tHiS iS wHaT i LiKe (post 169)

...and now a very special tHiS iS wHaT i LiKe post because apparently what "I like" is to drive myself insane!! ;0)

                            *What I Made for Christmas*

I painted 3 pictures in all (I just mailed two of them away neglecting to snap pictures of them, oops!)

I sewed fleece travel pillow covers for my sons, and appliqued their names on them as well

I appliqued and sewed 3 pillows with my the hand prints of my children

My daughter and I made our own wrapping paper with brown parcel wrap and potato stamps

I made 5 pretty skirts in all, my daughter LOVED hers!

Including the stockings and the tree ornaments and many different kinds of goodies, I was one very busy Mommy this Christmas season! See the rest of the madness here and here. It was so much fun though, having Christmas on the cheap. We felt bad that the kids weren't as spoiled as usual, but honestly everything they got, was something they really wanted! They had a great time! As for the Christmas goodies here's one of the recipes I used:
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies (gluten-free)
Ingredients
1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (not imitation)
1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
4 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-free flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and the sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and the pumpkin until well blended.
Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; stir into the pumpkin mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

I know what you're thinking, aren't your recipes dairy-free as well? I know that chocolate chips generally aren't, but I found some great gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate chips from Enjoy Life, that are both safe for my allergy-ridden eater and taste identical to the real thing, SCORE!
I hope that all of my readers had a wonderful Christmas with their families as I know I did, especially now that it's done! Now if I could only get my house back in order we'll be all set! ;0)

Merry Christmas 2010

None of that wordy-stuff that generally plasters itself over the pages of my blog, just our Christmas card pic and the warmest wishes from our family to yours! ;0)

The happenings of the season 2010

I took a break from my "Not so Average" blog this week, just because I had many other things that I wanted to accomplish instead. I did this and then realized that I haven't updated my family blog, shame on me! We've been busy here Among the Lambsfold (as always) and I haven't had the chance to share what everyone's been up to! So, here's an update:
Mom (me).
Other than acting as taxi, maid, cook, and all the other Mom-duties, I have been to interviews (with no result, poo.) sewed many, many Christmas presents and painted a few too and I'm in the process today of making goodies for everyone else. Oh, and breaking up fights today too, since the kids are on Christmas break. Yay me! ;0P
Lee.
Has been working constantly to maintain sanity and quality of life I suppose and has lost his downtown renters. He decided to start (another) business and is going to run it out of his downtown building. Busy as always...but, I wouldn't know what to do with him otherwise! (I'm kidding of course!)
Drake.
Is maintaining all A's and one B in school, walks home on his own daily, plays the violin and loves it and is still obsessed with Pokemon and Lego's. I have talked him into reading some works of fiction (yay for being well rounded!) and he completes his school and homework assignments without any help or reminding from me! He loves 6th grade and has adjusted wonderfully! ;0)
Adree.
This girl is not happy unless she is surrounded by friends at school or is participating in at least three things at once. She sings in the DSE (school) choir, plays bass xylophone in "Orffestra", and plays violin, taking extra lessons on Fridays. She also participates in the school Safety Patrol, just like Drake did last year. She gets up early and to school at 8, 3 days a week and is just as super helpful and willing to help (haha) as always! ;0)
Seth.
My little monkey turns 8 on the 27th and is getting baptized on Jan. 1st! He is super excited of course as well. He and his best buddy Teaghan take turns coming over here or going to his house on Fridays too. Teghan's Mom and family have issues with Celiacs too and I love to share gluten-free goodies and recipes with them and Teaghan's mom doesn't have to worry I'll poison him either! Which is a good thing!

I posted a couple of videos from Drake and Adree's Christmas concerts, enjoy! ;0)

'Tis the Season

My pretty house all lit up for the holidays!

Love the entry! Oh, and the glowing blob by the door would be Rudolf!

The tree is up and ornament laden as well!

