Is It Naptime Yet

Jon has this funny idea that we need centerpieces on our table around the holidays. When I was sick earlier in October he went to the store and bought some food supplies I was needing, and these gourds. Now I had purchased the two small sweet pumpkins, so I can make pumpkin pie with them later, and we had acorn squash from a produce basket, but he bought the other gourds.

After arranging them on our table, Lilah came over and thought they needed something more. So she added some Halloween rings they had gotten from cupcakes or something of the sort.

Then later in the month Jon wanted even more for our harvest centerpiece, so he bought Indian corn, and some of the other produce, such as apples, were just added because we had them.

Sadly, the little decorative pumpkin gourds are starting to wilt and decay. I guess that answers Jon’s question about them being saveable for next year. I’ll probably bake and puree the pumpkin this week, to make sure I have enough for pie, but maybe I’ll get something to have a nice Thanksgiving centerpiece, since we’ll be enjoying one with just us this year. (My parents are out of town and his family will be doing it on Saturday.)

Here are the pictures that go with the Family Vacation 2011- Part 2 post.

Our tired travel companions.
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Eden admiring the beauty around her. (Grand Teton NP, Lakeshore Trail near Colter Bay’s Visitor’s Center)
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This is what she was looking at. It was breath-taking.
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Capture the moment on film…I mean on a memory chip, and now a blog.
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A small field of flowers we went through on the hike.
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The obligatory picture in front of the sign.
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The second park of the day. (We spent 3 full days at Yellowstone though.)
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The view from our campsite at Bridge Bay inside of Yellowstone. That is Yellowstone Lake.
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Some pretty purple flowers by our camp site. (Picture taken by Eden)
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Give a little girl a camera and there will be at least one self portrait.

Easter was a little odd for us this year. As I look at the pictures I took, I think of all the pictures I didn’t take. Like the eggs we dyed, or the girl’s baskets, the girls as they looked through their baskets, wait I wasn’t awake for that, or even one of the girls after the egg hunt. Yeah, it was an odd year for us, but I had a sinus infection and Lilah was sick, so I’ll use those as my excuses for why it was so off.

Saturday we went to my parents house to dye eggs. This year Glenn had his daughters so we were able to dye eggs with most of the cousins. (Minus Zarina and new baby Poppy.) Ajay is eleven, I think, and Kaycee is 8, but just barely. She gets her height from both parents, and is super tall for her age. She’s about the same height as Howie, who is 10 1/2, and if you look in the pictures and see how tall Howie is compared Lilah and Eden, you’ll get an idea of how tall Kaycee is, and she’s only 2 months older than Lilah, though Lilah gets her height from her short parents. (We’re both the shortest of our families.)

Eden waiting to dye some eggs, and those eggs in the cartoon have not been dyed. We were given some green eggs from Jon’s boss, and decided to try dying them. They turned out pretty cool. If only I had taken a picture…..

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Sorry it’s dark, but that’s just the lighting. (Howie, Lilah, Adrienne, and then Kaitlyn.)

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Kaycee, AJay, Eden and half of Howie.

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Kaycee and AJay.

It was a fun little afternoon and I wish we had arrived earlier, or stayed later, but only because we weren’t able to be there on Sunday, but we wouldn’t know that till Sunday afternoon rolled around.

So on Saturday I was not feeling well. I was getting a sinus infection, and both girls were suffering from allergies. I slept on the couch that night because my head hurt, and wanted to be propped up. Lilah woke me up twice in the night, complaining of her stuffy nose and needing to use the bathroom. (I had a weird dream where I yelled at Lilah because she had gotten up like 4 times and I wasn’t getting any rest.) Some time in the early morning Jon came out and I moved to the bedroom.

So Easter morning both girls wondered out and checked out their baskets, I guess, because I wasn’t there! I was a little upset about this, but Jon wanted me to get my rest since I was feeling terrible. I’m thinking I’m going to make an Easter curtain, so they have to wait for me next year.

