Good bye 2012!

I was just thinking it was a pretty good year but then I remembered, oh wait, more than half of it totally sucked.  But all's well that ends well?  Happy to have the time leading up to the deployment and the actual deployment behind us, surely 2013 will be better.  At least we had a healthy year, never take that for granted.

We did squeeze in one more snow storm for 2012 and this time Emily made it out to play too since she has boots now.  Oh, are Uggs just inside boots?  Whoops.

 Looks like a great shovel for snow, huh?

Looks so innocent.  He did a great job shoveling the last of the snow off the basketball court yesterday so he could ride his new bike on it.  Maybe he can do the driveway this time...

Now I am just prepping for 2013.  Need to print off the blog and make photo books which will be harder now that Kodak website shut down.  Need to find a new one.  Made a new playlist, so hard to click on the computer and charge new music for that.  Rough life, I know.  I think we have all had enough Christmas music for this year.  I suppose I should take down the Christmas decorations too.  A good job to do while Sean is working tonight.  He is done at 10pm but with all this snow and my low energy level I doubt we will go see the little apple drop.  None of our real friends are around or going out so we're not missing anything.  This tends to be the lamest holiday of the year.  Need to rest up for Miami too.  Happy 2013 indeed!

It's Saturday?

No idea where this week went but Sean has worked a lot of shifts and taken a few naps.  My parents arrived on Thursday and the kids have kept them busy.  I learned how to use the Big Green Egg all by myself after some long-distance coaching by FIL, aka Pops.  I smoked some turkey breasts and they were fantastic.  And I did it all myself, did I mention that?  I can start the fire and keep it at a steady temp for hours.  What that meant was that I would go look out the window at the thermometer.  It was tough.

I did skip the drinking part but I can see the appeal of sitting around watching the grill outside on a nice day doing that.  I stayed inside drinking tea instead.  I've been drinking lots of tea lately, this may be my "passion".  Ha, still trying to figure out what it is that would keep me up all night.  I guess if I was drinking tea with caffeine that would certainly hold true.  I'm thinking more of people who have their own little creative projects and businesses that keep them up working until the wee hours most nights.  I'm pretty serious about going to bed early but with no early school wake-ups this past week I have been up late reading some great house books, so perhaps that is my real passion.  American Beauty by Thom Filicia is my favorite, all about his renovation of a lake house in New York.   I'm ready to go, let's renovate something!  Andrea shares my obsession for this which is ridiculous after living through the renovation of the house on Fancher Street as children.  I recall YEARS of peeling layers of wallpaper in that house, YEARS.  Of course I envision hiring a fantastic team to do everything the architect tells them to do while we live elsewhere.  I just want to pick everything out and in fact I already have picked most everything out.... one must be prepared.  Fail to plan and plan to fail.

Here is my endless supply of tea.  I attempted to organize it.  What an exciting week!  Well, I guess Christmas was enough excitement for a while, had to work some boring crap into my schedule.  Oh and this is what the girls played with instead of all their new toys: my surplus home decor.  They made some sort of Harry Potter clubhouse in the storage room that will soon be filled with Christmas trees once I undecorate.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The kids stayed in bed until Sean was done working.  I even had time to prep the monkey bread and orange julius per Sean's request.  Every year the kids eat a little more of it.  Anna remains suspicious of what is essentially biscuits, sugar and butter.  What's not to love?  Of course everything else is overshadowed by presents, which is why we go to mass on Christmas eve.  No way could we get the kids dressed and out the door to church after presents and sugar.

 Before the kids stormed the tree.

 So excited to come down the stairs, although Emily said she didn't think Santa had come.  The skeptic.

 Patrick got a cheap helicopter for his birthday and it immediately broke but not before attaining legendary status as best gift ever, so Anna has been begging for one ever since.  Hoping this one works longer...  Patrick also got a more child-proof one that he wants to open now but I'm making him wait until Sean wakes up from his nap.  This is not going over well.

 Megan still loves her American Girl Dolls so we keep getting her the accessories to prevent her from becoming a wanna-be teenager.  Emily loves to play it with her, figure this stuff will get used for many years to come by various kids.  Plenty of years for them to ask for cell phones and expensive jeans ahead, going to enjoy this stage while we can!

 Hilarious gift to Mr. Treehouse.

 We won this at the auction and everyone else there wondered who in the heck would want it.  My kids!  They have seen a few of these tree faces around town so we finally got one to put up in the tree house.

 Best age, she was thrilled by every cheap gift we got her.  New!  Plates!  Wow!

 Got Uggs before her sisters?  Hmm, so far no complaints from Megan or Anna...

 The aftermath.  It was at this point that Sean needed a nap.  The children do not need naps today.

