Christmas 2011

We had a blessed and happy Christmas.  The best part for me was the new "giving" we did in Strider's family.  Instead of a sibling gift exchange with his brothers we adopted a 6 year old girl off a local Angel Tree and gave her a Christmas.

Here are my kids holding the toys and coat we got her.  She also had clothes and shoes and underwear on her list.  I took the generous donations of his family and mine and used my mad shopping skills to get the very best items I could for little Yisel.

I had many special experiences as I shopped for her.  One in particular was on Black Friday.  I had just the day before been given about $60 from Strider's family.  When I went to Old Navy with my purchases I handed over total to the cashier and there was an extra $10 bill in the envelope.  I have no idea how it got there.  I had personally counted the money a couple times Thanksgiving night.  I asked my sisters who were shopping with me and they denied knowing about it.  I guess it's just a simple, beautiful miracle.

Here we are on the way to the mall to drop off our loot. 

We will never know this little girl, but she made Christmas for us. We thought about her all the time, and lovingly and carefully picked things that we hope she'll love.  It was a great experience.


On a side note, even little Rosebud got in the habit of asking if "this gift was for 'Eesel'?" We watched the Sound of Music a few days ago and she heard the name "Liesl" and was sure it was our Eesel. :)

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas season!

Reflections

My handsome Jedi got his trophy in December for winning the second tier of competition with his diversity poem.

 Congrats buddy, and good luck at district!

On my mind today

~I think the Christmas break was a good amount of time. Strider and Potter head back tomorrow and the little ones are off track for another 2 weeks. We've had plenty of family time and I'm ready for a schedule again.

~ I really need to try these, and soon:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

~I have missed blogging so much. 

~Aren't these so cute?:

Spiffy Scissors

~I haven't picked up a book for pleasure in a month.  Need to remedy that.

~Christmas is put away.  Living room feels large.  Now I need to put things back on the empty shelves and I kinda don't want to.

~We did these and this lesson for FHE tonight.  Time for goal setting again after TOO long of not doing so. I also love the stuff in this lesson and may follow up next week with it.

~We changed something in the kitchen that makes me so happy. More later...

HaPpY NeW YeAr!

Games - Pretty dresses - Weird food

Our New Years Eve is always spent with Strider's family playing hours of games and eating too much.  We love it! 

This year, I suppose as a testament to the inlaws getting older, his dad wore this silly magnifier in order to read the questions for Cranium. It was so funny and we just had to document it.  Look how my mother in law is looking at him in the top picture LOL.

The girls got to wear their pretty Christmas dresses from grandma - it's hard to see, but they are holding adorable mini purses that match perfectly.  Perfect for a little tube of lip gloss and holding coins for Princess' church tithing.

We knelt down for family prayer and Potter snapped this one.  She's so cute I want to bite her.

But the most important thing this morning (ok, other than prayer)?  Getting the pork started before we left for church.

The oldest tradition we have on my side of the family is that every January 1st we do the Pennsylvania Dutch (German) meal of pork and sauerkraut. 

Read more HERE.  Also love THIS blog post about it. 

That stinky pork that I didn't love as a kid but now cherish, is said to bring good luck throughout the year.  In fact the purists eat it at midnight.  But we eat it for New Year's dinner.

When I was younger, dragging my sleepy butt out of bed on New Year's morning meant that the first thing I'd run into was a wall of that distinctive cabbage smell.  The memory is also closely linked to watching football bowl games with my dad. 

Last year, because my parents were away on New Years Day I tried my hardest to do it like my mom and my first attempt wasn't too terrible. This year they are traveling again and I did even better.  I bought a huge pork shoulder roast and it was perfect.  We had Uncle David here to celebrate with us.

Since today was Sunday I had to prepare ahead of time but it was glorious to walk in the house after our meetings and be greeted by the scent of my special family tradition.
I did 6 hours in the crockpot and 2 in the oven using my mom's borrowed roaster.  It's imperative that it be a huge pan to get lots of surface area for the final step.

Mashed potatoes on the side are a must!

The last 15 minutes of roasting are when the dumplings are added.   Delish.  There are also hot dogs under the dumplings, bubbling away in that stinky juice.  Simply the best ever.  Don't judge till you try it.  Or till you're about 30 years into the tradition and the thought of not having it just about breaks your heart.

Happy and blessed 2012 to you all!  And mom and dad, stop traveling on Jan 1! 

The End

If you read this blog, you know all the goodbyes that this year has seen.  To put an exclamation point on it all my baby sister, the last remaining sister in Utah, moved to California today.

To say I will miss Jessica would be a huge understatement.  Aside from my husband, she is my best friend. If you'd told me when I was 12 and she was a new baby that we'd be this close 24 years later I would have surely laughed.  And as I type this it occurs to me that I think every one of our family members would say that Jess is the one they're closest to.  What does that say about someone?


She is the one that listens for real.  You know that kind of person; you don't have to wonder if they really heard what you said, because they remember it all and refer to it later. 

She is gentle and good-natured and funny and forgiving.  Not to mention stinkin' cute.

She is up-to-date on what's going on with everyone, so she is the glue to the family.  She keeps us close.

She has two great girls and teaches them wonderfully.

We have so many things in common, despite the age difference.  She is the perfect mix of feminine and sporty.  She shares my love of board games.  We have a passion for low tech childbirth.  We have tons of wavy hair and both wear contacts. 

She is a fantastic aunt and is more than happy to take the kids when I need help even though her own arms are full.  She loves to do my girls' nails every time they ask.
 
