Christmas Came to These Here Parts

Christmas around here always sneaks up on me. I start shopping, planning, and celebrating months in advance of the big day but every year it seems I find myself on Christmas eve shocked that the time has come. 

This year was especially fun now that Gabriel and Abigail are a little older. Gabe new what Christmas was and couldn't contain his excitement. He was quite the little helper in the kitchen, and put a great deal of energy into making special presents for family. 

Abigail was in awe of the tree. Several times a day she would delicately touch the tips of the branches and say "Pretty tree". Then, once I wasn't looking, snatch one of the pretty ornaments off and go running. Sneaky girl. 

Sadly, I think this will be our last year with a real tree. In my family, fake trees were sacrilegious, so the thought of owning one makes me feel like a traitor. I also relish going to the tree yard, the smell of the trees, going through at least a dozen until I find the perfect one. But as I am the only one in our house who enjoys the tradition (Trent tolerates my eccentric tree ladyness, and the kids could really care less), and this year our tree seemed to die fast, I figured we could try the fake tree thing. 

Maybe I will just get a small real one for our master (ha, ha, ha I mean shoe box) bedroom. We'll see. 

We spent the morning of Christmas at home, enjoying coffee, breakfast, and the fun of shiny new toys with intact parts. Nicholas was thrilled with his new Nintendo 3DS and kept marveling us with it's different features.

After Abigail had a morning nap, it was of to Grandmas to celebrate with Trent's family. That many people (5 adults, 1 teen, 3 kids, an infant, and a dog) in a Christmas present filled living room was crazy, but so much fun! As a Christmas present to my mother in law we all wore pj's. Beyond the materialistic, our gift to them was 5 bazillion homemade cookies. Well, maybe not that many but pretty close. Snicker doodle, no bake chocolate cookies, gingerbread men, and chocolate rolo cookies. 

Overall, a blessed day of food, family, and a reminder that while our family keeps getting bigger we have plenty of crazy love to share.

I Voted

The excitement in our house is always tangible on election night. It's like the Super Bowl and Christmas all wrapped in an American flag. It typically involves a lot of grumbling, fist pumping, and coffee drinking as my husband, mother-in-law, and I stay up late and flip through every news channel. This year I am battling the avalanche of multicolored US maps as the hubbs works and my mil travels.

No matter your political views, or your beliefs regarding the electoral college, I hope you voted. Not only for your President, but for all of your local measures and representatives. I may not agree with how you vote, but I will still give you a high five for doing so. Because if you don't vote, you lose your right to complain about the state of our country, states, and counties.

I voted. So now I can whine. Yay me.

Happy Election Day!!

DIY Backyard Landscaping: Jacuzzi Time!

Trent and I are affectionately referred to as scroungers by our family. At least I hope it is affectionately.  Recently we were searching the free section on Craigslist for landscaping supplies

 (a backyard transformation isn't cheap people!) and came across this beauty.

I seven person, fully functioning hot tub in great condition. It was on a rental property and with the current tenants moving out, the owner wanted the tub gone so he could redo the patio. Nice! 

It has been a dream of Trent's for a long time to have a hot tub. What better a price than free?

With a lot of muscular help from the contractor and his crew working on the property we loaded it up onto a flat bed trailer and towed it on home.

Once home, we ran into a small snag. It was a weekday. No one was home. And we didn't have the muscle to get it into the back. Did I mention this thing weighs 1,000 lbs? So in our driveway it sat for a few days. I'm sure our neighbors just looooved us.

Finally, using some ingenuity, Trent strapped two furniture dollies to the bottom of it and with just four of us we hoisted that bad boy up into the air.

The hubbs and our good friend Robert striking a celebratory pose.

Slowly we rolled it into the backyard. Once we hit the dirt-patch-that-will-eventually-be-grass we used sheets of plywood to provide a solid base to roll the massive thing on.

It was 100 degree weather that day. Which I am sure you know is the best time to be moving heavy hot tubs. 1,000 lb hot tubs.

Oh yeah. I am styling. And melting. And in desperate need of a shower and an adult beverage.

We had preped the area already by laying down a 2" bed of 3/4 gravel on a level pad of compacted dirt.

Finally, with all hand on deck we got the sucker down there. Success!

It still needs the electrical to be run before we can use it, but having it out of the driveway is a huge success. With it in place we can make sure to align the sprinklers and sod properly around the area. By next summer there will be a large two level redwood deck wrapping around the front of the hot tub and the pool.

Next up: Cleaning up and prepping for Abigail's birthday!

Wish I Had Been on Vacation

I wish I could say I have been on vacation, but sadly no beach front hotels and mixed drinks have been in my life. Just family drama. Family drama sucks. Sucks the life, energy, and creativity right out of you.

Things are finally settling down (thank goodness) and I have been able to focus more on a big event coming up: Abigail's first birthday!

 My little baby girl is turning one. Makes me feel a little misty eyed. We don't plan on having another for a few years, so every little milestone she passes leaves me longing for her to stay a baby for just a little longer. 

Here is a sneak peak of the planning going on for her celebration:

We are having a lot of fun putting her party together. The theme really suits her personality. She is spunky, surly, brave, and the captain of our ship.

Other than planing her party we have been living in two places. First, in front of our air conditioning. And second, our pool. It has been hot, hot, hot and humid here lately. With that in mind, I leave you with this.

What We Are Eating Wednesday

Life here this week has been stressful and a little disappointing. I am really trying to refocus my feelings to the more positive blessings in my life, but with the drama ongoing and my little girl now sick it is hard. Enough whining, here is what we are eating.

Wednesday

Basic cheese quesadillas with clementines (nice and light for the sick little girl)

Thursday

Crock pot pot roast with baked potato

Friday

Crock pot turkey and veggie sloppy joes with sweet potato fries

Saturday

Egg, potato, bell pepper, and spinach scramble

Sunday

Grilled chicken and tomato sandwiches (Much to my joy, I have tomatoes growing out my ears!)

Monday

Chicken, cabbage, carrot, and pepper lettuce wraps with grapes

Tuesday

Grilled pizza
(confession: I have had this on the menu for weeks and have yet to do it. This is the week!)

I really hope this upcoming week will see the resolution of several stressful situations in our lives right now. At least we will still be eating good food!

Picture This...

Some things are best described in pictures.
Here is a brief glimpse into what we have been up to the last few days:

Trent working the trench digger as we prepare to install our sprinkler system.

Our yard looked like a mutant gopher had attacked it.

 Oh, 975lbs of hot tub? No problem.

 Busy, productive, and a little painful. Now for some advil.

What We Are Eating Wednesday

The weather here has been so pleasant the kids and I are spending as much time as possible outside. Doesn't hurt that we always have work to do on the backyard. With most of the backyard projects wrapping up this week, we are leaning towards easy, full proof meals to keep us going.

Wednesday

Grilled lemon chicken with zuchinni

Thursday

Blueberry and Greek yogurt stuffed french toast with scrambled eggs

Friday

Grilled tri tip steak with baked sweet potatoes

Saturday

Crockpot pulled bbq pork, salad, melon

Sunday

Turkey burgers with sweet potato fries, salad

Monday

Bell pepper, zuchinni, and pepperoni grilled pizza

Tuesday

Quesadillas with cheesy black beans and salsa

Wish us luck this week! Sprinklers, dirt prep, and finally sod!!