IT'S WINTER!

We woke up this morning to this:

Winter finally decided to show its face, and with quite a force.  By the time the day was over, about a foot of snow had fallen.  And in what was the most epic timing WIN ever, our new snowblower was delivered less than 24 hours before these photos were taken!

We had a lovely day. After an initial letdown this morning when my bff and I had to cancel brunch we had scheduled due to the driving conditions, we made a new plan for the day.  We walked all over our neighborhood, pulling Eliza on the sled, and stopped for lunch at a local restaurant and to watch the first half of a football game.  It was really fun (and yummy!).  On the walk (sled) home, she managed to fall asleep!  I can't believe she wasn't cold... but we did have her bundled up rather well (thanks to a friend who loaned us all her winter gear this morning - thanks Taunya!).  This is one of those moments I will never forget - it was just so sweet to see her sound asleep as we trudged over snow banks in 30 degree weather!

(It's safe to say this happening was thoroughly documented, don't you think?)

Later, while Daddy cleared snow outside, Eliza and I made a gingerbread house and decorated it.  She got really into this activity this year, and was quite focused on candy placement (and surprisingly, she didn't eat *that* much of the candy).  She kept saying "I placed the candy there! And there!"

Hard at work

This is the side I decorated...

And here is the finished product, you can see the side Eliza decorated - more is better, right!?!

We used a gingerbread house cutter to make this, and it was really simple and I think the shape is way nicer than a kit -- you can buy it here.  As a bonus, it comes with an amazing swedish gingerbread (pepparkakor) recipe.

It was a memorable, beautiful day!

Eliza and the Pumpkin

 It started out nicely enough.  Eliza's first experience carving a pumpkin.  Aww.  Grandma was here to help, and Eliza dug right in.  At first.

Then...

What the...

I'm not so sure about... hmmmm...

Oh dear God, what is this atrocious substance!?

Put it away! Just put it away Grandma! 

And quit laughing.  

You people are not funny.

Perfect Fall Day

After going to bed late last night and waking up early, I suppose it's fair to say we didn't have high hopes or lofty goals for our Sunday today.  But, ever the optimist that he is (especially on the weekends), my dear husband dragged our lazy bones out of the house for some pumpkin pancakes this morning.  That turned out to be the beginning of the most awesomely awesome Fall Sunday ever!

After breakfast we drove to the farmer's market.  It was one of the last weekends of the "summer" market, so we had to stock up.  We bought ten (10!) bars of soap to last us the winter, and our usual purchases of meat from our favorite farmer, Bar 5.  Then home for nap.  Eliza slept from 10:30 to 1:30 (!), and I joined her for most of that time - it was amazing.  I've decided that any perfect day includes a nap. :)

While hubby and Eliza watched some football, I meal planned and then went to the store to stock up on food for this week's meals.  I've recently tried to be better about meal planning and it's saved me so much stress/hassle, time and money.  I don't know why I didn't do it sooner!  Ever since I withdrew from my Ph.D. program I've tried to become more productive/efficient at home and this is one of the ways that has made the most impact.  I think we eat more healthfully overall, and we definitely eat out less (one of our achilles heels!).

Anyway, it was unseasonably warm here today, so when I came home, Andy and Eliza were in the backyard raking and cleaning up the yard.  I joined them and it wasn't long before yard work was replaced by jumping in leaves, burying each other in leaves, leaf fights, and other fall-like shenanigans (like naked sand-box playing, apparently).

Then hubby started the grill and I learned that while I was gone he and Eliza had made both a spice rub and glaze for the pork chops we bought this morning.  He proceeded to make an amazing meal for us of smoked pork chops, baked potato and roasted carrots.  It was so yummy!

After dinner, it was bed time for the girl, so hubby took her upstairs for bath, teeth brushing and stories.  It was a great day.  Perhaps not the best blog fodder, but just something I wanted to write about here so that I'd remember it.  We are so lucky to have each other.  I love this family of mine.

It started with cream cheese.

I wasn't going to do anything special for valentine's day.  It was turning out to be an average day in our house.  A homemade valentine's card for Dada from Eliza, sure, but nothing more than that.  

And then I remembered I had cream cheese in the fridge.  

Why did I have cream cheese?  Honestly, I can't remember.  We're not big cream cheese eaters around here... but for some reason I bought it the other day at the store.  I think I was thinking it would be a nice addition to a cream sauce?  Or something?  

Anyway, remembering the cream cheese, the thought of making a fruit tart popped into my head.  So, I made a fruit tart.  And then, seeing how fancy it looked, I decided I had to spruce up our dinner plans to match it.  So I made homemade red sauce and meatballs to serve with penne.  THEN, I looked at our table and decided to make it special, too.  Off I went, searching the house for every pink or red or heart shaped/themed thing in our house to decorate our valentine's day table (turns out I don't have a lot of that stuff...).  

It was fun, and made the evening feel really special as the three of us sat around the table to have dinner.

Hope everyone had a sweet day yesterday!

A Last Minute Party

Getting an invitation from good friends at the last minute is so much fun.  It turns an ordinary, normal day into something a little more special.  So we were excited to get invited to a little Super Bowl party at our friends' house last night.  I baked cookies and our talented host, Abby, created a fun mini pigs-in-a-blanket making activity for the kids, and also made fixings for homemade individual pizzas (Abby is quite the baker).

Eliza learned how to "put the pigs to sleep" in the blankets...

Then she and Vi got to work...

Then all three kids enjoyed a pre-dinner snack (so did the adults, because those things were YUMMY!).

After dinner, the kids did a little more playing, and then we headed home.  It was so sweet to see Eliza playing with her friends.  They are a little older than she is, and they are SO great with her.  They all seemed to have a ton of fun playing, and the adults had fun chatting and watching the Super Bowl (welllllll, two of the four adults, at least - some of us aren't as interested in football as others).

It was a fun evening!

What we've been up to lately.

Making a gingerbread house

Learning to roll out dough... we'll try again next year :)

Making gingerbread men...

...and women!

Making little jars of candied pecans to give out as gifts.

Aren't they cute?

Making lefse with my mom and my sister-in-law.

(SIL learning how to roll out lefse.  It's not easy!)

Making rosettes for the first time.

So, basically, lots of Christmastime baking, and sharing in the buttery merriment with friends and family.
I'm savoring each and every moment.
It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Creating Memories

We put up the tree today and decorated the house for Christmas.

Even though Eliza was having a day full of some trying little toddler moments... it was so special.

Grandma and Grandpa came over and we trimmed the tree, set up our Dickens houses, shared homemade lefse and a "frosty" (snowman) cookie, and watched as Eliza learned about traditions, the magic of Christmas, and hopefully, about how much her mama and dada love Christmas.

We introduced her to our special ornaments - the one that we had made the year she was born, with my favorite "classic" Eliza picture on it - the one from Nana and PopPop for her baptism, captain kirk and all his ships, the little glass sandal, and the pretty white bird, the stork ornament I got while I was pregnant with her that said "2007", which I used a sharpie to make it say "2009" (hey, it was only $2.50!), the little snowman family my BFF gave us when Eliza was born (I could go on and on!)... it was sweet.

It was the first of many tree trimmings.  I love it, and I love making memories with her - that's what it's about, it's all part of creating memories for Eliza, for me, for our family.  I want to make it magical.  I want to make it special and sweet and something she looks forward to, just like my parents did for me.

And now, I'm sitting in my cozy house with candles glowing (okay they're electric candles.  what?  I have a toddler!), thinking about the fun day we had, and how much I hope it was special for Eliza, too.

To top it off?  It's snowing!