Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas!

For those whose address I don't have, I'm sending you our Christmas card virtually. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!



PS- Special thanks to T. Little Imaging for taking this totally awesome Christmas photo for us.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Winter Wonderland

We are still enjoying Mother Nature's wintery goodness, and we just heard this morning that another 2-3 inches are coming tommorrow morning. I've really enjoyed it and we've been taking advantage of the snow every chance we get. We were goofing around outside well after Sassy-pants's bedtime last night.

This is the most interesting snowstorm I've ever seen out here...having grown up on the West Coast, I'm used to getting small amounts of snow and watching it disappear again in a matter of hours. These past few days I have been waking up every morning prepared to look outside and see green grass, but all I see is more snow!

While I am really enjoying all this white stuff, it is seriously jeopardizing our chances of making a Christmas Eve drive to Washington as planned. I am so hoping that the main roads will be clear enough by tommorrow afternoon but only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm thankful that we are safe and warm here at home, and not one of the hundreds of bus, plane and train passengers stranded along the coast.

I've been a little camera happy with all this snow around, so here are another handful of my favorite shots around the neighborhood:

Before and after of our tree...it shrunk!

Snow does pretty things to trees:

Ice does NOT...this poor guy is barely hanging on:


"Mommy and me" snow angels:

Handsome and Sassy-pants:


I think she's praying to the snow gods:
Loving the snow STILL:
Finally got a decent shot of the house. There's a sidewalk in there somewhere...
Stay tuned, more posts to come soon! Being stranded at home and unable to get my Christmas shopping done has providing me with plenty of time to think of things to post. Be on the lookout for more of our family Christmas pictures, photos of homemade Christmas gifts, some interesting family factoids I've recently run across and (thanks to Lisa), a "Rants and Raves" post.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Happy Sing for Nana

A birthday song for Nana:


Happy Birthday Mom, we love you!!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Snowman Sweater

We got snow last night! It's only an inch or two, but it's so pretty to look at, and perfect for snowman building! This was the first snowfall that Sassy-pants truly enjoyed- last year she wanted nothing to do with it.

This time around, she couldn't wait to get out the door and explore. I showed her how to make a snowball to throw....BIG mistake. I was pelted with snow for a solid twenty minutes before she lost interest.

We built a Sassy-pants-sized snowman, which she appropriately named "Snowman Flitter"...which comes out as something like "Snowman Sweater" when she says it.

Here's a few shots around the house, along with a few of Miss C and her new pal "Sweater".










Having fun in the snow



Tasty!



What's with the crabby face?



Our new friend, Snowman Sweater:


Now that we're both about thawed out, somebody is begging and pleading to make a friend for Snowman Sweater. Any suggestions for HIS name?

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Trees, trees, trees and cookies.

We're pretty much all set for Christmas (we better be, did you know it's NEXT WEEK?!) so I thought I would take some pictures of the fruits of our labor. (Side note- half these pictures are not actually the fruits of MY labor, but that of my mom's). I just wanted to show off her beautiful trees since my goal is to someday have as many trees as she does (six, not counting the little lighted one outside with the reindeer).

I have two this year...maybe I'll add one each year.

Our big tree:


This little guy is usually on the front porch, but he got cold:



One of six trees at mom's house- this one is flocked with fake snow, though it's hard to see here:


This is my favorite tree:


A close shot of my favorite tree:


The table top tree in my room:



The "American Girl" tree:



The "scary lights" tree...LEDs aren't always the way to go...


And the 11 footer! My dad, Handsome and I picked this guy out ourselves and had a fantastic time getting it inside (note the subtle sarcasm). The boys did the lights, which was also no picnic.


While the boys cursed over broken light bulbs, the girls made these tasty creations:


Our best batch ever!


There is snow in the forecast for the weekend, so I think I might use my indoor time to destroy the kitchen with sprinkles and food coloring. It's been an interesting winter so far, I forgot how things shut down on the West Coast when there is even a whispering chance of snow! Having spent six winters in Minnesota, it's hard not to chuckle when snow hits here and panic sets in. It sure is making us feel at home with some white stuff on the ground though!
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If I can slip slide my way across the street, I'll snap a picture of the house with our Christmas lights up...it looks very festive!
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Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Happy Hikers

