Welcome to our Christmas

Welcome to our Christmas!! After 3 weeks in Wyoming we hustled home for just over a day unpacked, repacked, did laundry cleaned up and headed out to the mountains for Christmas. We went to Golden B.C. to ski for the week with my parents. It was a blast. The view was Amazing!!

We had a lot of fun together up on the hill while the kidlets were playing in the condo.

This was actually the first Christmas we have spent with my family since before Elizabeth was born.

We actually had to wake the kids up, they slept in and we were just to excited.

The kids got new Christmas jammies and were spoiled rotten.

Lizzy loved going through her stocking

But of course no holiday can truly be complete without a trip to the emergency room. Luckily this time wasn't as bad as the last trip to the Golden Hospital. Samuel touched the glass on the gas fireplace. AHHHH.

He hates having it bandaged up.

Poor guy has to live like this for 2 weeks

He is doing good though. He crawls on it and plays with it. He is happy, but always trying to get the sock off his hand. I went in to his room this morning and he had it all unwrapped and was happy as can be. Wiggling his fingers around in the air.

Our Christmas was great and I hope everyone else did too.

Home

You know when you get to the end of a trip and even though you had a great time you just miss you bed. Yeh. I miss my bed and my ghetto house. Two more sleeps.

lol maybe missing my bed has been brought on by the fact that Trev and I have been sleeping on a full size bunkbed with lizzy on the floor for the past 3 weeks. I have decided that bunk beds are only fun if you are under 4 feet tall.

I am excited though that I am going to dip chocolates tonight with Glenda. My favorite is one she calls Buckeyes. Peanutbutter chocolate goodness. We will see if any of them make it home for christmas or if I eat them all on the way home.

I will have to go take pictures of their house and post them to show what we have been up to down here.

I am excited to be "Alberta Bound" I always appreciate that song more when I am away from home.

Santa!

We had pictures with Santa this week...and look...Sam isn't even scared of that hairy man!

Baking Blog

I just founda GREAT Baking Blog. Thought I would share.

Books

I have recently read:



I LOVED IT!! I found it on the twilight website interestingly enough, Stephanie Meyer was suggesting it as a good read.

I want to read:


I somewhat follow a book blog and she told about this book I found it very intriguing.


I am going to read next:




I was looking for "The Gargoyle" in a book store here and Wyoming and couldn't find it so I picked this one up for less than 6 bucks. It sounds decent so we will see how it goes.

I didn't tell anything about them because I figure if you are interested you can look them up, rather than me rambeling about them.

I will have an update about Wyoming soon, we are here for 2 more weeks. I am going to take Joel and Glendas camera up to the new house to take pictures of what we have been doing. This house is HUGE.

The whole story

Here is the whole story about Grandpa and Grandma Smith. Lisa is Trevors cousin.

Rant of Love

This time of year has been a struggle for Trevor's family. Tragedy almost took hold. Grandma has frostbite on both her feet , they aren't sure how much they are going to have to amputate and Grandpa is far worse. The part where this turns to a rant is the comments on the story. There are many filled with love and wonder from those who knew the couple and the family, those who actually have a brain. The other comments are from dimwitted cowards.

Trevor's Grandparents are the most amazing people I have ever met. They are are the heart of this large family. Trevor's Grandfather was a Screaming Eagle. For those who aren't as versed in their WWII history he was a paratrooper. He was dropped behind enemy lines. Loraine had 9 children. This couple is in the 80's, they still run a farm, breed champion racehorses, run a family with 50 grandchildren. They cook and clean for themselves, live on their own and yes every year they go and look for Christmas Trees in the mountains for themselves and their children. They are AMAZING. They love life, family, work and each other. They work HARD. They are well known and respected members of a large community. It is a privilege to know them.

People ask why they were in the mountains alone and question how their family could have let them go on their own. What I want to know why on earth would to healthy, active and responsible adults have to ask their children's permission to go look for Christmas trees, something that they have done every year for the past 60 years?? People who are less of a person wouldn't have survived. They survived 12 hours in a snowy canyon in November, he walked for 12 hours, she held on to hope and was angry that she couldn't go with him. I would not have fared nearly as well.