The girls were both suffering allergy like symptoms that morning and Lilah was not feeling well, so we had oatmeal for breakfast instead of cinnamon rolls. Jon went on a hike, and I had to teach a class, so the girls went to church that day. Lilah was not feeling well, but I thought it was just allergies, so after some convincing, she went to her primary class. I checked in on Lilah after that hour and she looked terrible and she was then running a low fever, so she was experiencing something more than allergies, and we all went home.

Once home we had the egg hunt right away, then lunch. Lilah got sick after eating an egg and since I wasn’t feeling well with my sinus infection, we decided to stay home rather than go to my parent’s for dinner and another egg hunt. We watched Tangled, which the girls got in their baskets, for the second time that day, and Lilah and I took naps on the couch, so really Jon and Eden watched Tangled. Cereal was our grand Easter dinner. Jon ate lots of candy, while the rest of us ate very little.

Eden poses for the camera.

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Lilah charges out.

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Ignore the dead bush and tall weeds. Just look at the cute girls.
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Like I said, it was a very odd Easter.

(Monday I went to the doctor and got a z-pack, so my sinus infection is clearing up nicely. It was bad and tonight I might finely sleep in my own bed. Lilah felt better by Monday, though both girls had terrible runny noses and coughs that continued till Tuesday. Today we were finally able to join the land of the living and venture out, though we still have some stuffiness.)

It’s February.

I love February.

Reasons why I love February:
My wedding anniversary is in February.
Valentine’s Day is in February.
Auditions for the play are in February.

That’s pretty much it.

I am so excited to be married to Jon for nine years later this month. I really love being married to him. He’s so supportive and loving. He’s a wonderful provider and a hard worker. He also knows how to have fun, and makes sure to spend time with the girls and me. Rarely are our weekends spent at home, because he’s always wanting to go do things and enjoy family time.

While I’m not a huge Valentine’s Day person, apparently my girls are. They’ve made bags for us to put valentines in and have been hard at work filling them. Lilah keeps asking if I’ve made some for them yet, and she also keeps hinting that Girl Scout cookies would make great valentines. I really love her excitement.

Auditions for the play are coming up and I’m super excited and nervous. I know I’ll be in the play, it’s a matter of what part. I’m putting myself out there, like really out there, and I’m so nervous, but I figure I can’t succeed if I don’t try. My voice lessons are going wonderfully, I just now need to perform in front of people, so I can work on my nerves. Last week my voice teacher pulled in her husband, who is a high school choir teacher, and I was so shaky, and I sang a little too fast and I wasn’t aware of my movements as much as I should be, but overall I didn’t do as bad as I thought I would. Now to find some unsuspecting people and sing their ears off.

So just a mere week or more before Christmas we finally got around to getting our tree up. Life was pretty hectic and I had to get some cleaning done before we would have room for it. (It’s already down because we had guests over for New Years Eve and I wanted the room. Two weeks was time enough for me this year.)

The girls had fun decorating and being silly.

It was Eden’s turn to put the angel up this year.

On the 21st we celebrated the Winter Solstice. Jon chose the wonderful centerpiece we had on our table and even made dinner for us, since the girls and I were at Carolyn’s Christmas work party that afternoon. We enjoyed some yummy food by candle light, then Jon read us some Winter Solstice traditions. I wasn’t feeling my best so I was mostly on the couch. Earlier in the day the girls went shopping for one another, so they exchanged gifts and Jon got to open his Winter Solstice present. I had already received one of my presents, voice lessons, and will continue to receive them, so I didn’t open anything that night.

The centerpiece of evergreen, red, white and some gold pine cones that Jon painted. I think they’re rather cool.

I had a headache and was found on the couch for most of the night.

Lilah got Eden a Barbie and Eden chose a Zhu Zhu pet for Lilah. Now she has a toy hamster and a real one.

Jon decided he wanted a Nook, and that’s what he got.

Christmas Eve we spent with my parents and Carolyn and Derek. We had fun talking and then opening presents. Usually we only open one gift on Christmas Eve, but it seemed fitting to just open all the presents they had there. So we had our parents open the gifts we gave them and we opened what my parents gave us, and the girls, then the girls got to open the present the Svilars gave them, and the gift of pajamas from us. I also opened some pajamas from the girls.

Derek and Carolyn.

