A Week In The Life: Day 2

I get my allergy shots every Tuesday, so yipee...that was on my agenda today. I'm reading "The Book of Joe" by Jonathan Tropper thanks to Rosemary's recommendation. Only on chapter 6 because I'm the worlds slowest reader, but I love the story so far. After I get my shots, I have to wait 30 minutes in the office so they can monitor me in case I have a reaction. Prime reading time and I think I've bought 90% of my books for my Kindle in that office.

I also got my hair cut. I needed it. I haven't gotten it cut since June. I looked like Cousin Itt:I suppose I could show you an after, but really, it looks like all the other haircuts i've had before and ya'll don't really need to see that again. But can I just announce to the world that I love the woman who cuts my hair? And who else loves getting their hair washed at the salon?

Our nephew Derek celebrated his 24th birthday today.This is Jimmy and Derek in Muir Woods in 1995. oh how i love flashback photos. :D

Blog browsing today, while on Ali's, she linked to Lisa Leonard Designs, a jewelry designer.Love this very much.

Lastly, this is my new favorite snack - Fruit Sorbet by Jamba Juice:Picked it up at the grocery store yesterday. YUMMY! And only 70-90 calories, 1-2 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber. Which translates to only 1 weight watcher point if you care about keeping track of that sort of thing.

Hope you had a good Tuesday. Good night!
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A Visit from Flat Stanley

Our 7 year old nephew asked us to host a visitor this weekend and we were thrilled to have his company. Flat Stanley, who was flattened by a bulletin board that fell on him, made his way from nephew's home in Southern California to spend some time with us in the Bay Area. We had a lot of fun taking him to San Francisco and showing him the sites.
Flat Stanley loved climbing up this tree to get a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Madeline took Flat Stanley to Fort Point. He got to help load the big cannons with cannon balls.

Fort Point is at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge and one of Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Madeline's favorite spots, so they brought him here to share the beautiful views. What a gorgeous spring day, too!

He really liked the city views from the municipal pier at Aquatic Park.

But when he looked at the prison on Alcatraz, he got a little scared. He had heard that bad guys used to stay there but we told him all the bad guys are gone and it's a fun tourist destination spot now, where people can learn about the history of the prison and Alcatraz Island.

A silly seagull landed on Flat Stanley's head. At least it didn't poop on him.

Sweet! He was so excited to ride on a cable car!

He met a funny pirate at Fisherman's Wharf.

Flat Stanley saw a lot of sail boats in the bay so we showed him where most of them are docked when they're not being used. He also liked the Bay Bridge in the background but admitted the Golden Gate Bridge was cooler.

Being flat certainly has it's advantages. For instance, traveling is a cinch because he can just slip into an envelope and go anywhere. But when the wind kicks up and he's posing for a shot, he can easily blow away. Luckily, Uncle Jimmy was there to save him.

Our nephew loves baseball. So Flat Stanley was super excited to go to the SF Giants Ballpark. Nephew will be a little jealous!

Uncle Jimmy and Flat Stanley watched the Giants play a pre-season game. Go Giants!

We had a lot of fun with Flat Stanley and we'll be sad to see him go.
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Christmas Dinner

It could have been assumed that our Christmas dinner would have been a prim and proper event. Now it was pretty darn serious when we first started chowing down, because we were all ready to scarf the delicious prime rib, scalloped potatoes, homemade bread, salad, asparagus and corn. But after that initial silence of all 16 of us enjoying those first few bites, our silly spirits came back.
Jimmy took all of these photos. He took this cool shot of the food, table, serving & drinking hands and so on. I love the perspective. But you can also spot middle nephew hiding behind his glass while jimmy took the photo.

That started the shenannigans.

They boys pretended that they didn't want to get their photo taken.
Big Brother R "hides" behind his soda bottle. Such a cute shot, yes?

Youngest D 'struggles' with his cousin so he couldn't get his photo taken. lol!!!

Then it was time to pump everyone up with more sugar!Yummy Christmas cookies...because we weren't already wired enough!