We are down in Utah and Wyoming. We went and saw them in the hospital. Rather than moping and giving up Grandpa is trying to convince the family to bust him out. Telling and Uncle that he needs to go up to the mountains for more wood for the winter (yes every year he still chops enough wood to get them through the winter even though he has a furnace). He is not giving up. Grandmas main concern is for her husband. She is the most gracious person I have ever met. Her gratitude for everything and everyone is a credit to her. I cried tonight when she told us that she didn't know how she and Steve were going to get home but that she was going to take care of him again when they did get there.

The family has come together to be with them also. They are never alone there are children and grandchildren there around the clock to help them out and keep them company. One of the things that made me fall in love with Trevor is the love that binds his family together. They will do anything for each other.

This couple has lived an amazing life and has grown an incredible family and it isn't over yet.

Thankx for letting me vent, perhaps people who have no idea what standard of people that they are talking about shout keep their negative, ill informed comments to themselves.

Sesame Lime Chicken and Sweet Noodles

The on going dinner saga, the past few nights were easy, spaghetti, pizza (I gave in we took it to my parents house), But tonight was rather Spectacular if I don't say so myself.

First I did a Sesame Lime chicken. I will be completely honest it sounds hard but was soooo easy.

I got this little wonder from Costco. It was a Craig Family favorite over the summer, great on barbecued chicken, pork, and veggies, basically everything. So tonight I didn't get started on dinner until 5:30. Frozen chicken came out and was defrosted in the microwave for 10 minutes then I poured this over it and let it sit for 30 - 45 minutes, then I poured the whole bowl full of chicken into my pan with the marinate and cooked it. I cut little holes so that it would soak in really well. mmmmmmmm.

I also tried something else new, it was a sweet noodle dish. Here is the link to where I found it.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sesame-Noodles/Detail.aspx

I halved it though because it serves 8. I also only put in half the oil and used vegetable oil, I didn't but in the onions, added extra sugar, and I used normal white vinegar. It was really good. oh and Trev put some sugar in the water that we cooked the noodles in.

It was all really good, definitely a family favorite now.

Lizzy is so funny here is why

She wears them ALL THE TIME they have stress marks where she has bent them.

Potty Confusion

Elizabeth has the most amazing potty skills... when she is buck naked. She will go to the potty when she has to go without any reminders or coaxing from me, I even have to fight her to go empty the little potty pot.(ewww) However, whenever she has any for of clothing on, be it a diaper, pull up, panties, pants etc. she always wets herself. ughhhh. I am at a loss for how to get her to understand that just because she isn't naked doesn't mean she shouldn't use the potty.

*sigh*

I LOVE this, don't you??



I think this is one of my all time favorite songs, he is such an amazing singer.


Kay so I am getting SOOOOOOOO excited for christmas. These are two of my favorite christmas songs.

I'm only panicking a little

Lizzy is of the age where nap time doesn't always happen. The days she is crabby I lay her down but if she is happy enough I let her stay up. Today is the second time this week she has fallen asleep in the living room while watching cartoons. (I am trying to get things cleaned up before I start dinner.) Of course since we are potty training she hasn't had a diaper on.


a couple days ago. I woke her up to put a diaper on, she was choked, didn't go back to sleep and was grouchy for the rest of the day.

This afternoon I wasn't paying attention when she dozed off. SHE IS ON MY COUCH!!!! The question is am I willing to risk her peeing on my couch to avoid her wrath, or do I try to put a diaper on, or slip a plastic bag under her butt? AHHHHHH!!

Please oh please don't pee. She is pretty cute though.

Goals and Ramblings

So I made a goal lately to make dinner more often. So I have working at it. We had fried rice last night and Hawaiian haystacks tonight. They were really good, one of my favorites. I have gotten pretty good at keeping up with the house and the mess. If I keep right on top of it then I can manage, if I slack off then it is all over. My next goal is to get dressed everyday, yes I am still in my pjs. Sam has had a low grade fever all day so we didn't go to church because I work in nursery and didn't want to infect the kids.

