Zoo Lights in Phoenix

Slumdog Millionaire

Please go and see this film, absolutely fabulous.

Cali-zona Christmas

Well, we've traded pines for palms and snow for sun this week. I can't deny the relief I had when our plane got off the ground relatively on time, knowing full well there was snow, snow, snow falling on our house. We experienced the cold and flakes for a week or so and now moved onto, well, California, and soon Arizona.

It's been a little bit hard to relax, I have to re-learn this every time we travel south. I feel like there's something I need to be doing. When all there really is, is waking up late, drinking coffee, watching movies, taking walks around the lake, napping, reading, messin' around on the computer, and eating. Not too bad really, I just take a while to come down..."What, no laundry to do? No chauffeuring to do? No, nothing unless I want to?" I did though, take advantage of the downtime yesterday and finished all my Christmas cards, so look for your in the mail soon.

Well, that's it for now. I don't really have any photo's for you unless you count this one; a shot of our receipt at In-N-Out last night. We l-o-v-e that place and it tastes good every time, every time.

Snow Angel

My sister sent me this photo of our Laila in her first snow. Couldn't you just eat her up?

Christmas Morning (a few days early)

As previously mentioned we'll be traveling in a few days and really didn't want to pack up all the gifts we had accumulated for E. So last night we lugged everything we had been storing downstairs and placed it under the tree for our Christmas Morning. D's really wanted to get E her own drum set as she's always wandering downstairs to tap out rhythmic beats or "patterns" on her dad's. So that was the big one this year; a tiny kid-sized drum set that just makes you want to melt into a puddle it's so petite and cute. We also filled in with books, games, craft projects, leap pad activities, and a few newly released movies she's been aching to see on DVD.


The morning was doubly thrilling to find the 3 1/2" of snow that had fallen last night in our yard (with more expected later today)! We had been out last night for the luminaria walk around Green Lake when the first ice crystals fell from the sky and were bouncing off of our frozen cheeks, and at 2AM were still gently gliding down.


After we finished our pancakes and D had his cup of coffee, they were off to play in the snow! They soon came in to warm up with some wassail, to cozy up in front of a movie, read through her new books and do a few art projects.


These are the days that I need before a long trip away from home, to just relax and be with the family. To gather these lovely memories and store them up for when she's older. After all, this will be the last Christmas where she doesn't have to share the spotlight with a sibling. Things will change, no doubt for the better, but they'll change none the less and I'm sure I'll easily forget how it is with just her.

Family Christamas Party 2008

A delicious low-key family dinner and gifts for the little ones. We're celebrating a little early because D, E and I are flying down south to be with his side of the family for the holiday's. It'll be even more fun next year when we'll have two more tots to celebrate with!

On Dasher, On Blitzen!

Today we went to visit the reindeer, Dasher and Blitzen at Swanson's Nursery. The girls got a kick out of the two beautiful animals.

10 in 10 on 10 - December :: The Christmas Edition

Well everyone, this was a fantastic way of encouraging me to photo journal (almost) each month. Thanks to Rebekah for coming up with the idea and thank you all for sharing your creativity and your kind comments. Happy New Year!

Turkey & Gravy Soda

I guess this stuff has been a regular occurance around these parts over the last few years. One review I read said it was reminisant of dogfood...check out this year's holiday pack: Candy Cane, Pear Tree and Mele Kalikimaka, all a step beyond flavors of the past that included; pea, green bean casserole, sweet potato, eggnog, fruitcake, or christmas tree to name a few.

Cookies and Crafts

This weekend marked the start of, well, the craziness. E and I ventured over to my moms to start on the holiday baking. E brought her gingerbread house, while I pretty much sat around playing with my niece, drinking wassail, and watching my mom burn her fingers rolling krumkake.

Then on Saturday Jen and I took the girl's to the Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center to browse among the enormously talented folks of the crafting community. And today E and I spent much of the day indoors wrapping gifts and planning our Christmas card for this year.

Crafty Cats

Today and tomorrow in Seattle.

Omega-3's

You'll have to pardon the commercial here. Fish oil, specifically cod liver oil; yuck right? Not anymore, this stuff is amazing! Not a single fishy smell, taste or burp. I went looking for the stuff at my midwife's request and as luck would have it, they were doing a demo right there in the aisle of our local PCC. I tried it, E tried it and we both agreed - yum. Try it for free, order your sample here!



