My Dastardly Duo

Sorry I haven't been on blogger for a while - with the holidays, family and kids getting sick we have been very very busy. I, however, still love my new camera and have been taking pictures by the dozen!
First two small blurps on whats been going on followed by a funny thing my son did today!

The cousins came for the holidays! 

Starting with the left and moving toward the right (large photo) is

Game Boy, Pixie, Prissy & LittleMan
The fluffy cute one is Patch.

They had a great time being able to see each other again!

I loved being with my Mid Sis!

This is what I had to resort to shortly before Thanksgiving when both of my kids caught croup!!!

Hubby needed to see a specialty dentist called an Endodontist. 

One of his roots was dying, as he was going to be in too much pain to drive home I had to drive him.

During the day - there isn't anyone who can babysit, especially not sick children.

So I folded down the back seat (love that I can do that)

made a small little "nest" for the kids and after we arrived I set them up on their tvs bundled them under the blankies and read my book for an hour.

Worked out fairly well - LittleMan still wanted to cuddle ever fifteen minutes but his movie soon called him back.

Today my son had me rolling! I had to leave the room I was laughing so hard!

He comes walking into the living room pretending to hold a cellphone. He sits on the couch and "calls" his sister who is down stairs but listening for him.

"RING!" He yells, "Prissy - I need you to meet me in my office right NOW!"
She screams something back ( I can't understand a word of it)

"I mean it! You need to come here right now!" He screams again, this time slightly slurring the words.

She babbles back again this time I understand her, she is babbling ON Purpose!

He sighs, shakes his head. Then after waving his arms he walks over and picks up his favorite toy.

"Ok," He calls out. "I'm coming to you & I've got my gun!" (Its a Nerf turbo blaster)

She screams this time and he drops his fake phone and takes off after her!

5 mins later he brings her hands bound into the living room and makes her sit down on the couch.

She is playing along looking scared and pitiful. 

"Now that you are here FINALLY, here's what we're going to do..." LittleMan says at this point I walk out of the room! It was just to perfect! 

Hands on the hips, exasperated and annoyed! Love it!

I love my dastardly duo - they bring me joy!

Seasons of Time

What my yard looked like yesterday

I was so happy with my new camera I ran around shooting silly shots of no consequence.

What it looks like now!

It snowed and rained all night long! 

Winter has struck and it appears to have no intention of leaving.

The only serious problem with this is the sad fact

is that my Big Sis will not be able to join us for Thanksgiving.

Last year with all the early snow we had it made their journey

not only inconvenient, but expensive and trying.

Utah seems to be moving towards only having two seasons a year - 

9 months of winter and 3 months of summer!

Last year winter started at the end of October and was still snowing in June!

As this is our second snow this week (but the only one that stuck)

I must think that winter has again come early.

I also promised a few good friends to post pictures of our new van.

Here it is! Don't you just love it?

As you can tell I am in love with my new camera! 

I am in the process of learning of its in and outs.

Now that I have a working camera again I am sure that I will be on more!

Thanksgiving

 

Big sis and her hubby behind her. Our father sitting on the couch.

Grandma D and Prissy spent most of Thanksgiving in this chair.

This is mid sis who managed to have me out in both of our major snow storms for the month. The second one that resulted in two feet of new snow in less than 12 hours.

Of course since my itty bitty niece and her daughter fell off a dresser 6 hours before train time running around in a horrible storm makes perfect sense.

This was what my yard ended up getting by the end of both storms and the snow had settled down a bit.

Thankfully everyone made it home safe (besides the broken arm) and everyone is amazingly enough not only still speaking to each other but actually thinking of coming back next year to do it all over again.

What do you smell? Smells, shopping and house!

Inhale, exhale... smell that? I am sure you do. Does is make you smile? Wrinkle your nose or sighr ? Is it stale, fresh, invigorating or normal?

Yet smell is one of the best memory triggers in the world. The smell of coffee, dog food, french fries, sweet and sour chicken, pumpkin pie, all trigger memories, emotions and physical reactions from us.

Right now I smell rain, damp old house and pumpkin spice.
 
