it's the final countdown

Happy 2011!

sights from a lunch time walk.

look south on the quad at UNR . I met my husband in a building just off to the left of this shot.

a winged walker

burrr, it's cold out there

gypsy dreaming.

Off today, a little treat of alone time. I have gotten thank you notes written, photos edited and am ready to head up to the sewing room. It's pretty cold out, but the sun is out so I might take a stroll... oh and I won two tickets to the museum that I need to pick up, that's going to make #9 on the list a little more sweet!

A little post holiday review

What a nice Christmas weekend. I was let out of work half day on Thursday and was able to go home and hang out with the kids and my man for the afternoon. Always a treat.

O and I made cinnamon-applesauce glittered ornaments after he woke up from his nap.
He loves glitter, loves.

Christmas Eve was spent wrapping presents and getting the house straightened up and cleaned. Not the most exciting thing, but it did feel good to have the place organized again. How the heck does the house get so crazy?!

My mom came over around 4:30to get O and I so we could go to church. O was a good boy, but a typical 2 year old during the service. He kept asking(in a not so indoor voice), "when will the horns play?" as he pointed at the pipe organ pipes up on stage. When one of the kids got up to play the flute he told me, "Like Farkle McBride!"He went up for the children's portion of the night and got a candy cane.... "CRUNCHY" he announced more than once as he quickly devoured the cane and became a red sticky mess of holiday infused slobber. I was slimmed as I lugged him out to the bathroom to rinse off. Good stuff. At the end of the service we all got our candles and he insisted on holding one, lit of course.

photo by jojo

It was a really nice service and we even bumped into my sister in law and her family as we walked outside singing Silent Night at the end.  On the way home we picked up our take out Chinese food (which always reminds of the ending to A Christmas Story) and headed home to eat. I am not sure where this tradition started, but I like it. Apparently, we aren't alone because the restaurant was super busy.

Before bed time we made sure to sprinkle the "reindeer food" on the grass out front (died macaroni with LOTS of glitter in a zippy bag from school). And then set out the cookies for Santa. We read, The Night Before Christmas, Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer and The Grinch That Stole Christmas and sent our little boy to bed...

Christmas morning came and we slowly made our way downstairs. I put cinnamon rolls in the oven and coffee in our cups. O asked the question I thought he would, "When's Santa coming over?" I had a feeling he was thinking that Santa was going to come and hang out with us all day- I had to explain that he was off to gift other kids their presents and was probably home with Mrs. Claus by now. He was a little disapointed, but got over it pretty quickly.

Then the opening began. It was a hoot to watch O rip, ever so carefully, tiny pieces of wrapping off his gifts. It took him forever to get into just one present.

He loved that things just kept coming from the stocking and we had to stop at one point to fuel up with a bit of cinnamon roll and play with a gift he really liked, the tool kit Santa had brought.

Fifi did a good job playing Christmas Elf and looking adorable.



She was my favorite present under the tree.


Even Cloverdale Pesto got a few new toys from Santa.
 

My mom came over around 11 and we started to prep the food, lasagna and a turkey.

We put our oven to work on Saturday- both top and bottom ovens going and all the burners cooking something or another.

Our friends started to show up around 4. My best friend , her husband and their girl showed up with yummy artichoke and spinach dip and some awesome homemade sangria!
L and O played and played it was really sweet.

Our other friends arrived around 5ish with their twin boys. Once they warmed up with everything going on, the play room was crowded with toys and kids. It was wonderful.

I some how didn't get any photos of the whole group- but trust me, it was a great crew and we had a great dinner. At one particular silly point Daddy-O even got me with the Proseco when he popped the cork for pre-dinner enjoyment.

Sunday was spent doing pretty much nothing. My extended "Truckee" family came by around noon and we fed them left overs- I am pretty sure the lasagna is multiplying in my fridge- even after everyone had some, there is still more than half a pan full of the stuff!

O did something he has never done before shortly after company had arrived- he told me he was tired and wanted a nap- I put him to bed thinking he would get up in a few minutes, but to all of our surprise he was out for a good 2.5 hours! Fifi got passed around to each of the family members and was full of smiles. But she soon got sleepy too and went down for about an hour and a half.

After our company left we just hung out and lazed around the house, snacking here and there and just enjoying the day off. It was perfect.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! I hear 2011 knocking on the door...

to do list...

It's the day after Christmas and my to do list looks a lot like this.
We had a beautiful holiday yesterday. I hope yours was wonderful too.
We will be hanging out around the house, playing with new toys, visiting with family, drinking coffee and snacking...

Does anyone want to come over for leftovers? Because the crew barely made a dent in the lasagna last night and we didn't even touch dessert (I know,crazy talk).

mmmnomnomnom, cooookies

Kate, our housemate, made cookies over the weekend. She used my mom's Mexican Wedding Cake recipe to make these.

She also made my mom's thumbprint cookies

and peppermint bark and north pole mud bars....oh and don't forget the peanut brittle.

Our oven got a workout... and if she doesn't take some of these with her when she goes back to Oregon for the holidays I am going to need a workout (or 50) to keep on track!

PS I will post the recipe when I get a chance to dig it out. :)

sewing sewing sewing

I have been a busy little elf in my sewing room the past few weeks. Sneaking in time here, there and when ever I can when the kids are asleep or occupied. I can show these because most of the have been gifted already and so it won't ruin any surprises.

Kid aprons.

I paired them with a DYO (decorate your own) cookie kit I found at Trader Joe's.

I love the way these came out and they were really quite easy to make. I think they will be a great 'go to gift' in the future.

