week 52 in pictures

this week is super-funky. we have christmas eve, day, etc. and then a repeat with dave’s parents, once we got to cali. lots of days with multiple events or multiple pictures of each event… ugh. such a pain to weed through! not that there’s anything wrong with having lots of pictures, it just takes some time to edit and choose and all that.

monday: christmas eve. we always take a family picture by one of the trees in the church after the christmas eve service.

tuesday: christmas morning. just before everyone came downstairs. (the pile of presents on the mantel are what won’t fit in micah’s super-skinny stocking. this happens every year. layla only had one this year that didn’t fit. and shane’s stocking is HUGE, so it’s not usually an issue.)

wednesday: dave, layla, and shane, all playing with micah’s pirate ship before heading out on our long drive to california. where’s micah? no idea.

thursday: christmas morning all over again in gramma and papa’s living room!

friday: 7 or so hours in the way back seat of the van, sandwiched between shane and layla (who bickered the WHOLE time)so we could go see the iowa dapelos, who were in SOCAL.

also friday: having pizza for dinner after we all finally arrived. notice, the 3 girls together at one end and micah and jacob together at the other end. poor matthew was a little antisocial – given that he was asleep!

saturday: papa, gramma, and 2 families’ worth of grandkids at our hotel room.

and some skinnies: 1. giving ginger treats in my infamous christmas jammies (I wear these ONLY on christmas!). 2. micah enjoying one of the complimentary cookies at our hotel.

and several big collages from christmas, etc…

christmas morning:

playing with new toys:

christmas day with grandma and grandpa:

christmas with gramma and papa:

our visit with the iowa dapelos. brief, but fun.

saturday, at the mall in socal:

{book shots will be added later}

Comments

white wine marinated pork chops recipe

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does home ec even exist anymore?

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week 33 in pictures

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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...

smoothie-crazy!

I’ve always been into smoothies. but I kind of go in phases with them. there will be times that I have the ALL THE TIME, and then other times when I’ve forgotten about them and don’t have them at all. right now, I’m on a major smoothie kick. I was reminded of their sweet, wonderful yumminess a while back when I read a post on the pioneer woman’s site about smoothies . of course, she’s all photography-savvy and has a clean kitchen and whatnot, and I don’t, but this is my take on smoothies. actually, it’s just today’s take on smoothies. it changes daily, depending on what I have on hand or what I’m in the mood for. as you’ll notice, it’s also a shameless plug for my 3rd favorite kitchen appliance. (the first being my coffeemaker, obviously, and the second being my coffee grinder.) so today’s smoothie consisted of the segments of 1 clementine (I have a 5 lb. box that I need to use up before they are not so good… plus, I figure the vitamin c will not hurt me any.), a BUNCH of frozen raspb...

rachel's continued ramblings

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