Santa has left the building

Christmas has come and gone and we are left with too much junk food, too many toys and a great big mess. It's all worth it because just watching Roman take it all in is so much fun. Even Marisa seemed to know it was a special day because she was such a good baby the whole day.
We started out the festivities with our tradition (at least for now) of building a gingerbread house. Roman was very helpful and nearly put as much candy on the house as he did in his mouth. He really liked that I wrote his name in the roof with licorice and that Rudolph, Frosty and a great big Christmas tree decorated the outside. It's a fun little tradition and worth all the mess and trouble involved with making them. Plus, our house smells of yummy gingerbread all day long.

Roman was able to open his jammies on Christmas eve and he LOVED them. That makes a mom feel good esspecially when I made them. He went in my room to "check em out" in my mirror and as he was walking out, he saw a pair of his old pj's in the hamper. He said to me, "mom, these jammies are great!, Those (pointing to the old ones) are not great". :) Funny kid
We read the 'Night Before Christmas' and The Christmas story illustrated by Joseph Brickey (Highly recommended) and it was off to bed.


In the morning Roman had a blast opening his stocking and all his Christmas presents and could hardly keep himself from opening everyone elses presents too. He LOVED everything that Santa and all of his helpers brought him this year. He spent the day rotating from his Spider man Camera, to his Hot Wheels track, then a few minutes with his leap pad, then back to his camera (by the end of the day he was able to take a pretty decent picture of something besides his cute little fingers).

Marisa was happy and playful, took two huge naps (allowing me to take one too BLESS HER!!!), and seemed to enjoy her new toys, books and clothes.

We topped the day off with a tasty turkey dinner (butterball can sure make a good turkey) and all together enjoyed our Christmas. I will post more pictures on our website soon. Feel free to come check em out.

I hope you enjoyed yours as well.

Some of my most memorable christmas gifts

I was bundling up this morning to brave the world outside my nice warm bed and while rummaging through my barren sock drawer (Santa's bringing me some socks, but in the mean time I have about two pair) I came across a pair of leather slippers that one of my brothers made me for Christmas one year. I'm thinking it was Richard, but I could be wrong. (the title says most memorable gifts, not most memorable gift givers :))
And I thought. It's kind of amazing that I still have these things and that I even remember why I have them. So my post today is about my most memorable Christmas gifts.

The first two are most memorable because I still have them. The first is my old sewing machine. I didn't want a sewing machine at all. My mom had a huge room full of machines.... what would I want with another :) But I'm so glad I have it now. I have since moved on to a newer machine but my old reliable is still sitting right new to it.

The second is my cedar chest. There isn't much space for it in my room but I still love it. I love the smell, the look and that I can put all my memories in it. My parents gave it to me when I was in college and I even put it in my little 6' X 7' space in my apartment. For some reason I've always liked cedar chests.

Most of the others are long gone but for some reason I remember them: For years I asked for a Barbie for Christmas and I never got one until one year I got THREE!!! One from a friend, one from my mom and one from my aunt. I was in HEAVEN! I could only find a picture of one of the Barbies that I got. It was this "fun time" Barbie. She came with a matching watch and rather revealing clothing. Another was a "my first Barbie". She had beautiful blond hair and had a pink leotard and tulle skirt. The last was "Dream glow Barbie". She had a pink dress with stars all over it that would glow in the dark. I couldn't find a picture but I did find the commercial for her :D So funny.





I also remember getting a yearly check from my grandparents for $20. Which was kind of a lot of money in the 80's. for a little kid. Gosh... It's kind of a lot of money for me now. :)

A funny one is from a year that we all high tailed it down to Arizona for Christmas. We didn't bring much with us.... in fact I believe we forgot our Christmas stockings so we improvised with whatever we could. I believe my brother used a pair of shorts. I used a leg warmer etc. Anyway, My brother Jonathan gave me my very own 6 pack of Root beer. Now... I know it doesn't sound like much, but coming from a family with 9 people. 6 of which are male. I never got any yummy treats all to myself. Unless you had some kind of lock on it, it was not safe in the refrigerator. Well, since it was MY Christmas present. I got all 6 cans to myself. :) I don't know if I shared it at all, I hope I did. But I probably didn't. That year my other brother Richard bought me the cutest bracelet. I think I still have it, although it's tarnished and probably broken.

