Wednesday, December 31, 2008

My New Year's Motto

I came across this wonderful saying over at homegrown hospitality and it articulates all my thoughts of resolutions for the new year to the "t".

(But I would, however, change "before you retire" and "before you die" to
"before the year ends"!
I'm just saying I'm not ready for both of those just yet.)

Love it!

Once There Was a Snowman (& Snowlady)

Monday, December 29, 2008

You Know You're Old When...

You know you're old when...

your sweet daughters make you a lovely chocolate cherry cake like this


and they inform you it took three (yes 3!) boxes of candles
and your husband lights the bazillion candles and it looks like this


but then you realize that maybe you aren't so old when you are able to blow all the candles out in one breath (thank you very much! My wish BETTER come true!)
and then your beautiful cake looks like this


Yeah, it's glorious getting older.

But, even though I was a little on the depressed side today,
my family sure made it a great day!

I got to spend some time with my parents.
When I got back, my kids made me this cute sign


and I got these beautiful flowers from Beth (and the yummy cake)
and my boys surprised me with this


that they bought with their own money!
Lee made dinner (with his eating helmet on--don't ask.)

and we spent an evening talking and laughing without t.v.
It was AWESOME!

I also got numerous greetings from friends and family which was darn cool too!

Even Donny remembered...
This was in my email inbox today


Pretty cool but not as cool as this that happened to my friend Amy-sue! Some girls have all the luck! Someday Donny...Someday.

So, it was a great day...Thanks everyone!

I still feel really old
but I can go to sleep a happy old lady!

*sigh*


*
Why is turning 41 harder than turning 40?


*song from www.dogwelder.vox.com

Friday, December 26, 2008

Images of Christmas 2008

Our tree




Decorations



The Bazillion decorated sugar cookies for neighbors and friends.



The Peterson Family Annual Christmas Talent Show at Cricket's house.




The Christmas Eve Feast




Cute notes for Santa and darling Santa cookies made by my friend Vicki.
(Is it horrible to "regift" cookies? We ran out of time to make some for Santa so we put out these cuties.)


Having fun with new toys.


Building a gigantic snowman at Nanny and Papa's house.


What a fun Christmas!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008








































Sunday, December 21, 2008

Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Emma had her Christmas show last Wednesday at her preschool.
It was all so cute and
she did such a good job!
I am amazed at how far she has come over the past couple of months!
Here's a video of
"We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

She did great until she noticed Santa walk in.
(Hence the petrified look on her face and then the tears.)
She's not a Santa fan.
(The Santa in her "Believe" picture was her teacher dressed up so that wasn't scary to her.)
I felt so bad for her! Poor Emma.
But she was fine once she understood that I wasn't going to make her visit with Santa.
She said,
"I can write him a letter."
Done deal.



Merry Christmas everyone!


Saturday, December 20, 2008

I believe...

How 'bout you?

*photo of Emma taken by Felt Photography. It was Emma's present to us from her preschool. Isn't it cute?

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

*sigh*

I wish the weather would let up down south so this beauty can come home!

I guess I need to just be patient. It's more important to have her home safe.
She'll be home tomorrow afterall!
I can't wait!


P.S. Please keep Dalene and her husband in your prayers. Sometimes I really wish bad things didn't have to happen -- especially to such good people!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Hubby Tag

I needed a diversion today so I thought I'd try this. To be honest, I'd much rather think about my husband than all the stresses right now!
What is your husband's name?
Lee

How old is he?
42 almost 43

Who eats sweets?
We both do and it's caught up to us!

Who said I love you first?
He did on our second date. Oh yes. But surprisingly it didn't freak me out because we had been writing for over seven months.

Who is taller?
He is if I'm not wearing heels or big hair.
(Not that I wear big hair but I couldn't resist!)
He's only about an inch or so taller than me.

Who can sing better?
I do but honestly, I think that if he sang more he would have a beautiful voice and be a better singer than me. You should hear his speaking voice. It's very manly and strong. I love it!

Who is smarter?
Hands down, he is. He's the most intelligent person I know. (Jake's a close second.) But I think I have more common sense so we compliment ourselves that way.

Who does the laundry?
Neither. You should see the mountain right now!
But, I usually do the bulk of it. He's started doing more lately. It's pretty great.

Who pays the bills?
We both do. It's too much stress for me to do it on my own and he needs me to be a nag so it works (for the most part).

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
He does but when we used to have our bed the other way I did. I can't sleep close to a window.

Who mows the lawn?
Our sons.