Grandpa and Grandma Harvey.

The Blakes.

An owl bag for my mom. (She collects all things owls.)

A nativity plaque for my dad. (He collects all things beavers, but I can never find any, and nativities.)

The girls in their pajamas.

So I kinda forgot I already posted about Thanksgiving, but I only had one picture, so I’m posting more. This post is really for my niece Shauntae, since she’s one of the few people who even comment, and because I know she’ll enjoy seeing the various pictures of her family!

Here’s some photos for your enjoyment Shauntae! 😉

OK, maybe this one is for my enjoyment. (Lilah took this picture.)

But this one is definitely for Shauntae. (Lilah took this picture.)

Annie, the host and one of the cooks. (Lilah took this picture.)

Me with one of my pies and a very silly Lilah. (Eden took this picture.)

Justin and his mini me, Daniel. (His son looks just like him.)

Tasia, her husband Danny and their son. (I can’t remember the toddler’s name, and their daughter Emily was hiding rather then wanting her picture taken. Emily is on Tommy’s lap for the large family photo though.)

Me and Jason.

Me and Dara.

The siblings. (Click to enlarge.)

The family who was there. (Click to enlarge.)

A very silly Lilah. Eden was the photographer for this one.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. As for my family we’ve been busy playing Just Dance 2 on the Wii, Apples to Apples Junior and the girls have been watching Daddy play Thief once a day, since I like to limit the time watching someone else do something.

We’ve also gotten rid of some old toys, (Hallelujah!) had lots of lazy mornings, and just enjoyed this time together. The weather is starting to turn gray and windy again, so we’re mostly staying inside. I’m looking forward to the New Year, though there is much to do.

Jon’s on vacation for a little while, and it’s been lots of fun to leave the house freely without having two girls attached to my hip. I rather like them, and most who I visit ask where the girls are, (Am I not cute enough?) but it’s also nice to be alone and able to take my sweet time, or run several errands without having someone ask if it’s the last place, or whine because I added one more stop.

2010 has blown by and it looks like it might leave with a bang! Bring on 2011!

One of my favorite Christmas conversations happened on Christmas Eve. It was just my parents, Carolyn and Derek, and my little family so we all sat at the formal dinning table. There was a conversation going on about nuts and seeds, and what my sister Carolyn is allergic to and what my father is allergic too. They started talking about tree nuts compared to ground nuts and I mentioned how I wasn’t sure what ones were tree nuts. Lilah replied, “Mom they’re nuts that grow on trees.” in a very matter-of-fact way. We all busted up laughing after hearing her comment and I was totally put in my place by my 7 year old.

Too bad I’m still not sure which nuts are tree nuts and which are ground nuts. I know a few, but only because I’ve seen a pecan tree, an almond tree and know peanuts grow in the ground.

If only she knew the full answer I needed.

It’s December. Wow.

I’m happy to say the craft fair I participated in was successful for me. It got a little slow in the afternoon and it would have been nice had more people come, but for the first year I think it was a success. Since I sold 4 bags, (score!) I now have some money to buy a little more fabric and I’m finally getting to the stage that I have inventory, so I won’t be spending out of pocket. Hooray! Sew Lacey might actually get in the black. The popcorn and truffles sales really help and I am so thankful that Tim convinced me to sell truffles and popcorn to him last year.

The homeschooling co-op is on break right now. I’m so thankful for that, but that also means I’m needing to deal with registration and finances. Ugh. It’s a lot of work and I’m a little worried for all that entails, especially since I have very little time right now and it needs to get done so we can start looking at the schedule and putting teachers in classes.

I started my first voice lesson last week! I’m so excited! I think she’s already helping me break my shell and helping me not sing from my throat, so I can actually have a louder voice and more control. Sadly, I haven’t been able to practice a whole lot due to so many pressing things this past week. She mentioned that practice is the hardest for her adult students because we are so busy, and boy was she right! It’s a new week, and I have less pressing things, so I’m hoping to carve out a half hour every day around 4:30. These lessons are actually a part, as in the main part, of my Christmas gift from Jon. I love choir, but I was talking to him about how I would like some one on one attention to have someone actually tell me what I need to do and we decided to make it my Christmas gift. I’m happy because it really is to help me gain confidence in myself and not to go out a sing solos necessarily, but he is so supportive of me and allowing me to do things that help build my confidence. The first lesson was a blast, so I’m looking forward to the next one.

