Scrapbook: Christmas 2011

Sadly, my photos didn’t turn out super great because my lighting situations were pretty horrible.  And shooting wide open creates a really shallow depth of field, so most of them are really blurry and Photoshop can only do so much.  I got a tripod for Christmas, so here’s hoping that might be improved by removing my shaky hands from the equation.

Here are my hammy niece and nephew on Christmas Eve in their Santa jammies.

Christmas Morning at the DMB house…

And the day after Christmas we spent with my Dad’s extended family. (Almost) All 80+ of them.

This is just the third generation.  Well, except for that kid on the bottom right.  He’s my youngest first cousin.  I’d explain the relations further, but I’d just end up confusing you.  Or myself.

But we learned you only need two things for kids to have a blast…

Balls

And a wagon

And when you’re bored playing with them separately…

Just put the balls inside the wagon.  And voila!  New game.

I do have a few more photos to share, but I’ll save them for another day.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Postmortem

Egad!  Not posting for five days certainly does a number to your traffic stats.  I’m hoping it’s because all you readers are also recovering from a Christmas Hangover.  Not that you’ve written me off.

But I’m back and thought I’d give you a run down of my take aways from this year’s holiday season.  In no particular order of importance…

•  If you think it’s okay to wait several days to go to the pharmacy to pick up the drugs that keep your colon from creating a scene at the Christmas party because you have to go home and bake a thousand more cookies (which you didn’t even actually do), you would be WRONG.  Lesson learned.  I need drugs to survive outside of my bed without a heating pad.

•  It’s okay to skip some traditions.  That includes the ceremonial trip to Santa’s Village.  Although it might not be the strongest of traditions since this is only her third Christmas, I still struggled with this.  Because I am a Type A, we have to finish what we started, kinda gal.  But after last year’s photo, I just wasn’t up to fighting the crowds (and my daughter) to torture her for tradition’s sake.

•  It doesn’t matter how much you plan in advance, there is always that last week before the big day when you are running around covered in marshmallow fluff and mod podge, finishing up 15 handmade gifts, buying last-minute stocking stuffers, and trimming Christmas cards because you failed to measure them before buying envelopes.  Envelopes that you went to six stores to find.

•  Four small children opening presents in a 16×8 space the night before Christmas will lead to anxiety attacks.  There is no avoiding it and no controlling it because it is pure chaos.

•  It’s not always a good thing.  The gingerbread cheesecake was a major fail.  Don’t tell me that something needs to bake for 55-60 minutes when it really takes 90.  Not cool, Martha, not cool.

•  Christmas Day at home is #ROCKSTARAWESOME.  We slept in, leisurely opened presents, threw a pork loin in the crock pot, burned a fake log in the fireplace, and watched football.  I think it was my perfect day.

•  A two-year old’s favorite gifts will include a plastic Hello Kitty hand mirror (which will be shoved into your face 564 times per day), a Dollar Tree plastic microphone (also shoved into your face at a *slightly* lesser rate), and a cardboard box.  I can’t say I’m surprised by her choices.  However, I am surprised that I repeatedly spend months agonizing over the perfect gifts when she’d be just as happy thrown into a dumpster to play with trash.

What did you learn this year?

Merry Christmas

I know you all are anxious to see how the Christmas card turned out…

I hope you’re not disappointed that I didn’t use the lollipop pictures, but I saw an image on Pinterest and had to try my hand at replicating it.

And this is what I ended up with. 

Don’t even ask me how many Starbursts it took to get her to sit still this long.  Matter of fact, she has one in her mouth in the photo.  But after an hour of trying to get her smiling, I was totally satisfied that she had her eyes open.  And may even be a little tickled by the irony of her appearing to be the OPPOSITE of merry.  Because that’s how I roll.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Peanut Blossom Cookies

I did not grow up in a house of bakers.  Unless you count rolls of Pilsbury cookie dough and box brownies. 

So when I began The Cookie Party back in 2001, I’m not certain what drew me to these Peanut Blossoms as my cookie of choice.  Of course they are delicious.  Many cookies are.  Although the combination of peanut butter and chocolate does hold a special place in my heart.

Photo Credit

But they are also a little involved.  The batter is super easy, but then you have to roll them into little balls and coat them in sugar.  Which if you are a little OCD like me, is an arduous process since I obsess if they aren’t all the same size.  And of course there is that little task of unwrapping 48 kisses….

But then there is that gratifying crack as you push the little kisses into the hot-from-the-oven cookies.  And the incomparable bliss of chocolate and peanut butter.  So that makes it all worth it. 

Print

Peanut Blossoms

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  30 mins

Serves: 48 cookies

 

Ingredients

• 1¾ cup Flour
• ½ cup Granulated Sugar
• ½ cup Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ cup Shortening
• ½ cup Peanut Butter (creamy is the only choice for me)
• 2 Tbsp Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg
• 48 Hershey's Kisses

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each
5. cookie.

The Best Place on Earth…

…is not Disney World.  It’s the City Museum in St. Louis.  There really aren’t words to describe how uniquely amazing this place is, but it is a wonderland of kitschy fun for all ages.

