knitting, creating, and loving life in the Midwest
My son is obsessed with making things. I tell ya, the crafty gene is strong in this one 😀
He loves Legos and superheroes, so of course, he asked me to photograph his latest efforts:
That’s Spidey coming down, the dude with the big horns is Loki, the one with the Viking hat is Thor, of course, Hulk is in the back along with She-Hulk (which my husband painted for him), and I’d tell you the names of the rest except I don’t know half of them.
But I’m having a great time finding out.
My oldest decided to use a whole jar of sprinkles for Santa’s cookies ;D
it was all about quality, not quantity because the rest of the batch was deemed not worthy of decoration.
The key words this year were “super hero” for my oldest, and “Godzilla” for my youngest, so most of their considerable loot was in one of those two camps.
I love little-boy bedhead!
My husband did an outstanding job with dinner, again, with a few dishes made by mom and me. We made the little Santa hats that were all over pinterest.
All too soon, the festivities ended, mom went back home, and we got some much-needed sleep. In a few days we will host the last of our holiday season events, a New Year’s Day brunch. We are doing it potluck-style, with us providing coffee/tea and pancakes/waffles, and everyone else bringing other items. So far, our response list is looking scrumptious!
I realize it is still a few days until the year is over but I saw this adorable idea and had to make my own — I saw it on pinterest but I do not know where the original link is from — if anyone knows please let me know so I can give proper credit, or if it is something for sale I will remove my post. But for now, here it is, a review of our 2011:
I also made one in Spanish – so if you habla español, here is that one:
I made it in Photoshop, it was pretty easy, and it would make a great newsletter as well – have a wonderful holiday weekend!
This is what one side of the house looks like at night:
I would show you the other side but cars are parked in front ;D
The wreath looks so festive with the lights – all white – and in front there is a net of lights thrown over the ivy bush so the elephant on the ball can rest there. My boys were obsessed with all things elephant and we just had to get that decoration for them. They also love the snowman and little elf next to the elephant.
You can barely make this out but it looks so cool in person – to the right of the windows you may see some large snowflakes falling on the wall. My husband found this projector years ago that has disks for every holiday – hearts for Valentines, pumpkins for Halloween, etc. – that we project at the appropriate time of year. It adds a little flair to the outside of our house. We don’t have a porch, just a little entryway that is pretty dark so most of the decorations and lights are on this side of the house.
Things are ramping up to our holiday weekend, we’re visiting with friends and relatives and I am enjoying seeing this wonderful time through my boys eyes. That’s truly the best gift of all.
We’re going full throttle around here. It’s the holidays — there are things to do, things to clean, things to make, things to buy, things to cook — and life is busier than ever. Which is why it’s important to me, in the midst of all this wonderful chaos, that we take time to simply be.
As much as I love Starbucks’ Caramel Brulee Latte, I’m not willing to plunk down $4 every morning, so I’m using our Caramel and Vanilla Torani syrups to make a reasonable copy. Then my darling husband got me this and I’ve been LOVING my morning coffee:
It’s non-alc, yo, so don’t freak about my driving the boys around in a Real Happy mood ;D
Always – ALWAYS – dreaming of my favorite city in the world. I’ve been here a few times, never when it’s snowed, though, so when one of my favorite bloggers posted this today I just had to snag the pic:
I mean, seriously. Wrapped up in a (faux) fur jacket, walking arm-in-arm with my sweetheart, then ducking into a cozy cafe for some warming up and people-watching. Someday.
I recently gave in to my tingling little hands and grabbed some beads. I used to have a jewelry business and although I do not have one now, once in a while I feel the urge to make something pretty. So I made something with this:
I’ll show you in a few days ;D but how perfect is this? A pendant with a map of Paris, in turquoise. Hello?!?!
Enjoying a few days with my mama, she’s spending some time with us and we’re having a great time. It would be better if I hadn’t been sick most of the week, because this nasty cough and sore throat thing is annoying me to no end. At least the stomach thing is over. You really don’t want to know.
Enjoying my family. The boys are off for two weeks as of this afternoon so I mean to take lots of pics, do lots of crafts, and just spend lots of time hanging out with them. I love that my youngest is a total snuggle-bunny, and my oldest, although a self-proclaimed big boy, is still sweet enough to want to cuddle with me. My husband and I have some alone time planned as well, nothing super romantic but just being able to hang out and talk without the chaos of life is gift enough.
So, I hope you have a great weekend, and I hope I get rid of the last of my germies, too!
There is a little table in a corner of our house that got some glam treatment recently:
D’oh! A little elf got in the picture!
My son saw me taking photos and decided I should take some of him, too 😀
It is layer upon layer of holiday items surrounding a huge hurricane vase we used at our wedding.
The table itself is from IKEA; then comes a folded table runner my mom made a few years ago. Then you can see the wreath we last used in a Thanksgiving centerpiece. A beaded garland sits on top of the wreath, then I stuck in some large silk flowers with their foliage. I placed the vase in the center and had no idea what to put inside, and my husband added a candle, which I now love because the glow from this little table is just gorgeous.
