2014 Year in Review

Things have been quiet round these parts. I have spent this holiday season trying to just be present and available so that equaled not a lot of computer time, no blog posts and actually very few pictures taken. We are still in vacation mode here, things are a bit more relaxed and unorganized but it is time for Dwija's 12 pictures of 2014 link up and if you stop by often you know I love a link up. Plus this is a good one to look back at the year.

2014 was a pretty stellar year when it really gets down to it. I am a little bit blown away by how fast and not fast it seemed. I am also a lot a bit blown away that it's time to adjust to saying a new year. I swear it takes me longer to adjust as I get older. 

January was cold. So I bought some mittens proving just how effective commercials can be. Mostly I read a lot. Then I read some more. The month mostly involved a lot of normal life. We of course made normal life fun even in the bitter cold. 

Early February brought us the news that Baby 2 was on the way, though we didn't tell anyone. We did a few photo shoots, one that gave us this Toddler GQ picture, which may be one of my favorite pictures of all time. We watched the Olympics. I fell in love with a diaper bag. C fell in love with the walrus. After a long stretch of COLD it got above freezing for 2 days and that felt like summer. It's all about the perspective isn't it? 

March finally allowed us to not freeze!! The baby just only wanted Mac and Cheese, but still the world didn't know about her yet. We started our tomato plants from seeds. March pretty much just was. It was probably the all day sickness. 

April was kind of amazing. A new Pigeon book. We let the world in on our secret. Easter happened and it was so special. Husband turned 30 AND we were in Florida just the 2 (3) of us. We went to Magic Kingdom and it was a blast! 

With May came a whole lot of rain. I eulogized Barnes and Noble. C turned 2! We had an ultrasound. Just not a whole lot of blogging happened but it was okay because we did a lot of activities. Plus I love birthdays so it was fun to celebrate C!

When it finally warmed up in June we moved the tomato plants outside. We went strawberry picking and I hijacked Theme Thursday. I made some busy bags which have since been incredibly popular activities at our house. We attended two weddings, one as a family, one as a date. Overall June flew by which is the best kind of month.

With July came retrospective thinking. We had a quiet 4th of July, my favorite kind of holiday. We dog sat. We went to a baseball game. The weather was phenomenal. Seriously every July can be just like 2014!!

August is my favorite month of any year. 2014 did not disappoint. C moved to the big boy bed. We got to see Baby Girl's face up close. I let go of my panic. We celebrated four happy years of marriage. C and I went to Minnesota for a while. We went on a family trip to see the walrus in person! I turned 28. 

Finally Fall! September brought us ever closer to meeting our little girl. Labor day was great. I told you all about my birthday presents which were and still are amazing. I even got that diaper bag I obsessed over in February. Go figure. I managed to grow a tomato from a seed. C and I went on a lot of special outings while the weather was nice and it was easy. C went to the family apple orchard with his dad. September inched along slowly. 

The first 21 days of October were excruciatingly long waiting for one little girl to make her grand entrance. There was a lot of lamenting and cleaning. But she did arrive. Finally. 10 days late and in less than 2 hours. The last part of the month was spent adjusting to life with two kids, entertaining visitors, and Halloween. C was a walrus and M was a polar bear. Because obviously? 

November came in quickly with a photo shoot and turned into a humbling month of reality. I had to let go of some of my expectations and focus on the two little people who rule my world. Miss M turned one month old and I was able to get some things done. Thanksgiving happened but more importantly we got ourselves a new little Catholic. 

In December I escaped the house for some me time a few times. We went to Disney on Ice. We made our annual gingerbread house and time kept marching on. M turned 2 months. Christmas and now we are here at today. 2014 was pretty spiffy!

I mean I guess the highlight of the year was growing a tiny human who turned out to be one pretty great little girl. I learned a ton this year which is always good. And even though I feel like I didn't read a whole lot I actually did. Life is pretty good no matter how you spin it. The challenges just make the good times all the sweeter. I know that's lame but really, it's true. 

Happy New Year!

