app fun!

so, several months ago i lucked out and got ted's old iphone. i don't use my cellphone that much and, in fact, i don't have a data plan for my iphone. ted put the sim card in my iphone and it is a go phone. recently i've noticed that a friend of mine on facebook has been posting some really cool pictures of his kids using instagram. turns out instagram is a free app! so, this has become a new quick hobby of mine. you take the photo, choose an editing tool and upload the photo-easy.

christmas crafts

this year i decided i wanted to start a few traditions. this included a few advent activities. the first was a jesse tree. i copied a friend of mine and made the ornaments out of clay. once i got the hang of it i had fun creating and assembling the little pieces.

here they are, all 25! i inserted sterling silver jewelry hooks in each ornament and baked them. the clay really held it color and consistency quite well. then i painted each of them with a satin finish glaze.

i was thinking i would find a branch-like tree that we would keep year after year, but i finally just broke down and bought this live one from trader joe's. we didn't do such a great job of keeping up with it because of all the traveling, but i know the kids will enjoy it each christmas season!

i saw an advent calendar like this one in a pottery barn catalog and decided to make one myself. it's made out of felt and i actually got to use some new stitches on my sewing machine!! most of the work was done by hand. you can't tell from this photo, but i hand-stitched numbers 1-25 under each pocket and our last name at the bottom. it took me a while and i now have to doctor up santa on pocket 25 because corinne absconded with his beard, hair, hands and cuffs!

tangled

another adventure we had in florida was the kids' first movie experience in the theater. my mom really wanted to take the girls to see "tangled". so, while my dad and ted went to see some action flick my mom and i braved the almost-empty theater with all 3 kids. they did really well. ella was so into the movie. she sat with her chocolates in hand and 3d glasses in place. it really was such a cute movie. i have to admit that i enjoyed it, too!

mommy time

so, while in florida i was able to have some time to myself. my mom treated my aunt and me to pedicures and manicures. i've never had such a good pedicure before. the place was so nice inside and it was fun to go with someone else. i asked for a christmas design on my toes and this is what the gal came up with. she took great pains to get the snowmen just right. since then i've been really careful to always wear socks with my shoes so that i don't "scratch the paint".

i also got out and spent some time with some old friends. marni, alecia and i have been buds for over 15 years. we had a good time chatting and catching up. i miss those gals!

first friday

the town of eustis, where my parents live, has a street "fair" the first friday of every month. for christmas they had a boat parade (it is lake county) and all the boats decorated with christmas lights. i couldn't resist taking a picture of my handsome husband!

ella and i got our faces painted. we all had dinner and ate while listening to a cover band playing in the street.

it was a good night, but very chilly!

pony rides

we took the girls to a christmastree place where they had hayrides, a petting zoo, a campfire to roast hotdogs and marshmallows and pony rides. ella was so excited to ride the horse. she tried to climb on, but in the end i had to pick her up and put her on the saddle. she enjoyed every minute of the ride! i couldn't believe that she wasn't afraid at all.

grandma's birthday

we surprised ted's mom for her birthday. she had a big birthday party planned and ted promised to be there friday after thanksgiving, but we all came! bohdan got to meet grandma for the first time.

the kids really enjoyed playing at their cousins house. they have chickens, goats, cats and a dog!

unfortunately, corinne got bit by the one mean chicken. even now when reminded of the event she says, "mean chicken bite me". however, she's still an animal-lover.

for my mother-in-law's birthday we all went to silver springs park. it's a really pretty park with natural springs and boat rides. we all enjoyed the day:)

firsts

so, our trip to florida in november was bohdan's first airplane/transcontinental trip! he was so good. i was really happy with how all three kids did. the girls were excited to find all the goodies i had packed in their backpacks. of course, our ipods and iphone came in handy for them to watch movies on!

we finally got into orlando airport and the girls got to see nona and poppop. bohdan met poppop for the first time!

needless to say, they were all tuckered out!

a little florida sunshine

this thanksgiving we travelled to florida for 2 weeks. it was great getting to see both sides of the family and spend good quality time with my mom, dad, aunt and uncle. we discovered a really cool park near my parents house. complete with a castle fort and tractor slides!

what florida trip would be complete without a trip to disney world??!! well, this was one of the firsts i could remember going to the magic kingdom in jackets. it was a perfect day!!

ella talk

so we've been in central florida since thanksgiving visiting family. one day corinne was taking a nap. ella and i were sitting in the sunroom together and my mom asked how long corinne had been asleep. ella responded, "for 20 years" very matter-of-factly. we just busted out laughing.

i've got joy

ella on the way home," i've got drink like a river in my whole". instead of, "i've got peace like a river in my soul".

