And All Through The House...

For the last hour, our three kids have been; shooting each other with Nerf guns, running up and down the stairs and building tents in the basement. I told Husband that even though the noise level rivals that of a rock concert, I'm so glad they still play together at times.

Meanwhile, our English Mastiff, Juno, continues to crash despite the clamor, probably since she recently had surgery.

I chuckle when I tell friends and family what our dog got for Christmas, "Juno got a hysterectomy!"

Last week we had two Christmas concerts to attend. Many of you know that I don't post our kids' photos for privacy reasons, but our seven-year-old is here, and let's be honest, trying to find her would be like trying to find Waldo. And I like this photo because it's amazing how first-graders have a hard time staying in one position.

We are hanging out in jammies today, recovering from all the festivities, food and fanfare of the holidays and looking forward to visiting the stores this week to buy more "stuff," for ourselves, this time.

Happy holidays and see you next year! :)

A Re-Purposed Christmas

There's so many wonderful things about Christmas, but I have to say that this season is a great reason to let your creativity take off!

My favorite thing to do is to reuse things we have, like those peanut butter jars and fill them with home baked cookies to give as gifts. I hot glued the material and ribbon on the top and glued on this adorable label I downloaded from a blog I found last year (but unfortunately don't remember what blog it was!)

One of my friends is starting a new business and reusing materials to make these gorgeous head ties.

I love these 'Scrabble coasters' I pinned on Pinterest.

Here's another Pinterest idea that I copied for our youngest's teacher.

Hope you're inspired to make your gift-giving efforts special this year! Have a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and safe New Year!

Sweet (Treats) Christmas Traditions

There are some traditions that should never be broken come 'h--- or highwater,' as they say. And even though my schedule is kinda crazy, I refuse to give up the tradition of baking cookies with my kids. I want them to always remember our times together covered in flour and munching on the best Christmas cookie recipe I found from Alton Brown, years ago.

We also make Peanut Butter Blossoms (a Midwest tradition) and Orange Sable cookies (from Martha Stewart) which are very much like shortbread cookies (the adults love them too!)

But why stop there, last year I made these cuties for school.

What are you baking for the holidays? Got a cookie recipe to share?

Tis The Season...To Decorate

As I attacked the enormous loads of laundry today, I found myself humming Christmas songs, because tis the season, right?

The decorating has begun...

The tree has been trimmed...

I think Juno, our English Mastiff is ready...she looks excited for Christmas, right?

Our kids even helped my mom decorate her tree when we were there for Thanksgiving...

Hope you are all enjoying this special time of year. :)

Great Gift Ideas For Christmas

Even though I didn't join the madness of Black Friday (I'm talking about those people who started at 10 pm on Thanksgiving night and into the wee hours of Friday,) I did my fair share of hitting the stores with my mom and my two girls.

I got to sit and chat with my mom as my 14 year old perused the YA books. (Here are my shoes again Beth!) We hit Old Navy, Aeropostale, Bath & Body and few other retailers. The next day I could be found with Husband and the family at basketball practice.

Do you remember me buying these shoes from Land's End? Yes, I still have them and yes those are fuzzy socks!

Yesterday I dropped by some really cool sites for some neat Christmas present ideas.

How about this Etch A Sketch iPad case from Think Geek for the techie you love? Umm, that would be me...

Aren't these PB & J throw pillows the cutest? Etsy always has unique gift ideas.

Maybe you want something sensible this Christmas? Like some pots and pans?

Calphalon pots and pans are amazing and you can find them at any fine retailer.

But for me, I would really love these, but they are way too expensive. I found them on a blog last year and still dream about owning a pair...but $100 buckaroos for Ugg slippers? Ugh, I don't think so...

So what's on your Christmas list? What did you buy already? Did you join the millions who raced around on Black Friday, or did you shop online from your own home on Cyber Monday?

When Life Gets A Hold Of You...

I wish I could say "you haven't heard from me because I was away on a Mediterranean cruise; or hiking the Andes or even on vacation," but it's because I've been so busy working. Or living in real life.

The last few weeks have been strewn with four birthday celebrations, a huge snowfall, a thaw, working away from home, working from home, a dentist visit for all three kids, piano lessons, parent teacher conferences and all the other in between things that keeps life a buzzin'. (See, you're all caught up.)

For goodness sakes, I haven't even had a chance to take many pictures with my new Nikon D3000 SLR.

*sigh*

It's just that way sometimes. In fact as I was saying "see you next week" to one of my piano students last night, the office manager at the school of music where I teach said, "umm, there's no classes next week because of Thanksgiving..."

Oh yeah, Thanksgiving.

And yet I am so thankful, I was belting out "Give Thanks" at the piano the other day, apparently too loud, that the neighbors overheard me and actually stopped raking their leaves. Yeesh.

But I am, so thankful that is, for:

Husband, our three children, a sweet, yet neurotic 130 lb. English Mastiff, my new found work, the fact that we live in a state with four seasons and that last week's 5 inches of snow was just a hint of what's to come. (We love Christmas in the Midwest.)

There's more, but you don't need to hear it all.

So in case life gets a hold of me again, which I think I hear a 12 lb. turkey calling my name, have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving. :)


{photo: The little pond that runs through our tiny Midwest town.}