It's Still Winter

It was a day off for everyone at our house this past Monday. In spite of super warm temperatures just days ago and while a lot of areas south of us hardly saw a thing, we got a good 10-12 inches of snow last Saturday and Sunday night and that made for a great opportunity to play in the white stuff on Monday morning.

At first the kids were bummed that the snow was too powdery for building a snowman but quickly got over those concerns once they were out playing. They both enjoyed several turns on the sled on our back "hill" (perfect little sledding bunny hill), a couple of snowball fights, and just had fun traipsing around the yard.

I've never been a huge fan of the cold winters here. I hate that there's limited outside time with the freezing temps and what eventually becomes dirty/yucky snow (haven't been skiing in years thanks to my knees). However, now that I've been here for 13 winters, I think I mightly possibly be ever so slowly warming up to the idea of frosty white winters. There's just something about playing outside with my kids on fresh snow days and seeing how happy it makes them that gives me a boost and helps me through these months.

Who knows...maybe one of these years I'll actually buy a pair of snow pants.

Valentine's Day 2011

I know this post is coming a week late but I'm trying. I'm really trying...

Other than cards for everyone and treats for the kids (and sometimes for us), we've never been huge on Valentine's Day around here. This year, I decided to do a little more than usual and make things more festive for the day of love. Not that it was anything huge, but as part of dinner I made a 7 layer Jell-O along with cherry chip cupcakes with pink almond frosting and red sprinkles for dessert. I also covered little heart shaped boxes with scrapbooking paper and put grosgrain ribbon and a button around/on the edge of each lid. I filled them with a variety of Valentine's candy and each person got theirs with a card after dinner.

The little heart boxes turned out well enough and the kids thought they'd hit the jackpot when they saw all the candy inside. I'm planning on keeping the boxes and using them for this tradition each year. As for the Jell-O...well, it looked good enough (all red gelatins and I tinted the white layer pink) but unfortunately, it was not very tasty and most definitely not worth the work. Maybe I should use different flavors and a different mixture for the white layer next time? I'm not sure but I know I won't be using the same recipe again. Luckily the cupcakes made up for what the Jell-O lacked and were a huge hit. Not only did they taste good (I made the frosting but must give props to Betty Crocker on the cake mix) but I loved the way they looked sitting on my grandma's milk glass cake stand with the heart toothpicks that I made sticking out of them.

All in all, I feel like I managed to spread a little more love with the efforts I made this Valentine's Day. The cupcakes and heart boxes will both be repeats next year while the Jell-O will obviously not be on the menu. Now happily taking suggestions for replacement festive menu items...

Christmas...In February!

"Someone" complained to me the other day that I hadn't posted in a while and that some fresh material/entertainment was needed. Well, my dear, here you go. After 53 days of sheer boredom thanks to my lack of blogging, you're finally getting your wish...

We spent over 2 weeks in the great state of California for the Christmas holiday. Due to a big storm being forecast for the Sierras, we took Hudson out of school for 2 days and went on our trip early. Thank heavens for that - the day after we arrived at my parents, the weather service was predicting 3-6 feet of snowfall over the days that we would have originally traveled. Yikes!

It was so nice to be back "home" for Christmas for the first time in 10 years. There's just something about being in my hometown, taking in the sights I saw every year for the first 20+ years of my life, seeing the Christmas decorations that I grew up with, and being in the home where I experienced the holidays as a child that made it simply wonderful.

As is tradition in our little family, I got the kids new church duds for the Sunday before Christmas. I was so excited to get them both all gussied up and I may be ever so slightly biased but SERIOUSLY...they looked so darling!! And so grown up. One guess as to who is getting too tall for some of the children's accessories. Note to self: go shopping for big kid/pre-teen sized ties. Soon.

A few days after our arrival, we packed up the car with my parents and headed up to the city one afternoon to meet up with my favorite (and possibly least favorite) sister and her family. We met up inside Neiman Marcus at Union Square where we had fun venturing up the various floors and seeing the enormous Christmas tree from each level. We then did a bit of shopping across the street at Macy*s (speaking of which - bless the glorious genius who finally got them to Utah)...or, I should say, we girlies did some shopping while my hubby took 2 of the 3 younger kiddies to look out the windows at the Union Square tree. We had a fun visit while waiting for our turn on the cable car and then had a fun ride over the hill in the "good seats" on the outside of the car. Kudos to hubby for tending the kids in Macy*s and curses on him for scaring poor Claire half to death on the cable car. Shortly after it started up the street, Max pretended to fall backwards and just about gave our little girl a heart attack. The rest of the ride, she sucked her thumb while holding tightly onto Max's jacket and leaning in closely on my lap. We did get a bit of a giggle out of her being so scared (except for when she had nightmares that night about him falling into the street and getting "squished") and the rest of us enjoyed the trip over to the wharf. Once there, our favorite 6-year-olds held hands for the walk to dinner and didn't let go until we reached the restaurant. If they weren't cousins, they'd make an adorable couple! They really are best buds and it was fun just watching them eat up their time together. Dinner at Scoma's was fabulous as always...swordfish for Max, salmon for me (I also shared a small clam chowder and shrimp louie salad with my sister), pasta for the kids, and 2 months worth of carbs in the form of sourdough bread for everyone there. Right after dinner, it was back in the car for a quiet drive home after a great day with the best company.

Just a couple of days before Christmas, we headed to my Uncle & Aunty's place in Los Altos for the annual family Christmas party and pageant. After a yummy potluck/buffet dinner, the kids had a grand time dressing up as wisemen and shepherds along with one little angel (not pictured) and my cute little solo sheep. Hudson and Claire were in 7th heaven playing with some of their many second cousins and it was great for us adults to catch up with cousins that we don't get to see very often.

Aside from our day in the city and the family party, we spent much of our time just spending time at my parents' home, doing a little bit of shopping, seeing the huge light display at Vasona Park one night, and going outside (and to the park!) on days when the rain wasn't soaking everything and the sun broke through. We had a lovely, quiet Christmas in my parents' home with just the 6 of us. I've known this for a while and those of you who are parents know this too, but I have to say: Christmas really is better with kids.

A few days after Christmas, we packed up the car (and I mean PACKED...we had shipped all our presents out beforehand) and headed up to visit my sister and her family on our way home. The kids couldn't have been more excited to spend more time with their cousins and Max and I were so glad to have more time with my sister and her hubby. We girls did some shopping, the boys did some gaming, the adults went and saw True Grit (so good!), the guys took the kids down to the lake one day, and we all relished our time together. The picture of Claire, Becca, and Hudson in the collage above is the only one I have to post right now...hopefully going to have some great pictures from the lake soon (waiting for hubby to forward them to me - all taken on his iPhone).

It was a fabulous trip and while we were ready to get back to real life, we were sad to end our time away and drive home the day after New Years. So very grateful to have had such a wonderful California Christmas.