Joy

The joy of Christmas is wonderful to see in the eyes of your kids.


Of course, mommy gets to enjoy Christmas too...


My mom and Paul are here! Hurray! Tomorrow we are taking advantage of the nice weather and going to the city.

'Twas the night before Chirstmas

The children are nestled all snug in their beds...

Merry Christmas!

Snow!

Snow! Finally, real snow in Jersey! Close to two feet. It's pretty funny how they respond to snow around here though. People went shopping the day before like a huge blizzard was coming and the schools were closed Monday even though the snow storm was over Saturday night... weird. It's just snow, right!

So, the kids got to play outside in the snow on Sunday... and again on Monday, and today too.


Hannah had a sleepover with her BFF Saturday night and I had to dig out the car before I could go get her. One of our fabulous neighbors came over with his snow-blower and took care of our driveway for us! Woo, hoo! I got the whole sidewalk around the house done before he came over. Before you buy a house on a corner lot consider how much sidewalk comes with it!

Since Christmas is right around the corner, already, Seth and I baked some cookies today. He is a great little helper.


Hannah wanted to make a gift for her friend so she stayed up late to make it with me. Those little wallets are adorable and easy. It would have been done much quicker but she wanted to do the sewing.


Lots to do before Friday. All the gifts are wrapped and under the tree but I need to get Christmas dinner stuff and get the house ready for my mom and brother! Yay, my mommy will be here!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Quilting!

Christmas has been good to me so far...

I got a delicious selection of batiks from my secret Santa and I won first prize for the quilt top challenge at the quilt guild meeting. Ok, it was a drawing, but I still won! First prize is.... (drum roll, please) free machine quilting on my quilt top! I took in this one:


I'll show it to you all when it's done!

Birthday boy!

I should be studying for my final tomorrow but I'd rather tell you about someone having a birthday. Simon turned 9 today. He took cookies to share with his class today. He wanted Chinese food for dinner tonight, so we had Chinese food. There's so much food that we'll be eating it for days!


All he's been asking us for is a guitar. Dan talked to some of his musician friends and they suggested learning on an electric guitar as apposed to an acoustic. We talked with Simon about what a big gift that would be and he was fine with it being a birthday/Christmas gift. Hannah got her present early too so why not. Santa better come through this year! Simon was so ecstatic to see the guitar he wanted. I sure hope he learns how to play it... quietly.



I am always amazed at how quickly they grow. He was a little just yesterday.

Alki Beach 2002.

Happy Birthday, Simon!

Tree,desk, and ornaments

Busy day today. To start our day off nice and early, Dan and I drove to Pennington to pick up a desk for Hannah. She's been wanting a desk for a while and even asked for one for Christmas. I found a great used Pottery Barn desk off of craigslist. Desk, hutch, and chair for $100! Can't beat that. Since we were already in Pennington I got to run into the quilt store up there to get a gift I needed for the quilt guild meeting on Monday and a small little something for me too! I told Dan to put it under the tree since it was for Christmas.


On our way back home we decided to pick up the Christmas tree. The kids were off with Said at a cool miniature train place. (Only Said will take all my kids out by himself... yeah, we like him!) The kids have the most fun decorating the tree anyway. A little hot cocoa and Christmas music makes it all the more fun too!


I've made a few ornaments so far.


I decided to make a friendship star. I originally wanted to make these awesome snowflakes but as usual I don't have enough time. I really need to start much early. I think I said that last year... I don't know how quickly I'll get them all done, but once this last week of finals is over I can get to them quickly. Although it'll make shipping a bit much to get all the ornaments sent out the week of Christmas. I still need to get cards out... I don't like having all these things to do at once. Simon's birthday is next week too. He also has an appointment with the doctor to get the fit of his brace checked and an xray to see how his scoliosis curve is. Busy, busy, busy.

Cards

Daniel wanted me to post the picture I took of the kids for the Christmas card this year. It's amazing how many photos you have to take to get one where they aren't goofing off, looking away, or just plain ruining the photo! This one will do though.