What did you and your family have for Christmas dinner?
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Christmas Smiles

It doesn't take a lot to be able to tell the difference between a posed smile vs. a sincere smile, but we were blessed with the most sincerely happy smiles on Christmas morning. Here are a handful of my favorites:


Some of the biggest smiles were from watching others opening presents.



You just can't beat the glimmer in a 4 year old boy's eyes who just got a box of Hot Wheels.
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Christmas Day (Daily December 25}

I hope you had a lovely Christmas day. Ours started at 9:30ish - breakfast before opening presents. Of course the kids were anxious to start as soon as possible so when the last waffle was finished, we all gathered around the tree for the presentation of presents. heehee. No one was disappointed.

Then most of us went out to play with the popular Nerf guns.Oh boy. Don't mess with these 3!

But Uncle Jimmy was up for the challenge...

Till the boys 13 year old cousin came in attack and pummeled Uncle Jimmy with her automatic nerf rifle.

Jimmy was toast and ran a fast retreat!

I actually put the camera down for a little bit and even though it was futile, I tried to take on the nieces and nephews. But that middle nephew, he's no dummy. He had an automatic that held 20 nerf bullets. My nerf rifle only held 6, but i had already lost 1. He just stood there with a big dimpled grin and took all 5 of my bullets. Then came after me with his 20. I was toast, too. But a 20 clip gun takes longer to refill than a 6 clip, so I got back at him once till I had to put up the white flag and surrender.

We all worked up an appetite by the time dinner was ready.For just a moment, our group of 16 was quiet during the first few delicious bites.

I suspect everyone will sleep well tonight.

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!
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Twas the night before Christmas {Daily December 24}

We're back in the Bay Area, home from a lovely Christmas Eve dinner at the parentals with 16. My favorite moment was sitting at the table after dinner watching the siblings talking and laughing and joking with their dad. Another favorite moment was watching the 5 cousins talking in the den. The youngest cousins were hanging on every word that the oldest cousin said. A good moment to be an observer. I love Christmas, and I love this family. I'm so happy to be a part of it.


We Wish You a Merry♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪We Wish You a Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...And A Happy New Year!♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...

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That good kind of fall on your face tired {Daily December 23}

Whenever Steve's family comes up to visit, we're guaranteed an active time. It's great, because we're pretty sedentary, but we love doing stuff and being w/ the fam. Today we went sledding at Pinecrest Lake. It's the same lake we go to with them in the summer when we're in the boat, but it gets drained in the winter.

The boat launch makes a great slope for sledding.Steve and Middle J take a ride down the hill.

And Max, their mom, sleds down with Big Brother R.

The first 1/2 hr, Youngest D at 4 years old wouldn't even consider going on a sled. But once he took his 1st ride with dad, you couldn't get him off the hill. He even went down the sled by himself several times. Unfortunately, my camera battery died. boo on me for not recharging my battery. I know better.

We were there 3 hours and on the 1/2 hr ride home, all 3 boys passed out in the car, exhausted by all the fun and activity. We couldn't believe it was only 3:30 when we had to wake them up when we got home. It felt like 7pm. But they were hungry and cold! So we had some snacks and hot chocolate, stoked the fire then ordered pizza for dinner.

Max and Steve have always been very generous with their cooking whenever they come up to visit. They do 99.9% of the cooking. So tonight, I wanted to share one of my recipes that my mom passed down to me, fried wontons. Would you believe that Big Brother R wanted to help make them? Freakin' awesome I tell ya!

A couple hours after dinner, I overheard R whispering into his dads ear, "What's for dessert?" So I asked him, "Do you like chocolate covered pretzels?" He smiled and answered "Yes!" So, you guessed it...we made my famous Pretzel Kisses and his 2 younger brothers were so excited to help, too! I can't tell you how much I love seeing the grins on those boys. And then to have them want to do stuff that I like doing? You know that heart of mine? It grew three sizes larger. Altho, I hope it wasn't 2 sizes too small to start with!
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Winter Blessings {Daily December 22}

I ended last nights post by hoping that the gentle snowfall would last throughtout the night. We woke up to 2" of fresh snow. I think the following photos will show whether or not the boys thought it was a winter wonderland or not.