I am once again going to do a double post half of this topic will be on this blog and the other half  on my writing blog.

For those that follow my blog you already know about my new old house. Its new to me - we have been here almost two weeks. It was built in 1951 and has an old people smell to it, dusty, musty, dirty type smell. I am working to remove this as we get rid of carpet and clean walls and floors.

This week has been filled with rain, cold weather and falling leaves. I love the mushy smell of fall. Love it! Add to the fact that I now live in a house that reminds me of my grandparents I am in heaven! Utah is filled with nice, neatly planned houses. The streets are wide and straight, and each neighborhood is laid out in uniform.

Magna is not. Well the streets are pretty straight - for the most part. It is a mining town that grew and took over the farming area. Thus causing  a hodgepodge of properties, house styles, yard sizes and streets. It reminds me again of Washington. It reminds my husband of back East. He grew up in Rhode Island and has had a hard time in the cookie cutter neighborhoods that all look the same. No problems here, this street has personality.

Last night after my father and Di left, I was called by my BFF. She had just found out that Shopko was having a HUGE sale half the store is 30-70% off from Thursday to Saturday. I was thrilled! I had just agreed to hosting Thanksgiving dinner at my new home! I didn't even have enough plates to serve everyone!

Now my plates have a history, when my hubby and I were first married we ate off of my old college set, then we inherited my grandmothers old Correlle set. What is odd about this is I have two great fine dining sets, but didn't have a good everyday set. So when our life started to improve last year  I went shopping!

I found a great set of square pink Correlle dishes that serves 4. I found them at Walmart for 29.99, knowing I would want to host parties and entertain I asked my hubby if I could buy two sets. We had the money, although it would have meant a tight week for us. He said no. This would not have been a bad thing if it hadn't of been for the fact that Walmart stopped selling it the next week and every where else the price jumped up to 60.00 for the same set!

Shopko is selling my set of dishes for 110.00! Good thing though with the sale I got 60.% off and was able to buy the set for 48.00 and a few loose dishes bringing my total of plates up to 10.  Now all I need is Dad and Di to remember to bring the folding chairs with them for Thanksgiving and I will be fine!

Also on sale was the desk that my Hubby wanted, instead of being 199.99 for each of the two pieces (bottom and top) we bought them for 89.00 a piece. It was a good thing we went last night as they won't be there tonight! As sick as we are all feeling right now and as run down as we are, I love this house and am excited for Thanksgiving when all of my family gets together!

Zoo Day

Our last day together we went to the zoo and of course we took our neighbors daughter since our kids just can not live with out spending at least one day a week together.
Saturday morning Mid sis went back home and this morning (Sunday) Big sis went home :( boo hoo.
We had a great time but I am exhausted so today is going to be very quite - nap & then shopping for a plant.
Wil is also buying me the Twilight series Big and Mid sis are both fans and after watching the movies I am very confused hence the books.
I feel bad that I am joining the crazy people craze - but since I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan why not another kid series?
Now all I need to do is finish shopping (kids presents) and then we will be ready for Christmas.
Hubby and I are mostly taken care of minus my Christmas Eve Chinese dinner :) and a ton of Christmas present wrapping.

See you tomorrow

Soup Night

Big Sis
Mid sis and hubby (in back ground)
the kids
Dad and my step mom
Big sis's hubby and my little girl

Dad and Gideon having fun reading a book. Today was fun we woke up hit our favorite store got some things, and then watched "New Moon" - I have not read the books however both older sis's are fan's.
So now I am watching twilight for first time trying to make sense of this weird world.
However this is just not going to become my favorite but I will give it a try.


TJ - I will post and email the recipe sunday or monday when the family is out of town but I won't forget you.

Thanksgiving Day!

The dastardly due are really big helpers and such great cooks!


