Merry Christmas and Goodbye for now

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's home and enjoyed a fondue dinner, the acting out of Luke 2, and a tour of some fabulous Christmas lights in the area. The kids went to bed so late that they didn't even wake up until after 8am-that was a true Christmas present to me!!!!!
We leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Cancun, Mexico for a week of fun in the sun with my siblings and all their kids.
Happy New Year!!!!

From trash to treasure

2 Sundays ago, Julia wore her Christmas dress from last year. It was about 5 inches too short and barely zipped up her back, but at least she was festive. Being the procrastinator that I am, I decided on Saturday that she really did need a new Christmas dress for this year. I started digging through my fabric stash and came across a small remnant of green corduroy fabric that my older sister had given me. I'm glad she didn't just trash it as it became Julia's new Christmas dress. (after a frustrating hour or so trying to rearrange my pattern to make it all fit on the tiny piece of material) Gotta love FREE stuff!!

And speaking of trash, my new new sofas are here and we put our old ones out on the curb for someone else to pick up and enjoy. Someone took one, but we still have one left before garbage day tomorrow. I am very embarrassed that I have a couch in front of my house. But alas, our dryer broke on Saturday so not only do I have a couch in front of my house, I also have a dryer as well. NICE!!! We're "those neighbors" that I'm sure everyone hates. Sorry neighbors. It will all be gone tomorrow.
And here is a picture of one of our new couches with the child that actually smiles. (Trying to get Julia to smile is, well, a little difficult)

Good Bye Dear Friends

We have had these sofas for 5 years now. They were hand me downs from my sister Carol who had them for many years before that. As you can see, it is definitely time to part with them. Tomorrow our new sofas arrive. I feel like a REAL adult. At age 33 I am finally buying my first set of couches.

Best Doctor Visit Ever

I went to the Doctor on Friday for my monthly prenatal appointment. I absolutely hate the part where I have to stand on the scale and my weight is written down forever in their little chart. Every month it goes up up up. I have had some bad experiences with one of the doctors in that practice (thankfully she left the group a few months back). She seemed to take great happiness in telling me with my last pregnancies that I was gaining too much weight and would ask me to please watch my carb intake. Never tell a pregnant lady she is FAT- even if it is true!!!

So I was pleasantly surprised when the doctor asked me if I was still feeling nauseous because she thought I wasn't gaining quite enough weight. I wanted to throw my arms around her and shout with glee!!! According to the "chart" I've only gained 10 pounds this pregnancy and I am now at the halfway mark, 20 weeks. (what she doesn't know is that I gained 5 pounds between getting pregnant and my first doctor's visit)
Thank you dear doctor for giving me license to EAT this Christmas and for not making me feel like the big fat cow that I know I am. :)

Lard + Lots of hands + corn husks = tamale fun

I LOVE LOVE LOVE tamales. This year I hosted my 3rd annual tamale party and we had a ton of fun making lots and lots of tamales. A big thanks to my Mom who came early in the day and helped me make all the fillings. She also kept me from making the fillings too hot. ( I really like SPICY food, but I know that most people don't like things as spicy as me so Mom helped me restrain myself.)

And I must say that every year I am amazed that I actually buy lard for this event. The idea of lard has always sicked me out but I know that the tamales wouldn't turn out half as yummy without it. So until next Christmas, good bye lard.

And I must add how much I LOVE my kitchen for the long island down the middle-perfect for tamale assembling.

Julia's new favorite toy

This weekend we ushered in Christmas. The wonderful smelling tree is up, the decorations are out, and the lard has been purchased for my Christmas tamale party. Despite our attempts to barricade the tree using the sofa, toy box and piano bench, Julia manuevered her way back there in less than 10 minutes. It's her new favorite toy. With so many treasures to touch and things to yank off, what could be more fun foran almost 2 year old. Merry Christmas!!!