new years eve

Hope you're all enjoying this last day of 2007. We've just run a few errands and hung around the house with Ryan, Nicole and Porter. I have a little prep work to get done today for our Dinner tomorrow, and tonight we'll all just be hanging out, playing games (just the four of us, just like last year!), drinking milkshakes and eating a crapload of sausage and cheese and crackers. We're toying with the idea of letting Savannah stay up and seeing how long she lasts. She seems to think she can stay up 'til midnite... even though she has no idea when midnite is!! I don't think this kid has seen the other side of 10pm in her whole life, so we'll see what happens!!
*****

So I did a meme last year to remember the highlights in 2006, and this year I came across one on Sundry Mourning that I just loved. This is her fourth year answering the same questions and I thought that would be awfully fun to look back on each year. So I thought I'd do my own version and hope to repeat it when the end of each year rolls around again...

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?

Moved to Missouri

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Here are my resolutions from last year. I didn't do so hot in keeping up on all of those.
This year I'm keeping it simple... in the health/weightloss arena... I will drink more water, use a pedometer and set actual goals for walking more.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My sister in law Holly had Tasi in May, along with Sunshine having Logan a week before that, and The Malones had little Yuri this past July.
Tons of new preggos this year too!!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No

5. What countries did you visit?

Just other states in the good ol' US of A

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

friends... moving across the country twice in one year is not real condusive for building tons of friendships

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 23rd -Savannah's first haircut (at 4 years old!) -14 inches!!
June 25th -closed on our new house
Sept 16th- Jenn and Greg's wedding

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
hmm... achievement makes me think of a lot of effort put into something, and nothing big like that comes to mind.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not doing my best when it comes to patience with my kids and being engaged with them as much as I should be day in and day out.
Also our budget. I was not too good with that these last few months.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing serious

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Real dining room furniture... love it!

12. Who's behavior merited celebration?
Our good friends who have made two trips down to see us in the last 6 months to celebrate special events with us... Ryan's Surprise 30th Birthday Party and also now, for our annual New Year's Dinner.

13. Who's behavior made you appalled or depressed?
Britney Spears most definitely.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Probably the mortgage.
Target would be a close second.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Moving, houseguests, new dining room furniture

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
I think this is a great, fun question... I'm just drawing a blank right now. Maybe Bubbly by Colbie Caillat, just because it was on the radio all the time and we also used it in the kids' photo montage DVD.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? probably the same
b) thinner or fatter? maybe the same
c) richer or poorer? same money stretched thinner, so poorer I guess

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
spent more time at the beach, camping, put more effort into meeting new people in our community

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
wasted time, procrastinated

20. How did you spend Christmas?
here at home, just us in our jammies all day

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes; with my baby's turning into a little boy, with my little girl's becoming so much her own little person, with my husband's Mint Oreo milkshakes, with my bubble bath, and my big new house.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
The Office, Lost, How I Met Your Mother

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is a strong word...

24. What was the best book you read?
hmmm... kinda sad, but I'm not sure if I could name one. I have lots of good books lined up to read this year though.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Ryan found me an old Bebo Norman Christmas cd from before he had a label... love it!

26. What did you want and get?
a new camera!! Ryan surprised me with it on a house hunting trip to St Louis.

27. What did you want and not get?
the basement finished

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Can I come back to this one?

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Ryan played hooky from work and we all baked Christmas cookies and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights. I turned 32.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? finding a church home, having more friends/ groups to do things with

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
um, non-existent?? Jeans and t-shirts

32. What kept you sane?
my husband. Unless he was the one driving me insane.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
hmmm... a crush?

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Debates over interracial adoptions. I guess that could be considered more ethical than political. I mostly like to steer clear off political issues.

35. Who did you miss?
Having family close by, old friends, pretty much everyone in Oregon...

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Probably all of our new neighbors

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. That they "really are only little for such a short time" and every day counts. Cheesy I know, but I'm realizing I'm watching them grow up before my very eyes and I need to remember that and honestly be more intentional about a lot of things especially when it comes to my kids and the people I hope they become.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. Again, a great question, but my lame brain has no answer. If I think of one, I'll add it later.

list of the day

if you need some reading material this weekend while blogs are running slow, here are some laughs for you...
Good Old Olan Mills
If Celebrities Were Regular People
Poorly Placed Ads

and I laugh out loud at this one every time...
Funny Baby

for all you 24 fans...

very funny!

blah blogger

I must say that I'm only blogging tonight out of obligation...
I'm still feeling very non-bloggy, but I'm also feeling guilty about it. And a little desperate. Like if I don't write, all my bloggy buddies are going to go away and forget about me. That and my mom will start pestering me and asking me if everything's okay...

