Mrs. January

So who would of thought, but I'm a calendar girl!

I knew my Project Officer selected my Program to be featured in the calendar this year, but I did not know that she took a picture of me during her site visit last winter.  I would have preferred a summer photo because it's really pretty when the green plants contrast against the red soil, but oh well.

I requested that they send me a bunch of calendars so I could pass them out to the people I work with, but they sent me 2.  Gee, thanks EPA! 

Happy 2011!

It's a new year and we are so blessed and looking forward to all the blessings that this year holds for us. 

Austin's new 2011 look!

We celebrated by taking Austin to his first movie in a theater, Yogi Bear.  We purposely found a 2-D version because he would not keep on glasses and we weren't sure how he would react to the big screen anyway, which he was totally fine!  He sat and watched for about 30 minutes and then got a little antsy.  I took him down and let him walk around in the entry way.  After 5 minutes of that he was running around a lot.  Dustin took him out and got some snacks and when they came back in he sat and ate popcorn and gummy lifesavers for a while.  Then he was up and at it again and I was chasing him!  It was a stadium seating theater so he was having fun running around the front 3 rows, where no one was sitting anyway.  The problem was as he was running he was screaming giggles at the top of his lungs.  We finally decided it was time to go, but we only missed maybe the last 15 minutes of the movie.  Dustin said he looked around at the people who were watching the movie and everyone seemed to be amused watching me chasing Austin and not annoyed, so that was good.

While we were in "the big city" we also went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and stopped for a quick Walmart trip.

We got home and gave the little man his bath and put him to bed.  We celebrated just the two of us by playing Monopoly and sipping champagne.  We used to enjoy playing Monopoly often when it was just us, but I honestly can not remember playing it since Austin was born.  The best part was I WON!  We watched the Dick Clark New Years Eve special and of course shared a romantic kiss at midnight.  We were going to go sledding today, but Austin took a pretty long nap so we decided to wait until tomorrow.  We were able to take down all the Christmas decorations while he was napping, and it felt good to get that all done.  I have to admit that I was a little sad thinking that hopefully this will be the last time we decorate this house for Christmas as we really hope that 2011 holds a new job and move closer to family for us. 

May everyone have a blessed and prosperous 2011!

Finally some snow!

We finally got our first snow of the winter, after Christmas of course!  It was so pretty and it was wet snow, so the roads weren't really very icy or problematic.

Christmas at home!

I know I'm behind since I never updated about our Christmas Day, we have been having a fun filled holiday week and I have been putting in a few extra hours at work since Dustin was home. 

Instead of doing our crazy trek to Iowa for Christmas this year we decided to stay home and celebrate.  We kind of figured some family would come to celebrate with us, but nope, everyone did their own thing so we were on our own, but it was fabulous!  We got up Christmas morning and tried to get Austin to open presents, but once again he could care less.  He enjoyed his gifts once they were opened, but never did get into ripping the paper.  We didn't finish opening his gifts until Sunday night when I finally just opened the last three that were from us. 

Austin loves his electronic keyboard from Santa.  He plays it, and sits on it, and stands on it.  He loves the funny sound effects it will make and loves the demo songs.  Lets see if I can remember everything else- the movie Cars, a Chuck and Friends dump truck, a set of Chuck and Friends mini cars, a Mr. Potato Head set that came with two potatoes and about 6 different outfit combinations, LeapFrog Scout Fridge magnet alphabet, a John Deere tool box and tools, the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas with a stuffed Grinch, a drum and musical instrument set, a truck that came with a hammer to hit little pegs that play music, bath markers, and stocking stuffers. 

We got dressed and made it to Christmas Mass at 10:00am.  I figured it would be packed with all the CEOs, but it was actually pretty empty. 

In the afternoon we went to the home of some friends for Christmas dinner.  Dustin works with the husband and I am friends with the wife and their two kids go to Austin's daycare.  It was really fun to see them and the meal was great.  As my friend said that is one great thing about being away from family at the holidays, is that it encourages you to spend time with good friends. 

It was a wonderful weekend!

Merry Christmas!

So far we are having a great Christmas Eve.  We went sledding today at the forest.  Austin is still not too crazy about playing in the snow, but seems to enjoy it more every time we go.  Tonight we had grilled shrimp for dinner, and it was so yummy.  We gave Austin his bath and put him in PJs, then we loaded up in the pickup and drove around looking at Christmas lights.  Austin was wide awake the whole time and really made it fun when he would proclaim "Wow!"  Tomorrow we are openning presents, heading to Church, then having lunch/dinner in the afternoon with friends.  I am so very blessed!

More from the cookie party

I'm sitting here watching a Christmas Story so I thought I would share more photos from the cookie baking party.

Mmm!

 

Who knew, frosting makes great hair gel!

Santa visit

Poor Austin, he has been not feeling well this week and fighting a fever since yesterday so I think that factored into his mood today, but our visit with Santa did not go well.  He cried the whole time I set him on Santa's lap.  From a distance he was good though, he would smile and wave to Santa.  He just wanted no part of being away from me. 



