Christmas Miracles

1. We made it to the Northwest even though our 6 a.m. flight out of AZ was cancelled and we didn't know until we got there.

2. We were re-booked on another airline (with a direct flight) before we even got there, but still had to wait an hour for them to re-ticket us because of some computer snafu. The miracle part was the direct flight.

3. We were able to stay in someone else's house for 10 days without them killing us! (or maybe they wanted to, but just never acted that way)

4. Kaylie learned to crawl down the stairs. (Good thing, cuz the gate was a pain)

5. Our kids liked their presents... that I bought 6 months ago before a single "wish list" was made.

6. We saw snow... but we had to drive an hour to see it... even in the NORTHWEST!

7. We were able to stay in the Northwest without having it SNOW! (the rest of my family would call that a tragedy)

8. We didn't die of cold exposure.

9. Abby's fish, who was being cared for by someone at home, did not actually "die" after being spilled at that someone's house... but was merely "stunned" for a while....too bad I told Abby that it was dead before I found out.

10. We ate at Sushi.com TWICE! (It was DIVINE.)

11. We did family pictures and everyone complied... for the most part.

12. Peter thought up the biggest Christmas miracle EVER when he decided we needed to make WADE the lap child and strap K down (I mean, put her in her car seat) for the LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNG plane ride home. (5 hours with a plane change in SEA)

13. We actually MADE our 5 a.m. flight after waking up at 3 a.m. and dragging the kids to the airport.

14. I made it home without punching "Liz" on Horizon Flight #### for harassing me about my car seat and whether or not it was "airline safe". (it was 5 in the morning on the busiest flying day of the year and I have the crankiest 10 month old on the planet)

15. My legs DID NOT FALL OFF after having a 35 lb. toddler sitting on them for 5 hours.

16. Everyone took a LOOOOOONG nap when we got home from that VERY early VERY LONG flight. (And Liz was still alive to harass other people on other flights about their car seats.. I am sure she takes her job very seriously... )

Hope you all had a VERY MERRY MIRACULOUS CHRISTMAS!

And to all. . . a good night.

I think I will be signing off until after the holiday. My computer is going to computer day spa, where they will fix all of it's little quirks... like the ty and t problem.. see, there it is.. I didn't even have to mock it up for you.

But before I go, I want to say, tI had a lot of aspirations for mty (there it is again. I will be soooooooo glad when that problem is gone) blog posts this month.. I was going to do a history of Santa Photos and maybe a history of Christmas Card photos.. but, alas, I didn't. I am not sure why. I am going to say I was busy, because that is the best catch all but means nothing excuse on the planet. No?

There is ONE thing I want to share before I leave though... my favorite piece of nostalgia. I didn't put up many decorations this year. Weren't going to enjoy them for long enough.. I didn't put up a tree, but I DID put up this.

It is my stocking and I have had it ever since.. I don't know, Mom? How long have I had this stocking?? She had someone when I was younger, I want to say around 7, knit it for me. As a matter of fact, she had one knit for every member of our family. And unlike some people who change them each year or from time to time, we NEVER changed them... EVER. Some people would think it is my husband who is Mr. Nostalgia, and he totally is.. but when it comes to Holidays, he has a pretty close rival.



My sister came home one year with stockings knit for her husband and her son, and naturally, I was jealous. How did she get those??? I asked her secret and she said her Mother-in-law had made them! Now, I probably wouldn't have dreamt about asking someone's mother-in-law to make me and my family stockings, but in this case, she has all of ONE grandchild, so, I felt like I was safe.. Maybe she would do it for me too. . and she did. She made this one for Peter.

She made one for Abby, our first little angel.

And this one for Jaxon.. soooo him. He is a little gingerbread man.. catch me if you can!

and one for Wade, and in November, I called begging for another. I figured she had a little foresight and has one sittin' around, and she did. And we talked about it and in a few weeks, I was sent this...

Our last little addition.. Kaylin.. You know, they say that no two snow flakes are EVER the same. . . and the same can be said of Kaylin.. she broke the mold.. and she broke her parents...and we still love her, but I am just sayin.. My sister's poor mother-in-law is SAFE of having to knit anymore stockings in her life time... :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

*and yes, this is the red armoire I am painting and NO it isn't finished yet... I had to have ONE new year's resolution!!

Knock Knock, who's there? Land Shark.

A few weeks ago, Jaxon came upstairs looking rather uncertain about life and other things... I inquired as to what they had been doing there. Abby looked mischievous, Jaxon looked peeked.