Allison in the ball pit at Toddler Town.  (If you look really closely, you might even be able to see Victoria in there, under all the balls.)

And here she is cruisin’ in a bumper car at Beatnick Bob’s.  She was also handing me all the dropped popcorn from the floor of said bumper car.  Yum.

Hair Did

My child HATES to be fussed with.  However, a Thanksgiving Miracle took place last Thursday.  She saw her girl cousins with hair bows and SHE WANTED ONE!  So that night, we stayed up late putting every hair bow she has (all eight of them) into her hair.

The next day, I guess she was still feeling a little girly because she let me actually come near her with a brush and give her some piggy tails.  But since her hair has gotten so long, this seemed a little more appropriate.

Bjork it up, baby.

This Old House

I have to admit, after the first two Thankful Thursdays (plus the previous four last year) I was finding myself pretty stumped on what to write about.* 

Because, obviously, I only have six things to be thankful for.  {insert sarcasm here}

I guess that’s because it’s really easy to get wrapped up in the everyday of doing laundry, running errands, and preparing meals and to forget that we have the good fortune to be worrying about such mundane things. 

Granted, it would be kinda weird to say, “I’m so lucky I have to clean the toilet!!”

But not everyone is so lucky to have a house with indoor plumbing.  Or even a house for that matter.

And here I was last Thursday, raising hell about getting the shaft from our insurance company AGAIN, when I should have been thankful that we have a roof over our heads that doesn’t leak.

Ah, to have first world problems.

And when I get frustrated that there isn’t any good photography light in the house, I must remind myself that this home has so many things that I do LOVE.  Like a big, open kitchen.  Lots of play space for Allison.  And TWO toilets to clean. 

When we bought this little starter home in 2007, we anticipated being here maybe five or six years.   But four years later, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.  Especially after tearing up the entire house to replace ALL THE PLUMBING.  I never want to go through that again.

So, I am thankful for our little house.  A safe place to grow my family.  A comfortable space to cook, relax, and entertain.  A mortgage payment that’s less than our previous apartment’s rent.  For the history an 80+ year old house has.  And for AMAZING neighbors.  (Seriously, if they ever move, we are coming with.)

And please, the next time the sewer line backs up, remind me of these things.  Because otherwise, I might burn it to the ground.

What are you thankful for?

*Which would be why I’m posting this four days late…

Christmas Card Caption Contest

You know that person that sends out the best Christmas cards every year?  This year I want to be that person.  I need to be that person.  But my brain is at a loss.

So, I’m begging you.  Please help me.

Here are some inspirational photos of my
 lollipop-bribed angelic daughter to get your creative juices flowing….

She’s so sweet when she’s not screaming, “I don’t LIKE it!” 

So, whatcha got for me???

*Please note that while I did use the word “contest” there is no actual prize for coming up with the winning caption.  Unless you count my undying gratitude and devotion a prize.

Flashback Friday {Halloween}

The ghosts of Halloween past…

Here is Allison dressed as a low-budget fairy last year.  I think I put together the costume for about $10.  And that was only because she needed leggings and a sparkly long-sleeved shirt since it was cold that night. I also think this might have been the last time she let me do her hair in pigtails.  *sigh*

We actually had a hand-me down chili pepper costume for Allison’s first Halloween, but when I saw this giraffe costume on Craigslist for $12, I. Had. To. Have. It.  After her stay in the giraffe ward of the NICU, that creature will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Okay, so this isn’t a picture of Halloween costumes.  But this is from Halloween 2008, which will forever be known as the year our basement was transformed into a BMX track while replacing ALL of the plumbing in our house.  Let’s just say we weren’t really into dressing up.

2007 was the Haunted Housewarming.  We were Morticia and Gomez Addams.  It was probably our best party ever.  Except that my back up of the photos aren’t loading, so I can’t show you the awesome costumes that people wore.  Good thing I’ve been hoarding that old desktop that has the original files.  See?  Hoarding saves lives.  Because I might shoot myself if I realized I lost several years of pictures.

Then there was 2006….  I can’t actually believe that I am posting this.  I think you can figure out what we were dressed as.  This was obviously before I became the conservatively modest mom that I am today.  Thank God my mother doesn’t read this blog.

That’s as far back as my pictures go, folks.  Probably for the best.  Because the first Halloween party was a real horror.  I left my costume til the last-minute and it ended up being a trashy train wreck.  Good times.

Remorse

Yesterday I got an email pitch for an affiliate program.  In an effort to be more personal, the author of the email mentioned a recent post that had made her laugh.

First, I’m not so sure what is funny about a sewage back up in your house.  And my psychotic cat?  I guess I can understand why someone might assume that was funny.  I mean people spend hours on the internet watching cats do crazy shit, right?  But this incident was not funny.  Ridiculous, yes.  Funny, definitely not.

But her simple uninformed remark brought back all the sadness, guilt, and anger that I’ve been trying to ignore the last two weeks.

I have gone back and forth about even telling anyone.  I haven’t even told many of my close friends.  Because I didn’t want to say the words, “I killed my cat.”

