Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Countdown!

Here we are!  The final day of the year 2013!  I made some cupcakes and some little glittered picks to go with them.


We headed up to Grandmere's house to celebrate.  She did dinner, I did party stuff.


We blew up a bunch of balloons, and tried out the funny trick they do on heating vents...hovering there, not being pushed away from the vent even when the air is on them.


The girls helped load up the balloon drop.  They loved it last year, and wanted to do it again.


We put on our party gear...hats with too tight elastics.


The elastics didn't seem to phase most of us.


We played some minute to win it games, which only kind of worked with the girls...but we adults had fun.  We piled fruit loops on popsicle sticks...


threw marshmallows across the table into cups...


Leiden actually got pretty competitive with my mom on this one.


And this game.  Oh, so hilarious.  You put a cookie on your face, and you have to get the cookie into your mouth without using your hands.  SO FUNNY!


I think I took like a couple hundred pictures during this game alone.


Mimi got tired of it,


and decided to just eat the darn thing.  Smart girl.


Of course, after laughing at everyone else, they made me take MY turn...wow.  That's crazy.


The silliness didn't stop there.


We simmered down with a game of bingo.


And it was finally time for the (eight-o-clock) countdown!


3-2-1...Happy New Year!


2013 was an interesting year.  It was awful, and wonderful, sad, and happy, as I'm sure most people's year was.  Here's to 2014 and whatever it may bring!

Monday, December 30, 2013

Moving On


Well, once Christmas is over, I generally feel the need to move on.  For things to get back to normal...dwelling on it after it's over is just depressing for some reason.  So, today I took it all down.  I managed to get it all boxed up, and the tree taken down and put away all by myself.


Then to boot, we went shopping for our New Year's party to happen tomorrow night.  The girls are very excited.

Friday, December 27, 2013

My dad and I determined that we should figure out how to use our sun ovens.  We meant to do it in the spring while I was living with them, but we never got around to doing it.  Well.  Today we broke it out, and took it to town!  Kids were riding by on their bikes, probably wondering what on earth we were doing.


It was a success, although through some mistakes.  We made some bread, and some meatloaf for lunch.  We forgot to latch down the glass door on the top, so we lost some valuable heating time in the beginning, and then everything but baked goods are supposed to be covered.  We didn't cover the meatloaf, so the moisture from the meat condensed on the glass door, affecting the sun's ability to warm the oven properly.  However, it did work, and it was as if it had been baked in the regular oven!  Pretty amazing stuff, really.  I'm so glad we got it out, and that we were able to do a run with it and experience some success.


The bread was taken out too early, so it fell, and was a little bit doughy, but I think after another try or two we would have it down pat.


Almost expecting her to say no, I tentatively asked my mom if she wanted to go shooting today.  To my surprise she said yes, and off we went!  She had a blast!  I think I have managed to hook her after just one visit.


And she did a pretty darn good job for a beginner!  My groupings are getting better and better, which is what I want to see.  I'm even seeing shots in the white!  What a fun afternoon with my parents!

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  This was the scene before the girls came in...the room all lit with the tree, and presents everywhere...I guess Snowbell gave a good report, because Santa visited us!


We started with stockings, which were filled with all kinds of fun treats and gifts.


Leiden is a reading machine, so she got all the Roald Dahl books...she will be through them in no time, but hopefully they will become favorites.  There are a couple in the set that I've never even heard of!


The girls got new crayons, and markers, and coloring books, and movies, and it goes on and on!


Santa came through and got the girls each a pair of skates.  Leiden got in-line skates, and the other two got traditional skates.  Rudolph saved the day with his addition of safety gear.


There were Lalaloopsy dolls to go around for both Mac and Mimi...just what they wanted.


Santa even thought of me!  I got a pair of new running shoes--bright orange!


After the hustle was over, we got dressed and got ready to head to Grandmere's house for the rest of he festivities.


There were tons more gifts there!  We managed to keep the girls away while we at a giant breakfast, also tradition.  There were eggs, and bacon, and biscuits, and sausages...craziness!


Before the scene was obliterated in a wash of wrapping paper, we took a nice picture of us girls.


Then a silly picture of us girls.  I'm not sure which I like best.  


The girls got more stuff...great big sticker books from Madison and Joni...


Leiden was introduced to the world of Barbies,


and both Mac and Mimi got their own Razor scooters!


Everyone else also had a great morning, with Uncle Mark sporting an awesome U of U hat,


Dad and his portable potty,


me with my gift certificate to the gun range, and many more.


What a lovely Christmas morning.  Such generosity shown by all, and a wonderful morning spent with family.


After eating such a giant breakfast, no on is very hungry at lunchtime, but after the girls left with Brad, I made this cranberry cream cheese dip, which is SO good.  I must remember to make it more often than just at the holidays.


We just relaxed for a few hours until the crew showed up again for Christmas dinner...swedish meatballs!  My dear mother does these every year for Christmas, and while they are not my favorite, I can and will certainly enjoy her efforts in the name of tradition.  My mom works very hard to uphold the traditions that are important to our family, and enjoys doing it.


After dinner, we had a white elephant exchange, which was pretty funny.  My contribution was only so so, come up with rather at the last minute.


What I GOT, however, was crazy.  A remote control flying bass.  This makes it look like just a little, normal fish size blow up toy...oh no.  It is like 6 feet long.  Wow.


And my mother's gift was horrific.  A porcelain horse, dressed up in a dress with bloomers.  Wow again.  And I mean really, wow.  Creepy as all get out, but worth some serious amusement value!  We laughed for ages!  I guess she's going to put it away and show it to the girls, and hope Mimi doesn't concoct a bad dream featuring the dressed up horse.


Very last on the docket was raspberry chocolate torte.  SO good, and such a rich ending to a wonderful holiday.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  It has been a lovely day!