Our Christmas Card 2014

Let's pretend I had all of your addresses and your favorite postal service employee has dropped this off at your home. 

I am going to sign off for Christmas festivities. Have a marvelous Christmas holiday! May your time be spent however you chose but with the love of the dear Baby Jesus with you always. 

Happy Christmas! 

4 Fun Days

The past weekend was pretty swell.

Friday we got a piano!

Go with me on this story okay? Husband's aunt and uncle live in town here. His cousin is a rather good piano player. They had talked about upgrading to a baby grand for a while. One of the music stores in town is going out of business and they decided this was the time. But they needed a new home for the old piano. 

It is a special piano, his aunt's parent's purchased it in 1974. They still have the original tag and sales promotional flyer. (We have it now.) I imagine it was bittersweet to say goodbye to the piano but I am happy that we are able to give it a good home and that our kids will be able to take piano lessons. 

C LOVES the piano and I'm not saying my kid is a musical savant or anything but he is already very interested in learning and (with the help of Husband) can play one song. He is very good at playing only one key at a time and not banging away. He's always had big hands and can already spread to 5 keys but can only put power through to his four fingers. I never took piano but I am sure glad that our kids can! 

Friday night was also the Elf Twitter party. Always a pleasure. 

M mostly slept through the fun but C enjoyed his first viewing. Did you know that there's a walrus next to the arctic puffin? Yeah I didn't remember that either. Of course my little walrus fan caught that right away and was his favorite part for sure.

Saturday brought a big day for us as C gave up his nuki. We'd been phasing it out since he turned 2. Mostly only in his bed, but when M was born it sort've had a resurgence. It started phasing out again and lately he mostly has just chewed on them. So we've been redirecting his and slowly pilfering them away. Honestly I'm not sure he's noticed that they've been gone since Saturday. So technically I guess it is the cold turkey method but he was more than ready. 

Yesterday we made one solitary batch of Christmas cookies. My favorite are peppermint meltaways and they're so good. I wasn't feeling very Christmasy and those always fill me with happiness. I let C help me with the glaze and the crushed peppermint pieces. They turned out with a tad more glaze than normal but that's okay. 

 

Today, Little Miss M turned a whopping 2 months old!! I can't stand it! Who said she could get so big?! She had her doctors appointment this morning and did very well considering. She got hot pink bandaids which is kind of cute. 

We have brought the swing back up and she has really taken to it. I made lunch today without anyone screaming! Perfection. 

That's about what I know. Certainly getting ready for Christmas around these parts. 

Not Much Is New But I'll Post Anyway

Once upon a Tuesday one michevious toddler kept climbing on top of the chest that lives in the playroom. (Until Friday when we are getting a piano!!) I repeatedly told him to get down from the chest and typically he complied until he didn't. This time he didn't he looked at me and said "Mom, shake it off." Then proceeded to sing "Shake it Off" while dancing on top of the chest.

It was cute. But frustrating. Story of my life these days with him. He's keeping me on my toes that's for sure.

One little girl over here is 8 weeks old already. Where on Earth has the time gone already?! I can't stand it.

When we were still in our brand new just home phase a friend brought us dinner. It was Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas. And they were SO GOOD. We made them ourselves last week for dinner and I prepped the chicken this morning for us to have them again today! 

HERE is the recipe. My hacks are to mix the marinade in a bowl with a lid and just keep the chicken in that instead of transferring to a Ziploc. Also who has heavy cream in the house all the time? I just use a little splash of milk--less calories, still delicious and I always have some on hand. 

I am the stereotypical Minnesotan born who thinks not really spicy things are in fact really spicy but even with the tablespoon of chili powder it isn't overwhelming and we buy the mild green enchilada sauce. If you really like spicy stuff I imagine the recipe lends itself well to being kicked up a notch but I don't know about it. 

That's the story in our neck of the woods! 

Gingerbread: Like a Fiddler on the Roof!