Wristlet key fobs

These are teacher gifts for O and Fifi's teachers this year. I wanted to come up with something that wasn't the typical coffee mug and while browsing around on Prudent Baby I saw the idea and a tutorial.

PERFECT!

I like a pretty way to keep track of my keys and these were fun and easy (and VERY affordable to make) which is good since O has been in 3 class rooms this past year and has had a bunch of great teachers along the way.

Wide leg lounge pants (amy butler, in stitches)

These are some of the comfiest jammer pants around. They look HUGE, but the roomie-ness of them really makes it perfect for hanging out around the house on a lazy Sunday morning. The best part is, (and this should have been on my list) I figured out how to make a button hole on my sewing machine while making these. I was literally jumping for joy when I got the darn thing to do what I wanted! In the past, the button holes for the draw strings were totally sloppy, but not this time around. This will make # 1 on the list that much easier, should I choose something that needs buttons.

I love a good handmade Christmas!

pummeled

My Pummelvision from Vanessa Simps on Vimeo.

tears watching this video- how awesome to see my years unfold via photography.

white

The sky last night looked like it was heavy with snow. This morning when I woke up at 6:30 it was still grey but not doing anything. But by the time O was dressed at 7:30, and we were heading down stairs to make dip-dip (French) toast, the flakes were falling.

By 8 there was about two inches of very wet snow on the ground. O had let himself out into the backyard and was covered in fluff. Good thing I had gotten his boots and hat on him before he snuck out the sliding glass door. Fifi had a dusting on her just from the trip from the car into daycare today. Good thing for the Snuggle Me on the carseat- that little thing is a lifesaver!

Daddy-O drove me and Miss Kate (our roomie) to work today in the Land Cruiser. Such a nice boy, that Daddy-O.  It's still falling at a steady pace.

Boy is beautiful out there today.

A few sights around here

Just a couple of things that I have been seeing around the house these past few days...

It is important to be dressed properly when decorating the Christmas Tree, right?

Right.

Other goings on...

I am feeling pretty set to go for Christmas. A few stocking stuffers have been purchased and MrO's gifts are waiting to be wrapped up and set under the tree. All the cousin's gifts are ready and are just waiting for wrapping paper. I made wristlet key fobs for quick little gifts and just need to decide who gets what.

I have been busy with my sewing machine over the past few weeks, but haven't found time or good lighting (darn, it gets dark early these days!) to photograph any of my projects.

I have big plans for some cookies and peppermint bark, which I would like to gift to co-workers and to the teachers at day care. I would also like to get a couple of other gifts sewn up, but I am not quite sure when all of this is going to happen! We have a busy weekend ahead and my work night evenings are filled with dinner making, cuddling, bath giving and story reading. I can't really complain about any of that, but boy it would be nice to have an afternoon to just hang with the sewing machine!

How are all of your preparations coming along?

33

Yesterday was full of family and friends. And lots and lots and lots of tamales! We all gathered at Val and Buffalo's house for a tamale making party. 50lbs of masa, a turkey plus three turkey breast, and a couple of pork roasts later we had hours of wrapping and folding and talking and making. It was a lovely day.

And here are a few (34 for to be exact) wishes and dreams for the coming year....

1. sew a piece of clothing for myself.

2. finish my Tea Leaves cardigan

3. hike mount rose

4. go to the ocean

5. hang my photography in a public space

6. open and etsy or big cartel store

7. take my mom to a photo booth

8. take the kids to a photo booth

9. visit an art museum, alone

10. paid for my photography via a photo shoot(s)

11. take another photography class

12. practice yoga (even just 20-30minutes) 3 times a week

13. snowshoe

14. take O. on an adventure, just the two of us

15. get away for the weekend with Daddy-O

16.go on an art retreat

17. get inked

18. Camp in Death Valley

19. Camp in Santa Cruz

20 Visit the redwoods

21. take a tap dance class

22. hula hoop

23. be a tourist in my own town

24. have friends from out of town at our house

25. make a huge bubble maker thingy

26. go down the slip and slide

27. learn something new at work

28. put some purple in my hair

29. save for a new lens or speed light

30. take one of my girlfriends out to dinner, just because

31. visit a brewery or go wine tasting

32. have all the cousins over for a sleep over pj party

33. visit and swim in Lake Tahoe

and a pinch to grow an inch...

34. shoot with my film cameras (and actually develop the film)

Alllll Aboard The SANTA Train

So, after tree cutting we headed to Greagle to hang with the family, warm up, try to get in a nap and eat dinner. THEN, we got the kids gussied up in their holiday attire and headed to the train museum. I talked about the museum before, we visited this summer and had a blast. But this time of year they deck the halls, er, the cars, and invite Santa and Mrs. Claus for a visit.

Two of my favorite parts of the entire evening were:

1. As we walked up to the trains O looked up at me and said, "Mama! I am SOOO EXCITED!" What's not to like, there are trains, Santa, Christmas lights, cookies and candy canes?!

2. After meeting Santa (he got a tad shy, but announced that he wanted a fire engine)

and getting a cookie, we walked down into the dinning car and spotted a cat sitting on one of the benches. O walked right up to him to say hi. We headed out the door and were waiting for the train to arrive back in the station, when I turned and couldn't find O or my mom... Where had they gone?! It was the last ride of the night and they were going to miss it!

Finally, they showed back up just as the train pulled in for us to load. O had insisted on going back to see the kitty and give him the rest of his cookie.

So sweet...

Fifi slept thru most of the excitement, that is until we got on the train ride and the whistle blew...

Here's the whole gang. Santa was nice enough to pose with us before he headed back home to the North Pole for the night.

What a fun tradition this is!!