Abby: "Watching a show on Animal Planet"

(Peter has already intercepted shows from that channel that involved Elephants mating... anywho...)


Me: [Looking at Jaxon] "What was the show about?"

Jaxon: [Eyes wide, fixated on something in outerspace] "It was about sharks, and how sharks eat people and how there was a surfer in the ocean and how he was surfing on his surf board and how a shark and his surfboard. . . and ate him too. [Long Pause] It was scary.

Me: [Giving the one eyed skunk eye to Abby] "Maybe you shouldn't have been watching such a scary show!!!

Jaxon no longer likes his favorite stuffed animal, sharky.

Sharky has not been seen for days.

Jaxon will still randomly ask about the Sharks ability to come out of the water.

I now realize that someone who worked for SNL in the 80s must have been horribly terrified by sharks at a young age and wondered at times if they would knock on his door and eat them, and when he was working on SNL in his late 20's he realized it would be a funny skit.

I hope Jaxon can one day think it is funny.

But for now, he asks me, the babysitter, Peter and just about anyone else he might come into contact with about Sharks, and the probability of them getting out of the water and eating him.

I am just trying to convince him he is far too skinny for any shark's taste.

TODAY AFTER NAP TIME:

Jaxon: "Sheesh mom, I had another dream about a shark eating me at nap time, maybe it was a bad idea for me to have watched that show!"

Random Thoughts #4

• Should I even be numbering random thoughts? It could get extensive.



• SYTYCD was gooooood last night.



• Ryan and Kathryn's dance was hot.Hot.HOT!!!



• I watched it like, 4 times. It was very well executed and did I mention, hot?



• I can't believe how many of you are Jakob haters!



• WHO CARES if he is gay? He is an AWESOME dancer, and I think one of the better partner dancers! (even though he is gay--probably)



• Kathryn has really surprised me, YOU?



• Molly has gotten better too



• But Legacy has to go, YES, even over Ryan.



• Did I mention his dance was HOT last night?



• I want to see Burn the Floor in NYC. Anyone want to go with me? GIRLS TRIP!



• This is becoming a Random Thoughts SYTYCD version



• But before I go, I want to thank Matt and Luciana Damon for the wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner we had last night. Matt is just so down to earth, and so is Lucy (as he calls her). There house was charming and NOT ostentatious and everything went swimmingly until Matt got a call on the bat phone (that is what he calls it) which is a direct line from the security company that watches his house saying that there was paparazzi there. I was worried because he went outside to handle it himself, but he was totally cool, and just asked them very nicely to leave. I was impressed. (I AM NOT PREGNANT, why am I having dreams about celebrity friends?!?!?!)
  



• And finally, I wanted to share a picture about how we all feel about our pants some times as demonstrated by my daughter Kaylin.
  

Sometimes, when you sit down, your pants feel like they are doing this to your stomach.

Don't you all wish you could all do this and just make it feel a little better?

And as a side note to Old Navy. Can we put a little stretch in those jeans?? We shouldn't make our daughters succumb to our pressures so early in life. :)

• I am down a pant size. But not to MY pant size. Still working on it. :)

Line Up Run Down

I know you all read this blog for my ever so witty summaries of the latest TV shows.. right?

Ok, maybe not so much.

So, why do you read this blog then????

Oh, never mind, I am getting off the subject.

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to do a Fall TV line up run down. . . and I feel like I can sufficiently do that now that now that it is OVER.

Let's start with. . .

hmmm. that is hard, let's just go with Alphabetical.


CASTLE: I have already mentioned this show here. It is pretty funny and witty and I really like both the leads. They are perfectly cast. The dry humor is a total draw.

DANCING WITH THE STARS:

I think I have said enough about that one here already. :)


GLEE: I watch it. (gasp!) I feel like it is so controversial!!! No one talks about it. (Not LDS people anyway) and I think it is because of the subject matter sometimes. Although I am not always comfortable with the subject matter.. I have to admit, it is pretty funny/interesting and well done. I think what I am MOST uncomfortable with is the fact that kids who really SHOULDN'T be watching it are WATCHING IT! I really think it is geared to people that are my age.. with all the 80's music and stuff. Really, it is not too far from how high school really was right? We all know someone who got pregnant.. we all knew about clique wars.. etc. It is just a creative re-visitation. And for the most part, it is funny.

I get the most laughs from Sue, and her "That is how Sue sees it segment"

Weird fact: The boys, Puck, Mr. Shue, and Finn are all within 3 years apart in age in real life. WEIRD.