 The year we give bikes it snows.  Last year we had sleds ready for the kids.... never did get snow all winter.

No worries though, the kids can race their bikes around the kitchen until the snow melts on the basketball court.  Not going to be this week though, it's so cold that I'm going to do the steaks inside tonight.  No objections from Sean.  Using the Barefoot Contessa recipe for steakhouse style steaks... wish me luck.

ps Michael Scott inspired me to just "preview" Christmas albums on iTunes instead of buying the songs.  Remember when he played the same 30 second clip of some love song over and over when he was depressed one episode?  Yes, it's like a medley of Michael Buble right now and all for free.  Maybe I'll buy the full songs next year...

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

 Since the Keenan family scary elf caused too much stress for the kids, we switched to Elf on the Shelf. Our elf, Jack, wasn't naughty or creative but the last night he did leave a message for the kids.  The girls would help move him each night so they obviously caught on to the game but the littles were obsessed with Jack and would wake up extra early to go find him.  I'm sure they will sleep in late now that he has gone back to the North Pole, right?  Right?!  Which reminds me that I need to go put him away...

 We made it to the 4pm children's mass on Christmas eve and got good seats up by the piano by going about 45 minutes early.  Emily has been amazingly and shockingly good in mass the past few times that the nursery wasn't open for her, but apparently having Patrick with us instead of at his usual Sunday preschool, was not a good formula.  Sean spent half the mass out in the vestibule with the littles.  At the end of mass when people were leaving Megan got up and played Hark the Herald Angels Sing on the piano and did a great job.  This was entirely her idea, never occurred to me to suggest she volunteer for that.  Piano is her only activity these days and we're going to encourage her to keep it up. Helps that she has such an amazing teacher of course, with such an amazing sidekick.... Roxie the dog.

 Of course by the time we got home from mass the kids were starving and demanding food immediately.  We stalled by giving them their fancy drink, sparkling grape juice, while Sean and I had a different sparkling beverage.

 I learned from Nana and Barefoot Contessa that prepping the meal in advance is key so we actually ended up with a decent meal by 6pm.  I have to admit that a year of not much real cooking has lowered the bar so much that what used to be a regular dinner for us is now a special holiday meal.  Lemon pasta with festive broccoli and cherry tomatoes, not a huge hit with the littles but Anna choked it down for presents.

 Already discussing who gets to blow out the candles.

 I put this rare shot of me in black and white because I hate the way my new macbook iPhoto fixes red-eyes and this is one way to get rid of them.  The lazy way!

 As always, everyone got to open one present on Christmas eve, pajamas from Aunt Caroline and Uncle Andy.  Was more fun in person last year but every other year Sean has to work on Christmas, so here we are.  Grandma Marjie and Grandpa Paul will be here in a few days after stopping to see Stephanie in Michigan, and Andrea, Ryan and kids in South Bend.  They are on their way to Texas for the winter and will stay here long enough for Sean and I to enjoy our post-deployment trip to Miami.  Merry Christmas indeed!

 Back to pajamas, the girls are old enough for lounge wear instead, these were a big hit!

 They are loving the new pajamas!  Do you think anyone is thinking about Santa here??

 Here they are getting cookies ready for Santa.  Santa's helper has already had a few tonight...  Maybe the other helper will finish them off when he gets up at 2am for his shift.

 After all this sugar it's shocking how quickly he fell asleep on the floor in the girls' room.  They wanted to do a sleepover with him tonight, first time ever.  They know they can't get up until Sean comes in from his shift at 7am so we'll see how that goes...

And the traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas, given to Sean by his Aunt Maureen back in 1976.  He is very particular about only reading it on Christmas eve and not letting it sit with the other Christmas books for fear that it will be damaged or lost.  He's no fool, he knows how these kids operate.  Hope everyone has a Happy Christmas!

Favorite Things (not the Rod Stewart version)

I think one of my favorite things about the Holly station on XMradio is that I am continuously surprised by the random artists who bust out Christmas albums. Rod Stewart?  'Nsync?  Richard Marx has a new one out?  Nice (for him) that he can still find work.  Anyway, here are some of my favorite things, surprise Christmas presents from friends:

 The 12 HoliDays of Tea from Teavana from my best emailing friend Lisa, who also loves tea.  We will be comparing notes on which ones we like best.  These are the herbal infusion teas I think.  Almond cake was fabulous, can't wait to try the rest.  Kind of like dessert in a cup without all the calories (and caffeine).