Another that I still have because I only got it 4 years ago is my kitchen aid mixer. LOVE IT!!! I (I mean Shane) got it on Amazon and for some reason it was about$75 less than all the other colors. I still can't find it for as cheap as I (whoops... I mean Shane) got mine.
I guess it's so memorable because I use it a ton. It is by far one of my favorite kitchen appliances.
I hope I have it for 20 more years... I guess we'll see.
Now I'm asking Santa for the attachment that shreds. I hate shredding cheese. What a pain! that shredder would sure be nice. I've actually been asking for it for a while, but without luck cause it's rather expensive for what it is.



One that I'm not very fond of actually has quite a large story attached, but I will try to keep it short. One year I wanted this doll that I saw on T.V. that grew???? I think.. My memory is going bad, but I believe it actually grew taller or something??? Anyway, it was a really big doll and HOLLY COW there was this huge box under the tree that year and it was just teasing me because what else could be SO BIG? I was sure it was that doll. Come Christmas morning I tried to play it cool, pretending I didn't know what was in the giant box. FINALLY, I got my chance to open it. I tore into that thing like you would not believe. But the box was an old box to some ski boots.... hmmm.... Well, maybe mom just switched to boxes to fool me. :) Nope.. Inside was the most HIDEOUS coat you have ever seen. OK... well, it probably wasn't that bad, but It came from my cousins house it was 70's plaid wool with over the top fur trim. I was SO disappointed. I don't think I wore it more than once. Then one day my friend comes running out to recess wearing the coat. She says my mom gave it to her mom and her mom is making her wear it. Poor girl. I can still picture her running out with that fur just flying in the wind. HA

There is more... But I don't have all day so I guess that's all for now.

Maybe my next post will be most memorable gifts I've given.. There are few pretty good ones.

I have to do it

I think every parent has to take a picture of their child/children in the bathtub... My kids LOVE the bath. Marisa has graduated from the baby bath chair and she loves to scoot around enjoying her buoyancy and trying to pull the lever and let all the water drain away. As soon as I start the water Marisa gets so excited that I can barely keep her in my lap or get her clothes off. For some reason my children LOVE water. I'm not even nice when I wash their hair. I just dump a cup of water on their heads, they don't seem to care. Roman will stay in the bath for nearly an hour if I let him. He will be freezing cold and pruned like a raisin and I still am the one to suggest leaving the bathtub. Marisa almost always cries when I take her out... Maybe they will be swimmers some day. That, or just very clean people.

A few of my favorite things

One of my old roomies from college had a"favorite things" post on her blog and I thought it was cute, so I'm going to copy. Thanks Lindsay!

Some of my favorite things:

First I love these two kiddos. They drive me crazy!!!! But they must be like drugs or something because I just keep coming back for more. LOL There is always something that Roman has done during the day that makes me laugh out loud when I'm getting ready to go to sleep at night. I'm sure Marisa has gotten so many kisses that she's going to have some complex as an adult to kissing. I can't help it! her cheeks scream KISS ME!!!! And she is so silly sometimes I can't help but take pictures of her on a daily basis.

OK, now on to the commercial stuff: I LOVE my jogging stroller. It's a dreamer delight ditto and I spent extra $ to get this brand but it was money well spent. This stroller turns like a dream and unless I'm trying to run up a hill, which is hard enough without children in tow, you would never guess you were pushing nearly 60 lbs. I LOVE joggers and I used our single jogger SO much I knew I had to have a double and I've only been using this one since Marisa was born in April and I bet I've gone an average of 1.5 miles a day in it already. That's just about a dollar a day and I've got SO many more days to go. SOOOOO worth it.





another Gotta have item in my home is soft scrub with bleach. I was first introduced to this product in my college days when I worked at Hogi Yogi. This stuff makes white surfaces that are super grimy or stained shine again. It's better than anything else I've ever tried. Our kitchen sink gets some kind of stains in it that only soft scrub can get off. It also does wonders on our porcelain top stove. I guess the only down side I can see to this stuff is that you have to be careful about the clothes you are wearing when you use this stuff, yes... it will bleach them. And. You have to rinse the surface really good or it will leave behind a white film. But in my opinion. If I could only have one cleaner in my home, this would be the one.