Families create all sorts of traditions around Advent and Christmas. And sometimez people get caught up in "Do All the Things!" I get it. I want that idyllic childhood feeling of Christmas for my kids too. But we have resolved ourselves that there's only so much we can do AND that our oldest is only on his third Christmas. Which means there is plenty of room for evolution in the traditions over the next few years.

But there are two things we have done every year that we intend to continue every year. The first being Disney on Ice, which we went to at the beginning of the month. We love Disney and while a trip to the parks might not be feasible annually, especially with littles, a trip to the ice arena for Disney magic is. They have a tendency to come around the same time every year and so it has become a tradition for us that kicks off winter and Christmas for us.

The second thing we do is gingerbread house day! For whatever reason, I had it in my head that I wanted my family to build an annual gingerbread house. I honestly have no idea why, it is not something we did growing up but it seemed like something we should do. We like to bake. We like to decorate. We like details. Why not make gingerbread houses?

The first year I thought we should get a kit and keep it simple. Husband was not content with that idea and just dove into the deep end of crazy. We made our own gingerbread and royal icing from scratch. Somehow using things we had around the house primarily (though we did go buy some candy) we wound up with a house we were pretty proud of. It was modeled after our house, which was still very new to us at that time.

2012

Last year we invited Kathryn to come over and do gingerbread houses with us. We had learned some lessons from the past year and went into the night with a little bit more of a decorating plan. We stuck with our same gingerbread and royal icing frosting and once again we were happy with the results.

2013

This year my entire plan was to get away from the red/white/green theme we had the previous years. That was not a great basis for a plan and we were definitely slow to start with the whole process. A lot of time was spent on Pinterest and Google Image search trying to figure out what ideas spoke to us. As it happens, red and white houses speak to me.

But I was determined. I picked a Cape Cod style house so Husband got off and running with the making of the gingerbread templates, dough and baking. I was still unsure as to how we would decorate. But we also decided that this year C was old enough to have his own house. 

This was not without drama. He took a bite out of one of his roof pieces and was not a happy camper with the build the house and wait for the icing to dry prior to decorating. (Noted and we will pre-build his house next year.) But all in all he was happy and we were happy and the house turned out pretty cute. He was the most excited that his house had a door. I hope he stays this easy to please. 

C's House 2014

 As for us, after bedtime we got to work. We once again had Kathryn join us for our gingerbread night and we once again had a good time full of conversation and lots of laughter. Once again we stayed up WAY TOO LATE but we think our house was worth it:

2014

The night time view:

Every year is a learning experience and this one was no different. I am thrilled I stuck to my plan of using color, albeit it more subtle than I originally thought. This year I was definitely the designer and Husband was the contractor. One needy little girl prevented me from doing much until the Christmas lights and the wreath but that's okay. I was present and it was my idea. I also made the middle of the process Walgreens run to get the gum for the siding. 

We love our tradition and hope it continues for many years to come.

Two Steps Forward One Step Back

For weeks I have been unhappy with the state of C's clothes storage. In the battle to have a house that I am not embarrassed by I have focused on the downstairs primarily. I have tidied the bedrooms but really they haven't been my priority.

But his clothes were bothering me. Things have been haphazardly put away for weeks. And it's been a long time since I've sorted through and taken out the things he has outgrown. So last night while putting laundry away I just did it.

The things that didn't fit were removed. And the shirts were grouped up correctly. (Short sleeved/long sleeved/sweatshirts and sweaters/dress) Socks, pants, pajamas everything was perfect. I was soaring on the feeling of accomplishment.

I felt so good I moved on to M's room. I sorted out the newborn things, it's crazy that she has been here long enough to outgrow things. She still is so little. But changing daily. It was good to do an inventory however and get her dresser reorganized. It's always a crap shoot how you set up a dresser and a closet, now seven weeks in I know better how to arrange things to it's easier to utilize.

After her room I moved on to ours! I cleaned up and put away some piles. The top of the dresser is kind of our dumping grounds for "this doesn't look right but I am not going to hang it back up right this second" items. Then I organized our sock drawer hamper . Once again I got rid of gross ones and worn ones.