So my cousin Rachel went to South America by herself. She will be there by herselffor 3 months. I cry when I read her blog and her facebook. I worry about her being down there. Desperate people do desperate things and she is a pretty little white girl. Of course she has the rage and I can just imagine the look on some guys face when she let him have it full force. She is in my prayers.

We have been Potty Trainging. Three days in, she wears a diaper for naps and to bed and has been naked the rest of the time. No accidents yet though. She goes really good, and I don't even have to remind her, she just goes. Of course this is after how many failed attempts of me giving up and buying more diapers. Lets hope it holds.

Have you ever had those days when it is an hour till bedtime and your not sure if your kids or you for that matter will make it. But there i somthing irresistable about them just wanting to be cuddled and held. (As I post taking turns holding my kids).

Chicken and Apple Stir-Fry

I made this for dinner the other night it was REALLY good. I made a few changes though.



-I hate mushrooms so I took them out

-I didn't have enough peppers so I used what ever veggies I wanted.

onion, broccoli, celery, red pepper, carrot

p.s. the apples were very good

-I didn't have any ginger so I didn't use it.

-I used mango juice

-I left out the almonds because Trev is allergic.



It was really wonderful. I got it out of my new cookbook.




It is by Better Homes and Gardens. It is AMAZING. Full page pictures, easy to follow, well organized. I love it.

Being 2 and tall enough.

Elizabeth is tall enough to open doors, especially her bedroom door and the front door. We keep the front foor locked to make sure she stays in. Her bedroom door has brought about many stories though.


The other day sam wakes up, I go and get him and head downstairs. As I reach the bottom of the stairs I am greated b a "HI MOMMA, a popsicle!!!" Lizzy was sitting on my couch gladly watching cartoons and eating a purple popsicle ??????? I look into the kitchen and there is a chair pushed up by the fridge and my freezer is wide open. I don't know when she woke up, I don't know when she went downstairs. I am glad however that out of all the choices she had as to what to get she chose that, there could have been a HUGE mess.


Today, Trveor had slept in a bit and was in the shower. I was asleep. Next thing I know they are bothh in my room and Trveor is laughing. She had gone and greated him in the shower. He thought that I had pushed her in there with him, but no, she just wanted to say hello.


I have thought about locking her in but she only comes out in the morning and not in the middle of the night.



Lizzy loves laundry baskets, she will bring hers downstairs and sit and play in it. I think it is cute.






Also I found her sleeping on her bedroom floor last night. Trevor thinks she sleep walks, I think she starts playing and gets to tired to get into bed again. She woke up crying though so that is why I found her.




My Sam woke up 3 times last night and cried for what seemed like forever. I got up the first time to nurse him. But the other two I let him go. I really hope this won't be the new trend.

Mishap

Have you every baked something that was not only beyond completely inedible but the pan could also not be saved? How about in a double batch so it was twice the tragedy?

We always have a family potluck on fast Sunday. My Mom had asked me to make a dessert. Brownies. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I DID. I mixed it up double batch because there a re quite a few people there. I picked my favorite brownies, they are kind of a cake brownie. Made them 100's of times. It had been awhile though since I had made them. I thought the batter looked a little odd when I put it in the pan but didn't think much of it. 35 minutes later when it SHOULD have been beautiful. It looked like I had filled both pans with tar and had warmed it up to a boil. WEEP. Because we were late anyways and I was so torked about it not working and having to go empty handed. I turned off the oven and just left it, planning to clean it up later when I got home with the breakfast dishes that hadn't been done yet. When I got home.... well actually lets ask a question. What happens when tar hardens?? Yeh It was like a road in my pan. It was ROCK HARD!! Trevor and I chipped away at the pans for 30 minutes before I decided to let them soak. They soaked for about an hour before I admitted defeat and chucked both of the pans. at least I had three 9 X 13 pans. So I am now down to one, and I told Trevor I am buying new ones when I find a deal.

Flintstones part 1

For Halloween our kids were...


Pebbles



and Bamm Bamm






our Bamm Bamm had a wooden spoon instead of a club though.