(cracked wheat rolls)


(weight watchers pumpkin cheesecake)





Today's menu

Appetizers:

Veggie tray
baked pita chips and spinach dip

Salad:

Romain lettuce
dried cherries
walnuts
dried cranberries
with home made oriental dressing

Main Menu:

Smoked Turkey
dressing (with celery, apple, dried cranberries & walnuts)
baked yams (butter and cinnamon)
relish (oranges & cranberries)
cajun broccoli
cracked wheat rolls

Desert:

weight watchers pumpkin cheesecake (with whipped cream)

For the last several years our goal was to eat healthier with out losing flavor, we stick to keeping the food as pure as possible - less ingredients = purer healthier.

I can tell you dinner was great! Good food, times and the family all together. The pictures are of our day at grandma and grandpa's home.
Of course the whole day could not be just fairy tale wonderful - Gideon got very hyper playing with grandpa and broke his glasses then because he was over tired - over stimulated so after minor chastisement (very minor) and he started crying so hard that he threw up all over the floor, himself and then several times in the toilet after that of course we packed everything up and headed home.
I am just glad I always bring extra cloths for the kids when ever we go out for a long day.

So tomorrow we are ready for a big big day! While I really hate going shopping on "black friday" we have limited time for all of us to be together so we are planning on going to our favorite cooking store "Spoons and Spice" first thing in the morning. I really am hoping that they are not having any huge sales and that there will not be a huge crowd of people outside waiting to get in.
Here's hoping as this will be my first time shopping on black friday :)

Family!!

Big Sis!


Hubby of Big Sis



The dastardly duo having a crazy day Big Sis and Mid Sis all came over today for family time! Sorry I forgot to get pictures of Mid Sis and kids will do that Friday when we all get together for soup night.
Tomorrow I will try to post late night pictures and menu for our Thanksgiving day meal.
Happy Thanksgiving every one!

Ready for my Big Sis

Our guest bathroom is all ready


Gideon's room all ready for Big sis and hubby


What can I say? Its a small room - I have a small house as well


My girls room is clean as well :)

What a cutie putie!!


So every one here is excited about the family getting together. Mid sis came in on Sunday but I will see her tomorrow - she is staying with her grandma. Did I mention that mid sis is adopted and has two families?
Big sis comes in early tomorrow morning -- when I mean early I mean in about 3 hours from now :).
Yeah!!! Then our holidays begin! Hubby is still whisper perfect and is barely able to eat soft breads.

Wassil or Russian Tea

Ok this is a long story but when I was growing up my Mama was given a Wassil mix from our neighbor as a Christmas gift. We loved it so much that Mama asked for the recipe our neighbor then explained she had bought it from a co-worker who had since then quit. After that both mama and our neighbor started trying out different recipes for this fabulous drink.
Several years and many recipes later they both fell in love with this recipe.
Which is made using easy to get American ingredients (nice for me since this is very popular in Sweden, Russia ect) the first couple of recipes they tried had harder to get ingrediants.



When its almost done but not mixed it looks like this!


Helpers are a must!


My math when I make more then my normal recipe :) I try to make enough to last me one full year or enough for me to gift away to others for Christmas along with the recipe of course.


When its all mixed up it looks like this!

Then add around 2 tbls to a large cup of hot water.


Stir and enjoy!
Yummmmm

Wassil or Russian Tea Recipe

Mix together in a large container
2 cups Tang
1 1/2 cups Sugar
3/4 cups Instant Tea
1 pkg Jello (any flavor) I prefer the new tropical fusion however orange or lemon work well too)
3 Tbls Lemonade drink mix
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Cloves

The hubby is doing well after his surgery, while his pain is increasing and he still can't talk above a whisper he is very happy its over and that he is home; and I am very happy that I have some time with my hubby and family for the holidays.
Just a couple more days and Mid sis will be in then a couple days after that Big sis comes in!!
My home is almost all put together and clean - decorations are up and now the Wassil is ready!!