 Ah, as you can see we have been busy here among the lambsfold! Busily decorating and preparing for the impending holiday. Do you know what's really fun about having a house? Putting up lights! Yep, it was so much fun standing in the blistering cold and rain and wind doing it too! Do you sense my sarcasm yet? Haha, seriously though the lights look great and they are a great way to bring on the cheer.;0)
A couple of weeks ago, Lee recruited me to help in hanging the lights from the eaves. He gave himself a great sore back and neck from standing on the ladder, I froze below holding the lights and the ladder. The high pitch above the garage was was a little scary to do. Lee has a hugely tall ladder that there is no way to stand on level ground on our slanted driveway to reach. It was a little unnerving standing up so high and he recruited me to brace myself (all my weight) against the bottom of the ladder as he leaned it against the house. I imagine we provided the passing neighbors with a fair amount of comic relief as well!;0) I'm glad we did it though and I'm glad Lee loves Christmas so much because try as I might, I still feel far more overwhelmed by it than enjoy it. Thank you Baby for all of your radiant positive thinking, you are my sunshine in a dark world.;0)
With not very much money to go around this year, I had to get pretty creative for tree decorations this year. This means I sat and hand sewed for hours this last week to get them all done, but as you can see the tree turned out gorgeous! (Click here if you want to see what I made) 'Tis the season for sure and I hope to make it as "merry and bright" as possible! ;0)

Five days later and a holiday passed and yet, Mom still maintains her sanity

I made a wreath for a friend...

Camilla made a wreath too...

Camilla's wreath was super colorful and cheery (just like her!)

and Lee amused himself by torturing the children! ;0)

We had like the endless holiday weekend for Thanksgiving and I was so busy cooking up a fabulous gluten-free storm, that I didn't have time to take pictures of the actual day, but I got pictures of the days around it (yes, that does too count!) oh, and a video of Adree! ;0)

Thank you W.C.S.D. for leaving the kids home with me for 5 days straight, 5 WHOLE DAYS!!! Do you have any idea how long that is?! Alright, enough with the melodrama they weren't THAT bad...just the normal bickering and maybe a little more than usual whining. They were out of school all day Wed., all day Thur., all day Fri. and then the weekend too!;0) So what all did we do?

Wednesday. Since the kids were out of school I recruited them for labor purposes. They helped clean the house (that they helped dirty up BTW) they emptied trashes, cleaned the bathroom, picked up their rooms, picked up the family room, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. They were quite useful actually...hmmm...;0) I got started with the food prep for the next day by making 3 pies too and a large batch of Jello-salad! ;0)

Thursday. The big day! Lee and I got up at 6:30 and got started with the feast. Lee is such an awesome good kitchen helper, I never have to worry about making the whole meal myself, he's always right there with me. Thanks baby!;0) Lee prepped the Turkey for the oven and made the stuffing and the gravy too. I made the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, prepped and put out a veggie tray and salami and cheese balls and crackers too. Dick and Brenda (my ex in-laws) came over and ate with us and then we watched "Christmas Vacation" and "A Christmas Story" while we lay fatly on the sofa. Camilla and Steven and Steven's dad and little baby Illianna came over later in the evening and we sang karaoke too! ;0)

Friday. In years past when money flowed a little more freely, Lee and I would have gone to Vegas for Black Friday or at least gotten up to snag something the kids or us needed for the impending holiday, not this year though. Nope, this year Lee and I slept in pleasantly and Lee went to work. I got to work on the many Christmas decorations and stockings I need to make this year, so that we can put up our tree next weekend. Well, Adree had other ideas. As I was cutting out stockings, Adree brought me her poor clothes-less Madam Alexander doll and insisted that I needed to make her a dress...and shoes (what?!) as well. As ugly as the dress turned out (and shoes), it took up way too much of my time and I finally got stockings done at 3 in the afternoon. I ran out to fetch a couple of things from Michael's I needed and when Lee got home we took the kids to go see Megamind in the theater (it was really cute!). Lee had asked the kids to make him a list of three things they wanted for Christmas that day and when got home he and I scoured the internet to find what they wanted. We were up until midnight, but we got almost everything! Woo hoo! ;0)