Mint!!! I think mint is my favorite flavor. I just love it..... as long as it's good :) By that I mean. It can't taste too much like tooth paste or I'm turned off. Some of my favorites are Peppermint patties (York, of course), mint cookie ice cream. My favorite is Meadow Golds Ice Mint tundra. Mmmmm Good stuff! I love mint flavored hot cocoa and cool mint life savers too.

As far as my clothing goes. I just about have a problem with all of it. But.... My favorites among my closet are my lucky jeans which I successfully wore multiple holes in and I still wear them because darn it they make me look like one hot mama! I don't know what the cut is, in fact they may no longer make it. But if they didn't cost so much I would have closets full of these jeans. They made me look like I had a rear (which is hard to do when this baby don't got back) they were skinny and LONG so long they wore out on the bottoms because they would drag on the ground. That's hard to do when you have legs like mine. And they were the most comfortable jeans I've ever had. And I don't mean comfortable I want to sleep in them comfortable. I mean "I look as good as I've ever looked in jeans so I'm not self conscious about how I look and I don't look like I'm ready for a flood or worried that I look like a boy in these jeans" comfortable. Now that's a good pair of jeans.



For a favorite shirt, I love Arizona long sleeve favorite T's. Long sleeves, long body, perfect for a long armed long bodied gal like me. In fact, I'm wearing one right now.




A good song. Since becoming a mother I haven't had much time to listen to the radio or care much about what I'm listening to but I really do like this song. It's like a nice song with an edge and I can listen to it over and over. Not to mention it's on the soundtrack to one of my favorite television shows, Grey's anatomy!





My latest obsession is knitting and crocheting. I love it. Even when I'm totally screwing up and have to start all over again. I think it's such a relaxing thing. I tend to really get into it every time I'm pregnant. For some reason my brain connects babies with knitted items, and I just love sitting big bellied in a rocker and knitting. I'm not even that good at it! but I don't care. Here is my baby in her pumpkin hat. Right now I'm trying to knit some pants for Marsia. Even the ladies at the yarn shop rolled their eyes at me... But I tend to not give up until the pants have three legs and they've been made fun of repeatedly. We'll see in a couple weeks how they turn out. HA!


A funny one is Ginger Ale on and air plane. I ALWAYS get it. You can ask Shane, I have maybe gotten a juice or 7-up once or twice compared to the 30 or so times I've gotten Ginger Ale. I rarely drink it at other times but put me on an airplane and I will always ask for it. Silly huh?



I guess the last thing that is also a "latest" in my life is Fuzzi Bunz. Yes... CLOTH DIAPERS...!!! I never would have thought that I would be the kind of person to even try them out, but they are really kinda fun.....well, until you get a messy one. But I've had them for two weeks and have been lucky enough to only have to deal with that once (also not that bad). I bought a few and have Marisa wear them just about every other day or so. Then when they are all dirty, she wears disposable and I wash em up. She also wears a disposable at night. But really they aren't much different than disposables. I have to change her a little more often and of course the washing but there are no pins, no plastic pants no leaks etc. And boy are they soft! I'm actually quite impressed. And if I just have her wear them every other day... that is 500+ diapers that I'm not throwing in to a landfill A YEAR. Crazy huh?

I know there is more, but my mommy brain ain't pulling them out of the "vault" right now. Maybe I will do a favorite things 2 post :)

Welcome

well, I've decided to start a simple blog that will act more like a personal journal. Our website is great for family stuff and pictures etc. but this well contain more of my daily or weekly thoughts, experiences etc. Come often as I hope too keep this up. We'll see huh?