Friday, November 28, 2008

In the corners of my mind

I'm completely reminded of Noni, my mom's mom, and Grandpa, my dad's dad, at this time of year.  

My noni was the best cook and every year she'd make lots of different kinds of Christmas cookies.  She'd store them in the biggest Tupperware containers I've ever seen.  My favorite were her snicker doodles and sugar cookies.  We're putting up our Christmas tree today, and I'm reminded of her more than ever, since we're living in her old house.  

The Sutter Cancer Center is on the same block downtown as Biba Restaurant and when Noni was doing her chemo she would always talk about Biba.  She even took a few cookbooks in for Biba to autograph.  Earlier this week I went to lunch with my coworkers at Biba's.  While there Biba herself came over to our table and I was completely verclempt, thinking about Noni and how much I missed her.

My Grandpa loved Christmas and loved spending time with his family more than anything else. When he passed away in 2006, ironically in December, he left behind not only his beloved wife of 59 years, but also 8 children and their spouses, 22 grandchildren and their spouses, and 6 great grandchildren - what a legacy!  

My Uncle Larry and Aunt Susie made a video slideshow years ago of the whole family through the years, and there is a good chunk of it devoted to Christmas pictures and songs.  Every time I hear "Celebrate Me Home" or "I'll be Home for Christmas" I think of that video and am reminded of what wonderful memories I have from my own childhood and what I want for my children.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

What are you thankful for?







'Twas the night before Thanksgiving...


Daddy and Lauren preparing the turkey brine.

The table is ready for the gang!

Owen and Papa working on a puzzle.  Yes, Owen does indeed 
have purple pants on.  He had a wardrobe malfunction!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

So true...

Just heard this song and had to share.

Too cold to play outside?

Here's our solution!


Doing our part for the energy crisis

The dishwasher is on its third load of the day.  Homemade mac-n-cheese for our preschool feast yesterday, extra cheese sauce for leftovers, banana waffles this morning with Daddy, banana loaf with leftover waffle batter, bean and ham soup, and cornbread - lots of dirty dishes!  I love to cook in the cold weather!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

New kicks

So I've always been completely against characters on my kids clothes - with the exception of Lightning McQueen.  Today I had to go buy Owen a new pair of tennis shoes and was planning on a cool pair of Vans or something like that.  Except when he saw these light up Go Diego Go ones he HAD TO HAVE THEM.  He actually wore them out of the store and you should have seen him walking through the mall - he thought he was the coolest kid ever!  He's been running laps around the house all day, showing me how fast he can run in them.  When Adam took them off him to change him into his jammies he cried and wanted them back on immediately.  We'll see if he sleeps in them tonight or not!

P.S.
That is a rug burn on his forehead.  The other night we were doing a deep clean in both the kids bedrooms and we were having them go under their bunk beds to pull toys out.  He had his hands full of toys and couldn't crawl out backwards, so I grabbed his legs and pulled him out.  He ducked his head so he wouldn't bang it on the bed rail and came out with a nice red forehead.  Oops!

Fish food

We went on a preschool field trip today to the fish hatchery.  The kids had a blast feeding the fish and watching them jump.  It was so freaking cold, though!  Of course my camera battery died after only these two pictures!


Monday, November 17, 2008

Misinterpretation

Lauren and Owen were playing "Duck Duck Goose" the other day.  Except that they kept saying "Duck Duck Dude"!!  

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Monday, November 03, 2008

Cold November rain

AKA #18 on Adam's Honey-Do List: replace the gutters!


Sunday, November 02, 2008

As of 1 October 2007