning! So cute!

silent night

I just watched both of my girls fall asleep to me singing 'Silent Night', what more could a mom want at Christmas time? Oh yeah, one of these.... Please join me, pour yourself the biggest glass of wine and enjoy this last week of Christmas. I am not getting caught up in "getting done," this year, I am going to soak up every moment of the tree glowing, the music, holiday recipes, Christmas movies and let everything else just be. I am sure my husband will be nodding his head reading this, since just about every day he comes home to the house looking like a tornado with Christmas carols blasting and some sort of baking going on. He probably thinks I have gone crazy...maybe I have, maybe that's why I need the wine, or maybe I am just soaking up the Christmas spirit and trying to spread some. Hmmm, as I type, I have figured out my main reason for all this....
My mom is 5,000 miles away this Christmas in Romania where they are gathering around the tree telling stories of Jesus' birth, reminding their kids to clean their boots for Father Christmas, roasting a pig (Ignatius.) In Romania, the Christmas gifts are sweets, fruit, nuts and pastries. The most important part of the holiday is Christmas caroling with the village. Can you imagine all this? Just today I had a TWENTY minute conversation with my husband about returning a doll to Target because I didn't think it was the right one that Lucy wants from Santa and he phoned me on location to figure out which one to bring home! Seriously, she is TWO...guess I AM caught up in some of the wrong US traditions. So tonight after I sang silent night and watched my two angels fall asleep, I decided to remind myself, (and all of you,) a little of what we are SUPPOSE to be enjoying during this season. I miss my mom, but I am so thankful that she is there with family, being surrounded by that kind of love that sometimes is no where to be found in this country. The wine has taken effect, tears are flowing, good night all, Merry Christmas.

Christmas came early!

Violet asked Santa for her, "two front teeth," and SURPRISE, Christmas came early! Our sweet girl woke up this morning with a new tooth starting!

Christmas spirit

TEN days until Christmas! My Lucy has more Christmas spirit than most adults, it is so fun. Tonight she found this Santa hat and wore it around the house saying, "ho ho ho!"
Hope these pictures spread some cheer! Is your shopping done??

Christmas on the Cove

Last Saturday(yes, I am just now blogging) was our annual "Christmas on the Cove" evening at our house. We did a throwback and went vintage on our clothing, decorations and desserts. As you can see from our sweaters, it was hilarious and fun. The evening was awesome, especially with our gin slushies, personal chef and grandparents putting all the kids to bed, yippeee!

gingerbread tree

PARENTS...forget the gingerbread house...go with the tree this year, it stacks and they decorate! LOVE IT!

cookies and cocktails

Today we had our day of baking cookies with friends, it is one of my favorite days. This the kids did some decorating too, so fun. I always leave feeling like we are the lucky ones getting to bring home Erin's date pinwheels, YUM!
Oh and those fancy cookie presses don't work like they do on t.v.!!

reading

I HAD to post this picture! When my mom was here, she recorded a book for the girls, Violet just loves it.

christmas craft

Have you already gotten your front door wreath? If not, you will want this instead! Here is my Christmas craft of the year...the front door monogram. ORDER YOURS TODAY! No matter what your door color is, this is the perfect Christmas decoration! $40 ORDER NOW! Check out the one on my sister's door too...

thanksgiving

Oh my, what a start to the holiday season! We began the week at bingo, no "bingo" but a lot of laughs and memories of Gramma B.
For turkey I think we ended up at 29 adults, 9 kids and 2 babies! So yummy and so much fun, those not here were missed. We had my sister's gang at our gathering via computer, thank you technology!
Last but not least, "Black Friday," started for mom and I at 4:30 a.m., we actually arrived at Target at 4:24 and believe it or not, the big door buster was gone! They said the t.v.'s that were on sale were gone in ONE minute to the first 70 people that got in line before 4 a.m., crazy! Christmas decorations are going up as I type....yep!

ta da

Ta da!!! One log soon to be gone...

the process

Did you all really think that I made homemade strudel with a four month old on the counter and a 2 1/2 year old? Oh no, that was just the apple preparation that took us most of the day! Here I am in process of making the logs...and yes, for those of you looking at the picture closely, the wine is a necessity. My grandmother should have had wine while baking this, it makes it much more enjoyable. Final result picture will probably be in the morning, I am just hoping at this point not to fall asleep with it baking in the oven. Yes, it is 10:11...past my early bedtime, go ahead, laugh. p.s. don't worry, I am not going to blog every second of my Thanksgiving prep, I want to keep my readers!

apple strudel

It was my grandmother's tradition to make apple strudel at the holidays and I have carried that on, today I am making it with my girls...LOVE IT! Lucy loved working the apple peeler corer slicer and let me tell ya, anyone who bakes should have this, it cuts time in half...more than half! Apples are boiling, gotta go, hope you are all having a great start to Turkey week! GET COOKING!!

papa and power tools

My dad came over today, I called him in for an emergency crafting tool after spending an entire evening to wake up and find my craft had gone bad over night(that's what I get for trying to cut corners.) Lucy, like all the other children in my family are mesmerized when papa gets out the power tools. She shows my blood in her veins on these days, that's for sure. Lucy was right there with Papa, loving every second of being outside, sawing. The girl slept THREE hours after he left, yippeeee for mommy! My dad is truly and amazing master of all trades and it really comes in handy, since I am the master of inventing things in my head. We have now being "projecting" for 35 years, he can basically read my mind on what I am dreaming up, we are the best team. Today I intended on him dropping off the saw and spending time with the girls, but he could not resist and wanted to give my project a go, of course! He ended up having some awesome one on one time with Lucy...which also turned a 20 minute project into an hour and a half and neither one of them cared, they could have stayed outside all day, it was priceless. Some girls have fancy trips and shopping sprees with their dads, I have "projects" with my dad and I wouldn't trade it for the entire world, thanks for rushing to my project today dad, I love you. p.s. what Colts fan has Bears gloves?

6 years ago

Yesterday marked 6 years ago from the night Shawn and I met at the CF auction! Some friends met us out at Cancun(a mexican restaurant) for margaritas, it was a blast!

CCC

Today was extra special, Mommy's cousin came home from Chicago and spent the day with us! We had Chelsey Crafting and Chocolate, what more do you need? Our craft... "melty beads," so, fun for those of you who have not tried them. Thanks for the day Chels!