being silly

the look I get when ever that youngest one sees me with a camera.
sigh, she is starting young for that attitude I think.

scrapbooking weekend

friday and saturday was the montly scrapbooking weekend held at our local library. love spending time with this group of
ladies who make me laugh and motivate me. (alas no pictures...I know how does the scrapbooker in me justify no pictures???)
my goal complete the christmas album for 2011. I did complete it and moved onto a p reschool-12 grade album(s) for Reyna.
a kit of predesigned pages simply requiring assembly. Sometimes I love doing kits just for the simplicity.

christmas cards

an idea found on Pinterest (I love pinterest!)
a way to store those Christmas cards each year
(previously I would try to put them in a pocket in the yearly scrapbook, rarely did that work)
so this year I tried this and this, this could be the solution.
all the cards put together in a book or sorts, easy to look through and easy to make
perfect!

gold fish bread

found this last week when I was grocery shopping. How cute is that? bread in the shape of that oh so familiar goldfish.
the kids loved it!

Winter Dance Recital

The girls winter dance recital was saturday morning, squeezed in between basketball for them and basketball for Anthony. It was a busy crazy morning but a wonderful pause in that busy day to take in their performance. They have improved so much since starting last fall.
loved watching the different levels and seeing those big smiles as they took the stage.

surgery

spent the morning at the hospital....waiting
while Kevin had surgery to fix the carpal tunnel in his right hand.
a 4:30 am wake up call... guessing it was tougher on kevin since he was the one having the surgery
a check in time at the hospital of 6:30
and then the waiting began
surgery went well, he will have his arm in the sling for a few days and then continue his recovery for 6 weeks or so.
Thinking that right now the hardest part is simply having to rely on others to help him, pain is minimal right now
but that of course could be all the kick butt drugs moving through his system :)
a moment of comediac relief provided by Josh (he is my quiet one, of few words) Kevin asked him for help earlier and without missing a beat Josh said "Have you heard of assited living?" sigh it truly is not funny. (yes I laughed as did kelly when I told her)
How is it when one does nothing but wait, that one can be so utterly exhausted?

penguin hat

a clearance find at Old Navy...she loves penguins. Of course she has several winter hats already, but at clearance prices I just couldn't resist. (it is taking me forever to figure out all the features on this new camera, sigh)

a bit of scrapbooking

monthly moments....a calendar kit made out of coasters.
simple and quick to assemble (my perfect kit concept)

snowflake crunch

we made a batch of this tonight, I'm not sure what the kids thought was more fun watching the popcorn pop (they were puzzled by popcorn being prepared in something other than the microwave) or stirring in the blue M&M's or eating it.

memory box folders

the other day I filed the papers that have come home from school, and filled in the info spots on the front of the files. an improvement from last year when I filled all that in at the end of the school year.

chubby hubby bars

start with a cookie dough recipe, mix in chocolate chips, walnuts, pretzels, reeses peanut butter cups and bake.
pout caramel over the top and melted chocolate and there you go immediate sugared bliss. I found the recipe here

all lined up...

and waiting.....

it has snowed twice so far this winter...both times it melted in days
temps have been in the the 40's with a 50 thrown in here and there
yes it is January, and yes i do still live in Minnesota

New Year's Eve

home made pizza...
the kids made personal pizzas.
a movie marathon
Friends with Benifits, Super 8, Midnight in Paris
Linda, Larry, Katie & Evan, and Jay joined us
(the ice cubes light up and change colors, providing hours of entrtainment for those little ones in my house.

2011

the year in review...

One Word

Simple

my word for twenty twelve

dabbed at these past few years, a bit here a bit there

more so last year my focus on simplifying our life became evident as we undertook 

home remodeling projects that required emptying rooms

and discovering that much of what was in our space didn't need to be

so room by room I cleaned and purged making a dent in all.that.stuf.

that fills our home and our lives...

this year I want to continue to simplify not just the "stuff" but all aspects in my life.

Less is more is my phrase these days

simple is my goal

 

Happy New Year!

2012 a new year just waiting for us to discover the potential the magic...
2011 a year now complete filled with memories and stories
there were changes big and small
growth and challenge
firsts by the bucketload
laughter and tears
new experiences and the continuance of traditions