Christmas at the Bright House

Can you believe that every year, we pay $75 for a Christmas tree that we have to cut down ourselves?  We do, and every year we find ourselves questioning why.

The truth is, it’s a fantastic experience that the kids LOVE!

This and that

Alright, I admit it, I’ve been bad.  It’s been about a  month since I’ve posted any new photos, so here is a potpourri of images from the last few months.

We hosted my Dad’s birthday party with the Ho’s.

Halloween was fun.  I put Ian’s costume together myself.  We had the Ghostbusting toys from a Halloween of my & Chi’s from like 9 years ago.   Ian played with it a lot during the days leading up to Halloween.

Chi & I went to a Halloween costume party & I dressed up as Holly Golighty.  The party was a lot of fun!

Then trick-or-treating on Halloween.  First stop, our neighbor Lynda’s house where the big party was held the previous night.

 

Daddy gave Hannah a double cone head.

Every year I have the kids make a turkey out of their hands and feet and I’ve kept all of them.  They’re fun to make and are great decorations!

  

It snowed today, so we played in the snow and built a tiny snowman.

The Hat n’ Boots live on…

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up

If you’re short on time, check out 10:56 & 11:05.

The Joy of Cooking

I spent today in the kitchen, as I like to spend many Sundays this time of year.  I love filling the house with the smells of treats baking in the oven and a special dinner that cooks all afternoon.

My hope is that I’m creating great memories for the kids as they are there in the kitchen helping me throughout that day.

First order of business, pumpkin bread. 

Next up, Ragu.   This is Chidozie’s specialty, but I have taken it on and have come close to mastering the recipe myself.

Onions, celery, carrots, and prosciutto. 

Getting those all happy together with some wine,

Adding milk,

 

then, adding tomato puree and beef stock.  Only 2 1/2 hours till food bliss.

In the meantime, it’s pie time.  Here’s Ian & Hannah with the pie scraps making a special treat.

The pie before it heads into the oven.

The ragu is done, so it’s time to eat…

Silly Hannee

I’ve been blessed with such a beautiful, sweet, and super silly little girl. I love her so much!

Proud Momma

 

Ian’s doing homework & is loving it.

Bug Boy

All Ian talks about these days is bugs.  I pick him up from school and he’s immediately asking me to catch bugs with him and negotiating with me to take him to the park to catch butterflies for him to feed to his spiders.

It’s getting a little annoying, but I’m sure I’ll look back on his bug catching days very fondly in the future.

Time

I have time.  Time to work, time for myself, time to sit and eat, alone with my thoughts and I-am-loving-it!

This morning I had a dentist appointment, so Chi took the kids to school.   I got my teeth cleaned then I went to work out.  I was hungry, so I went to my favorite coffee shop for some coffee and a quick bite.   These are all things that before the kids were in school were difficult to execute.

Dentist or doctor appointments had to happen when while the kids had care, which meant that I would then be missing out on time to work.

Working out had to happen during a morning window of 9:00 to noon.   Afternoon care and the gym was insane, so I never felt comfortable taking them during that time.

And a leisurely bite to eat by myself?  That’s an event that I rarely indulge in.

I could get used to this!!

One last camping trip

We went camping with the Nettles family for Labor Day Weekend.

Diane choose a campground in the middle of the North Cascades that we had to drive on a dirt road for over 5 miles to reach.    Bedal Campground has no running water or bathrooms.  I’m a State park camper, so it’s an understatement when I say that I was not prepared for that kind of camping.

Day one was pretty nice; we had good weather and played at camp and at the nearby creek.  Day two, we were rained on most of the day, but their campsite had a cool shelter over the picnic table, so we hunkered down there for the day.

It was a fun trip, but boy was I happy to get home and take a long shower!

 

School Daze

Ian started Kindergarten and Hannah started Preschool yesterday.  It was a tough day for Chi & I as we dropped our kids to be cared for by someone other then a friend or family member for the very first time.

Both kids did great with the drop off and seemed to have good days yesterday.

This morning Ian tells us that some little boy was kicking him at school, so Chi had a little chat with Ian’s teacher this morning. 

I hope he settles into school and makes a friend soon!