Christmas in Chicago

Hello from the North! We only thought it was cold in NJ! We left in between winter storms and made it out just in the nick of time. We stayed the night in Columbus, OH and fought our way through 40+ winds the next day on our way to North Chicago. We can honestly say we had never felt cold like that before. It was -25 degrees when we arrived. That didn't stop the kids from heading striaght to the snow. Great pictures to come. Since then, we've spent time eating, drinking and being merry with family. Today, it's starting to warm up. The older kids and boys headed to the slopes for a little skiing/snowboarding. I stayed behind with our girls, and we're enjoying watching the dollar size flakes fall all around us.

Merry Christmas to All!

HO HO HO! Merry Christmas

I really should be packing right now. For those of you that don't know, we're scheduled to hit the road tomorrow morning for North Chicago. Mother Nature apparently didn't get the memo though because there's a winter storm bearing down on us as we speak and another on the way Sunday. So far, the plan still stands. We've adjusted our route a little further south, but the weather is covering our entire path.

It's been snowing here for over an hour now, and there's at least an inch on the ground, and the worst is yet to come.

And, that is the reason I'm procrastinating. So, you win. Here's our collection of Santa Photos from this year.

That top photo up there, that's the OFFICIAL Macy's Santa. Wow is he good! As anyone who's been to Disney knows, their lines are even themed, and so is Santaland at Macy's. It's the Macy's at Herold Square-the one you see in the background for all the Thanksgiving Parades. It's amazing. Another "not to be missed" in NYC if you're there at the right time.

Then, we attended our town's Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. Santa was there too. Neither kid was too keen on hanging around him too long. I'm actually holding Lise' in the sleigh to get the shot. Too bad it came out fuzzy. There was no redo.


And, last but not least, Santa apparently loves the little children of Atlantic Highlands! This past Monday night, Santa came around to all the houses in our town to say hello to all the children. He stopped right in front of our house. He was escorted by the ambulance. It was great. They could climb into his sleigh and chat with him as long as they wanted.

We love the clean potties!

I know I've been dragging my feet on getting the pictures out of our most recent NYC experience, but it's taking me a little time to go through and weed out what you don't want to see.

I have good news though. One of our favorite things we found to do was visit the Charmin Restrooms. Let's just say, it was the Disneyworld of restroom experiences. We even got a souvenir photo. Click here for all the info, and if you're in NYC for the holidays, it should be on your "not to be missed" list.

Fun in the Snow, without the snow...

Click here to make your own snowflake.

Are you kidding me?

As the years progress, I feel I kind of go with the flow. Sure, I've heard the stories of how movies were 5 cents and my parents walked to school uphill in the snow, etc, etc, etc. But imagine my surprise when B and I decided to take in a movie last night, and they wanted $18! Holy Moly!!!!!! Can you tell it's been a while since I've been to see anything? Although I enjoyed it, I'll be sticking to Netflix for the majority of my movie viewing.

PS, we went to see Four Christmases. Funny.

Grandma & Papa's Visit

It all started with Thanksgiving Thursday. That was the day Mom and Dad flew in. B and Lise' went to the airport while Abri and I stayed behind to prepare all the sides for our big feast. That afternoon, our friend Richie (originally our neighbor in Dallas & now lives in NJ) came down to join us for dinner. Everything was delicious. I wish I had pictures, but I think I had so many other things going on, I forgot to take them. So, here's a picture of the table.

The joke was on me. A few years ago I received some rolled place mats, and I pulled them out for the big day, but when I unrolled them, it turned out to be napkins, not place mats, so Lise' & Mom got creative on that end of things.

The next day, we headed out in search of our Christmas tree. We had seen a tree stand on the main street in town, so I walked in and inquired about the offerings. It turns out they weren't officially open (good thing I didn't read the sign), but they sold us one anyway, making us the first to buy a tree in town that weekend.

Saturday was spent pulling out all the Christmas decorations and pulling out my hair. I could not put my hands on my ornaments. Since we've had kids, we've used a set of fabric ornaments my mom made when I was little. To the best of my knowledge, the last time I had the full set of ornaments on the tree was in Dallas, and that was 3 moves ago. I can tell you the box they are in, where they were stored in Utah and Alabama, but I cannot find them here. Our last hope is that they are stored in only 2 boxes not yet opened-china and crystal. Lucky for us, we did find the fabric ornaments. They went on the small fake tree in the Den. As for the fresh tree, we've had to make do with a bunch of plastic balls and drums someone gave me in the past. It was probably for the best though, Abri's favorite pastime is pulling all the ornaments off the tree.