I have tried my best to rationalize my actions.  Telling myself it wasn’t safe to have such an unstable animal around a toddler.  That it was “for the best.”  That life would be easier without her.

But I don’t believe it.

Malibu was wonderful with Allison.  And while she wasn’t particularly affectionate unless she needed something, she seemed to know when we needed her.

She was with me when I was constantly sick throughout my pregnancy.  She would come running when Allison was upset.  She even seemed worried when Denver got so very, very sick last year.

We don’t know what set her off this time.  She just hissed at the dog for no apparent reason.  But we had been down that road once before and we knew that her rage wasn’t fleeting.  We knew we had to intervene before she lost it. 

I know we could’ve handled the situation better.  That maybe she would have calmed down if we had just let her be.  But this time we had a little person in the house that we had to worry about.  And there was no way to predict the course of Malibu’s fury.

Even the next day, she was still angry.  Maybe it was because we had had to catch her with towels and brooms to lock her up.  Maybe it was because she was trapped in a kennel all night.  Maybe it was because she was still bitter at Denver for what she thought he did.  But the thought of further complicating our lives scared the hell out of me.  I didn’t think I could deal with more problems.

We had drawn the line in the sand many times with this cat.  Countless times I had said, “I swear, if she pees on ____ again, she’s gone.”  I had joked that if I was lucky, she would run away.  I had told myself for six years that I didn’t care.  But time and time again, we dismissed her indiscretions.  We cleaned up the mess and moved on.  Because we knew no one else would want her.

And now the time had come when we felt we couldn’t keep her.

I feel like I gave up on her.  That I should’ve done more to help her. 

But it’s too late now.

All Grown Up

When did my 2 1/2 year old start looking like a preteen?

I am so not ready for that.

Flashback Friday {PTSD}

Nearly 3 years ago, we built a dirt bike race track in our basement.  Not intentionally, of course.  Our main plumbing stack had to be replaced because it was old and barnacley and leaking.  And that began the hunt for solid pipe.

After 7 days without running water (while 3 months pregnant), over 30 feet of digging up concrete, and a back hoe tearing up our front yard, we finally had brand new PVC plumbing.

We’d never have plumbing problems again!  But I was wrong.  Really, wrong.

Released from Memory Card Pergatory

I’m lazy, so while I love to shoot with my Canon Rebel, I most often end up using my Blackberry.  Problem is that it takes pretty awful pictures. 

Not that taking photos of a moving toddler ever ends well…  But I hate bad photos.

But memories are memories and here are a few that I wanted to share. 

I wanna helpa you!

A future scientist?

Or maybe a violinist?  I could die from the cuteness.

My sweet girl….

Moments Like This

I didn’t blog yesterday.  Just like I wasn’t going to blog today.  I just didn’t feel like I had any words that needed to be written.  And I figured rather than cluttering your readers with useless drivel, I’d just sneak away for a couple of days.  Give myself a break.  Let my mind recharge.

Then I read a post from Simple Mom today that got me thinking.  Not so much about how her words related to my life.  But because my thoughts go off on tangents, I landed on a concept that I’ve been dwelling on all week: Living in the moment.

Monday evenings Allison and I are left to our own devices while Daddy is at work.  We usually have a simple dinner of snacky foods (often times in front of the tv) and just fill the couple of hours before bedtime with books, puzzles, and crayons.

But this past Monday, I decided to do something different.  Before dinner we went for a walk.  Walks are typically reserved for family time, but it was a nice night and I just felt like getting out of the house.

As we walked through the cemetery behind our street, Allison chatted the entire time in Spanglish.  (Thank you, Dora.)  I was taken by how grown up she has become in the last six months.  At her 2nd birthday party she was hardly saying five words and now she is speaking in (bi-lingual) sentences.  Blows. My. Mind.

We walked through the quiet cemetery, collecting sticks and playing in leaf piles, while the sun set behind the trees.  Allison pretended that leaves were lakes and she asked me to “ayuda me” and pull her to safety with her pretend rope (aka stick).  She thanked me for saving her with a big unsolicited hug.

I wanted to freeze time.  Relive that moment forever.  Keep her that little girl walking and singing her ABCDs.

Two days later, I attempted to recreate that magical evening.  As a family we headed out in the same direction, except this time I remembered my camera.  I wanted to capture the moment we had had two days before.  So that I could feel it again.

But moments are fleeting and very rarely can they be reproduced.

However, every day is another opportunity to make more memories.  Different memories.  And I look forward to trying to make each one special.

Finger Painting

Allison is quite the artist these days.  But what do you do when crayons start getting a little boring?  FINGER PAINT!

Plain Yogurt + Food Coloring = Finger Paint

Allison isn’t a big fan of getting messy, so I wasn’t quite sure what her reaction would be…

I’d say she liked it.

She started out all delicate, carefully painting her favorite – circles.

Then she started to go all Jackson Pollock on me.

Once she figured out it was yogurt, though, there was a lot less painting and a lot more eating.

Although not before she created four masterpieces.  I’d say it was a productive hour.