a look back

I'm not going to lie to you, the beginning of this year was less than stellar for me. It will go down in history as one of the lower times of my life. I could tell you the exact date it all turned around for me, but it's really more than just my story... so we'll just say it wasn't good and I was glad to see the tide finally turn and I felt lighter.

Now the second half of this year will go down as one of the best. Even with the hiccups like the never ending mortgage renewal, the lien against our property because "Mike" wasn't making his child support payments and our central air dying during the last big heat wave.

We've had great adventures with great friends. Fun parties with lots of laughs. Jammie movie night shows no signs of slowing down, ever. I accidentally on purpose jumped right into the deep end and started a little baking enterprise that could only be declared a success. I live in a community of friends that I can borrow eggs and sugar and tinfoil from. Friends who will watch my kids and hide their Christmas gifts at my house. Friends that will drive 40 minutes to watch my girls in a Christmas pageant. I have family who is always willing to pitch in, no matter what is going on. Family that really buys into the whole "it takes a village" mentality. I've enjoyed the many new volunteer opportunities that have come my way. Even the ones that were outside of my comfort zone.

I am blessed and lucky and grateful.

I cannot wait to continue the ride in 2011.

we may need a break from each other

Maya: Mama, don't call me baby anymore!
Me: But you're my baby.
Maya: No I'm just a girl now.
Me: But you'll always be my baby.
Maya: I am not a baby!
Abby: She's not a baby. She's a hobo.

wrap it up

I guess it's time we get the required Christmas wrap up post out of the way... I'm still waiting to hook up with my best gal Robin, but we've seen everyone else.

By far the best gift this Christmas......



That Auntie Mel was able to make it home in time for Christmas dinner. Earlier in the week it wasn't looking promising for her to be joining us around the table, but we got lucky. The kids were over the moon to have her and Uncle Dave staying at the house for one night and as a bonus that let Mike and I slip out at the butt crack of dawn to buy this fancy laptop I'm typing on.

The gift that made me cry.......



My brother designed a logo, business card and a website with my own domain name for this little baking thing I'm trying out. It truly meant the world to me. It also scares the bejeebers out of me, but that is a post for another time.

"The" gift for the girls this year......



Funny hats and webkinz.

The gift that blew Mike's skirt up......



My Mom got him tickets to see John Schneider and Tom Wopat in concert. He thinks I should go with him, but, that too, is a post for another time.

Most unexpected gift....



My stocking from Grandma Linda and Papa. I am horrible about giving out lists and since I took forever and a day getting back to Grandma Linda about my wish list, she decided to give me this stocking on steroids instead. Isn't it awesome? And pretty. I still haven't unwrapped it. I just can't make myself do it.

The best relive your childhood gift....



While we were out shopping Mike was very insistent we buy Maya Kerplunk, which I think had more to do about him then it did about Maya. Turned out to be a good call on his part because she loved it!

In addition we ate lots of good food - ham and scalloped potatoes, turkey, stuffing and all the fixings, lasgana and a very delicious cheesy pasta. And straight out of the Christmas miracle file Maya voluntarily ate lasagna and asked for a serving of pasta on two separate occasions. Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come.

The girls of course, were spoiled with clothes, wii games, board games, movies, art supplies and books. Abby had asked for a DS, but was very happy with the Leapster Explorer she received instead. Maya got a butt load of Little Pets which thrilled her to no end. As for Mike and I we scored some gift cards for dinners out and clothes for him. I ended up with some fab jeans and a sweater from my Mom. And jammies, lots of jammies for me and the girls and we've been getting lots of mileage out of them already.

Of course the best part is just being on holidays and able to spend all this relaxed time with my family.

How was your Christmas?

baking

Earlier in the month when I was up to my eyeballs in butter, flour and sugar the fabulous Lynn had asked me if I would take a few pictures of my baking exploits. By the way, the final tally was in the neighbourhood of 100 dozen cookies. I kinda never wanted to bake again, but I have almost every day since my last order went out. I am a special brand of crazy apparently.

So I actually didn't take many pictures at all. Grabbing a camera was about the last thing on my mind, but I did snap one or two.



Lemon sugar cookies. I made a lot of these.



Cute little boxes of treats I did for the kids' teachers.



And these are the treats I took to dinner at my Mom's. Mini butter tarts with some very awesome pastry if I do say so myself, salted caramel cupcakes and cinnamon chip cookies.

finally

Wow am I tired. I guess that's what happens when you get up at 5:30 am to go shopping. I've never been out boxing day shopping before, but the lure of a great deal on laptops inspired Mike and I to head out at that ridiculous hour. Thank goodness Uncle Dave and Auntie Mel had spent the night so we could sneak out while everyone else slept. Well everyone except Abby who was up at 4am for some reason, but luckily fell back asleep before too long.