My two oldest men took on the task of putting up Christmas lights a couple of nights ago. My youngest decided it was too cold and went back inside with his mama.
Our house is all prettied up now – good job, boys!
We set up the tree a few nights ago, with my oldest son being the main decorator. I should have gotten some video. “I can’t find the perfect place for this one, mama. It just doesn’t make sense here.” Mm-hmm. I helpfully said, “just put it down and leave it for later.” He glared at me.
I think he did a wonderful job:
The little village underneath has been collected over the years and adds a sweet touch. My boy took these pics:
We like to turn the tree on and enjoy the sparklies. I light my candles and sip a bit of cocoa — my boys do not like hot chocolate for now — and we snuggle in the cold California evenings. Laugh if you will, but it is 45 degrees out there as I am typing and we do not turn the heater on in the evenings.
I am waiting for a couple of things before I show you the mantel – but for now I hope you enjoyed seeing our outside lights and our tree. It’s fake, because the cats can’t help themselves.
It has become a holiday tradition for Gran and Grandpa to take our little family to Christmas in the Park. This year it was even more special because my sister-in-law, K, is here from Sweden where she lives with her husband. We all met at the light rail station and took the train to downtown San Jose.
During the walk from the downtown station to the park:
I love taking pics of my handsome men 😀
Here are my men with Gran and Grandpa, and Auntie K.
My little man’s favorite perch is his daddy’s shoulders – thank goodness he is still small enough!
My husband, his sister K, and the boys on the train – it was free until 6pm, score!
My youngest hams it up for mama’s camera 😀
My oldest did not want to go on the Ferris wheel
But my youngest was game, so he and I went up!
Last night was also the tree-lighting ceremony, I caught a pic as the tree was lit
We had a great time looking at all the displays – thanks Gran and Grandpa!
Our thanksgiving lunch went beautifully; Steve and I planned, made lists, set up a schedule, and with some help from our family, we had a great time. I printed the menu and set it up in the dining room:
My father-in-law showed up early — he was in charge of the turkey — and also helped out with the rest of the cooking. He and my oldest had a blast peeling potatoes:
Soon my boy was a potato peeling expert!
I had told my husband that I’d seen (can’t remember where!) an idea to use a wreath as a centerpiece and he came up with this:
Isn’t that cool?
Soon the rest of the family showed up and we started doing the oven-revolving-door dance. Dishes would go in, in twos and threes, and something yummy would come out. Soon our dining room table looked like this:
This was about half of the food we made. The wine took up one of the hutches ;D and the desserts people brought took up another.
Here is some of my wonderful family.
The little cups hold the butternut squash bisque, which was DELICIOUS – Steve made it from scratch and I am so happy there is some left over, because I’m having some of it for lunch!
One of my favorite moments was when we all shared what we were grateful for and my oldest said he was grateful for “the colors of autumn”, I thought that was so unusual and sweet.
I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, and if you don’t celebrate it, then I hope today is a great Friday and I wish a wonderful weekend for everyone! I’m going to leave you with the menu we had for our Thanksgiving Lunch.
After lunch and a nap, we got ready for dinner at Allegria.
Last year, our friends C&D had come to Napa with us and they’d gifted me a bottle of Caymus zinfandel. I decided to bring the Caymus to my birthday dinner at Allegria and share it with my hubby and our friends J&M.
The wine went perfectly with our entrees and it was a delightful dinner.
Little did I know that our friends C&D would gift me another bottle of Caymus for this birthday – score! Now I have wine for next year’s birthday dinner ;D
On Sunday, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed home because we had invited people to celebrate with me – the party started at noon and we got home about 90 minutes before that. My mother-in-law had watched the boys for us, my father-in-law got the house ready for guests, and both of them along with my husband did all the food. I am so grateful to them!
I saw something this board on Pinterest and decided to make my own:
The afternoon was wonderful, it was so nice to see so many people from so many facets of my life. When thinking about what to say if people asked what I wanted for my birthday, I took my inspiration from the book that started my veggie garden adventure – Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver. For her 50th birthday, Barbara asks everyone to bring her a plant. I couldn’t do the same since her birthday was in May, perfect for planting, but mine is in November, and I was guessing many plants would not survive the winter. So instead, to those who asked, I simply asked for seeds. Any type of veggie or flower would do. And oh my goodness, I now have a serious stack of seeds for my 2012 garden! Plus other, very generous gifts that will all come in handy.
I didn’t want to blow out FORTY candles so my husband, helpfully, decided to get four “decade” candles.
My boys had tons of fun as well since they had lots of friends to play with.
It was such a wonderful end to my birthday weekend, so many wonderful friends and relatives. Despite all the whining and moaning I’ve done about turning forty, I know am a very lucky girl.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Casa de Berry 