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Home Full of Family {Daily December 21}

We're at the hideaway and Steve's family arrived just moments ago. Boys were sleepy from their 7 hour drive so are already on couches in the living room in dreamland. They have the toastiest room in the house, right next to the fireplace.
When we got here, it was raining. But now gentle snowflakes are falling from the sky. Hopefully it will continue through the night and the boys will wake up to a white winter wonderland.

photo from Thanksgiving of youngest nephews with their cousin, oldest nephew.
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Thank God for The Magic {Daily December 17}

I was having a rough day. I didn't get any sleep and woke up cranky as an alligator who just came back from the dentist. whaattttt? The day was productive, but the cloud persisted.

On my way out this evening, Jimmy pulled into the driveway just as I was pulling out. We rolled down our windows and chatted for a minute, each in our own car. He was spirited. I was grumpy. I told him "I'm having a bad day." I was struggling w/ keeping the meaning of Christmas in my heart.

But I was on my way to a Christmas dinner w/ my crafting friends. I knew I'd have a good time. I knew being with them would get me out of my funk. And it did! A great group of women I tell ya. Nothing like the power of friendship to help the holiday blues.

Then! I got another magical surprise!! My 3.5 year old nephew called me. I usually don't hear my phone ringing when I'm out, but I know there was a reason I heard it this time. That boy, lemme tell ya, he's so full of happiness and sunshine that even on the coldest, gloomiest, grayest day, he'll brighten it up.

Thank you friends and family for the Magic of Christmas.
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2 parties {Daily December 13}

Today was one of those days when you come home feeling happy because you've been surrounded by great friends and family.
The Yuen's have hosted a yearly Christmas Cookie party for at least 4 or 5 years and we always look forward to it. It's a lot of fun getting together with them and enjoying the sugar rush. One of our friends brought a yummy coconut date ball that I can't stop thinking about. Maybe if I beg and plead, she'll bring a small batch to the cabin with her the next time they come up. hint hint! :)

Unfortunately, we had to leave early, so I didn't want to bother everyone in their conversations to get a group photo. Besides we're all getting together again in January and I'll be sure to take loads of photos then. But I did manage to get a couple of snapshots of Jimmy with the Chancey kids as we were walking out the door:

hilarious!

Thankfully, we arrived only 10 minutes late to the parentals to celebrate Christmas with the niece who is going to grad school up here. We all wanted to get together before she headed back to Southern California for her break. Love that girl so much, she's so awesome. But this part of the family is shy, so no photo ops here despite my nagging desire to snap lots and lots of photos. Don't they realize that I have a task at hand and I need photos of them to complete my Daily December book?? :P
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Tired {Daily December 12}

Since I woke up, I've been all things Christmas related. I'm nearly out of words, so I'll just let the pictures tell my story.

Worked on my cards.This pic is from last year. Wouldn't want to give too much of a preview of the cards this year. :-) I hope to get them in the mail by Friday.

Unwrapped a bunch of these.

Put them on pretzels like this. Then put them in the oven for 8 minutes at 200 degrees.

Poured out a bag full of these.

Smooshed 2 of them into the warm chocolate then cooled in the fridge.

Moved onto this:Melted white chocolate, toasted almonds, cranberries, rice crispies. I posted the recipe last year here.

It cooled in the fridge for 30 minutes, then I broke it. On purpose. I broke it a lot more, too. Tiny bite sized pieces.

Decided to make the same thing in chocolate. But topped with crushed candy canes. They're still in the fridge cooling.

Also burned a couple of mixed CD's for SIL and niece. We're getting together w/ them tomorrow nite for Christmas dinner w/ niece before she goes home for the holidays. But before that, we're going to friends for a cookie party. I'm taking liberties in the definition of cookie.
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