Long story short I got a laptop and we were back home in just under an hour.

What have I learned since I brought my shiny new purchase home?

I should have picked up a mouse for it.

Internetting from the couch while the rest of my family mills around is awesome times ten.

Mike and Abby are pretty stoked they don't have to share computer time with me anymore.

Did you hit any boxing day deals today?

hourly photo project - christmas day

I'm taking part in Miss Fish's hourly photo project and taking a photo an hour on Christmas day. I'm going to be taking them with my phone, so this isn't an exercise in quality just a peek into the fun/chaos that is our day. I'll be posting right from my phone to flickr and twitter and when I have a chance I'll gather them all together here.

9am - New hat



10am - Breakfast



11am - Baking



12pm - Future butter tarts



1pm - Cupcakes



2pm - Triple D Marathon



3pm - Tea and more Triple D



4pm - Going to Granny's



5pm - Making cheese sauce.



6pm - Finishing dinner



7pm - Internet videos brings family together



8pm - The aftermath



That's my 12. Hope you all had a fantastic day!

merry christmas

I spent tonight at church.

Six pews were filled with some of my nearest and dearest.

We sang my favourite carols by candle light.

The girls sang for peace on earth.

Popped in on some great friends.

Home for new jammies, cookies, milk, a special Santa key and reindeer food.

Life is good.

Merry Christmas.

it's almost here

Well we are in the home stretch now, aren't we? I wish I could tell you I'm 100% there, but I'm not quite.... I am thisclose though.

I've finished up work and am looking forward to just over a week of sleeping in, jammie days, watching movies with the kids and eating a ridiculous amount of delicious food.

But before I get there I must.....

Give the house the old once over.... and then some.

Get the toyroom guest suite ready for Uncle Dave... no Auntie Mel this year, she's in BC dealing with some family stuff... going to miss her like crazy. Maya was already picking out all the books Auntie Mel was going to read to her while she was here.

Fold eleventy billion loads of laundry.

Run the dishwasher... twice... at least.

Wrap a couple of present stragglers.

And my goal is to have it all done before Michael gets home from work Christmas eve.... and I should mention he's only working half a day.

Think I'll make it?

she's doing it

So you may recall earlier in the school year Abby was invited to be part of an intense reading program. She finished last year about a year behind the rest of her class in reading despite spending time in resource and having an IEP. It was not easy going in the beginning. This program has Abby spending four hours a week out of her class. There were tears and moaning and complaining. She was missing gym. She was missing library. She was missing her friends. She was different than everybody else. She disliked the program very much.

Fast forward to this week... Abby brought home a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book from the library for Christmas break. She was sitting beside me on the couch with the book in her lap. She often sits with a chapter book and it looks like she's reading it, but when you would ask her about the story she'd tell you she couldn't remember what it was. So as she sat there the other day I asked her... what is the book about?

And she said.... let me tell you! And she flipped to the first page and read the first paragraph and then she rambled on about the other characters and what they had said and done that was funny pausing here and there to read a sentence or two to me. I had a lump in my throat the size of a boulder. She was reading!

In the past couple of days Mike and I have noticed that she's reading everything she can. Words on TV, street signs, cereal boxes, my texts and emails over my shoulder. It's just so exciting! For her and for us.

can you feel the love

On the last day of school before the Christmas break Abby and Maya got to visit the library at the same time.

Maya: We got to have partners in library today and Abby was mine!
Me: Your computer buddy Abby? (her computer buddy at school is our neighbour Abby)
Maya: No my sister!
Me: You two were at the library together? And Abby, you picked Maya to be your partner?
Abby: Well, I saw her there and I thought... meh, why not?

i think it could not

Okay, just popping my head up for a minute so you don't think I've entirely abandoned this whole blogging business. I haven't... I miss it and I miss all of you, but things are great.... busy, but so great. The cookies are going awesomely. I thought I was finished with everything, but I had an offer I couldn't refuse, so I was up to my eyeballs in butter, sugar and flour again tonight.

You might think that my pledge to Mike to have everything ready by Christmas Eve has fallen by the wayside since I'm doing nothing, but hanging out with my mixer and the oven these days, but I am thrilled, happy and a little surprised to say that as of tonight everything is wrapped. The shopping is 98% finished and plans for holiday get togethers are all in place. Also, somewhat remarkably, my house is clean......ish and I am semi on top of the laundry.