Here are a few Health Pregnancy/Early Life Benefits my midwife handed me:

• Taking fish oil in pregnancy may decrease allergies in infants who are born to women with a history or hay fever or asthma
  
• Low levels of DHA are associated with increased risk of postpartum depression
• Breastfeeding babies whose mothers supplement with DHA score higher on developmental tests
• Babies of mothers with high DHA levels are better sleepers
• Taking cod liver oil during the first year of life decreases a child's chance of developing Type 1 diabetes
• For children with dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, taking fish oil results in improved reading, spelling and behavior

Here's the entire article:
Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Pregnancy and Parenting

Papaya Enzyme

While pregnant with E, I had terrible heartburn. I was popping TUMS like they were going out of style until those stopped working for me, then was prescribed something which also eventually failed, and finally ended up on Prilosec OTC. This time around I wanted to do something a little more natural if possible, and my midwife recommended Papaya Enzyme. It's great, and really takes care of things fast. Yippee!

Debuting This Spring...

Well, we just can't keep it to ourselves any longer...the following is a copy of a letter I sent out to a few family members recently. If you didn't already know, it's probably because you haven't seen me in person as of late (belly and all).

SO excited to announce that we're finally pregnant again! I've been struggling with thyroid issues for quite some time, which prevented us from conceiving, but now that it's under control we're on our way to a bigger family! With our recent loss this last June we were left a little hesitant to try again, wondering if we should just be content with our 3-person family, and not wanting to face that kind of heartache again. But with the go-ahead from all my doctor's we're glad we jumped in with both feet! E's so excited to be a big sister and is constantly asking to talk to the baby...a few weeks ago she looked up at me after saying good morning to the baby (which usually goes something like "Good morning baby, this is big sister E. I can't wait to meet you when you come out of my Mama's belly. I hope you grow good.") and said "Mama, your belly button is like a microphone to the baby." and her most recent sing-song comment to me has been "I see your belly's getting bigger!" And she comes up with name suggestions constantly.

So, my folks will have welcomed 3 new grandbabies into the world all in the span of 1 year, wow!

We welcome any and all prayers and well-wishes, as we're still a bit cautious about the whole thing.

Interesting fact: We lost our last little baby on June 2nd 2008, and our due date for this one is June 2nd 2009! Kind of redeems that date in our minds.

So, now you know why posting has been few and far between. I'm finally in my second trimester, and feeling much better, so hopefully we're on the upswing for the holiday's.

Deja Vu

Didn't we start off last year's Christmas Season this way? Her Grandma replaced the one she broke last year, and now here we are again...snow globes and young children don't mix...

Christmas Tree Lighting Ceramony

The Saturday after Thanksgiving marks the date all the die-hard Christmas fans in our small city get together, sing Christmas carols, drink warm cider and cocoa, and munch on popcorn while we await Santa's arrival on the old fashioned firetruck. Once the jolly old guy takes his place on the small stage we all count down from 10 yelling Merry Christmas as our tree is illuminated! It's nothing super special, but it feels nice to gather each year with friends to ring in our new Christmas Season.

Happy Birthday Mabel!

Our little dumpling has turned 1!

Turkey Day; The More The Marrier!

We had a nice sized group over for Thanksgiving this year, and couldn't have asked for a better time. The food was good, conversation lively, and the kids has a great time just being kids. I was thinking all day on how meaningful it was to have been blessed with such loving and wonderful family and friends and how special it was to have both there, sharing at our table.

(pre-meal mess)

(men at work in the kitchen)

(the bird, all 22 pounds!)

(chit-chat)

(the grown-up table)

(the kid table)

(pie, pie, pie, & pie)

Thanksgiving Starts Today

Although the official meal is set for 5pm tomorrow. The bulk of the shopping was kindly completed yesterday by my father-in-law, and food prep started today. We're hosting D's parents who are in town from California and mine, along with 2 other dear families. The table is set in our fine china (when else do you get to use it?) E's made place cards for all 14 of us, veggies washed, bread cubed and toasted for stuffing, cranberries poised to be sauced, turkey scheduled for it's brine bath at 2AM, and the rest seems like it will gradually come together tomorrow. It's times like these I am thankful for our 2nd set of appliances (stove and refrigerator) in our downstairs mother-in-law apartment, whew!


The Menu:
meet & greet:
7-layer bean dip and chips
goat cheese rolled in candied pecans, dried cranberries, and fresh basil w/water crackers
deviled eggs
veggies and dip

the sit-down:
A 22 pound free range turkey
mashed potatoes
homemade stuffing
green bean casserole (without canned ingredients)
sweet potatoes
Trey's jambalaya
spinach salad
fruit plate
rolls
4 different kinds of pie and a few other lovely desserts


What I love about including so many people is that you get to a little taste of their traditions, what an honor for them to share these dishes with us! And thanks so much for pitching in everyone, I am soooo looking forward to tomorrow!