Christmas is coming a long slowly in our house. I cleaned our front yard with Lilah on Wednesday and we put up new Christmas lights. Eden was happy to help with the lights, but didn’t want to help clean the yard. I’m trying to get the inside of the house in order so we can get the Christmas tree up, but I fear that until I get the rest of the popcorn and truffles out of the house next week, there is no point. So hopefully we get the tree up on Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

To close, I just want to post a couple funny things from this past week. I had them as updates on Facebook, but wanted them in a place that is controlled by me.

The set up: My girls had made a little fort and Lilah was telling me how the top blanket lets in air so it doesn’t get too hot.(It’s a lighter weight blanket.) I was peeking in, so I teasingly blew in a big breath of air and asked if that let in air and she said “Yeah, carbon dioxide.”

Eden: Stop tickling me!
Lilah: My fingers are exploring your armpits!

Yeah, it’s now time for Christmas, but since I never posted any pictures of the girls from Halloween I thought I would real quick. Now that I think about it I don’t think I even blogged about Halloween.

Sorry about that. I’m pretty sure I missed birthdays and I know I missed lots of fun trips because I just went through all our photos from last year and picked out what I wanted to put in our family calendar.

Yeah, I’m a pretty lame blogger.

Well, our Halloween was lots of fun. We went to Carolyn’s work party for part of our Halloween celebrations. The girls has a blast eating tons of junk food and participating in all the activities. Carolyn was in charge of the Cake Walk while the girls and their cousins were there and I’m pretty sure she rigged it since she was just spouting off numbers and looking at the numbers the kids were on.

We carved our pumpkins Halloween day, though we hollowed them out the night before. We did a little bit of Trick or Treating on Halloween night. I just love Halloween and trick or treating. Something I realized when I decided to limit it this year since it was on a Sunday. We came home a little early, though still late by Jon, and let the girls hand out candy. They had fun handing the candy out and we barely had enough this year since we had some large groups towards the end.

Really I was only going to post one picture, but I felt a little guilty since I haven’t been posting any pictures.

Enjoy, and I hope your family had a Happy Halloween!

Next to their pumpkins. I let the girls draw faces, then I carve them.

Story of the costumes:

I realized I couldn’t post this without telling the story behind the costumes.

I wanted them to be Alice and the Red Queen, but they wouldn’t even listen to my suggestion, even though Lilah wasn’t sure on what she wanted to be, but Eden only wanted to be a princess.

Lilah decided she wanted to be a witch once she saw some really cool fabric at the store, while we were window shopping and I was waiting for a sale. Unfortunately, they did not have the fabric she wanted when we went to go buy it at 50% off. She was still happy and choose this dark purple satin and a black lace that had bats in it. That’s why I posted the last one, so you could kinda see the lace and that’s it’s purple, not black. We found the purple hat, which also has bats on it, at Smith’s, and she just had to have this gigantic harry spider too, so I let her.

Eden wanted to be a princess, but I really wanted her to be Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. We tried to convince her, we being Carolyn and me, and she was kinda sold on it with Carolyn saying she loved Belle, but she did not like that it was just a yellow dress. Once we had chosen the pattern, though not the fabric, she started drawing pictures of her beautiful multicolored dress, and it was different in every picture and it looked like a rainbow in every picture. While at the store she was OK with the yellow fabric and she was going to be Belle, but while Lilah was deciding between purple and green satin, Eden found this beautiful purple and pink organza that had small rainbow colored stars in it. She was sold and decided she had to be a princess with this fabric. So I relented and she compromised on the pink fabric for the dress, because she wanted it to have the purple that Lilah had already picked out. She also thought the dress was a little too plain, so I made the flowers that are at her waist, and added those for her.

They both loved their costumes in the end, which is what mattered the most. I really enjoyed sewing the costumes for them also. I love that I can help them turn ideas into reality.