Happy New Years!

I am getting to spend the evening nice and quiet. Well, as quiet as a house full of boys can be :)
After the excitement from Christmas, I really like to take it easy and try to reflect. Make plans for the new year. Start thinking about what to plant in the garden and what I need to organize in the house.
Barry scored the WII Mario Kart game with wheels for each boy. Thank you Grandma Betty and Grandpa Doug! It was a nice surprise for them today and is keeping them entertained. Although, Wyatt took a nap this afternoon and didn't get up until 6:00! It will be a long night....for Barry. He is the one who tucked him in at 3:30!!! I usually don't stay up for midnight. I celebrate on east coast time!
Barry will be back to work tomorrow night. His Huskers play tomorrow and he will nap after that. Then it will be back to the grind.
We need to update with some pictures. I did get a camera for Christmas. So I have no excuse now.
I want to wish all of my family and friends a very healthy, safe and happy New Year!

Wow!

What a whirlwind! We had a great holiday. Everyone was able to make it to our house through all of the snowy weather. It was so nerve racking waiting for them.
Garry and Susan made it on Christmas day. We had a relaxing time and a very yummy dinner!
The Dombrowski's had a rough trip over. 6 - 7 hour road trip which usually takes 3 - 4. We had a great time once they got here. Barry got the lawn mower out and pulled Ava and Max on the red sled. Hopefully, Barry will update his blog with some of the pics. The snow quickly melted over night so that was the end of sledding for awhile.
We have started the process of cleaning up and putting away decorations. I am tired but I am hoping to have a handle on it and be able to rest for the New Year holiday. Barry is back to work New Years day night.
All for now. The toy room is a mess!

If I don't have it now.....

I don't NEED it! I went out this morning to get just a few more things. Walmart was very, very busy. I can not imagine what it will be like tomorrow. I picked up a Bing Crosby 2 disc set White Christmas which includes my favorite holiday movie Holiday Inn! I am going to get some things done and then curl up with a cup of Jamies Hot Chocolate recipe (with a drop of whiskey in it). :0

I have finally settled on a menu for the holidays:
Christmas Eve it will be Italian shredded beef sandwiches. It cooks in the crock pot all day and then we will have leftovers for the freezer for next weekend. Lots of snacks and dips!
Christmas night Susan is bringing yummy scalloped potatoes with ham. I am making a festive salad from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook and my Aunt Bess's Green bean casserole (no soup involved!)

Next weekend it will be Lasagne. And for the next morning "Brad Pitt's Mom's Breakfast Casserole". It's a tradition!

For dips a hot crab dip and a blue cheese and mascarpone cheese spread that is amazing with apples!

Tonight I must wrap!

Let it snow!

Come sit in our chairs! It will be a white Christmas!

Home stretch!

Barry is back to work today. He is going to have to work tomorrow and we are expecting big time snow. We always feel "bad for Dad" when he has to go to work at 5:00 in the morning on very snowy days. We worry about him!
Me and the boys are going grocery shopping today. Always my favorite thing to do with the boys :). We are going to Winco where you "get" to bag your own groceries. I really want to get most of the groceries we will need for the week of festivities before this snow hits. Plus the parking lot should be relatively free of snow today so you can at least push your cart to the car against the wind and make it! Where is a valium when you need it.
We are hoping our families will be able to travel over here this week. We look forward to everyones arrival. We have so much fun relaxing and eating and the kids playing. O.K. the adults play too!
I had some eggnog yesterday. I tried the "light" variety this year and it is just as good. I realized though that I really miss our homemade hot butter rums. I haven't made any because they are so so so fattening. But it has always been one of the first things our family does to kick off the Christmas season. Grandma always made up a batch at our Saturday Thanksgiving. I think I will have to indulge myself!
I miss my Grandpa. I am also feeling very sad for my Grandma. She is at the rehabilitation unit and of course is not very happy. It is hard to remain focused on being festive when my mind fades back to what she must be feeling. Christmas is her favorite time of the year. She has always had alot of expectations of us which was not always convenient for us all. But she did create memories. I just hope she is able to find some calmness in her mind to help her through these next few weeks.
O.K. time to kick it into gear. This is it! The big day is almost here!

Boys having the fun in the snow. It is frigid cold here. Max had a two hour delay this morning. So we are kind of bunking in!

Just posted a pic of some bundled up kids.

pics

Isn't that the best looking dog!!!!!! How about that foot? I am hoping for more yellow tomorrow.