It's not like I have nothing to write about; we've had some good days and some fun stuff going on... I just haven't felt very bloggy about it. I even had a Thought for Thursday this week, but never really had the motivation to sit down and write.

Ryan's off work until after the new year and we've just been hanging out, doing a bit of after-Christmas-sale shopping, playing all of our new games, doing puzzles, and supposedly preparing for our New Years Day Dinner. (remember starting it off last year?)
And The Barczaks arrived last night for a nice week-long visit so now we have company for all the hanging out, shopping, games, puzzles and preparing for the dinner.

We're all off to bed. Just wanted to say yes, I'm still alive, in case any of my five readers were missing my usual blog babbling. I'll get back in the groove one of these days...
Until then, hope your weekend is off to a good start!

don't forget the donuts

We had our Christmas Day "Homemade" Donuts again. I thought this year Sawyer would get to help (last year he was too little and napping) but since he was sick and up so early, he was napping again. He helped us eat them later though!

I love this tradition! And the secret is, it's so stinkin' easy!

You take the regular Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits (the small plain ones), you use something to cut a hole in the middle (I use a little medicine measuring cup) and stick them in a deep fryer (or a pan of hot oil on the stove). Fry them about a minute and a half on each side till they're golden brown and fish them out to cool slightly on a paper towel.
We always put the fryer outside so our kitchen doesn't smell like or feel all greasy.







Then just make them into your favorite donut! We used chocolate, whipped white frosting, with sprinkles of course, powdered sugar, and cinnamon sugar...






















































We all have our different favorites. I loved the white frosted ones... they tasted like the creme filling in Krispy Kremes. Ryan likes the chocolate, Savannah likes lots and lots of sprinkles, and Sawyer's favorite were the holes!

Such a fun Christmas treat!

What's your favorite tradition/thing to eat in between all the presents and playing on Christmas?

christmas according to the rest of us

We had a good morning. Way too early of a morning, but a good morning.
Sawyer was up at 5AM. He's really pretty sick with a horrible cough and he crawled in bed with us at 5. None of us ever went back to sleep. And Savannah woke up at 6 when Ryan tried to re-dose Sawyer with the Triaminic that resulted in a huge screaming and crying episode. He was back in bed by 10:30 this morning.



We had finished presents long before that and he had played with the numerous balls, cars, tracks, puzzles, books, and various toys and he was DONE. He scored a scooter from Santa and opened up a total of 4 footballs, 3 tool benches/boxes and 3 RC cars among his other gifts.
Savannah was spoiled as usual between Santa, us, her three sets of grandparents and 5 Aunts. Too many clothes, too many Princess Barbies, much more dress up and jewelry, lots of books, and tons of other fun stuff.
Here are just a few pics of our morning:

christmas according to Savannah

Guess who Santa brought a new camera??




















































She has been snapping away all morning. Already filled up the memory card twice. We may have an honest to goodness photographer on our hands too... she was actually "arranging" shots, clearing out things she didn't want in the shot and positioning things just so. She took a picture of our Santa cup and plate and then stopped, rearranged it, and shot it again. Turning the camera all different angles and everything. Too funny!
These were some of her favorite pics and asked if I could share them on the computer. Her new Nutcracker (yes, she asked for this!!), of course a bunch of her kitty, her brother, her elephants, me taking pictures of the kids taking pictures, her favorites from her stocking, her new paper dolls, and her goofy dad.

merry, merry

Some of my favorite Christmas spots in our house today...

Noel \No"el\ (n[=o]"[e^]l), n. [F. no["e]l, L. first birth,
fr. natalis natal. See Natal.]
Same as Nowel.
[1913 Webster]

Nowel \Now"el\, n. [See Noel.] [Written also noel.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Christmas; also, a shout of joy at Christmas for the birth
        of the Savior. [Obs.]
   [1913 Webster]

2. (Mus.) A kind of hymn, or canticle, of mediaeval origin,
   sung in honor of the Nativity of our Lord; a Christmas
   carol. --Grove.
   [1913 Webster]

Savannah's been saying "Noel!" to everyone; she tells me it's another way of saying Merry Christmas. I asked her who told her that and she said she told herself. I then had to look it up and see what exactly it does mean, and she's really not too far off.

