Ash of All Trades

Today is a day to say goodbye to 2010!  The girls and I spent the day cleaning up the remaining Christmas decor and preparing for a new year.  To say that I am happy for 2010 to be over is an understatement.  This year brought with it: - My Baby turned 1! -Very long and scary hospital stay for my dad. - My First born turned 3! - 7 close deaths; six of which were to cancer and four of which occurred after Halloween. - Several new babies were born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -My sister started college in Arizona (UofA) - Justin went to Pennsylvania for the first time. - Justin & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! - We went on our 1st trip without the girls! And much much more.  This year was a mixed year some happy happy times and some very frightening times yet I can't say that it was a BAD year - if anything it was a year of growth and strength and most importantly BLESSINGS! As we close this year I feel completely blessed to live the life I live and to have the opportu

One thing I have found with lunches is that if we plan what to eat we end up with leftovers if I don't plan then we scramble (sometimes eggs)!  What I usually do now is have some go to ideas.  When I make pasta for dinner one night I make plenty of extra for a lunch or two for me and the girls!  I also make a batch of hardboiled eggs for egg salad or to eat plain.  Having beans one night make extra and keep them in the fridge they make great burritos, tacos, or go in salads etc.  Thinking ahead saves me time later - I can do the opposite to - if we want pasta for lunch but need it for dinner make extra.  Chopping things for lunch/dinner chop extra for another day!  This makes things go smoother and keeps me from cooking three meals from scratch each day.  Just a handy tip I have realized makes my life sooooo much easier.

Greetings all and I hope you had a wonderfully Merry Christmas!  We enjoyed ourselves over here with lots of decorating and traditions plus family visits and more.  Here is a bit of a recap from the last few months!  Above is our gingerbread house the girls so lovingly helped me decorate.  Chloee was in heaven organizing pieces and carefully placing them on while Caylee munched away 3 candies in her mouth per one on the house.  Mommy had to personalize it was a C for my girls! Decorating the tree was a big hit for both of the girls.  Chloee was so excited since she remembered last year and since she got her annual Hallmark Ornament to hang.  We kind of went crazy this year (okay okay we do this every year) and bought the biggest tree we could find - let's just say the girls now have a 12 inch stump to sit on not including the other 12 inches we cut off.  Tall and broad that is how we like our Christmas trees. December also brought with it the ripening (mostly) of our pumpkin