thanksgiving trip to CA

we decided to take a QUICK trip to EG over thanksgiving weekend. we weren’t so much going FOR thanksgiving, as we were taking advantage of the long weekend. thanksgiving was just an added bonus. the real reason we were going was to get to meet amy’s new baby finnigan (who BARELY complied, making his arrival just the day before). BUT, we got an extra BONUS baby, too! dave got a text early thanksgiving morning, as we were just driving into california, that anthony and chalane’s baby, abigail, had decided to show up a month early. we appreciated her courtesy! ;)

micah and layla were tired after our all-night drive, and passed out together mid-afternoon, waiting for dinner.

we brought mario kart with us… so there was much of this:

the day after thanksgiving, gramma and papa treated us to a ride on ‘the polar express’ (which, I bet you didn’t know, runs out of sacramento)! it was loads of fun. everyone was supposed to wear pajamas, but the only one of our group who complied was micah. oh well. there were loads of cute pajamas there. some were obviously custom-made for familes for the occasion. this time a REAL STEAM ENGINE pulled the train (I was so excited!). the cars were all decorated christmas-like, there were waiters in white coats and hats, the ghost/hobo guy, dancing hot chocolate servers, ACTUAL hot chocolate (which was very thick and rich, and ALMOST tasted like melted chocolate bars), elves, and, of course, santa claus. he came on board (much to layla’s displeasure – she is still TERRIFIED of santa claus) and handed out bells to all the kids on the train.

micah with his godmother amy, and baby finn.

getting a baby fix with this tiny one, abby.

we spent quite a bit of time at the hughes house, and micah spent a good share of time watching (and pestering darrel about) the trains!

and of course, no trip to california would be complete without a double-double, no tomato, w/ grilled onions.

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for my not-so-american friends

i didn't have an actual roll w/ the green plaid on it, but i found a refill and an empty roll in my junk drawer (yeah, i know, that should tell me something). but even the empty one says 'scotch' on it. there you go! SCOTCH TAPE!

another sign

i'm going to have to take more pictures soon, i'm running out. christmas movies! yes, one of them is a bob the builder movie, but the kids deserve to get in on the festivities too, right? we also have the polar express , but i'm not sure where that was when i was taking the pictures. and a charlie brown christmas , but that's on vhs and our vcr broke, so it will have to be replaced. i want to just keep building our collection each year. there are so many fabulous movies! and speaking of, i promised living-under-a-rock-kate a list of the absolute MUST SEE christmas movies... obviously, the ones in the picture (well, you can watch the bob the builder one if you REALLY want to, but i don't really consider that a MUST SEE!). in addition: it's a wonderful life, miracle on 34th street (the real old one, not the new one with the annoying girl), a christmas story, frosty the snowman, santa claus is coming to town, the year without a santa claus, christmas with the

finally!

here are layla’s curtains! actually up on the window! i have to say i’m quite pleased with myself for actually getting this done. but i have to give credit where credit is due… so thanks to my MIL for going to the fabric store w/ me and helping me with measurements and all that. AND, thanks to debbie for letting me use her sewing machine and for ironing all the hems for me! YAY!!!!

homemaking 101... ponderings, ramblings... the usual.

so i've been analyzing lately (because that's what i do) why i get so frustrated with myself, my shortcomings in the areas of housekeeping and organization, creativity, cooking, etc. it would seem that i'm trying to live up to the expectations of june cleaver, or my grandmother, or something equally unrealistic. no, i don't expect to push the vacuum and baste a turkey in heels and pearls, (besides, i have the roomba , remember?), but i do expect more of myself than i have been giving currently. why? i've been doing what i usually do when i have an issue i want to know more about; i check out every book the library has on the subject (organization problems anyone?). there are a LOT of books out there written by homemakers, for homemakers with a lot of different slants on the whole subject. interestingly enough, the view that disturbs me the most is not the one that suggests that God has decreed it so that women have no other calling than to be wives and mothers (alt

yummy soup

it was just so pretty i had to take a picture. this is the beef barley soup i made on tuesday. i varied it a little from holly's directions , big surprise. i never follow recipes exactly. anyway, i doubled it to start, and since i couldn't find any quick cooking barley, i just used the regular stuff and adjusted the cooking time. not sure how many veggies i added exactly, but i cut two carrots and threw in the rest of a bag of green beans, the rest of a bag of corn and maybe 1/3 of a bag of peas. my first thought was that i'd saute some onions and garlic before putting in the broth - cuz everything is better w/ garlic. but wound up IMing w/ kate and burnt my onions. so, not wanting to cut another onion and all that, i just washed out the pot, threw in the broth and added some dried onion flakes and garlic powder and called it good. i put half of it in a freezer bag for another day. i didn't take a picture of my creamy italian chicken on monday because, alt

rachel's continued ramblings

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