I went to sleep happy. And woke up to a toddler who had emptied all his clothes onto his floor. Back at square one with that room I guess. Ah well. Toddlers. Husband, bless his heart, refolded them but all that I had sorted out got mixed back in. But there we go.

Doing the laundry? No problem. Folding? Got that covered. Put away? Well at least it ends up in the right room. It's a vicious circle my friends.

A Movie, 3 Books, Some Netflix and Television

Last night we were scheduled to have book club. I really needed a night out of the house so I was looking forward to it. But it got rescheduled to next week. I took the already assumed night away to finally go see Mockingjay. This weekend's plans didn't quite work out due to the photo shoot Saturday and just a general tiredness on Sunday.

Going last night was a great idea because Tuesday is bargain night anyway. PLUS I am signed up for the concession coupons and most of the time I want to see a movie the coupon is ridiculous. ($2 off a bottled beverage. Who buys $4+ bottles of water at the movies?) But this week's was good. Free small popcorn with a drink purchase. So my ticket and treat was only $1 more than a normal ticket cost! Sweet!

The movie was really good. Fairly true to the book certainly. Do you like to go to the movies by yourself? Some think it's weird but I really like it. It's so relaxing. I really needed that because yesterday was one of those days as a parent that was rough. Nothing bad exactly happened but M was really needy and I couldn't do anything but hold her all day. It took an hour to fold a basket of laundry.

That's not bad in the grand scheme of things but frustrating because I actually am at the point where I want to accomplish things again instead of just sleep and I just can't. No matter the best laid plan I am just unable to get done everything I want to in a day. We're just not back at the stage of life yet. And that's just going to have to be okay with me. I'm working on letting it be okay at least.

It has been a while since I have told you what I've read. The answer isn't much but here are some:

Sandinton by Jane Austen and Another Lady. (One of the unfinished manuscripts finished by "Another Lady")

Verdict: Sloppy Austen and since she only wrote until chapter 11 we'll never really know how she intended to end it. However not a bad book once you get all the many characters straight.

These Is My Words by Nancy Turner

Verdict: I admit that this is the first book I ever didn't finish and still went. But I blame the less than 2 week old baby at the time of book club. What I did read I thought was well written but sad. The group seemed to enjoy it even through the sad subject matter. I am planning to finish.


The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen

Verdict: Saying that Klassen's writing is comparable to Jane Austen on the cover is insulting to Austen. Not a terrible book but certainly a predictable one. With some truly eye rolling/cringe worthy lines and foreshadowing.

Since we've done books and the one movie I've seen since March (of new releases anyway) I may as well let you know what's been on my Netflix queue lately. I am not one of those fancy Netflix is paying me to tell you what I'm watching people but just in case you're interested.

Scandal: Loved it. Drama. Love. Politics. Cleaning up messes. That Shonda Rimes knows she's good. 3 seasons available but season 1 has only 7 episodes and season 3 is only 18 episodes because Kerry Washington was pregnant.

House of Cards: Slow to start but I got hooked by episode 6. Which is actually a long time for me to give a show. Usually if I don't care by episode 3 I am done but my brother really recommended it. Dark show. Between this show and Scandal I am further convinced I would HATE politics. 2 seasons, 13 episodes each. Netflix original show so episodes vary in length between 45-60 minutes.

Cutthroat Kitchen: A good brainless cooking show with a twist. I love it. Husband thinks it's mean. A great middle of the night show to watch however. Collection of 24 episodes.

Last Man Standing: A comedy about conservative dad of 3 daughters. Tim Allen's show. A very funny show but maybe it's because the character reminds me of my dad. Either way I am totally bummed I finished this show. 3 seasons available. (Between season 1 and 2 one of the daughters changes and the grandson magically ages 3 years.)

On the air still I am down to just The Good Wife and The Amazing Race. I had to give up on The Big Bang Theory and Grey's Anatomy because they're on at the same time and that same time is before bedtime. (So is The Amazing Race but that's something you can watch without having to be totally engaged.)

Sick of my thoughts on media? Me too.