from turkey to tea.

Have you come out of your pumpkin pie coma yet?
I'm emerging...gradually.

I really soaked up the goodness of Thanksgiving this year.
It was relaxing and full of family and friends.
Last year's Thanksgiving was peppered with a fair amount of
sadness and worry and grief.
But this year...I was feeling hyper-aware of our blessings.

God is good.



{and...for the record...so are bacon wrapped green beans.}

My mom knocked lunch out of the park.
Again.
I dream of her twice-baked potatoes.



And our Thanksgiving weekend tradition
transitions us into Christmas so perfectly.
Every year we go to a Christmas tea with Avery.



We started going when she was one.
Oh, it pains me a little to look at these pictures from four years ago.
Time is such a big fat jerk.









Santa is always the "surprise" visitor at the end of tea.
That first year she screamed and cried when he came out.

This year she asked for a reindeer.





I always come home from the tea
ready to decorate the tree, crank up the Christmas music,
and make a batch of the best fudge ever.

As of this weekend the tree is up,
the Christmas music is on {whenever gary isn't home}
and the fudge is coming.
Soon.

thanksgiving vacay...day one.

I had to make a confession to Gary last night.



{i've already been listening to christmas music.}



He was a little disgusted.
He's a firm believer that Christmas music is only allowed
between December 1st and 25th.

Poor, misguided soul.

I took the kids' picture for our Christmas card yesterday
at Gary's parents' ranch.
I was so happy we got some good pictures.
But...there were definitely outtakes.





Sometimes it's hard having two brothers.

This afternoon I made chili.
Isn't it weird how dark the sky looks by 3 o'clock this time of year?
I refuse to turn on the kitchen lights so early....
so the kitchen is as moody as the sky outside.



The kids are home all week.
She told me she was bored at 8:15 this morning.



So today commenced Operation Entertain the Children.

I won't lie...there was tv involved.



And despite the looks on their faces,
the kids love Apples to Apples.
We played this tonight the last hour before bedtime.



Tomorrow morning I'm braving the grocery store
to load up on butter and pumpkin and cranberries and rolls
and then it's down to business.

What are you looking forward to eating Thursday?
For me...twice-baked potatoes.  Always.
Mmmmm.

dirty socks and a cheerful heart.

I know at this time of year we all should be thinking
of the things we are grateful for.
It's Thanksgiving...that's what we do.
But if I'm being honest, I haven't been focusing on what I am thankful for lately.
I guess you could say I've been in a bit of a mood.

I've been focusing too much on the people that have been less-than nice to me.
I've been lamenting my abs (or lack thereof) that don't seem to exist anymore.
I've moped about silly, selfish things that I want for our house but we can't afford.
I've felt annoyed by kids that don't pick up their socks from the floor
even though I've told them to 197 times.
{that day.}

So dumb.

I have SO much to be grateful for,
and I'm trying to focus on it more.
The mountain of laundry means I have a family to care for.
The busy schedule proves how blessed we are to be able to
provide extra-curricular activities for the kids.
The kitchen counter that seems to always have crumbs on it somewhere
means my family isn't hungry.


{seen here, original here}

For me, talking about my problems isn't my addiction.
It's thinking about them.
Giving them more attention than they deserve.
Feeling anxious or annoyed.
Focusing on them, and not my joys
and my blessings
and all that I have to be grateful for.

So...I'm meditating on this:

Be cheerful no matter what;
pray all the time;
thank God no matter what happens.
This is the way God wants you
who belong to Christ Jesus 
to live.
{1 thessalonians 5:16-18, the message}

Cheerful...no matter what.
Thanking God...no matter what happens.

And I will fold my family's laundry with a happy, grateful heart this weekend.

so...it's wednesday.

So...is it really true that one week from today we'll all be cooking and baking
and prepping for Thanksgiving?
It completely snuck up on me this year!

This week our kids have half days at school
and the week is still jam packed.
The kids have been in bed at nine all week.
Nine!
Not okay.
But...tonight was our last night of soccer-related stuff
and now we are totally, officially, free.
I love soccer but it's very nice to have a break.

Two of my kids don't like eggs.
How can you not like scrambled eggs?
So weird.
I've been having two eggs for breakfast every morning.
Usually with spinach and always with Cholula.



And I bought myself a pair of slippers from Target.
I've been slipper-less for a really long time, for some reason.



I couldn't resist these.

This girl has discovered the joy of writing.
She is writing / reading / spelling / asking about words
all the time.



This is me singing into a microphone
with musical notes all around.
:)



And the boys have discovered the joy of solitaire.
Colin still hasn't won a game yet, but he's dying to.
This picture is out of focus,
but I love the look of concentration he has.



He's so funny.
Tonight he discovered he loves peppermint tea.
After he takes a sip, he breathes in and it feels like he just ate a mint.
His words.
We have his teacher conference tomorrow.
I can't wait to hear what his teacher has to say about him.
He's such a good kid.

Tomorrow I'm going to CrossFit again.
I've now gone four times and I haven't died once.
I'm very relieved.
Tomorrow I'm going with Gary.
It will be...fun.  Sure.

ten on ten: november 2012.

Up early at coffee o'clock.
At least it's light now in the morning.
That's the only good thing about the time change.



Cream of Wheat breakfast.
No skimping on the maple syrup.



I'm in the kitchen...she's in the kitchen.
I'm at the fridge...she's at the fridge.
She's a food stalker.
And notice the gray around her eyes and nose.
Aw.



A little second breakfast for Colin.
He was hungry this morning.



Cozy blanket and watching The Lorax.



Making stuff in my messy, messy craft room.
This is all I should show you.
Seriously...it's bad.



The vacuum.
My nearly-every-day friend.
Thanks, dog hair.



