Thankful for = Family

We're having a lot of fun with our family in Indiana...

We get yummy treats like goldfish and fruit snacks at Grandma's house - no boring pretzels or graham crackers here!

Fun with the CD player for Meredith...

and Jesse (I'm not sure if Kent would classify following Jesse around with the CD player as "fun!")

We played with our cousins...

and Uncle Scott!I promised a picture of the santa giraffe!

Coconut Cream Pie = YUM-O!

All in all, we've had a wonderful time in Indiana...we will be sorry to leave in a few hours!

Dethroned

Well, I knew the day would come, but I didn't think it would happen so quickly. It was in the blink of an eye.

In the time it takes to give someone a hug.

He's been so attached to me for the past year or so, that I forgot that there would be a day when he wouldn't be quite as attached as he was the day before (or the minute before.)

Or that there might be a time when he chooses to go to someone else instead of me. (O say it isn't so...I'm not ready for that time yet!)

What I hadn't counted on was the power and lure of Grandma. All the hugs and kisses and attention - what mom can compete with that?

It took all of 5 minutes when we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Jesse to switch his allegiance from me to Grandma. *sigh*

I knew it would happen sometime.

I just hoped he would be 25 or 30 when I was dethroned...

Indiana or Bust!

I'm now posting from Jim & Bev's house in Indiana - can you tell? We left last night at 5:00 and got to their house by 11:30 (their time). We usually get there around midnight, so we were counting ourselves lucky to beat our usual time! The pictures below are from when we just started out on the trip - yes, both kids were in pajamas at 5, and yes, it was already dark! (Sidenote: Meredith adores wearing her footy pajamas on the trip to Indiana so she can go into gas stations and restaurants on the way in her pajamas...she just laughs and laughs that other people will see her in her pj's!)

Jackpot!

On Friday I got my giveaway package from Lolly of Lolly Chops. And I feel like I hit the jackpot! It was chock-full of such cute things! First was the necklace and earrings that were the basis of the giveaway. I love handmade jewelry like this, so I can't wait to wear both.Next up was my own personal Wendy bird. Lolly custom-made my bird according to the color I chose. Wendy has already found a home in my living room - Meredith is jealous that she can't have Wendy in her room!
Lolly also made custom tards, according to what I chose. I love the "T" owl tards! If you receive one of these from me, count yourself lucky because I don't really want to use them since they're so cute!
I can't wait to use these little flowers on a card creation of mine. They are so dainty and adorable!And last, but certainly not least, Lolly included a few fabric covered magnets. You'll notice that two of them match my Wendy bird. These are 4 magnets that I'll have to keep my eye on - Meredith really wanted these too. I wouldn't be surprised if they magically ended up in her room! Anyway, I'm so excited about finally winning something, that I just had to show you the bounty that I got from LollyChops!

Pepper Jelly

Mmmmm...pepper jelly. This recipe is here by popular demand. I got this fantastic recipe from my mom for pepper jelly, and it's super easy to make. You can use any color pepper, but I just happened to have red peppers from my garden, so I used those. It doesn't take very many peppers. Here are a few pictures from the process of making the jelly. I forgot to take any pictures of when the jelly is cooking on the stove - unfortunately it doesn't go from food processor straight to the jar like the pictures show!

Now throw some cream cheese in a cute little dish, slap some pepper jelly on top of the cream cheese, serve with crackers or pretzels, and YUM-O!


Pepper Jelly

4 small red or green bell peppers (2 cups chopped fine)
1 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 cups sugar
1 packet liquid Certo

Chop peppers fine, measure 2 cups peppers and juice in large pot. Add vinegar and salt. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes. Stir in sugar, return to heat and boiling, uncovered and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat and immediately stir in Certo. Stir for 5 minutes. Pour into hot jelly jars and seal.

Spaghetti

Oh, how we love spaghetti!

Ornaments

Every year I get Meredith a star ornament for Christmas. Last year her star was pink and sparkly - she totally loved it. (She actually loved it so much that she took it with her to school quite a few times and consequently left it in the bus one night. She was so distraught about leaving it in the bus that we had to go to the bus barn right then, find the bus, and retrieve the ornament.) Anyway, last year I decided that I would get Jesse a transportation ornament every year. Of course last year when he was 11 months old at Christmas, he wasn't too interested in the car that I had gotten for him. This year we put the ornaments on the tree while he was napping. When he woke up, he made a bee-line for the tree, and picked his 2 own ornaments off the tree right away...and this was the first time he had seen them. Since then, he plays and plays with his car from last year and his airplane from this year...he really loves them, can you tell? (After he's done playing with them, I can't even hang them back on the tree because he tries to pull the tree down when he tries to take them off the tree. So instead we just nestle them in the branches. Same effect as hanging, just much better b/c the tree stays upright when Jesse is around!)

Are you ready?

Well Jim and Bev, are you ready for the whirlwind that consists of a 5 year old and 1 year old? Because said whirlwind will be descending on your house in 5 short days. And in case you have forgotten, said whirlwind also consists of:

• 10 constantly sticky fingers, and 10 sometimes sticky fingers
• at least one runny nose, maybe 2 (if Kent doesn't kick his cold by then)
• one constantly messy mouth
• two pointer fingers constantly touching, pointing, poking, and prodding
• 4 feet that can't seem to stop running indoors
• 2 high pitched voices that haven't yet mastered indoor levels
• 2 pairs of eyes that love, love, love to watch cartoons
• 2 bodies that love, love, love to jump on any and all furniture
• 2 bellies that always seem to be too full for good-for-you food like vegetables and meat, and are always empty and ready for snacking and sweets (Meredith is becoming a pie-aholic, so you may want to hide any Thanksgiving pies)
• 2 little ones that in spite of the above, are THE MOST wonderful, loveable, adorable children there ever were. (No bias at all!)

Yeah, we didn't think you'd mind about all of the above either. We can't wait to see you!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas!

On Saturday, my sister and her two kids, along with another of my nieces came over to our house to spread the Christmas cheer and help me decorate for Christmas. Decorating is always something that I look forward to, but by the end, I just want to get it over with! So having helpers made it so much more fun to do. Here are a few pic's from the decorating mania.



So my nephew was totally into decorating the tree...which was so fun to see. As is usually the case when someone under the age of 5 decorates the Christmas tree, the ornaments are concentrated in a few areas on the tree. For instance, this shot below is taken just a few inches away from... (Yes, those red twisty things are ornaments. I count at least 7, maybe 8 of those just in this small area!) ...this shot! (That poor, lonely cinnamon stick ornament!) I know that I could even out the ornaments, but for right now, it sorta lends to the charm of my mismatched tree. My tree is one where the gingerbread man ornament Meredith made last year in preschool definitely fits in.

Other pictures from the decorating madness...



Let's see here, we have compote bowl #1
Compote bowl #2
Compote bowl #3
I could go on and on with the compote bowl pictures, but I think maybe I should stop there.

I'm pretty sure that Kent thinks I went overboard because of 1) the amount of decorating done, and 2) because it's only Nov. 16. As for the earliness, I tell him that if I put this much money and time and effort into decorating, why not enjoy it for more than just a few weeks? He was gone this evening and came home and said that he just loved the house, so maybe he is reconsidering his original opinion!

Anyway, my final thought to finish out this super-long post: BRING ON THE SNOW!