Car inspections & Shopping

Today we got our car emission and inspected (taxes as well) so we are now legal again! Yipee and who hooo one less thing one my list to do; second thing on my list accomplished was grocery shopping getting lots of soups and broth for my hubby to eat after his surgery.
However my baby sitter for the kids during Wil's surgery called today to tell me the good news - she's sick so I now need to beg my neighbor to stand ready as a stand by to take the kids for the day.
I just love surgeries - NOT!! I do however love Verizon this will be our second surgery and their insurance is amazing!
Any way the rest of today has been quiet, we watched movies and had good papa time I made turkey dinner for Wil as his dr. thinks he might be able be able to eat by Thanksgiving but is in no way sure.
Tomorrow will be another quite day all I have to do is pack Wil's over night bag and spend lots and lots of time with my hubby.
Please remember to pray for Wil and that all goes well with no complications.

Quote of the day, "This turkey comes from really good chicken." - My little Autumn

Tea Time with Grandma

So somehow I managed to clean the table, counters, floors, bath the kids, go for my one hour walk and still be ready at 1pm for tea time with Grandma. Trust me its Amazing!!


My clean counter - had to take pictures because tomorrow I am hoping to be able to decorate for Christmas which means this counter will be covered will all my decorations while I try to make it look nice.



And then came Grandma - honestly I am very fortunate to have such a great step mom. She is wonderful with my kids every couple weeks we get together and have tea time.
Today we planned the menu for our Thanksgiving meal and how and when we will spend time with Dawn and David.
However I am really too tired to do anything more but rest and wait for us to do more deep cleaning tomorrow and then the fun part - Decorating!

Another Surgery

The picture is my husband yesterday helping our neighbors set up their new laptop posing with their cutie putie baby Samuel. At this moment he is back over there hooking up their internet to a wifi router.

Today was his Dr appointment and if you read the title of this blog what comes next won't surprise you - next Thursday Wil goes back under the knife. They are removing his tonsils and shaving down his Uvula, besides the fact that he has tonsillitis, and sleep apnea they also said that his tonsils, Uvula and something else I can't spell or say are abnormally large!
Great right? Yep married less then 8 years and going on surgery number 3! Don't get me wrong he's most definitely is the most perfect man in the whole world for me I just wish he didn't come in a broken body.
But I guess such perfection had to have a down side so failing body is what I get and trust me out of all the options out their I would take it over some of the other horror husband stories I have been told in the last several years.
They say he should be able to eat turkey by Thanksgiving his plate just might look like I was feeding a one year old (all tiny and cut up for those non parents out there).

The cleaning and the organizing took a down turn today when my very bored daughter decided to throw flour on her bedroom floor - again she lost her toys and this time I will have to go through her boxes and decide what to throw away. Which quite frankly is not hard she just loves to hold onto McDonald's toys, toys that are missing cloths and have had their hair pulled out this just gives me a legit reason to throw out the junk I wanted to anyway to clean up her closet.
Have I mentioned that I am having my sisters come in for Thanksgiving and that I am trying to clean my home?
AHHHHHHH!!!

Yes, that might also be why I am losing my mind however at least my husband should not lose his job for taking so much time off this year because of strep. Which I have been worried about.
He is also going on 4 days of losing his voice and still not being able to find it again - he really should work on that you know.

Movies, Cleaning and Organizing

So we cleaned all our VHS off our shelves, sorted and separated. Several hours later we have the shelves cleaned off and most of the VHS sorted into piles.


This is where I am going to put up our Christmas stocking's and decor for the holidays (stay turned will update with in a day or to with pictures)


This is the pile of VHS we are going to keep for now, the we can't live with out these movies and kids movies that we don't want to buy again.


These are the boxes of VHS that we gave to our next door neighbors I really hope they like them but we also told them if they don't like them that they could give them to a library, the DI or a hospital.
My feet hurt, I am dusty and very tired. Wil and I have also started cataloging our videos so we will know what movies we have, what they are rated ect.
I am still trying to clean up the home and decorate for Thanksgiving and my Sis's coming in.
Right now I am unwinding watching SG1 and waiting for my feet to stop hurting enough to take a shower however I may just give up and decide to take a bath instead a good soak sounds nice.
Not quite sure what we are going to clean tomorrow but I am sure something will be cleaned and hopefully I will get some of my Christmas items put up - I still need to buy a silver snowflake stocking holder for Gideon's Christmas sock however I think we can pick that up tomorrow while we are out taking Wil to the Dr.

:)