 This is a little blurry but you get the idea... it's the pump and grind pepper grinder, to fit in my purse and take to those restaurants where they won't let me control the pepper grinder.  Many thanks to the thorough blog readers and great friends Angela and Joe!  They stopped to see us on their way to Indy the other night, great to catch up as always.  I should have planned a better dessert or something since it was supposed to be the last night according to the Mayan calendar (I think) but Angela and Joe are the type of people who always live like the end is near.  Love hearing about their adventures and plans.  They've lived in some really cool places and up next is living on a boat near Seattle.  The eventual plan is to sail to Hawaii and live there for a while.  Can't wait to visit in both places!

 Thanks to Kitra I finally have a great Christmas plate that is normal size so when I put cookies on it I don't have to put 3 dozen out.  Patrick is asking to use it for his dinner.  We'll see.

 Kitra also got us a print to go with a couple others in the library.  Sums us up pretty well as I'm trying to get the kids motivated to go to mass, works best if they think they will see friends there.

 Of course I love all the Christmas cards we receive and Angela and Joe always come up with the most creative ones.  This year it is one of those things you used to make in grade school, not sure what it's called, but you open it up and it has their annual update under each triangle (instead of "you will be a rockstar" or "you will be a bum").  One year they sent us a nutshell and inside all rolled up in a single line was their message.  Their year in a nutshell.  Get it?  Loved it!  I love all the photo cards too and I think I need a couple more places to hang them up.  Put that on my list to do...

Chocolates!  Fancy chocolates from our good friends the Raneys who moved to Lawrence.  I forgot to get a photo before I devoured half the box.  I may have done that immediately...  Can't wait to get back to Lawrence for another visit.  Usually when friends move away they go really far, so I'm glad to only have a short drive to see Carrie.  While I don't like being busy all the time, if it involves friends I am happy to add it to my schedule.  Planning more trips to see friends this upcoming year, I figure after all I did alone with the kids last summer we can easily handle it.

Preschool Christmas

 I title this one, "Herding cats".  Patrick has the sweetest teachers ever and here they are trying to prep them for the concert.  Not sure if Patrick is warming up his voice to get in the right key or if it's just too loud.

 Here he is looking so innocent.  I bet he is thinking about candy.

 Patrick participated this year and even did the motions.

 At the birthday party for Jesus after the concert.  They think they are so cool.  Emily still does the super hero pose, Patrick has graduated to Fonzie.

That's some mighty fine artwork on the crown hat for Jesus.  Once the sugar kicked in we headed to the girls' school for their class parties.  It was a long day at the end of a long week but they did pretty well.  I'm still tired though.  I am not someone who likes being busy, but props to those who keep up this pace all the time.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 Emily so proud of the only kind of dog we'll ever have.  Thanks country club Santa!

 She got a vet kit and Megan was a good sport and played with her for a long time.

 Look who is so happy that he waved at Santa and got his Captain America lego?  Funny how no matter what the latest obsession is, lego has a corresponding line for us to collect and scatter.

 Making cookies.  The cookie maker.  (SNL anyone?)

 Wow, the kids have gotten amazingly good at decorating cookies.  Or maybe the sitter helped?  I certainly didn't do anything but eat them.

 Thursday the kids got their wish for a snow day.  Glad they went to school on Friday though so they could have their parties.  I went through a huge amount of work to organize the 5th grade party.  I sent an email asking for people to bring stuff.  I stopped by the classroom, teacher had it under control. That is all.  Best room parent ever, don't try to compete.

 Snowy metal chicken.  Wonder if I should bring him in for the winter?  Too late now.

 Find Anna.  Maybe her white coat and snowpants aren't the best choices when you live on a hill and  keep sledding into the road.

 The snow is getting us in the mood for Christmas at least.  Since we don't get much wind in our yard the trees are still covered.

 Big helper and little helper.

 At least they played outside a long time in the afternoon and didn't create a big wet pile of clothing for nothing.  Neighbor kids came over too and while there was a point when we feared a leg had been broken, all went well.

Emily doesn't have boots or a desire to be wet and cold so she lounged around playing her favorite iPad.  I was desperately trying to keep the house in decent shape and finish up my cooking and baking before Angela and Joe arrived, so whatever kept her busy...  maybe she was playing an educational game and not the mall shopping one?

No segway.  Worst Christmas songs: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Santa Baby, and the one about Santa being stuck in the chimney and how much it smells.  Sean calls this genre "adults singing like children".  It needs to stop.  Best Christmas song:  Disco Santa.  Holly on xmradio dug that out of some garage sale pile and has been making me laugh.  I can hear that about two more times before it goes into the first category.  Manhattan Heather got me a great new Christmas CD so I can play that now instead of my vastly overplayed Christmas playlist that I made a couple years ago.... Maybe next year I will make an effort to update it.