These are a few of my Favorite Things

This is my collection of Jackson Pottery snowmen. They are located in Rock Island, Illinois. Every year around Thanksgiving they open their shop to sell this years snowman/Santa creations.

This is the line to get in the door on a maybe 30 degree morning. My mom is 3rd in line. This is the woman who sees any line at a restaurant and wants to go somewhere else :)

This is a picture of the chocolate fountain that my husband took to the botanical center in Moline, Illinois last winter along with some of the treats he had for sale. Chocolate covered pretzels with sprinkles, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered nutter butters, chocolate covered rice crispies on sticks you get the picture...

This is my mom's favorite flower Moss Rose (Portulaca). Our Mother's Day routine is pretty much the same every year. We go to a nursery in Illinois City, Illinois (Hilltop Nursery I think is the name) and I help mom pick out little red wagons full of flowers to go home and plant. Of course this is a picture of later in the summer when they were all filled in and doing beautifully. The down side to this flower is all the deadheading but since my mom loves it and it brings back her memories of her grandma its worth it.

This is the heart I put in my front window. I picked it up at Walgreen's last year and since Christmas is over I thought I would rush Valentine's Day a bit and put it up.

These are just random pictures I've taken over the last year. They brought back very good memories. I'll be a little sad to see 2008 go but I'm always hopeful that the New Year will be a good one. There is a lot to look forward to. So I wish all of you a very Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Whew!

Just beautiful!

To add to my collection of delft my mother-in-law found these charming bottles - Thanks Betty!




She also gave me this piece of Mosse pottery. I love this stuff! Its made in Ireland.

From K - Thanks for thinking of me!

These are my favorite gifts I got this year! Mark my Christmas a big success! My husband said the new house was my present. How will he top that next year?

My day after Christmas started with a trip to my favorite bakery, Simply Sweet Bakery (handmade goodies). I of course had the breakfast burrito, my mom had the creme brulee oatmeal, my sons had a blueberry/lemon scone, a huge cinnamon roll and biscuits and gravy. I wish I would've had my camera with me but alas it was left at home. The gravy on the biscuits and gravy was homemade and the sausage she uses is soo good.

My friend (youngster) 19 year old K stopped by and we went to Wal-Mart (she found three beautiful pink roses in the half off bin and she bought them for me. We then went to lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant. They have the best egg rolls I've ever had and the Almond Chicken is fabulous.

I just got home after a nail biting drive through some of the densest fog. I changed the music on my blog because now that Christmas is over I'm ready to hear some new stuff. Its going to be nice to focus on getting this new house set up so I can find my things again. Surprisingly after packing up most of my worldly possessions and storing them for so long I really haven't missed that many things. The Salvation Army will be the recipient of a lot of stuff we don't need anymore.

How about you what was your favorite gift this Christmas?

Beautiful Christmas Eve

1976 Hallmark ornament - a present from my babysitter way back when

My son and I's favorite Christmas cookies (they have a marachino cherry in the middle - yum!)

Its time to eat the cookies!!!!

Please???

View out my back door. Actually neighbors trees since we still have a dirt yard. Hee Hee!

The snow keeps falling and falling! It is so beautiful! My oldest had only requested a white Christmas this year (along with Batman action figures, webkinz, and Harry Potter stuff). Looks like someone heard the wish and is ensuring it comes true. I haven't left my house since Friday and I know I need to go out today but I'm a little nervous about the road conditions. My family thinks Christmas Eve is the most special time so that is when we all get together. Santa always makes an appearance and passes out gifts to the kids. I remember when "Santa" (my great uncle Harold) would make his rather late appearance. I remember asking my mom why Santa smelled a little funny. She told me he had stopped at a few bars to wish his friends a "Merry Christmas" before coming to our house. He was a great man with a gentle soul. Thanks for the memories Uncle Harold.

I just wanted to wish anyone who happens to stop by a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! May the magic of childhood touch us all!

Still so much to do

My new Cart Before the Horse Ornament
The ornament that hung on my Grandma's tree. It has my name on the back :)

We hardly missed a year of going to the Iowa State Fair when I was a young girl. My sweet Grandma Marian always let my sister and I buy something. This is what I picked out when I was probably 6. They sold these in the "Indian Village". Its my favorite!

Okay I admit it. I'm a procrastinator. I still need to buy gifts for my in-laws and my parents. What do you give parents who let you move back in with three young boys, two messy dogs and a husband? We spent close to nineteen months living with them while I had blueprints drawn and then we tried to build in the worst winter in years. My father came up with me everyday to "help" me do the electical wiring. By "help" I mean he told me where to drill a hole and what type of wire I needed to pull through. He was definitely the brains of the operation. My dear husband had to chuck 5" thick ice out of our basement because they didn't get the site covered before all the big snow hit. We then had tornadoes and severe rain storms go through. The force of the tornado/thunderstorm that dropped like 3" of water in an hour, broke out the egress window in the basement filling the basement with gooey brown mud and lots of rainwater. But for the last month and a half we have been living in our spacious new ranch in a nice subdivision. The past is fading from memory and we are all enjoying our new digs.

Getting in the Christmas spirit

Today I am going to have my parents and a couple of friends over for our tree trimming party. Oh, I should call me sweetheart sister to see if she could come too...see it does help to journal. The sunrise is gorgeous this morning. It is mostly blues with streaks of pink, peaches and cream. It's good to see the beauty of nature this time of year. I think winter, after the beautiful sparkling snow has melted, can start to look a little dreary.