We had a fun night. We trick or treated a retirement community. Lol it was great. We had Lizzy blowing the old ladies kisses and she got extra candy. Then we waited for Angie to get home.

Lizzy was "hiding" in the corner of the bus stop. When Angie got there we trick or treated around a couple of steets. She got more pictures that I want to put up here too so stay tuned.

Stairs

Sam climbed the stairs yesterday. I hovered right beside him though. I decided that if he wanted to do he was going to do it eventually and I would rather be right there than have him do it on his own and fall down them.

Just can't stay mad.

I love two (note sarcasm).
Kay so I'm not really a baby person. I enjoy my kids more and more the older they get. I keep saying that I can't wait for Sam to get to the age that Lizzy is. But I'm sure by the time he is two I will be saying the same thing because she will be older also. Anyways. The reasons I love two is because I love the temper tantrums. woot. In the store, in the parking lot, at home, in the car, in show homes, we are talking full out laying face down in the dirt or on the floor, kicking and crying. However I just can't get mad at her for it. Yes I find it embarrassing, and inconvenient and really annoying but I think it is kind of funny. She is such a stinker. There are many of those times though when I am at the end of my rope that I just can't deal with it any longer, we just know that that means it is nap time.




She is sooo funny though. Trevor was trying to get her to do something the other night, trying to persuade her to come over to where he was. Finally he resorted to counting (which actually kind of works with her) He goes "ONE" she gets this big old smile though and runs over to him jumping into his lap and says "HI DADDY". We both cracked up right away, it was totally not expected. My other favorite is when you start to count

me "One"
"two"

Lizzy "nine"
" four"

Honestly how do you stay mad when she starts counting back at you(however much mixed up it may be).




It was really funny. She was in the tub yesterday and i was getting Sam dressed on the bathroom floor because I had just pulled him out of the tub. Lizzy decided she didn't want to be in the tub anymore if Sam wasn't and started asking to get out. Well I didn't move quick enough for her. She gets this stern look on her face and goes "EIGHT, FIVE" yeh she was counting to get me to do what she wanted. She laughed when I laughed. Then she stopped laughing because I told her I still had to wash her hair.


What a girl




Anyways Sam is finally really crawling, and he is such a CLIMBER.

He is all over everything *sigh* It is fun though. I love watching his face as he does all things things. He concentrates so hard on it all. He gets cuter everyday. He has also started in with solids and LOVES it. But sometimes he just can't stay awake.

Kai the Mail Order Bride

So both of my brothers have been really big on making movies. There have been such greats as Mormaranger, Steve and Ed Mouse Trapped, Sasquach, the Believer, and my favorite, Kai the mail order bride. I am not smart enough to know how to link it so look up "kai the mail order bride" on you tube. I promise you will laugh!! I wanna see how many hits they can get.

7 things

Tagged

This Tag you are suppose to share 7 interesting facts about yourself and then tag 7 people.

1. I am a complete sucker for informercials. I haven't actually boughten anything from them but it takes me months to talk myself out of it. When the bullet first came out I wanted it so bad that I printed off the entire script and hung it on my moms fridge with the best parts highlighted in an attempt to persuade her. Right now I am in love with the cricut informercial. I WANT IT SO BAD!!!!

2. I am completly addicted to minesweeper on the computer. I had AMAZING times and then in a tragic mouse not working accident I deleted them *weep* I play it all the time!!! I think it is great, I want to be a minesweeper champion.

3. I guess the last one leads into this one. I am a GAMER!! I love games, all games, board games, card games, nintendo, but a true gamer loves computer games. My secret game that I swore I would never admit to playing is World of Warcraft. Trevor and I play together. The sad part is that I am a bigger gamer than Trevor, I ask him to play. I like rollercoaster tycoon, sims, wow, everything.

4. My ilness of cleaning. It all has to be done or none of it is done. I have to have an amazing clean house that I keep on top of but the second anything goes wrong, it is all over. Laundry is washed folded and put away in one day or it sits out for the next week. Dishes are washed right after they are used, or ther is no promise when it will be clean again. I think paper plates might be the way to go except for the whole environmental issues.