Who cooks dinner?
I do. He does occasionally. He's a very good cook. He is in charge of the barbeque though.

Who drives?
He does. Always. He hates to be the passenger and I hate when he's the passenger so he drives.

Who is the first to admit they are wrong?
We both are pretty good about that I think.

Who kissed who first?
He kissed me first but he asked. He was such the gentleman in his day!

Who asked who out first?
He asked me out the day after he was home from his mission.

Who wears the pants?
I hate this question!

Friends who should do this:
Anyone who wants a fun little diversion.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Getting Back to the Basics

I'm so pleased with myself.
(Yeah, I know...pretty sick!)
But really, I'm making these snowman kits for Christmas presents and the dollar store ran out of the cute scarfs I wanted. I needed two more that would match the hats I got so I decided to make them. My Grandma Peterson and my Mom both taught me to crochet and knit a million years ago but it never really stuck.
I don't like doing small things with my hands.
Cross stitch, needlepoint, knitting--it all drives me crazy.
Well, I thought I'd give crocheting another try because remember
I can be cheap sometimes. (Cut me some slack...we are in a recession remember!)
Well, I guess my Grandma and Mom's efforts weren't in vain afterall.
Believe it or not,
I remembered how to crochet.

Just don't look too closely. I may have added and skipped a few stitches here and there.

Now I just have to make another one.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

How Is Your Christmas Shopping Going?

There's now 15 more days until Christmas.
Are you ready yet?
I know I should be panicking since I have only one present (yes ONE and dang if it isn't cute!) ready to be wrapped but for some reason I'm not.
It's like this every year for me.
I was hoping this year would be different and I would have more money to buy gifts.
But we don't always get what we hope for and that's just fine.
I am making snowman kits for my nieces and nephews so I've been busy with that.
I found the cutest hats and scarfs at the dollar store for the girl snowmen. I'll post pictures when I get them done. I hope they turn out as cute as I picture them!
Anyway, I'm trying to enjoy the season and not stress over gifts just yet.
I'll save the stressing for December 24th if I'm not done!



Friday, December 5, 2008

It's Cool to Come From Dutch Descent...

Because then you get to wake up to goodies in your wooden shoes on December 5th.

Happy St. Nick!!!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Emma's Head


I thought Emma had an imaginary friend.
She often talks and laughs with hand gestures and everything when no one is around.
It's so cute.
The other day I thought I'd ask her about it.
Here's how it went down...

Me: Who are you talking with Emma?

Emma: My head.

Me: Oh, your friend? What's her name?

Emma: No Mommy. Not my friend...
MY HEAD!

Me: Your head? Huh?

Emma: Yes, my head.

Okay then.
My daughter talks to her head.

Nice.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

News That Put A Big Smile On My Face...

I received some pretty amazing news tonight.

My foster brother, Marvin, called my parents on Thanksgiving!
I couldn't believe my ears when my mom told me!

Why is this such a big deal?
Well, last April, Marvin was involved in a hit and run accident where he was run over by a truck. He sustained extremely critical injuries and was in a coma for months.
I don't have a lot of details but he's awake now and starting his rehabilitation.
I've heard he has some brain damage and has to learn to walk again but overall he's doing great.

What a blessing!

Apparently he doesn't remember very much about recent years.
He remembers a lot about living with us in Long Beach.
In fact, I guess one of the first things he told his mom was our address and phone number in Long Beach.
Funny he thought of that!

My mom said that he's having a hard time grasping the fact that my brother and sisters and I are grown with families of our own. He kept talking like we were kids. So, I'm guessing he doesn't remember the last time we saw each other.
I guess that doesn't really matter at the moment.
What's important is that he is on
the road to recovery!

It is truly a miracle!

Me and Marvin (and baby Scott) in 1993

Monday, December 1, 2008

What? Two Posts in One Day?

My friend, the Compulsive Writer, did something fun on her blog.
She posted a picture of herself at age six and told about a favorite book of hers
when she was six.
She asked us (her loyal readers) to do the same if we wanted.
So, I want to and here's mine...

Here's the almost six-year-old me.
It's not the best quality photo but it's me right before I turned six.

And here's my favorite book...
Morning is a Little Child.
This was a poetry book of cute little rhyming poems that I LOVED.
I was big into memorizing and I had a lot of them memorized.
I also was big into drawing and would "copy" the illustrations.
I hope I still have my copy of this book somewhere in my many boxes of memories!
Thanks Compulsive Writer!
This was fun!