" It is the Season "

Couldn't wait til tomorrow. Had my husband drag one of the trees

from the attic and some other christmas stuff. We decorated our tree with the "help" of a toddler. The rest of the kids will do their tree tomorrow. And check out my santas...!

On to the next Holiday

The toddler is sleeping, my husband is out playing raquetball, and the teens are out and about. Ahhh, peace and quiet...what a scarce comodity in this house. I am enjoying this moment to the fullest.Well, thanksgiving came and went, and my fall decorations have been put away...phew, we survived yet another holiday. I think I will take a day off before trees, lights, and santas will take over our house for the next six weeks or so.

Don't take me wrong. I love christmas and the whole decorating, gift buying and giftwrapping craziness. I feel like a kid in a candy store. Can't wait to get my trees (yes we have two) out of the attic and have the kids decorate one and my husband and I do the other. I realized we had to have two trees the first christmas we celebrated together as a blended family. Just imagine having christmas decorations from two households being placed on one tree because all the kids had to put their favorites on. And when I, to my horror, saw some of the decorations that my sweet bonusdaughters had accumulated I knew I had to do something. We're talking all disneycharacters and strange looking pig ornaments. Didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. After all the ornaments came from their late mother who had a huge pig collection. I could live with the pig teapot. That was cute, but I couldn't come to terms with a christmas tree full of pigs. So, hence the second tree came in to play.

So, now the kids can happily put whatever they like in their tree, and I can have mine beautifully decorated in gold and burgundy. Simple, tasteful, and elegant.

Thanksgiving reflections

So, another thanksgiving has come and gone. We spent all day cooking, and I mean all day. I believe we started around 9 am. My husband and I chopped ingredients for stuffing, we peeled regular potatoes and sweet potatoes, we prepared green beans for two different kinds of green bean casseroles, we stuffed the turkey and got it in the oven on time. And the night before we had even prepared a pumpkin cheesecake that was to die for. In between cooking we cleaned pots and pans used during cooking. It was like a never ending process. Finally at 6 pm the turkey had been carved, the potatoes were mashed and all other food were out on platters waiting to be served. We had quite the group around the dinner table, and yet we hardly made a dent in the amount of food that had been prepared. And yet it was all soo delicious. We will have days of left overs. When will I ever learn? Maybe it's time to stop stressing over the holidays and order in some pizzas instead.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Time to start cooking...

word of advice to myself, don't ever take Hayden anywhere during naptime.

n the stroller. Not so...instead we had a huge tempertantrum where we threw ourselves on the ground when we couldn't have big sisters coffee drink. So, a

Went to the mall with teenagers, grandparents, and a toddler during naptime. Thought the little one would wear himself out and then nicely fall asleep i