5. I have had my appendix removed, but not my tonsils.

6. I have no desire of my own to travel outside the United States or Canada. My list of places I would like to go are, Toronto, Montreal, the Prince Edward Island, New York, Seattle, Tucson, Salt Lake. I would be completly happy staying within these two countries. Good thing I am married to Trevor because he wants to go EVERYWHERE. I will probably travel where ever he wants to go because it will be more exotic or exciting but if I was left to my own devices. Well you saw my list.

7. One of my greatest fears is meeting new people. This branches out into speaking and preforming in public. I HATE meeting new people it kills me. I totally panic, it is a mental fight to get myslef to do it. I try to avoid anything to do with new people, especially if I can't take someone I know with me. I guess honestly it isn't just new people but also people I don't know very well. I like to be around people I know and who know me.

there you go my 7.

I tag

Katie Wright
Natalie Findlay
Megan Dahle

Rachel Craig
Ashley Cahoon
Ashley Shurtz
Jessica Gowdy

So close and SURE

Sam is soooo close to crawling forward. he will take a few moves forward if he is REALLY focused. He isn't tearing around yet, but at least he is heading the right direction.

Elizabeths new catch phrase is "sure". I have no idea where she got it from but this is how it goes.

e -"Thirsty momma"
m- "do you want adrink Lizzy?"
e - "sure"


m- "do you want to go to gram's house and see papa?"
e - "sure. lets go"

m- "do you want to get dressed?"
e- "sure"

you get the idea. anywhere it will fit and a few places it won't she says sure as an answer. even when she asks for things. it is so funny.

So Funny

Sorry 3 in one day is a little over kill but this is so funny.

Snotty Nose

So as everyone knows my kids both have snotty noses. (SICK) I hate boogies! However I have taken to not wearing my "nice" clothes, or more the clothes I like.

Sams nose is now running CONSTANTLY. . . so when I see it running I go grab the kleenex. Which like all babies he hates. If I am holding him and he sees the tissue coming he burries his face into my shoulder or arm, covering my shirt in his boogies. Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! I am secretly very excited for snow, just because then all the allergies will be dead for winter and my sleeves with be clean.

Cheese

I was playing minesweeper on my computer (yes a great use of my time) and Lizzy is standing behind me. She starts to say "cheese" over and over so I look back at her (tearing myself away and losing my record time) to see this...









She was "taking my picture" just like I do. It was so funny (well worth losing my game.) What a girl. and yes she has a dirty face, we were eating muffins.





Sam has a new favorite toy.


I bought it for Lizzy (dollar store baby) because she loves it in nursery, but she didn't like to play with it at home (honestly now) But Sam LOVES it. He will sit and play with it forever.

Stuffy noses

Both of my kids and myself all have stuffy noses. I know that mine is from allergies. I think that theirs are too. What do I do to help clear their heads, especially Samuels because he doesn't know how to blow his nose??

Handbags

Akthough I would rather keep this a secret for the extra entries I am posting it. There is a new webpage called Handbag Planet. It has really fabulous designer handbags for non designer prices. There a a bunch of really cute ones. There are giving 1 handbag away for each hour the day of their launch. Take a look I think they are beautiful.

Stupid Stupid

Now I want you to imagine me saying this as I hit my self in the head. Man, death would have been preferable. Prepare for a Read.


So in the never ending task of getting out of debt and trying to save up for thanksgiving in Wyoming and for Christmas with the kids I came up with a brilliant plan...

"Trevor you know what I think we should do"

"No I don't know what you think we should do"

"I think we should get a paper route to make some extra money, the pay is pretty good and it would give us that little bit more to work with each month"

" sounds good why don't you send in an application"

That was the beginning of the end.

So We got the job, Trevor went one morning at 3:15 with the old carrier to do the route... no problem, quick painless, easy. Mind you this guy had been doing the same route for 10 odd years.