Post cleaning: more crafting + Sleepless in Seattle.
And even more mess.  Gross.



Wishing I was snuggled in the blanket I'm making.
{making soooooo slowwwlllyyyyyy.}
Right now it's really more the size of a awkwardly large scarf.



A little guitar tuning for him while I watch Project Runway.



And that was Saturday.
Except he and I threw in a little kidless dinner date before the guitar tuning/tv watching.
It was much-needed.
:)

i'm full of random these days.

So.
Can those of us with children just go on record and admit
that the whole "extra hour of sleep with the time change" thing
is a big joke?
Seriously.
My boys were downstairs at 5:09 this morning.
Help.
Anyone.

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Have you heard of CrossFit?
I went to CrossFit yesterday
with my rockstar beast of a friend that
makes CrossFit workouts look like nothing.
I can barely move today.
But...I climbed a rope.
All the way to the ceiling.
I haven't done that since 7th grade.
And I'm going back tomorrow.
Help.


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Did I tell you about Hannah's

Handmade Holiday Market?

If you don't know Hannah,
you should go spend some time with her.
She and her blog are lovely.
And...she's just as lovely in person, I might add.

Also, she hosts a mean holiday market.
{not really mean.  quite nice, actually.}
I have a few things in my shop right now
you can come check out, if you feel like it.
{and...thanks to hannah...there's a discount in my shop if you mention HOLIDAYMARKET2012.}


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There's a kitty that has come around our front porch

a couple of times now.

My kids really really REALLY want a kitty.

They're convinced they can make this kitty love them.

I'm not totally sold on the cat thing,

but the kids are super excited about the idea.

I'm pretty sure Lucy would never forgive us

if the kitty becomes a member of the family.

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Tomorrow I'm heading to the dentist.
It is my least favorite thing.
I'd rather give birth.
{i'm serious.}
And if my kids get up at 5am again
they are going to have to deal with cranky mommy.

Extra hour of sleep.
Yeah right.

a family day.

Family days have been few and far between for us lately.
Soccer rules our lives a little between August and November.

But now?
Freeeedoommmmmmm.

Saturday after the boys' games ended
we drove the 90 minutes to a place called Apple Hill.
It's in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas,
just shy of Tahoe.



It's a beautiful series of farms and apple orchards.
One of the farms has a trout pond.

And for the price of a small mortgage,
you can rent fishing poles and catch fish.
The kids were in heaven.



The boys became experts in casting out their lines.



The casted out their lines time and time again.
We fished for about an hour with people catching fish all around us.
Then Gary went to ask the gentleman in charge
if he could help us out.



Five minutes later...thanks to his magic bait...Avery was catching a sturgeon.

IN A TROUT POND.
{?}



A sturgeon is an ugly, ugly fish.
But Avery was pretty proud.
{this guy went back to live in his pond.}

The magic bait worked again for Colin.





Trout.
2 pounds.
$9/pound.
Yep.

And then...boom.  It was Riley's turn.





He was really torn.
He was excited to catch that fish...
and then sad that it had to die.
{there's a $100 charge if you throw it back.  yeah...it had to die.}
If my first choice of engineer doesn't work out for him,
he'd also make a great vet.



That's $27 worth of trout, my friends.
{anyone know a recipe?}

After some soap and water,
we were ready for caramel apples.
Homemade caramel on delicious granny smith apples is hard to beat.



It was so nice spending the day together.
It recharged my batteries,
even though I was exhausted by the time we got home.

This week is going to be a good one.
No soccer practice...beautiful weather...it's going to be a good week.
I only wish I had bought some of that homemade caramel to bring home.
Mmmmmm.

eight really random new month musings.

1.  It's November.
So you know what that means.
You'll blink two times and it will be New Year's Eve.
The rest of the year seems to be on fast-forward, don't you think?

2. I didn't make my #41milesinoctober goal.  Shin splints and busy schedules did a number on me.
I'm bummed...but I'll try again for November.
With new shoes.
I hear that good shoes help with shin splints.

3.  I don't like scary movies.  At all.
But I'll usually watch one or two on Halloween.
The scariest of them all?
Halloween.
Michael Myers...Jamie Lee Curtis...babysitting kids alone on Halloween...and...
THE MUSIC.
The music is the best and worst.  It's so scary.
But this year I fell asleep on the couch watching Survivor.
I guess my date with Michael Myers will have to wait till next year.

4.  We had a LOT of big kid trick-or-treaters this year.
Avery and I came home to pass out candy around 7:15,
while Gary and the boys kept going around with friends.
Maybe all of the little kids had come much earlier,
because a lot of these kids were bigger than me.
But I don't mind too much.
I like when kids don't feel like they're too cool to dress up.
But please, high schoolers, if you're going to trick-or-treat...dress up.
And not as slutty nurses, please.

5.  The kids' costumes were entirely homemade this year.
I think that's a first.
I made Avery's Hello Kitty ears, tutu, and iron-on shirt.
Gary made the boys' Minecraft box heads.



Pretty easy.
And they were happy trick-or-treaters that night.

6.  I'm in a blogging slump.
I haven't been feeling very inspired...or inspiring...lately.
I had a case of the blogging blahs in October,
but November is a new month.
A big hazelnut latte cheers to that.

7.  Trader Joe's pumpkin pancake and waffle mix
is one of the best parts of fall.
Especially when the waffles are topped with apple or pumpkin butter.
This is my grandma's waffle iron.
She would be so thrilled to know I use it to make waffles for my kids.



8.  I know I've mentioned if before,
but I'm officially obsessed with the show "Homeland".
You must get season one on DVD immediately.
It's so so good.

I think that's all.
Happy weekend, friends.