Hurray its Saturday

Barry is off today and I am going to do some shopping. I am hoping to finish up the Christmas list. Then I can focus on baking a few things and cleaning up this house.
My ankle is healing nicely. I can put weight on it. I just cannot turn it in any way. So I am getting around fine. It could have been so much worse so I am thankful that it is healing farely quickly. And the wreath looks great in the back! Barry put a few more lights on the bushes and the reindeer has real dear antlers on him this year. So now the gawkers have something to look at besides us when they drive by. :)
I have been without a camera for awhile now. Barry has one. But I nuked some pics in it somehow and now I hesitate to use it. There are lots of things I would like to share. Maybe Santa will bring me a new camera.
Last Christmas Cooper got a little stuffed Christmas polar bear from Uncle Dale. He was in with the decorations. Cooper found him and has not let go of him for 3 days. He feeds him. Makes sure that he has toys to play with, takes him to school and even to the bathroom where he puts the little bears butt in a glass and pretends it is a potty. It is the cutest thing. I need to have Barry take a pic of Cooper and Candycane. Cooper surprises me sometimes. He can really be entertained by the most simplest of things. I just love that! Max has always been too intense and hard for him to take a moment and enjoy the little things.
We have some wind damage we will have to deal with today. The beautiful climbing rose bush in the front completely fell down last night. The trellis that supports it came all the way off the house. I am just hoping there is limited damage to the plant. It has always been so pretty in the spring.

They moved Grandma to the rehabilitation center yesterday. She will be there 7 - 10 days and then I don't know what will happen after that. I talked to her and she "sounds" like she is going to give this her best effort. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Amazing women...Celebrate!

Grandma just got out of surgery and is doing fine. She has a hard road ahead. It will be up to her. They ended up giving her a spinal tap instead of putting her under. Her heart may have been too weak.
Thank you for everyones prayers!
I am going to take a deep breath!

What a mess!

Yesterday at about 4:30 I went out to play fetch with Hailey. I realized that I forgot to put the ribbon on the wreath at the back door. So I tried to just attach it while it was on the house. Then I realized that I needed to get it down. When I stepped off the step I twisted my ankle. It sounded awful. My ankle instantly swelled to a golf ball! Thankfully, the boys were such a big help and I put it up with ice. When Barry got home I was off to the hospital for x-rays. Thankfully, nothing broken but I am in an ankle splint. For two weeks! At least they said. How embarrassing!

The real news this morning is while I was dealing with my ankle, my Grandma had fallen down in her kitchen. Thankfully, my Mom had tried to call her and couldn't get a hold of her and went to check on her. She found her on the floor. She is in the hospital with a broken hip. She will spend 4 days there and then she will go to a rehabilitation center. After that she will have to go to a assisted living place. Her money is all tied up in property so I fear where she will end up.
Please say a prayer for my Grandma.

Well, if that isn't a big downer I don't know what is. Sorry!

I am going to try and keep my mind busy today with Xmas stuff! Cooper has school today.
I need to fix that wreath on the back door :)

Embarrassing

I can't believe how long it has been since I updated. I recently joined facebook and started a farm on that. What a time waster! But I am loving it. Sister Niki and friend Nicolle have one too so we have been trading trees and animals back and forth. So I think that has had a little too much of my attention. :)

We had a great visit with Niki over Thanksgiving week. She brought a bunch of crab and we had a feast! Coop is holding big crab claws in the pic. We had enough leftovers for Barry to make a quiche the next day. It was yummy! Everything turned out on Turkey Day. I managed to only burn a small spot on one finger throughout all of our cooking. Pretty good for me. I usually end up with more. Oven mitts should be on my list for Christmas!

Niki and I braved Black Friday at Walmart and Target. We had much success and Niki managed to get her shopping almost completely done.

We were off to Seattle on Saturday for Grandmas after Thanksgiving turkey day and decorating. The whole family made it this year! There were like 15 adults and 9 kids. Kids ages are from 9 years to 1 and a half. Wow, they were busy! Max got to learn how to play pool. We all had a fun time and I am so glad we made it over there.

Off to the Gellners in Browns Point for a one nighter. WII guitar hero for the kids and a wonderfull Lasagne dinner for the adults while the kids watched WALL-E. It was like being at a restaurant. Another great time.

We had a good week getting back in to our routine. I have been working on decorating the tree and stuff like that.

Barry and Uncle Scotty went hunting yesterday and Scott stayed the night. He pan fried some quail which I actually ate and rather enjoyed. It was nice and spicy. Steak and potato dinner and the movie Iron Man! Everyone actually stayed awake for it.

So today is a catch up day. I napped and now I need to get crack'n! Chicken Piccata for dinner tonight. I love those capers!