Lets go back a little bit to earlier this week. Trevor has not only been working days but also nights. His company does maintenance on malls in the city. So they have been do renovations and setting up new kiosks at night when the malls are closed, so he has to be there to give them power. So getting up early to work, work all day, work at night, little bit of sleep, and one extra early morning to do papers. I haven't had it nearly as crazy, now that Sam sleeps through the night, but I don't sleep well when Trevor isn't home so I have been staying up later.


Back to this morning, early early this morning.

1:30 I am still up going over the maps on mapquest trying to get an idea of what I am doing.

Go to bed

3:15 wake up "we have to go"
" it is Saturday we have another hour"

4:15 wake up again, did I really even get back to sleep??

Trevor is going with me to help me out on my first morning, so we get the kids up, Sam goes back to sleep with a quilt over the car seat so the light doesn't bug him. Lizzy is up

We pick up the papers, the man gives us a funny look. We have a huge pallet of papers, will they even fit in our little versa?? barely

Drive to Elgin. Feeling good, not to tired, I guess all those nights of getting up with Sam every hour pays off. Running from house to house... fall in a hole...ouch.

Walking from house to house, well actually driving, but running to the doors.

Has anyone ever tried to see house numbers at 4:30 in the morning, let alone the paper that has itty bitty print with the house numbers on them. Yeh great fun and who forgot her glasses.

Well that wouldn't have been to bad if all the houses had numbers on them to see... I always thought it was required to have a house number. So I am looking for house 48, well lets pick a house out of the line of 7 that doesn't have numbers. Find the closest house with a number, figure out if it goes by 4's or 2's count down, cross fingers that this is right. On one such attempt we ended up counting from opposite ends, our conclusion was that they were counting by 6's now.

So we are looking for house 256 and 255, 255 no problem so 256 will be right across the street right, wrong, how about down the block around the corner and halfway up the next block.

Dogs barking

Lizzy from the back seat "a sleepy momma, a sleepy" bad mom moment, 30 minutes later she passes out even with the car starting and stopping, the light going on and off, the doors opening and closing, the trunk opening and closing, windows up and down, mom and dad complaining bitterly.

Next problem, condos, finding the right buildings in random order with the papers, running along the rows trying to find the right ones and get through all their gates.

Get lost... my map studying sucks and we didn't have printer ink. Can't find the street.

Trevor and I start to hit hysteria, laughing so hard as we discover how badly this is going, I think we were laughing to keep from crying.

I take over driving, oh did I add that we had to roll our own papers at the same time. I go to get out, forgot to park it, take foot off break car starts to drive away, and I am already out the door... nuff said. at least we were in the richer area and the streets weren't as narrow so there wasn't a bigger problem.

Now what the heck was I thinking??? These are the thoughts that went through my head prior to this morning.
**Food drive, 150 houses no problem, drop off bags, pick them up, I love doing it every year. The difference, every house verses random houses spread out everywhere.
**Hollywood image of a paper route. Young kid on a bike, peddling along merrily, hucking papers that are already tightly rolled over a fence and them landing nicely in just the right spot. BAH!!

I would compare this to when you are little and your dad says "I'll pay you a buck to shovel the walk" SWEET a whole buck, so you take it. then halfway through you realize that it is SO NOT WORTH IT!!

Well if that hasn't convinced you about the title of this post I don't think anything will. Needless to say we called our boss and quit, 1 great day. We got home at 7:30. We decided even if they don't pay us we don't care, we NEVER want to do that again.

My Mistake

Kay Lizzy LOVES pens, she would rather color with a ball point pen then crayons markers or anything. Her favorite place to color ... of course... is on herself. Her arms and Legs and tummy have quite regularly been tattooed with pen lines for days. Well I have been trying to teach her not to color on herself. She does better... well... I forgot to tell her to also not color on SAM. I ran quickly downstairs to throw some laundry in and came back to a tattooed baby. By the time I thought to take a picture I had already washed as much off as I could. Well I guess at least they match. And Sam thought it was hilarious

New Family Pictures

So I had the fabulous Rachel, yes the same Rachel that had me start blogging, take family pictures for us. The idea of trying to take them myself with both kids and a timer.... nuff said. So here are my favorites, there are quite a few sorry. Thankx again Rach!!