THE GOOD WIFE:

I am not sure why I started to watch this show. I think I was just curious. But I seriously love it. I know they promoted the SCANDAL of her husband cheating on her ala Elliot Spitzer, but that is not all the show is about. As a matter of fact, they don't spend too much time on it, but more about the strong person Alicia Florick is (Julianna Margulies is awesome) and it shows how she is trying to just move forward and be above it all. They have started to elude that her husband might be innocent.. and they might have to, because otherwise, Alicia might start to look like more of a "door mat" wife than a "good wife".


NCIS Los Angeles:

I have never watched an NCIS series.. they never really kept my attention. . I set my DVR for this, but it never recorded because of conflicting shows. It finally recorded one last week because other shows had ended. I signed up for it because I think Chris O'donnell is easy on the eyes and I think he is a good actor that he doesn't get enough credit. . . He is still easy on the eyes, but the show is kinda... dumb. LL cool J is NOT that good of an actor. If they are federal agents why are they always in plain clothes, and who is writing this stuff??? Sorry Chris, even though I like looking at you, I can't stand the rest of the show. It is being deleted off my DVR.


SYTYCD:

JAKOB. That is all I want to say here really. He is amazing and awesome and I LOVE watching him. I hope he wins. What about the Mormon couple? I am on the fence.. Ashleigh did look good when she was with Jakob, or was that because I was distracted by Jakob? She did NOT look good last week. And Ryan's solo's seriously stink.. he needs to talk to Dimitri about those.. I was surprised to see him stay last week. But, in the end, I hope Jakob takes it all.

The Vampire Diaries:

Um.. yeah, I have watched that one too. I think I was just trying to feed my pre- New Moon anticipation. It really isn't that good, well done, or well written. Nor do I like some of the subject matter again because I know kids that are TOO YOUNG TO BE WATCHING IT are watching it. I swear, I am never going to let my teenagers watch ANYTHING!!! (When I in fact HAVE teenagers)


THOUGHT ABOUT IT:

I know many of you watch THE OFFICE: Never have. I tried once and I think it has gotten to the point where there are so many running jokes.. it just isn't funny to people who haven't watched it. (That would be me)

Parks and Rec-- again bounced from my DVR. It picked up a show finally and I watched.. Again, just wasn't that funny.

Anything else I missed??

STILL ON MY DVR:

30 ROCK. Pretty funny, but I have to admit, it is starting to lose me. Kinda like scrubs. Scrubs was so hilarious that first year. . Then they just made it so . . .dirty. They finally just lost me. 30 Rock is on its way there.

AMAZING RACE: I have to admit, I wasn't really cheering for anyone this year except the guy with Autism (for obvious reasons) when he got voted off, they kinda lost me. I watched the finale, but all I can really say is I am glad the brothers lost. They were annoying.

SURVIVOR: Still don't really like Russell, but he is really playing an amazing game. Do you really think people will vote for him in the end? I don't think so.

COMING UP:

Of course I can't wait for LOST and 24... and THE BACHELOR. I don't know if I am all that excited about the dude, but we all know the reason I watch... the train wreck. :)

Which one do you like?

Abigial looking like she is just about to drop the biggest baby on the planet,

Jaxon nervously clutching his elbow like he just hit it on the piano,

Wade clutching his new favorite obsession (a Nemo wallet)

Kalin wondering if she is about to be dropped on a tile floor, but not seeming to care much. .

OR






Abby lookin' like she is She-ra holding the biggest baby on the planet,
Jaxon giving the exuberant, "hey, Hey, HEY!" (with Jazz hands)
Wade slightly more enthusiastic still clutching the Nemo wallet
Kaylin still wondering if she is going to hit the floor, and caring... quite a bit more.


Which is your fav?

Truffled Out

The truffles got dipped..

Couldn't you just . . pop one in your mouth?

It would melt.. YUM.


The penguins have their marching orders...

With a special holiday wish!!

I wish you all lived by me, so I could share!

A TRUFFLE PARADE

You know me... I like to bake. I could probably sit around and bake all day.. in a few years, I might have a hard time getting out the door. . .

ANYWHO.

This year, I came across some amazing recipes.

Recipes for TRUFFLES.

TRUFFLES? I have never made a truffle before, and to be honest, I like a challenge. . .

And it looks pretty easy!

I couldn't resist.

It was like they are calling my name. . .

