Sleepover Sugar

This is my niece Hillary. She's one of my sister Tatiana's darling children.

Hillary slept over at our house Friday night. Yay!! Fun for us!

In honor of this auspicious event, we broke out the gingerbread house kit we got at Costco several weeks ago and had some fun.

There would have been even more colorful candy decorations on our masterpiece had there not been such rampant snacking of the building supplies.

Even on camera we're hard pressed to keep Hillbill's mitts off the gumdrop walkway ;)

Later that evening we had crepes suzette with fresh strawberries and real whipping cream. Mmmmm.

This is where the girls lapsed into their sugar coma/sleep.

The next morning we had cream cheese toaster streudel for breakfast. Nary a complex carbohydrate in sight for close to 18 hours.

Glad to see those college nutrition classes paying off.

Come back soon Hillary!

Sweet Baby James

I love Christmas music. I picked this up last year and have enjoyed it thoroughly. Of course I've liked James' music since the 70's, so it stands to reason I'd like this CD.

Here's one of my favorites from the album. Relax for a few minutes and enjoy.

Ivana

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' home. It was a wonderful time. Delicious food and all our family to enjoy it together. I love Thanksgiving.

After dinner, Emily and a few cousins retired to the basement to play. There are loads of dress up clothes down there and after a while, Emily came upstairs attired thusly.

One of Dad's old ties for a sash

Some leftover lace for a skirt

An old pink chiffon robe for a scarf/cape

A beaded clutch bag

Just the right amount of costume jewelry. Nothing gaudy.

She swept into the room and in her snootiest tone introduced herself as Ivana RichMann. Emily has some pretty large (and by large I mean big ticket) goals. World travel and owning and running a big ranch with lots of horses are at the top of the list. It would appear Em has determined that marrying into wealth is not a bad option.

She's nine... but she's got a plan.

She then invited any interested parties to join her in the basement to play Pictionary on her team.

I do love this girl. Go get 'em sister.

Chores can be fun!

If this fabulous music is playing in the background while I'm performing various household tasks...

doesn't it stand to reason that this gentleman

is helping me fold the laundry?

Works for me.

Technique

Last week, Emily gave me a foot massage. It was better than chocolate. Really. She ushered me into her room (She's calling it Emiliana's Spa. Tres European.) and had me lay down on her exceptionally soft and comfy bed. I got a washcloth to cover my eyes so I could be all relaxed and then the fun began. She did a fabulous job! She had a few different moves and as she transitioned into a new one that was making my whole being one with the universe she said, "This is a massage technique I learned from Sister Bell." (The girls age 8-11 in our church get together twice a month and have some fun activities. One of them was a mini class for yoga and then learning about massage. Thank you Sister Bell.) I rose from Em's bed a relaxed and happy camper. I told her all I wanted for Christmas was for her to give me some more foot massages.
Then Rich got the treatment. He fell asleep. He was happy too.

The day after our wondrous foot massages, Emily saw a commercial for a massage therapy school. It showed students giving massages. She watched transfixed for a minute and then hollered, "Sarah! Come here! I want to try a new massage technique on you!!"

I'm glad it was Sarah that got to play guinea pig.

Sarah's sense of self preservation kicked in and she assumed the fetal position.

Apparently, this massage technique needs some refinement.

Smiling

Doesn't Sarah look grown up?

This photo was taken at our church's Harvest Fair. A very nice girl from our ward was strolling around taking some candid shots. She gave us this one and I scanned it. Combine that with the gymnasium lighting and you get grainy. I don't care. It was a wonderful day and this will help me remember.
(Emily was off to one of the booths with her friend so she's not in the shot.)

I am extremely thankful to be a mother. It took a while... but oh, it was worth the wait. How I love my daughters! It is my great joy to watch them grow and learn. Life is so good.

A switch to non-fiction

A Thousand Acres is a 1991 novel by American author Jane Smiley. It won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel is a contemporary deconstruction of Shakespeare's King Lear and is set on a thousand acre farm in Iowa that is owned by a family of a father and his three daughters. It is told through the point of view of the oldest daughter, Ginny. (Wikipedia)

I finished this yesterday.

Very well written. Interesting trip into the world of agriculture. Unpleasant voyage into the realms of dysfunctional family. Sometimes there's a little fun in dys'fun'ctional. Not here.

This is my new read.

An early Christmas present from Rich! Yay!!

I've never had one of these machines and I'm very excited to crank it up and start cooking.

For the first 15 years of marriage, Rich would frequently remove the knife from my hand and offer to chop, dice, mince or julienne whatever might be on the cutting board in front of me. This typically resulted in an insulted and cheesed wife. I don't deny I may have nicked a finger in the past, but I'm not a danger to myself or others when wielding a knife.

Either I've become more competent with a knife or Rich determined it wasn't in his interest to insult my food prep skills when I was near the cold steel. Good man that he is, he hasn't stepped in for years. I love it when we cook together, just not when he tries to play through.

Now when he tries to butt in it'll be because he wants to play with the shiny new Cuisinart! Woohoo!!