Saturday. The big rivalry game of Michigan vs. Ohio State was on Saturday and since Steven is a huge buckeyes fan and Lee a Michigan alumn, Steven and Camilla came over bright and early at 10am to watch and share a little smack talk (of course!) Lee and I made sure to dress appropriately in Michigan apparel and even donned each of the kids in blue and gold as well. Not that I was overly interested in the game and since Michigan got slaughtered so ( 37 to 7), Camilla and I amused ourselves by making rag wreaths (thanks Sissy!). Camilla's turned out so bright and cheery and I made mine for a friend who wanted one and it turned out great as well! (She loved it!) Since, watching the game depressed Lee (he says Michigan has sucked for a while, he doesn't normally even watch) he insisted that we needed to watch the U of U/BYU  game too. He rooted for the Utes, Steven rooted for the cougars. They came out even with the Utes winning (that was a great game) and Camilla and I completed our wreaths and Lee barbecued turkey burgers, yum! It was a good day all in all and Lee and I (and Adree) sang a little karaoke for the rest of the evening!;0)

Sunday. Church, finished up what little Christmas shopping was to be done and a retro Pink Panther movie and a lot of rest from such a busy weekend.;0)
So, five days later and a holiday passed and another looms on the horizon. Mom is busy and barely maintains her sanity, but I wouldn't have it any other way! ;0)

Adventure fizzled...

 

The pictures above are what happens when Mother Nature refuses to cooperate. We attempted to make it to Sink Valley on Saturday and spend a little time at Mom and Dad's cabin before it gets snowed in for the season. Since we hail from Dixie, the quickest way to get there is up and over the top of Cedar Mountain. Which isn't a problem at all in dry conditions or even if it has snowed a little, a couple of days later when the road gets cleared. We closely monitored the weather and knew that a storm was coming, but all the weather reports up to the day before promised of snow late in the day on Saturday. It came early, obviously. So what do you do when you have to make new plans on the fly? Ah, you make do! 

My in-laws (ex) Dick and Brenda were with us for the day and so we stopped in the snow, let the kids out (Lee included!) and let them throw snow at each other for a while! It didn't last long, no one was really dressed for snow. Afterword we gathered everyone back up and headed back down to Cedar and ate at McDonald's for lunch and let the kids run around in the play area for quite sometime while we visited. Essentially the entire trip ended up being a quick jaunt in the snow, a meal at McDonald's, and a short drive through Cedar Valley. Yep, pointless? Perhaps. Lots of fun anyway? You betcha! And hey, we got our Christmas card picture taken too...it even has snow in it this year! ;0)

Fingers crossed...

What a cute picture this is! I will never say that I don't have silly energetic kids! They brighten my existence in all ways and I know that I am a better person because of them. I have loved to watched them grow up so much this last year and Drake and Adree especially have just sprouted before my eyes. Sethee, as skinny of a monkey as always, has grown like 2 shoe sizes himself! He's still not very tall, but should be really stable!
I wish I could stay at home with them forever, picking them up from school, getting a snacks, helping with homework...but I can't. I have to find a job and at this point, I'm tired....so very tired. I have had three interviews with a company over the last couple of weeks and I must say, I really, really want the job! So, I have my fingers crossed and I'm trying to only think positive thoughts. I feel anyone's pain who's trying to find something in this trying economy, it's so very hard. I have sent out my resume to like a hundred people, I've had like a dozen interviews, I'm almost to the point of standing by the freeway with a cardboard sign....uh, almost!
I'm tired of my life in a limbo of sorts and would love to fast forward a little just to get on with it! Fingers crossed for me and all the positive thinking one can muster...time to move on! ;0)