I am looking forward to finishing out this short week at work and I cannot wait to see Uncle Dave and Auntie Mel. Did I mention it was Uncle Dave's birthday on Friday. Yep, my baby brother turned 35. How is that possible, when just last week he was running around the dining room with a tea towel/super hero cape clothes pinned to his flannel jammies?

Oh and the kids are singing Happy Christmas at church on Christmas Eve.... you know the one I mean? So this is Christmas and what have you done...... I will be a puddle of tears when I hear it.

And there is a Diners, Drive Ins and Dives marathon on Christmas day..... seriously, could life get any better?

still loving it

So I do realize it was almost a whole week ago, but I've finally got a moment to talk some more about the fabulous pageant the girls got to be a part of. Not surprisingly, Maya refused to take part in the evening show. She watched from Nikki's lap and sang along from the front row.



Abby was just as excited to perform again in the evening, especially since it was a full house and she had all her grandmas there, plus Papa, her godparents, a couple of great Aunts and some really great friends to cheer her on.



I know I've told you this a gazillion times, but it was just so lovely. I want to see it again and again. I am so proud of my Abby girl and so incredibly thankful that we were able to share it with so many of our favourite people. It was an overwhelmingly crazy busy weekend, but definitely can be counted as one of my best weekends ever.... even with the migraine.



And now, a clip... it's just about a minute of the finale, when the kids joined in. I wish I'd kept my camera going for another few seconds to catch their very adorable bows at the end of the show, but what can I say I was distracted by all the kerklempt-ness I was experiencing.

a pinch of this, a dash of that

Well I am here.... just buried up to my eyeballs in flour, sugar and butter. I have orders for somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80 dozen cookies going out by the end of the week. What..... you hadn't heard I was a Christmas baker for hire..... well too late now. The blogmother bakery is not accepting any more orders this Christmas. My baking pans are full.

That 's pretty much it for news around here. I am very much looking forward to Saturday when everything will be done. Well the baking part anyway. Still wrapping and such to finish up.

How are all of you doing?

angels calling

I promise I haven't fallen off the planet, it has been a busy and amazing few days here in Blogmotherland. Abby and Maya have been rehearsing for a Christmas pageant at our church for weeks and weeks and weeks..... and weeks. It's an incredible show, I can say that now that I've seen the whole thing. Up until now I've only seen the parts the kids were singing. I should mention that the entire production is sung and it's completely original... lyrics, music... the whole nine yards. Written by the incredibly talented father of our incredibly talented music director. I should mention that she, herself, is still in highschool. It's just..... wow.

I got through much of my life feeling overwhelmed.... not in a stressed way, but overwhelmed by the good things I have in my life. It makes me prone to tears and general weepiness. Today at church we sang Christmas carols that we used to sing at my Grandmother's on Christmas Eve. Oh boy, did I miss her a ton this morning. She would have LOVED to have been at church today to see her great granddaughter perform in such a beautiful show. And then the show.... the musical is so beyond beautiful. The singers are incredibly talented. More than a tear or two slipped down my cheek this morning because I was just overwhelmed with love and pride and happiness and maybe a titch of melancholy for those who couldn't be with us to see it today.

Maya, not surprisingly, has refused to take the stage..... you never know, she may this evening because she's nothing if not a riddle, but I highly doubt it. She did, however, have lots of fun during all the rehearsing and that seems to be good enough for her. Abby, though, performed the heck out of her part this morning. The junior choir sings a large part of the production and all the kids were just so impressive. I can't wait to see it again this evening.

maybe tomorrow

Wow I am feeling tired tonight. Also I am not quite sure where this evening slipped away too. Seems like just got home from work a few minutes ago and now it's really time for me to go to bed, but I didn't quite get all the laundry folded and there's a load I need to move to the dryer. No presents were wrapped. I didn't get to Abby's new Leapster Explorer so I could figure that out before she opens it on Christmas. I meant to check out the list of things to do before the big day arrives and she what I could cross off this week. But I did get to some of the laundry and answered some pressing emails. Cuddled with MyPie. Watched Survivor with the Abster. The rest will wait.

How was your evening?

what's cooking wednesday

It's that time once again. Time to let me know what you're cooking up in your kitchens!




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page. *All front page links will be deleted!* Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

giving myself permission to take it easy

I have to say I think I'm going to enjoy this Christmas more than any other.

My shopping is almost finished. I didn't buy a lot. I have definitely stayed within my budget, but I tried to pick gifts that I knew would be appreciated rather than buying a gift for the sake of buying a gift.