While B was on the roof setting up lights, Grandma & the girls were making a gingerbread train.


That night, we made cookies for Lise's class. She was in charge of the sugar. Check out the cookie on the right.


And, all that was just the first 3 days! Just wait for the next 4. I'm out of time for now. Check back soon.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

I know all of you down south are frolicking in the winter white this morning, so I figured I share our first snow pics with you as well. We have rain this am, but on Sunday morning, the shrills of delight came out the mouths of babes as they couldn't wait to don their snow gear and get outside while I made breakfast.

Abri wanted to go outside, but she fought the institution of snow clothing.

Fine, I'll wear it (as she looks longingly at Lise' in the yard).


Lise' lives for making snow angels, no matter how much is on the ground.




Chillin' after freezing their fingers off.

It's your lucky day

The missing camera has reappeared. Apparently, it hid itself between cushions on my friend's front porch. It must have really been mad at me because I checked the sofa personally. We've put our differences aside now that we've been reunited.

For more pictures, be sure to click on the link in the right column labeled OUR PIC SITE.

FYI-Abri was Minnie Mouse and Lise' was the cowboy princess.

Quite possibly the best soup I've ever had.

This past weekend, I figured it was time to put away the Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations, and that included the many pumpkins we had all around the house. First, my plan was to just scoop out the seeds and roast them, but it was cold outside, and I didn't have anything better to do, so I decided to peel and roast 4 of the sugar pumpkins (smaller ones). I had done this back in October and it was delicious. This time, I wanted some sort of pumpkin soup. I'm not a real fan of sweets in my veggie soup, so I did a recipe search. The majority of the pumpkin soups include cinnamon-that is not for me, so I kept looking. Then, I came across the recipe for Pumpkin Black Bean Soup. Love all of the above, so I printed it and got to work.

I should have heeded the warning from the recipe writer herself. She highly recommends buying the pumpkin puree in a can and going from there. But, how could I do that? I already had these 4 beautiful pumpkins begging to end their life in my soup, so I got to work. WORK it is! I peeled-yes with a veggie peeler-all four, I scraped the innards, I roasted, and I pureed. The end result was amazing in itself, but then I moved on to the rest.

I followed the recipe for the most part, but I did change a few things up. First, I had no Sherry or Sherry vinegar on hand. So, I substituted Pinot Grigio (hey, it was in the fridge) for the Sherry and omitted the vinegar all together. I also only did one teaspoon of cumin (I was fearful of an overpowering taste for the kids). The end result was no short of a "Party in your Mouth!" I wasn't even sure they'd like it, but they LOVED it! Lise' coined that name for the soup. She calls it Party Soup.

So, don't waste another minute of your life without trying this fabulous concoction!

Disco

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

More Christmas Fun

Fa la la la la la la la la

It's that time of year & music is in the air. I hope that little title keeps you singing the whole month long.
I guess you've been wondering what we've been up to. To Mom and Dad arrived on Thanksgiving Day, and we didn't stop the whole time they were here. While B and Lise' went to the airport, Abri and I were at home cooking the traditional meal. I outsourced the turkey, but cooked all the favorite sides of spinach Madeline, green bean casserole, sweet potato souffle, cranberry relish, cheesecake and apple pie. Ok, I really had a free apple pie from a local farm, but who's checking. We were joined by our friend Richie, who we first met when he was our neighbor in Dallas. Unfortunately, I'm just realizing I didn't take any pictures of the big event. Close your eyes and imagine.

At the conclusion of dinner, there was a big knock at the door. Lise' raced to see who it was, and on the stoop was a package from Santa. In it was the Elf on the Shelf. It's an elf sent by Santa to be his eyes and ears. Lise' named ours Sammy, and Sammy watches her all day long. At night, after she and Abri have gone to sleep, Sammy goes back to the North Pole where he tells Santa if everyone in the house had been naughty or nice. He changes locations each night, so when they wake in the morning, it's a search to see where Sammy has chosen to sit for the day. He's only here for the Season, so after Christmas, he will return to the North Pole until next year. He's been an EXCELLENT addtion to our family. Just the other day, Lise' came running to tell me that Abri had pushed her, but she didn't push back because Sammy was watching. Be sure to click above to check out Sammy's site.

I must run to fix dinner. I'm on my own tonight, so I have to be everything to everybody. More exciting news and photos to come!