I've been sorting through pictures on my digital camera and figured I would post a few of my favorites to let you know what we've been up to lately. For Handsome's birthday a couple of weeks ago, we spent the afternoon hiking around Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. We soaked up the sunlight and enjoyed being out in the cool, crisp air. Immediately following our return to the parking lot, we hiked our tired butts to Applebees for some happy hour appetizers and comfy chairs. :-)

We had a blast and are looking forward to heading back when it's a little bit warmer out! Here are a few pics from the drive to the park and the hike:

The fantastic view from the park entrance:
I would like to get my Christmas tree HERE next year:

At the top of the falls:



Walking behind the waterfall:

In amazement over the water:



Christmas pictures coming soon!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The Search for the Perfect Background

Just a quick post to announce to the world that I am SORRY for the constant color and background changes to this blog- I cannot find a color combination that I love (I'm not sold on the current layout), so I continue to experiment.

Stay tuned, and stay patient.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Dryer Sheets and Ketchup

Today is a big day. Something major happened. Something I've been expecting for quite some time, and really, I'm surprised it took this long. This is big, people.

I ran out of dryer sheets.

I know this doesn't seem like a very big deal, but for me it is. Why, you ask? Because in my 3+ years of married life, I have never had to buy dryer sheets. I have been working on the same stack from the first load of laundry I did after we were married. I have not purchased a single package of dryer sheets since then.

You're probably wondering if I have really strict standards for the level of filth our clothing must attain before I deem it necessary to do laundry, but I don't. I do laundry once a week like most people I know, and I always throw a dryer sheet in with each load. I don't reuse them. I don't keep a stack in the bathroom to aid in managing flyaway hair. Or hang them on my porch to keep the mosquitos away. One sheet per load.

It truly does amaze and entertain me that I have never needed to replenish our supply of dryer sheets. And it makes me laugh because we actually had a similar problem with ketchup at the beginning of our marriage. When we moved in together we each brought kitchen condiments from our respective houses. He had one bottle of ketchup, I had two...we had a family gathering after our wedding so we bought one of those Costco sized bottles....(that would bring the tally to 4 bottles in case you weren't following...and keep in mind, neither of us really love ketchup to begin with). It took us hundreds of french fries and a cross country move to get rid of all that ketchup.

The dryer sheets accumulated in much the same way. He brought his supply to our new home, I brought mine. I received samples of some "environmentally responsible" cleaning products and there was a box included amongst my sample gifts. We also received a package or two as part of a wedding gift.

So, for three years I've been plugging away at them, waiting for the day I would run out. Today is the day!

Married folks- anyone else have an abundance of ketchup and dryer sheets at the beginning of your marriage? Or was it something normal, like coffee cups?

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Giving thanks for a great Thanksgiving!

WHAT a Thanksgiving it was this year! I just don't even know where to start! We certainly had a full house- 8 of us crammed into our tiny house for five days, and we had 9 total for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a fantastic meal cooked in my very own kitchen (this is a first for my little family). It was a wonderful weekend of food, games, Christmas movies and fun.

The highlight of my weekend was absolutely the surprise guest who appeared on my front porch- my BEST FRIEND (slash cousin), flown all the way in from Minnesota! How my parents managed to keep her visit a secret for two months is beyond me, but I couldn't have asked for a better surprise!

I handled the surprise quite well, pictures coming soon...once the tears subsided and my breathing returned to normal, we kicked off a holiday weekend like no other! We feasted on a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, ham and cheesy potatoes on Friday and a Mexican Fiesta on Saturday! In true Kirimi-Tricia fashion, we even managed to eat out in the midst of these feasts- twice in one day! We actually went from one restaurant to the next, which is oddly not that unusual for us :-)

We played all the usual games- Cranium, Apples to Apples, Bananagrams and a couple of card games...we watched a half dozen different Christmas movies and even snuck in a photo session in the park while we had the master photographer on hand. Here's a sneak peek picture:



Overall it was one of the best Thanksgiving celebrations I've ever had and I can't believe how fast it went. This weekend reminded me of how thankful I am for such a wonderful family. I'm also thankful for the beautiful weather we had, the delicious food and the fact that we had an abundance of leftovers to share amongst ourselves all weekend. I am also INCREDIBLY thankful for our new dishwasher- kudos to Handsome, Mr. Money and my dad for sucessfully installing it just in time for Thanksgiving dishes :-)

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was as fun-filled as mine, and I'm looking forward to Christmas (though I'm still sitting here willing my calendar to turn back a few weeks...is it REALLY December?!)

Happy Holidays!