Out of Season

Blueberries... they're out of season, so frozen it is. Fun fact about frozen berries, they're wet.

First Came Love

Then came marriage... and well, the rest of the song doesn't really fit but that's not the point. At exactly 11:30pm, I realized what day it was. It's our one year wedding anniversary and BOTH of us forgot about it. The only excuse I can come up with is stress. Holiday stress, blown-up Blazer stress, uncertainty of our future and "these kids are driving me crazy" stress. Add in the flying monkeys and a huge pile of laundry, it's not like you can blame us for pushing through this day like any other.

It is a little embarrassing though. Who forgets their first anniversary?

Happy Anniversary, Us. I'll put it on the calendar for next year.

Cookies

Madelynn's apron:

(I cut it out of a pillowcase, haha.)

Bundled

And not real happy about it.

This Sh*t is Bananas

And she loves it.

Happy Girl

Well she started happy, but then...

Why don't you tell us how you really feel about your big sister, Ev?

Chub-Chick laughing:

Ev's Favorite Game

My Tree is Fake

I honestly cannot remember any of the gifts I received as a child. Sure, there are pictures of a play kitchen from the 80's and gap-toothed photos of me holding random Barbie dolls, but those aren't what I think of when I remember Christmas. I remember the tree, the ornaments that we put up every single year, most of them made by my sister or myself. I think of stringing popcorn and baking peanut butter cookies (with the checkerboard pattern on top). I remember receiving a chocolate advent calendar every year. We watched Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer as a family and sang Frosty the Snowman by the light of the tree. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, candy cane reindeer and a white wreath made out of sandwich bags... That's Christmas.

As I was pulling out our Christmas balls from Target and the the Dollar Store, I felt a little sad. There isn't a pipe cleaner candy cane anywhere to be found. No angels made from seashells or a mason jar lid covered in glitter and ribbon. It's just cheap, plastic balls, there's no memories to add or an ancient angel to put on top. And it's pink, for fuck's sake.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can look at our tree and see our family in it. I wonder what my parent's tree looked like before Shawna was old enough to participate. Clearance bin Christmas balls and ribbon? I'll have to ask them some day.

*Actually, I do remember a toy. It was a small, plastic house. I only remember it because it took a few hours and two swear words to get the light to turn on.

Apple-Cinnamon Ornaments

You need equal parts cinnamon and applesauce (I did half cup of each because I didn't want too many), and glue.

We used 1 tblsp of glue and it was REALLY sticky, like "impossible to roll" sticky.

Dust the counter with cinnamon and roll the "dough" out. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes (I used cheap, plastic cutters and my edges came out all ragged. Metal would be better). Use a straw to poke a hole at the top.

Let them dry for 24 hours, then put a ribbon through the hole and hang them!

I can't show you the finished product yet because they aren't dry, but they smell fabulous! The scent is supposed to last for a really long time so I'm hanging a few of these in our cars. They look cute and smell good, but I wouldn't say they were fun to make. Super sticky, I got cinnamon in my eye and Madelynn kept trying to eat them because she thought they were cookies. It's probably a better project for an older kid.

A Message For Madelynn

A message from Santa for Mads!!