Mike and Abby went and got our tree on the weekend. It's a good 2 or 3 feet smaller than we normally get. Meaning we can put it in the smaller corner of our living room. So we haven't lost a chair, side table and lamp to make it fit. And I didn't have to find a place to store an extra chair, side table and lamp elsewhere in the house. Also for the first time in many years.... maybe even ever.... the star fits on the top of the tree.

I didn't put the tree up in my office. For the last few years I've put up a 6 foot fake tree by my desk. Last year the idea of packing up 4 trees worth of decorations (the girls each have a little tree in their rooms)... well hate isn't a strong enough word. I hated the idea of post Christmas clean up with the heat of a thousand suns.

Why do I put up two big trees? Well I have a very large collection of ornaments and I try to get as many out as possible. I didn't do that this year either. I went through the boxes and picked out my favourite pieces and spread a sprinkling of Christmas cheer through the house.

I let the girls decorate the tree. So there is clumps of ornaments together and some random bare spots. I only moved ornaments that were in peril. A lot of my ornaments are heavy and our tree was not the strongest tree in the field. I have lost more than a couple to breakage, I like to avoid it when I can.

What am I looking forward to the most? Time with my family. Uncle Dave and Aunt Mel will be here, for too little time, as always. I plan on a week of sleeping in, jammie days, movies, books and games with the girls. Sharing food with my favourite people. Talking, telling stories and laughing. I also plan on stealing hugs whenever possible.

Yeah it's pretty much going to be the best Christmas ever!

friday high five - the best thing i ever ate

I think it's safe to say that the food network is my favourite channel. So many great shows on that channel.... Throwdown with Bobby Flay, Good Eats, Iron Chef America, Dinner Party Wars, Diners, Drive ins and Dives and the Best Thing I Ever Ate.

The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a new favourite. On the show foodnetwork stars sit down and tell you the best thing they ever ate on specific topics like cheesy, in a bowl, sandwich and so on. So for this week"s Friday High Five I though I'd let you know the best thing I ever ate... the real life edition....

1. Grandma Linda's sausage stuffing. I'm not quite sure how she makes it because to be honest I've never actually asked, but, oh yum, is it delicious! The best stuffing ever and I know stuffing! It's the one thing I dislike about only having Christmas dinner there every other year because on the years we are there I miss out on the stuffing.

2. My Grandma's cheese cauliflower. This was a holiday staple on my Grandma's dinner table. Now I can make cheese sauce and a pretty good one too and cheese cauliflower is a staple on my holiday table, but it has never tasted like my Grandma's.

3. My Grandma/Mom's cabbage rolls. This is another thing I know... cabbage rolls and I've had many different kinds and those are all yummy, but not a chance do they taste as good as my Mom's who learned to make them from my Polish Grandma.

4. Papa Joyce's coleslaw. I can't say I'm a huge coleslaw fan, but Papa Joyce's coleslaw made me one. It was out of this world! So yummy!

5. Eddie's Chili. Hands down the best chili you'll find out there. I've tried to make it myself and it's just not the same. I make 1 point weight watchers chili every week, but that's not even in the same class. Nothing like a bowl of Eddie chili and toast for dinner. I could eat it every night.

What's the best thing you ever ate?

she may be the sweetest kid ever

Mike's cellphone is somewhat of a dinosaur. It's a pretty basic LG flip model, while mine is a newer fancy LG with a slide out keyboard, so I was instantly frustrated when he asked me to text a friend using his phone the other night. He was driving, so wasn't able to do it himself. After a couple of minutes of pecking out the letters via the keypad......

Me: This is death.
Mike: What?! My phone is dead?
Me: No, texting like this. It's death. Seriously, when are you getting a new phone?
Mike: Oh I thought you were telling me my phone was dead.

And then from the seat behind me... my Abby.

Abby: You know, it would be nice if heaven had the technology. Then your Dad could text you. He could send you a message. That would be nice.

My word, where does she come up with this stuff?

every one is a comedian

Tonight Elwood arrived, just as planned and dropped off a letter and special stationary for the girls to write their letters to Santa. As usual the girls couldn't believe that they *just* missed him. He's tricky, that Elf of ours. So as the girls put their heads together and tried to figure out how he slipped past them, Mike and I had the following conversation....

Me: Did you see that? Did you see how even Maya came into the room chanting Elwood! Elwood! Elwood! Do you think I'm crazy for doing all of this?
Mike: No, the kids love this..... there are other reasons I think you're crazy.

ba-dum bump