*  Miss C as Rapunzel!  Oma made the costume again this year.  Miss C and Papa made the braid.  My mom used to make all of our Halloween costumes when my brother and I were little.  She made a few costumes for my niece and nephew when they were little and then swore she was never going to sew another costume again.  Ever.  So much for that.  As soon as she heard that Miss C wanted to be a princess mom got out her sewing machine and got to work.

Unfortunately at the Halloween party we went to the kids got their hands on some Sharpies.  Miss C has black marks on the front of her dress.  I googled how to remove it and a few of the lighter marks did come out, but for the most part there are a lot of 4+ inch black lines on the front.  I don't want to ruin her dress but I"m thinking the best thing is that my mom sew a patch of the same fabric on the front to cover it up.

*  The witch is my cousin.  Olde Town Arvada does a trick or treat street and all the merchants and business owners hand out candy.  She dresses up every year and scares the kids!  Last year a little girl asked her if that was her real nose.  When my cousin replied of course it was, the little girl responded that if she was ok with her god given nose then who was anyone else to complain about it!  Funny.  Miss C asked how she flew on her broom because it was so small (it was a mini broom).

*  Monday it was warm enough here in Denver that I wore shorts all day!  The temperatures dropped yesterday and it is supposed to snow today.  It will also be gone by tonight.  But the nice temps made me think I had much longer to clean up the yard than I really had.  What was I thinking?  It is November!

*  I've been playing a lot more on Instagram.  Are we friends?  Find me.  I'm flyingjen.

Happy Thursday my friends!

Fireworks are legal in Nebraska.  So much so that people pay hundreds of dollars to have their own fireworks display.  Fireworks are not legal in Colorado and one must attend a stadium or city sponsored fireworks display in order to see the shows that we watched in Nebraska from the porch.  It was all very much a shock to my system to witness the amounts of fireworks being blown up across the street.  Don't get me wrong, it was a spectacular display, just not something I'm used to watching from my front porch!  And fireworks were being blown up at all times of the day!
 We also went to the Omaha Zoo.  They had two new sea lion pups that were not even a month old yet!

It was a fast and fun filled weekend.  We ate a lot of great food.  We laughed.  We cried.  We remembered other reunions and toasted those who are no longer with us.  It's always great to see family since we are all spread out (mostly in the  midwest though) and everyone is so busy with work and family life.

It didn't start out that way.  It started snowing mid day on Christmas.  We got six inches of white powdery snow!  So we played!  Bryan played with his new snowblower (purchased at an estate sale this past summer).  We went sledding at the local park.  C kept saying "Again.  Again."  

A play day was the perfect way to end a very busy holiday!  We spent a lot of time in the car from house to house to celebrate with family.  My brother and his family were in town.  It was the first Christmas that C has celebrated with her cousins.  She was exhausted by Sunday.  We were all exhausted by Sunday.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with the people you love!

Hope you have a Spook-tacular day!

And in with the new.  

Christmas Eve day was oddly calm.  Bryan worked.  Corrine played and napped.  I wrapped the last minute gifts, baked for the Christmas Eve dinner and was even able to steal an hour to knit.  Christmas eve is always at my aunts house.  We started a white elephant exchange a few years back which makes the gift giving a hoot.  (This year I ended up with a yogurt maker which I'm excited about!).  Mrs. Claus always makes a visit.  It's always a low key night with family.

Christmas Day was chaotic and stressful.  Don't get me wrong, it was a good day to spend with family and friends, but I felt as if we were rushing from house to house to visit with everyone in a single day.  Very tiring.

We woke to a cold and snow filled day!  We opened presents at our house then rushed to get ready to head to my parents house (they live super close).  We had breakfast there and then opened presents.  The G's gave Corrine a baby doll.  My mom refinished the cradle that was mine when I was little.  She also re-did the fabric pad to it.  They had to buy a matching high chair because mine was loaned out ages ago and never returned.  Thank goodness for Ebay!
We rushed from The G's to head up to the mountains to Bryan's dad's house for Christmas dinner.  Luckily it was an hour and half drive because that was all the nap Corrine was to get.  Dinner and presents there.  Then just down the street to visit my bestie and her fam.  On our way home we stopped to visit good friends who are basically extended family.  Four different families in one day was a little too much.  I think in the future our house will be the base of operations and the peeps can come visit us!   Our house looks like a tornado hit it.  There are gift bags and paper everywhere.   I know that is pretty typical of Christmas with kids and if I was at home I'm sure I wouldn't have minded.  But I hated to be gone all day and come home to that.

I certainly enjoyed spending the two days with family and friends.  And I don't think Corrine was overwhelmed by all of the festivities nor was she inundated with presents.  I hope your holiday was as fun filled and generous as ours and that your day was filled with the love of family and friends!

Solstice Soup Party.  Or End of the World Soup Consumption Extravaganza.  However you want to look at it, we are celebrating the Solstice with soup.

Bryan has been busy stringing lights on the gazebo frame.  The plan is to put the fire pit in the middle of the patio.  We are going to have hot drinks- hot spiced wine and hot cocoa with schnapps (maybe some hot buttered rum).  Everyone who is coming will bring a pot of their favorite soup.  We will have mugs to eat from so people can sample all the different offerings.  I'm making cream of broccoli and some sort of biscuit.

We wanted a low key evening to celebrate the solstice with family and friends.  The kids can play in the snow or in the basement.  The peeps can take a break from their last minute shopping.  Or in my case from the rush of starting to shop.  And for a bit of fun we thought why not go out with a bang with those we love most.  Who knows? This could be the start of a long and wonderful tradition.

Happy Friday.  Happy Solstice.  Happy Winter.  Have a great weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!  Be safe.  Eat lots!