I am trying to improve my artistic talents. There is so much beautiful art online that I want to see if I can do it. My goal is to get good enough to sell online and at craft shows. There is a huge craft show twice a year 15 minutes from where I live and when I go see booths with "imported" craft concoctions I just walk right by. The last time I went I found only one booth out of a couple hundred that I went back to buy from. By the time I got back the lady was almost completely sold out. The show couldn't have been going for more than 90 minutes and she had very few things in her booth. Reasonable prices and super cute stuff must have been popular with lots of other shoppers too.

Chinese food and time to talk

Last night my parents took the kids to their activities for me so I had time to spend with my very busy husband. He brought home takeout chinese. Yum! I love Sesame chicken! It was nice to be able to sit down and talk to him about things. He is really a wonderful man and I know why I chose him. He is a great dad.

I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and bought some art supplies with my friend K. There was so much Christmas stuff. It was so beautiful to walk through there. I adore looking at all the beautiful things. It is hard not to go overboard in there. Thank goodness I didn't have much time or money to spend.

Today I am going to the school to help Mrs. R with the math part of her day. My son had her a couple of years back and said he never learned so much as when he had her. Thank goodness for teachers like that!

Freezing Rain

That's what we can expect today. Some area schools are being cancelled. My new furnace is not working and my hands are getting cold. So I thought I would try to warm them up by making a post. This blog is suppose to invite me to write down the things that make my life happy. Today I went to the kids' school for about an hour and a half to tutor second graders so they don't fall behind in class. I love seeing the light bulbs go on and their faces light up. There were actually a couple of questions I wasn't sure of the answer. How could I a college grad not know the answers on second grade worksheets? It keeps me humble. I am always surprised how much these kids already know. Was I that smart at their age?

I am very thankful for my friend K. She came to my house last night and made sugar cookies. She is such a wonderful girl. At her age of 19 she has had to learn a few of life's lessons the hard way but she has taken them to heart and is on a really great path for her future.

My husband and I had a disagreement over the weekend and we were able to work it out. What happens when neither of you are in the wrong? He wasn't wrong and neither was I. Just some tough decisions that makes you wish you were a kid again.

Simply Sweet Bakery

I was in my hometown this morning visiting my parents and went to my favorite new breakfast spot. Their breakfast burrito is simply delicious. It has diced potatoes, bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, cheddar cheese and a smidge of roasted red pepper. My mom and I went furniture shopping and I asked the saleslady what would look good with black dog hair and dog slobber on it. My mom is watching our black lab at her house because we just moved into a new house with no grass. We then went back to her house and I helped her set up her blog and playlist. She was really interested in having the music on while she cleans her house. Tonight is my hometown's holiday stroll and there is a special Christmas train coming to visit. It should be very cool.

Holiday break is almost over

What a time we've had for the second half of November! Let me start off by saying the highlight had to be moving into our new home. Being able to put the kids clothes away in their closets has made getting off to school so much easier. The 20 minute drive every morning has now been shorten to just a couple. My husband has worked his crazy Thanksgiving holiday schedule and I am really glad that its over. At least for a week before the Christmas rush kicks in. Our Thanksgiving was pretty ordinary. The kids and I spent it at my folks house. The only exciting thing that happened was the 911 operator called to ask who called 911 and hung up. Five kids running around it was hard to come up with a name immediately but we narrowed it down to two. The suspects were my son and my sisters daugther. Since my son thinks you can dial 991 I pretty much figured it was my niece. After the rather large sheriff's deputy left, my sister asked which phone her daughter had used and she said "the one by the computer". She vehemently swore she was not responsible but it is pretty easy to trick a five year old into confessing.

Black Friday was an event that I seem to do about once evey five years. It takes me that long to forget why I don't do it. My three kids were actually begging me to leave Toys R Us it was so crowded. We logged about 7 hours of shopping and my parents took us with them. My mother was on the search for a black cashmere sweater. We went to several better department stores before she found one at Kohl's. Meantime I had to give my oldest the socks off my feet because kids don't think they need to leave the house with socks on and his shoe had given him blisters.

Saturday was a rare day off for the hubby. He wanted to have his folks and his cousin Beth over for dinner so we stayed home and cleaned and organized. He made a fabulous prime rib and a ham. He was so proud of the kitchen he had designed. He loved showing it off to his family. We had a really nice evening and played a fun new scrabble-type game called Banagrams.

Sunday the last day of the kids break and the kids and I did as little as possible. I just wanted to lay on the couch with them and watch movies. There are so many good holiday movies on tv this time of year. Great day to just tend the fire and be couch potatoes. I guess you could say we accomplished something... my son can now tie his own snow boots! I'm trying to get him to help me teach his twin how to also.

I'm going to try to make this a gratitude journal as much as help me keep track of my too fast growing brood. So here goes... What I am most grateful for every day of the year is the wonderful family I have been blessed with. My husband who works so hard so that we can have a good life and I can stay at home with the kids, my sweet "angels", my folks, my sister and her oh-so-cute girls. Those will be a given. Today I am thankful for the beautiful snow that fell all day and leftovers. It allowed me to have a "bum" day with those fast growing weeds I call my kids.