Hope you are having a peaceful and joyous weekend taking in the sights and sounds of celebrating.
Noel!

presenting SJ's program

I did want to share a couple of pics from Savannah's preschool Christmas program last week before the holiday gets away from us. Both for the grandmas and for my scrapbooking archives....

Savannah did awesome!! She was up there smiling and singing away. They have a great music teacher this year and they sang a lot of fun songs to which Savannah remembered all the words and all the motions... she rang her bells, danced with her scarves, played her instrument, and I could hear her singing loud and clear! So proud!

Here are a few shots of the afternoon show:

can't blog; busy vacuuming

We bought a new vacuum Wednesday night. I know, what thrilling blog fodder!
Story starts out, my mom bought us a new vacuum for Christmas. She'd heard me putting off buying a new one for months and pleasantly surprised us with one that showed up on our doorstep a couple of weeks ago. (Thanks again Mom!)
Well, the vacuum remained in its box sitting in the dining room while I continued to use our old one. The new one was this bagged upright, and while that was a great little vacuum, Ryan and I had been leaning toward trying out a bagless. So I sat on that one (not literally) for a bit while we decided if we wanted to exchange it or not. This week I finally decided, what's the big deal, it's just a vacuum, any old vacuum will vacuum my floors, I'm never going to get around to exchanging this one, I should just open it and start using it already! It's not like we were researching vacuums or even looking at Target at what I would want to exchange it for.
But it wasn't my "vacuuming day" so I didn't open it, telling myself come Friday, I'd be using my new vacuum.

I should also say, Ryan's dream vacuum (okay, mine too!) was a Dyson. Everyone's heard all the hype about the Dyson vacuums and well, we saw it first hand when we borrowed Ryan's mom's a couple of years ago. We had vacuumed with our own vacuum and then used her Animal and we were amazed (disgusted?!) at the amount of dirt it picked up in the canister. Ever since then Ryan has said our next vacuum would be a Dyson. I said yeah right. $$$$!! That was like a $600 vacuum.

Well as luck would have it, guess what was on slickdeals this week? Why, let me tell you!
Circuit City had their Dyson AllFloors DC14 on sale for $352. And as the slickdeal itself so kindly pointed out, Lowe's has a pricematch guarantee + 10%. Which means, letting Lowe's know about CC's sale price would get us a price of roughly $319. Lowe's also happened to have a promo of spend x amount of $ and receive a $100 Lowe's gift card, theoretically bringing the out of pocket price for the vacuum to $219. Awesome deal. Plus the fact that purchasing this vacuum would mean a return to Target for another chunk of vacuum money for us, bringing the cost for us to purchase a new Dyson AllFloors Bagless Vacuum with Telescope Reach DC 14 to right around $150. !!!

So we did it.
And I haven't actually done a real vacuum job yet (it's Friday. it's early.), but I'm anxious to. I did vacuum a little square in the middle of the living room yesterday after the kids decided to crumble some packing peanuts, and seriously, after running the vacuum for all of 20 seconds, I could not believe the amount of dirt in the canister. Now, let me point out that I regularly vacuum twice a week. It's been more often with the Christmas tree around. And in 20 seconds, in a three foot square radius (does that even make sense? square/radius? can you use those together?) I am appaled at the dirt it picked up. Actually torn between appalled and awed.
Ryan came home and vacuumed the whole living room last night. He kept saying, "this is no effort at all!... it's so quiet!... look at all that dirt!...".
So I'm going to vacuum the whole house today. Is it weird that I'm kind of excited??!

Anyway, just had to share that awesome deal.
That's what I'm up to today.
Happy Friday!
What do you have going on this Friday before Christmas?

we're getting back to normal around here

It's been a productive week since we got over the "throw-ups".

Savannah and I saw this,















(photo courtesy of St. Louis Ballet's web gallery)


I got these made















And this made


















(recipes are over here)


I got these done and in the mail...





















We did lots of this today...















And yesterday, lots of playtime in the snow...















Here's Sawyer working on their snow "cave"...





















Then I asked for a picture of the kids together in their snow cave...
(notice Savannah's primping, Sawyer's still working)






























(Savannah's hammin' it up,
Sawyer's still working)


















(Savannah's smiling away,
Sawyer's thinking about working)











(Savannah's getting tired of posing, Sawyer's looking for more work)












(Savannah's ready for a nap in the cave, Sawyer wants her to get off so he can keep working)











The week's half over!
Happy Wednesday; can't wait for the weekend!
The weekend before Christmas!!!