I can't wait to hang the cards I get on the little tree I got. I think it's adorable.


The semester is almost over. I went to the doctor on Monday to get some shots so I can go attend college next semester. I haven't had one since I was maybe 12. I got a tetanus booster, the first of 3 Hep B shots, and a blood draw, all at once. The nice nurse gave Seth some stickers for being so good at the doctor... all I got was a sore shoulder.

I should be getting more info from GCU soon so I'll know who to meet with to get the finacial aid in order and what classes I need. (Did I mention that I got a scholarship too! Yay, for me!) Once we figure out what my schedule will be we can get Seth all taken care of. Oddly, my biggest worry isn't about if I can handle the school work, it's how Seth will do with mommy being away from him. I know he'll be fine but I can't help but worry about my babies.

Ok, I've got a few papers to write and some research to do so I better get to it!

Snow ball fight

Saturday night we got our first snow fall of the season. It didn't accumulate much, but that didn't stop the kids from going out to play in it. Said went out to play with them too. Snow is a novelty if you're from Arizona. I look at the snow and think, that's it?




Fun was had and hot cocoa awaited them inside. What more do you need after playing in the snow? A toasty fire, maybe....

Sewing and cookies

I used my sewing machine again! It makes me so happy. Yes, that's all it takes to make me happy, a little bit of sewing time. I made two blocks and I think this will work out well. The pattern only calls for 6 blocks but most likely I'll need 12 blocks total. I haven't decided if I'm exactly doubling the quilt size or not. The blocks are 20" so they're pretty big. I don't think I want it with borders and all to come out to almost 80 x 100. That's ridiculously long for a full size width but I don't know if I'd want it 80 x 80 either.... oh, the decisions....


Tonight we are going to the Cub Scouts holiday party and we were asked to bring cookies along. Well, if it's Christmas time and I am asked for cookies, then I have to make Ginger Cookies!


Ginger Cookies

3/4 cup butter-flavored shortening*
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda
sugar

Cream together shortening, sugar, eggs and molasses. Sift flour, slat, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture.

Shape into small balls and roll in a bowl of sugar. Place on greased cookies sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool on sheet for 1 minute before removing to cooling racks.

For gingerbread men: Chill dough for 15 minutes, roll out to 1/4" thickness, cut out shapes, and bake as directed.

* I substituted a 1/2 cup of regular Crisco and 1/4 cup of butter.

These are some of my favorite cookies. They're also a good one to make if you'd like your kids to help. They can roll the dough into little balls and roll it in the sugar. Hannah actually did all the measuring for the dry ingredients this time. We also have made these cookies in the past for the teachers as a Christmas gift and given it to them along with a $5 coffee card. Simple and easy. You should try the cookies. Soooo delicious!

Quilt? Study? Neither...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with a few of our dear friends. I made enough food to feed an army though. I can't help myself. Dan only wants turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. I like the side dishes too. So, I made baked yams, green beans tossed with almonds, roasted veggies, my grandma's fruit salad, and of course, we had the rolls and cranberry sauce. Yummy, yummy, yummy. I had to stop myself from making an acorn squash too. I love how you spend all day cooking, 20 minutes eating, and an hour cleaning it all up! It's totally worth it.

Simon helped us stuff the bird.

Seth worked on his own dinner while we prepared ours.

I'd love to now show you some pictures of all the quilting I did over the weekend but I didn't do anything. I just decided to do.... well, absolutely nothing. It felt fabulous. Sometimes you need to do that. I have stumbled upon some great quilting blogs recently and you should go check out all their delightful creations. The Sometimes Crafter, I have to say..., Portabellopixie, and crazy mom quilts. I know there are many more out there. Which one is your favorite?

I am quite torn over spending my time on school work when I'd much rather be indulging in my addictive, yet truly rewarding, quilting hobby.

Must. write. paper. and. study.