Bait

This morning, I wanted to make spiced applesauce bread and tapioca. Tasty combo, right? BUT, the kids were up and movin' and everyone knows that if Mama is trying to do something, suddenly the kids need your total and undivided attention!
So, I needed a plan (creamy, warm, smooth tapioca, I'm coming!). I call my plan, "laying the bait". It's worked several times in the past, and I'm happy to say that it caught my children again this a.m. I find a bunch of books that the kids haven't seen in a few days/weeks and place them in key places where they are sure to attract attention. Then I tell the kids to go check out what's on the couch and the ottoman. They scamper to the front room and are instantly seized by what they see. I ask you, what person could go into a room peppered with fantastic, exciting, colorful books and not stop to just take one little peek?!
35 minutes later, I was eating warm bread in the kitchen alone. Ahhh. What a plan. :)

Milwaukee, dear Milwaukee!

We went on a weekend trip, yeah! Mike attended Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and it's been almost two years since his graduation, so we were overdue for a visit back to our old home. My heart strings are tied to Milwaukee for many reasons, and when we got into the van to drive to WI, I was like a little kid, so excited for our road trip!

The kids loved the hotel, as you can see from the pictures. They turned those lamps on and off and off and on, they checked out the bathroom and the little bars of soap multiple times, Quinn opened the drapes and then shut them, and then opened them again. Quinn quickly taught Max & Mae how to leap from one double bed to the other, they looked like little flying monkeys. Mae & Max had a blast putting their stuffed animals into a drawer, closing the drawer and then squealing with delight when they opened the drawer and saw their brown dog and pink bunny waiting for them.



This was our first "long" trip in the van (5 hours) and the kids were awesome. We listened and sang to all our children's CDs, I sat in the front seat and read Winnie the Pooh and lots of Eric Carle books, we threw animal crackers to each other (Mike and I keep talking about rigging up a little pulley-system with a small bucket on the end, so we can ferry Q's and Max's treats to the way back of the van) and played many a game of I Spy.

Places we hit while in Milwaukee: Friday night dinner & dessert at Kopp's Frozen Custard. Oh, my. I am such an ice cream lover and frozen custard is like 10 times better than ice cream. We visited with our good friends, Linda & Jim, Saturday morning and spent Saturday afternoon at Betty Brinn Children's Museum right on the lake front. Gorgeous views of Lake Michigan from the museum and Betty Brinn is such a fun place to hang out! We stopped by Mayfair Mall Saturday night, I know it may sound tacky to go to the mall when you're on vacation, but some of my favorite stores are in that mall. Brighton and Pottery Barn Kids! Church was 9am in the old Milwaukee 1st ward and though much has changed, there were still quite a few faces I recognized and it was very fun to say hello. We headed home around 1:30pm, first driving past our old apartment on the border of Wauwatosa and saying hello to our upstairs neighbor, and finally pulled into our driveway at 6:15pm.

There were more sights we saw and more things we did, but I love Milwaukee so that I could keep you here all night. I'm thinking about going back next weekend!

I wear my sunglasses at night.................

Quinn's closet is full of stuff. Old med school books, summer pillows for the couch, baby clothes and swimsuits, screens for the windows, Halloween costumes, the list goes on and on. One day while Mom and Dad were looking the other way, Quinn unloaded his closet. He found many treasures, among them, these sweet orange sunglasses. Yes, they were Mike's from his youth. I tried to capture each child sportin' these stylin' frames. They were a hot item for a day or two.

Bring on the sun, baby! We're all decked out.

every last drop..........

Do you have a favorite food?

(and it was even plain 'ol vanilla!)

Christmas Cheer

What a joyous time of year! With no extended family in town, we had some pretty quiet, but still fun! days. We miss you grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!!!! On Christmas Eve, we had some friends over for dinner. It was fun to light some floating candles, eat hot soup and homemade bread and go "seeking baby Jesus" together.
Christmas day, our oven/stovetop died! Argh! Forget about the gooey orange rolls and all-things-holiday that we were going to bake and make. Instead, we plugged in our electric skillet and Mike made "cheetsfata" a Hungarian breakfast dish he grew up eating on Christmas day. Christmas dinner was eggs and toast. Memorable. :)

Daddy gave Quinn a drill, flashlight and protective eyewear and he was so excited!! He kept asking me to watch him, he was going to "drill now". Look closely and you'll see the little "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" characters that Aunt Connie and Uncle Ty gave the twins this year. We had a good laugh when the wrapping paper came of these little blue-haired Dr. Suess wonders!

The Jump-O-Lene!! Mike worked the foot pump all morning to blow this baby up.

After naps on Christmas Day, we decided to go ice skating at a local outdoor rink. It was 19 degrees and a bit breezy, but we all really enojoyed our 50 minutes of outside winter time.

I couldn't find my ice skates (I think I left them in my parent's garage!), so we all practiced skating in our boots. When we get real ice skates, we're going to be amazing skaters. Quinn liked the idea of keeping our boots on because he told me the ice was "too slippery, Ma. That's going to be dangerous".

Here I am taking a break from kitchen work to model a few of my Christmas gifts. Nice hot pink dish gloves from Mike, a darling new handbag made by the very talented Lindsay, my new Sharpie Pen (I love pens!), a great necklace from my mother-in-law, and a very good read: 52 Weeks of Proven Recpies for Picky Kids, also from my in-laws. What a great year for me!

Mike and the kids made gingerbread cookies. The dough was made and rolled out when Mike went a'hunting for the gingerbread-man cookie cutter. Alas, we have no such cutter. So, they made gingerbread "snowballs" (lots of round cookies) and a few Christmas trees (the one holiday cookie cutter we own). As you can see in the photos, they loved this tasty project. Quinn was so focused, I couldn't even get him to look at the camera.

When I told Mae to smile.....................What a hoot!


Isn't she sweet?!

And the final photo---Max, playing with one of our new dress-up hats. YES! What a cool little dude!
I have to be mushy for one second and say how much I love my children and husband. Life is wonderful. It's a wonderful life. :)

Gingerbread House Party!

I have been looking forward to decorating gingerbread houses all month! My friend, Sarah Ann, invited us over on Saturday and the fun began. Yummy gingerbread, sweet, sweet frosting (my favorite part), oodles and oodles of candy, this should be done monthly, not just at Christmastime!

Check out Mike's awesome house with yard. We made one house to eat and one to give away. This prized-piece was the give away. It looks like this house might get a little chilly on a cold MN night, with the nice "breezeway" going through the middle/top of the house. All good gingerbread houses have LOTS of character. :)

A garden and a koi pond?? When can I move in?!

Can the holidays get better than this?
I submit that they cannot!

And one of the kids all dressed up for the Sunday before Christmas. I love these three! Too cute.

Hope your holiday is sweet!

minus the photos

I am a picture blogger. I only post with pictures. I am not clever enough to capture ones attention with prose alone. But, we've had a little accident. Our beloved digital camera was found, on the kitchen counter, front panel popped off (obviously dropped onto the tile), 1/2 of a sticky kiwi fruit glued to the shutter, dripping sour green juices onto its lovely silver frame. I have high hopes for our dear camera. She's smart and snappy. :) She'll pull through. Until then, please envision us at our best; always clean and well-behaved, giggling and laughing all the while, the house spot-less, the Christmas tree glorious, and the husband home every evening, spending many precious and tender moments together as a family. Ahhh, that even warms my heart.