MAKE ME! MAKE ME!! LINDSEY MAKE ME!!! (Am I taking this too far? Ok.)

I have skipped decorating for Christmas and decided to just start making treats. I mean, that is what is most important anyway. Right? Besides, I will only have like 12 days total to enjoy my decorations.. is it worth it?

Me thinks: Not this year.

Me thinks: EAT CHOCOLATE.

Let me remind you of my other holiday treats.. Like the fab popcorn. . .

or the Almond Roca. . Who doesn't love Almond Roca. . My mouth was sore for weeks. (Good times, good times.)

This year, the first recipe I came across was this one for Oreo Truffles. It was destiny. I am on my way to the store later for some oreos..

Then I saw this recipe on PW. You know I love the PW. And if she says it is good, I most likely will be tryin' it. She posted this: Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt . They are coming back to room temp as we speak.. Wanna see?

See that hole in the middle? That was me forgetting it needed to come back to room temp before rolling into balls. . . that ball however, ended up in my mouth. I ate it, and it was good. :)

The next recipe I saw while prepping for Thanksgiving dinner. I used a few recipes from My Kitchen Cafe.. a foodie blog my sister hooked me on to. She posted these..

Cookie Dough Truffles. You know me and cookie dough, we go waaaaaay back.

Soon, these little morsels will be dipped in milk chocolate... oh my yum.

And then, since I am making all things small and dipped, I thought I would make these. I had some left over cake and added some frosting... canned, yes, which to me is completely sac religious. So far, I am not impressed with the taste.. But they look cute. We will see what they are like in the end. I might be pleasantly surprised. So far, they just look like this. .
These are my truffles, on parade. Check back for the end results.

Let's just call it a day. .

Rotten,

Horrible,

NO GOOD,

Day.

It started with K waking up at 6. Not my favorite thing. I haven't complained about her sleep issues lately because they had actually gotten better! I didn't want to Jinx it. After a few nights of tough love, she started sleeping until 7 ish. . (A totally reasonable hour in my book). But today, it was 6, and yesterday it was 6 and I am really, not, loving, it.

At about 8 a.m. she started crying inconsolably. For the life of me, I just could NOT get her to stop! I had to get ready to take Jaxon to therapy and because she was on the fritz that meant, hurry up, no shower, get out the door, maybe she will be happy in the car.

I dropped Jaxon off and went to the Library to get our Culture Pass to the Science Museum because the kids have a half day! MOTHER OF THE YEAR!

Waited 15 mins for the library to open and they don't have them at that library. Put two kids back in the car, go to the other library, get them back out of the car. . blah blah blah. In the car, out of the car, in the car, out of the car, back in the car. Got it.

I needed to run a little errand to the store. It involved a box and two kids. Instant problem. I convinced Wade to help me carry the box, but in order to do so, he had to drop the toy he had in his hand. It dropped into the parking lot island flower bed right next to our car and I convinced him it would be fine for the 10 minutes I needed to do my return.

My return turned into 15 minutes because 1/2 way through the transaction, the guy voided the transaction and had to start over. K was finally going crazy. It now being almost 11, and still no nap. I let her amp it up to get the guy to hurry. (You have all done it, I know you have)

We left the store and Wade went to get his toy, and guess what. It was GONE. After 15 minutes!!! We were the ONLY car parked right on that island so it would have to have been someone walking by. I was furious. I don't even recall a time where I have been so furious. It wasn't even a toy, it was PART of a toy. Of course Wade asked where his toy was a gazillion times, I felt like the crappiest mom EVER, and he was reduced to tears. GREAT.

I seriously waited in the parking lot for at least 10 minutes to find the culprit and to console my crying 2 year old. The only person that came back to their car was an old lady. Doubt it was her. Lucky for them.

By noon, I finally get K down for a nap, where I think she is going to sleep for at least 3 hours. She wakes up after 1 and cries for the next two.

So do i.


I realize Jaxon has therapy at 3, and we will not be going anywhere fun for the afternoon. . . Earlier hassle for mother of the year. . .pointless.


Abby comes home with bad grades on her writing papers. . which we have discussed several times already (that is such a big saga that I have even planned on scanning papers and blogging about it--but just never have). She is grounded from TV and of course, more crying is involved.

As I make dinner, I open the fridge and K gets her hands on a new, glass bottle of soy sauce that of course, got dropped and shattered all over the floor.

THE GOOD THING:

Peter came home from work.

I check out.

It was a no good, horrible, very bad day.