I've been reading a lot of posts on blogs and on Facebook about the things everyone is grateful for.  It got me thinking about the things I'm grateful for.  I've never really thought about it and yet I just assume gratefulness.

There are many things I am grateful for but these few top my list this week.

::I am most thankful for my daughter Corrine.  After a rocky and early start she is a blessing in our lives. I can't imagine life without her.  She makes me laugh everyday.

::My husband Bryan.  He puts up with me and my weirdness.  I say weirdness because it encompasses a lot.  And I can't imagine life without him either.

::My family and friends.

::My job and the flexibility it gives to me to stay home when I want/need.  Even with the uncertainty of the airline world I wouldn't change it at all.  Plus I get paid to travel.

::Milk delivery.

::A roof over our heads and good food in our bellies.  Because I know not everyone has this.

::I am most certainly grateful for all of the help with have in taking care of Corrine.  Without our most wonderful babysitter who watches her during the day a couple of times a week and The G's who take her for the overnight stays it would be very difficult to work.

I know there is a lot more out there to be thankful for.  We really are blessed and we know it.  I'm off to brave the masses at the market.   I hope everyone has a safe, fun filled, hearty Thanksgiving!

They are not kidding about this mom brain thing.  If I don't write it down, it's not happening.  I've got my little notebook with my lists and to-do's.  I've always had the notebook for jotting down things, but I've become quite reliant on it.  It's quite frustrating.

For example: Corrine's 2011 Halloween costume was a duck.  I had planned on taking it to the consignment store.  At the beginning of October when we were getting down the boxes of Halloween decorations I was sure the duck costume was in the box with all of the yard lights.  Nope.  Not there.  Couldn't find it anywhere.  Bryan kept asking if I'd looked in certain places and while I was sure I had looked, I looked again.  Driving.  Me.  Crazy.

Two weeks ago some friends came to visit with their nine month old.  I've been giving them Corrine's clothes that don't fit and we had a box ready for pick up.  We were sitting around the living room and I asked them what Ruth Ann was going to be for Halloween.  They replied, "the chicken costume that you gave us."  I said, "oh the duck" and in my head I said, "well, $hit."  After they left I called Bryan and I told him I found the costume.  I had no idea that I'd given it to them.  Oh well.  I'm glad Ruth Ann will wear it.

People keep telling me it gets worse as the kids get older.  I'm already at a disadvantage since I'm an old mom.  I'm in trouble.

We have had a lazy day.  We went to a wedding last night.  Corrine was flower girl and she was a party animal.  We had a late night. 

Our plan was to get up before it got hot and go hiking in Boulder with friends.  We still went hiking, but we were slow going this AM.  Due to our lateness we started much later than we wanted.  It got hotter faster than we anticipated.  We took the dogs and Henley (the Newf) got over heated.  He has since spent the rest of the day in the house in front of the AC vent.
There are no fireworks tonight.  Since pretty much the whole state of Colorado is on fire and it has been so hot and dry and there is no rain in our future, there has been a state wide ban on fireworks.  It will be pretty weird not to see them.  I have worked the last couple of 4th and the one time I'm off...

Happy 4th my peeps.

St. Patrick's Day is a HUGE holiday in our house.  On March 1st, I decorate.  I put up green lights in the window, hang the shamrock on the front door, and put out the green table linens.  I do much more, but it would take forever to list it all.   Occasionally we actually make it to the parade downtown.

My husband and I buy five or so packages of corned beef at the market while they are on sale.  We freeze them and eat them all year.  One year we bought enough to eat one a month.  Did I mention we love corned beef?  Tonight we are going to ride our bikes down to the local pub for corned beef dinner.

Bryan proposed to me on March 15th.  Proposal day had to be it's own holiday and March 17th was already taken!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I struggled with Christmas this year.  Not in a bah humbug sort of way either.  We decorated the house and the yard.  Sometimes I think my husband wants to give the Grizwalds a run for the money in the house decorating!  We put up a tree and decorated it with non breakable ornaments.  It was Corrine's first Christmas.  She is young enough that she doesn't understand what Christmas is.  I don't want her to become so materialistic about Christmas either.  I would like to teach her about the spirit of the season.  We only bought her one present.  We knew that the Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins would take care of her and we didn't want to over do it.  Her birthday is three weeks after Christmas and she'll get more stuff.

Christmas Eve, we went to my aunts house for a buffet dinner and a gift grab.  For the gift grab we draw numbers and then take a random present in that order.  When it is your turn you can either take a new present or take one that has already been opened and then that person can get a new present.  The first year we did the gift grab, we were very hesitant about taking presents.  Fast forward three years.  We are much better about taking the gift we want from someone else!  Plus we get to hang with family we haven't seen since last Christmas since we are all busy and not everyone lives in Colorado!
Corrine loving on her new toys!

Christmas morning we went over to my parents for brunch and more presents.  My parents gave to me a book called "Secrets From My Grandma's Garden" by Don Eversoll.   I have already read it cover to cover and am now ready to dig in the dirt.  Except I have to wait for months...Ugh!
Corrine reading some Christmas stories.  That book she is holding, The Christmas Puppy, was Grandpa's book!  From The G's house we drove up to Winter Park to Grandpa Ray and Grandma Joann's house. This is the view along the way!  This is why we live in Colorado!
We ate again that afternoon.  B and I said we didn't need to eat for a week!  We made the rounds in Winter Park to see friends and family.  We drove home that night, got the car unloaded and went to bed.

I was in kind of a withdrawal yesterday.  You prepare all month long (or in my case wait until the 23rd to shop) and then BAM, it's over.  And you're left with the clean up.   I don't know why I had such a hard time with Christmas this year.  I'll say it again this year...next year, I'll start shopping/creating much earlier!