Friday

Tonight we were supposed to go to my employers community Christmas party where Austin was going to see Santa, but when I got home from work he was not feeling good, did not take a nap all day, and was running a mild fever.  If he is up for it tomorrow Santa is going to be at our local grocery store so hopefully we will get a good photo there.

I am all done with Christmas gifts!  I ordered the Grandparents photo gifts today and that was the end.  It feels so good to have that done and now I can get back to focusing on other things. 

Today at work they announced that we all got Christmas bonuses!  I wasn't expecting it this year because of the current politics, but an extra $200 was a nice surprise!

Grandma Doris

Blank Project Collage Mug

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Still here!

Man, Christmas is a week and a half away!  And it's been crazy here so I have not had a chance to post. 

Last week Austin had a puking tummy bug that he got from daycare.  Everyone assured me it was a 24 hour bug, and he first puked on Thursday night, well probably Friday morning at about 2:00am in the crib.  He seemed fine on Friday and Saturday so I did not cancel my cookie party, but warned everyone who came that he had it and they were here at their own risk.  Mostly everyone else said they already had it, this is a small community and bugs make the rounds. 

The party was fun and I had my boss and 4 ladies from Dustin's office attend as well at the twin daughters of one of Dustin's coworkers.  I have mentioned the girls before in my posts as Austin goes to daycare with the girls and Mer is absolutely in love with him.  Usually when I drop him off at daycare Mer comes for her hugs and Austin gets mad and cries, but at the party he played nice with her and even gave her a hug. 

So I figured Austin was over the "24 hour" bug, but sure enough Saturday night, well again technically Sunday morning he threw up again in the crib.  We originally planned to go Christmas shopping on Sunday, we live 75 miles from the closest mall, stores and Walmart so it's a major trip.  Since Austin puked again we decided that Dustin would stay home with Austin and I would go do the shopping marathon alone this year.  It actually was not bad since the city I went to is predominately Mormon and they don't go out on Sundays so there really were not crowds and I was able to knock it out pretty quickly.  I went to Costco, Sportsman's Warehouse, JC Penney, Dillards, Sears, Bath and Body Works, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and finished up at Walmart.  I got all but two gifts that I decided I could get here locally at a gift shop. 

So Monday rolls around and I was getting breakfast going for Austin and I hear the front door open. Dustin came home and was feeling sick.  He now had the stomach bug.  When it was time to take Austin to daycare Dustin was sure he was staying home from work for the rest of the day.  I went to work, but started feeling yucky too.  I went and picked up Austin at 5 and came home.  I made chicken soup in the crock pot that day and when I lifted the lid to add noodles the smell filled my nose, and off the the bathroom I was!  Thank goodness Austin was actually tired that night and went to bed right after dinner because Dustin and I were in no condition to keep up with a toddler. 

Luckily when we woke up on Tuesday both of us were feeling much better and able to keep down a small bland diet for the day.  Today I feel totally back to normal and so happy and thankful to have good health again. Now I need to catch up on all my to-do list. I have to wrap and box up all the gifts, I got a bunch of blackberries from Bountiful Baskets on Saturday that I need to make jam out of, and all my other general household stuff.

Handmade Christmas Gift Exchange

I mentioned a few posts back that I participated in a handmade gift exchange for Christmas.



My partner was Jaime from California.  She said "I like color, and cupcakes, and polka dots! You already saw my blog, and I have an Etsy shop as well: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PolkaDotsOnParade  We just sold our house and are moving next month, so I'm excited to do some new decorating in the next house."  So I came up with these crochet doilies which I made while we traveled to and from Colorado on our Thanksgiving trip:

She can decorate a table in her new house, or use them to display her cupcakes. 

Today in the mail I received her cool gift:



Appliqued gingerbread man potholders.  They are super thick and nice, very well crafted and will be awesome at my cookie baking party this weekend!  Thanks a bunch Jaime!

Details, details...

I am getting so excited for my cookie baking party.  I have been thinking a lot about the foods that I will serve.  I am definitely doing crostini with tapenade as I got two big jars of olives, green and kalmata, when I was in Cali and can't wait to open them.  I always do a smokey cheese ball, it's notorious and everyone would be deeply disappointed if I didn't make one!  I am also thinking about getting some summer sausage and slicing it up to go with the cheese and crackers.  I want to do a homemade bread bowl with spinach dip and serve it with crudites.  I can't decide if I should do one more or not.  So far 5 people have RSVPed on Facebook and 1 RSVPed over the phone today and she will be bringing her two girls.  I always serve hot apple cider in the crock pot and then have a cooler of sodas and beer.  I have also had wine available, but mostly no one has ever wanted to drink it. 

I want to try the cookies with color windows this year.  You take Jolly Ranchers and crush them up.  Then you cut little holes in the sugar cookies and put the candy in them and bake it so that it melts and makes a transparent candy window.  Hopefully they turn out.  I also want to use my new Pampered Chef cookie press that my sister gave me.  I need to find a good spritz recipe for that. 

Ah, details, details!