When I am hesitant to give up my time, she is the one to give hers away. She says yes to everyone. She shares without being asked and gives without keeping track.  I simply love her.

 

We we fortunate to have the ENTIRE family home for Christmas break last week and it was a riot.  In fact, I dubbed the week "Brown Fest" and we sucked up every possible moment together. 

Wednesday was our final opportunity to see Breaking Dawn, so we went to the movies.  We were missing Ash who had already left for Nevada, but the rest of us had waited to see it with each other so we went anyway.  Here we are after the movie.


Thursday was pack-up-the-truck day and Jess couldn't say goodbye till we'd had one more round of her new favorite game, Carcassone.

These two buds are just 6 weeks apart, and act like sisters.

Goodbye, Jess.  Enjoy San Diego and the new adventures of hubby being in school.  We love you so much and will miss you terribly!  If you're keeping track, I have said goodbye to 4 of my 5 siblings in the last 5 months.  No biggie. 

And so... we are at the end of the year of many many endings.  David, it's just you and me, bro. Gotta stick together.

So long 2011!!

Merry Christmas to me!

At last, my dear Strider diagnosed the problem - a bad ethernet port!  I am back up and so happy.

Stay tuned for some catching-up :)

Blog blues

My computer is officially a mess.  Can't do anything with media (pics, videos) and it makes it pretty pointless to blog.  I get so frustrated with every upload and still get nowhere.

So, till Strider can clear off and restore this machine, I will take a break.  I have plenty of baking, shopping, music concerts, sewing, choir practices and sibling homecomings calling my name!

Merry Christmas!!

Mending

I've changed my thread 5 times today, but I'm thankful.



No, I'm not working an an awesome pair of curtains and I haven't yet sewn the skirt that Rosebud is begging me to make for her. But I am helping my family by doing something I enjoy.

So far today I have:

sewn up a winter coat that was torn in four spots
fixed holes in 3 ripped jeans knees
reattached the cuff on a hoodie
fixed a pouch on another hoodie
hemmed a pair of dress pants that I found at the thrift store for Princess

I am so very grateful for my sewing machine, for simple skills, for the ability to make things last just a bit longer around here before tossing them. The mending pile? It's not so bad.

Preteen in the house

Here is my Bugs, celebrating 12 years!


First was his actual birthday, shared by the pilgrims. How cool is it to have everyone celebrating with turkey and pumpkin pie on your special day! :)

 We had a nice meal at Grandma's house followed by a few gifts from family.

Friday was a day for shopping and partying!  We did a little Christmas shopping and had the other side of the family over.  Among other great gifts, my mom got him a suit to wear for his ordination on Sunday.

 He has this funny habit when opening gifts.  He won't look at it until the whole thing has been unwrapped.  He's so funny.

Happy Birthday!

On Saturday, prior to passing the sacrament for the first time, Potter (his deacon quorum president) talked with him and trained him on what his duties are.  He answered lots of his questions and was more patient than I expected him to be.  It was so cute.

My three resident priesthood holders before heading to church.

He was super duper excited to go to the temple for the first time, which we scheduled just two days after his ordination.

Temple Square is so special at Christmastime.  I'm very proud of Bugs for asking us to take him and for being worthy to go.  His eyes were filled with wonder at the beauty and spirit of the temple. 

We had some good food before heading home.  It was a great week.  He can't wait to go back to the temple this Saturday morning with the youth!

Ramped-up wreath

Here is another make-something-out-of-nothing post.

Strider and I pulled out the Christmas decor and I noticed some stuff I picked up on clearance back in January.

I love these berry stems. Tagged 1.99 but at 90% off I paid .19 each. I think I have like 8 of them. First I was going to cram them in an apothecary jar. Then I considered adding them into a tree like a garland. Finally I decided to add them to a wreath.

I wrapped them and wove them into a circle.  And I layered it on top of a rustic pine wreath I got at the thrift store a couple years ago for cheap.  I wired it all together and ta-da!

I think I really love it. But sometimes it looks weird to me. Does it look cool to have two wreaths together, or just kinda dumb?




Join me at Someday Crafts and Creations by Kara!

Last two weeks

Well, I broke down and ordered another $3 camera cord, but in the meantime I will share a few recent things based on pictures I have on my cell phone.

Jedi did a very cute poem about diversity for the PTA Reflections contest and it won the top award at the school level and is headed on to district competition.  He got a real trophy with his name printed on the plate and everything.

His entry talked about being black/white not mattering and that what counts is how we live our lives.  I love it.  I should have scanned it before he submitted it.  I will try to remember to share it once we get it back.

Here is Rosebud, moments after her ear piercing and as soon as she finished crying.  She has been asking about them for a while.  And as my "girlier" girl, she had a much easier time with it than Princess did. She looks so pretty with shiny, gleaming little ears.  Big thanks to my mom who took her and her baby cousin to the mall together to get pierced.

Strider and I were asked to give a special talk on "marriage that endures the test of time" for our Relief Society Super Saturday just before Thanksgiving.  It was a humbling experience but was a total blast.  We have never collaborated on a project of that caliber and it was a ton of fun to compare notes/outlines and then take turns giving our portions of the talk.  We grew closer together just as a result of the preparation, and then as I heard him speak about me/us it made my heart swell.  What a neat opportunity!  Maybe sometime I can share the outline we used.  Gosh, I love him!

After I upload pics I will share things happening with the older boys. :)