child-like wonder

so, this thanksgiving we traveled to florida to surprise my mother-in-law for her birthday party. as we were taking off from san francisco ella asked, "oh, but how are they going to put dust on the tail?" "dust?", i asked, "you mean pixie dust?" ella and corinne thought tinkerbell was making the plane fly. then as we were ascending corinne started chanting, "go tinkerbell, go tinkerbell!" i just love them.

abin5

so this is my latest obsession, baking artisan bread. our family got addicted to having bread with dinner when all our lovely friends were bringing us yummy meals with french loaves to boot! so after that i was buying loaves of artisan bread from the store. i started looking for some good recipes to save some money AND so we could have it on hand. last week we tried the whole wheat recipe and this week i'm on the white bread. it's awesome, you combine all the ingredients for a week of bread and make a wet dough that stays in the refrigerator. you just pull out what you want each day and bake it. so good!! it's even better with fresh ground honey roasted peanut butter from whole foods...ahem, not a low calorie snack. i got the recipe from: www.artisanbreadinfive.com. it's so easy and delicious!

coloring contest

tonight we took the kids out to mary's pizza shack for dinner. they are currently doing a coloring contest for halloween. so while we were waiting to be seated ella and i were admiring the entries posted on the wall and window. i commented on how nicely the kids had colored their pictures and ella was quick to agree.

so we were seated a few minutes later and the hostess (who is actually a gal from our church) gave ella and corinne crayons and coloring sheets. ted and i got to work getting jackets off, moving things out of corinne's reach, seating bohdan safely, and deciding what to order.

i looked over at ella and she had begun coloring her pumpkin. for the first time she drew a face and mostly colored in the lines. ted and i were so surprised!! usually she colors "swatches" of color all over the page.

you can't see the eyes here because she colored over them. i guess she was really inspired by the other pictures.

corinne also colored more than normal, but she was more interested in taking the crayons in and out of the cup.

this is corinne's finished product. they both entered their pictures in the coloring contest. ella was quite pleased with having an entry as i filled in her name on the back she said, "that's right mommy, i begin with 'e'".

medtronic trick-or-treat

every year for halloween ted's office puts together a little fesivity. family members can bring in their kids to trick-or-treat through the different departments. so, the kids got to try out their halloween costumes early.

corinne got her minnie costume for her birthday. she actually stood still while i fixed her hair!!

ella surprised me on monday when she told dr. brewer she was going to be a ladybug. it was the first i'd heard of it! so, there was some late night shopping at target to put this thing together.

she was pretty excited about it!!

here's little minnie looking very tiny in a big office. so, this year the office had a haunted house as well. we didn't take the kids through, but there was a section right at the beginning where you could take your kids and get glow sticks and candy. unfortunately, you could hear "boo's" and screams in there. ella was so scared she dropped her glow stick as she headed for the door. luckily only one small part was the haunted house and the girls enjoyed well-lit, scream free trick-or-treating out of the rain. we even got to eat lunch with ted (which i think was their favorite part).

the excitement was too much for corinne and once again she fell asleep on the way home.

here's ella concentrating very hard on how she's going to open her candy.

goodbye

on september 10th my grandma passed away. she was mother to 14 children, grandma to 24 grandchildren and great grandma to 25 great grandchildren. as an adult i didn't get to spend much time with her, unfortunately. but i do have memories of her from when i was a kid. she was kind and so giving! when ted and i took the girls to see her last summer she gave ella the beads she was wearing- stuff like that. when my brother was born, my grandma came to help my mom and, in my 5 year old mind, grandma made THE BEST eggs! there are times when i am with my mom i see my grandma in her: the sweet way she fixes her coffee and drinks it happily, the way she stands in the kitchen and gives me a little smile. i love those moments. this picture of my grandma was taken years ago in my parents old house in south florida (my childhood home.) i think this is how i'll always remember her. goodbye grandma. thanks for being so kind, selfless and humble. for having so many kids- especially my mom!, for putting up with so much racket in your house: like kids running, dogs barking, family laughing, siblings bickering, brothers and sisters remeniscing about younger days, for making the best eggs, for having enough love to go around to all of us. i love you! i'll see you again on streets of gold...

a little treat

another outing we took as the 5 of us was to target (big surprise!) we all stopped in at the starbucks inside and got a treat. the girls were thrilled when ted ordered each of them a hot chocolate.

i'm not sure what they enjoyed more, the fact that they got cups like me and ted or that those cups had hot chocolate. but they were excited.

in true form, my little charmer, corinne, was making friends with the other patrons.

pick a seat, any seat

in between my mom's visit and my aunt's ted and the kids and i had a week alone. ted took the week off and we just took it easy. one evening we decided to go out to "el patio" on fourth street. while we were inside ordering corinne climbed into bohdan's stroller and sat in the basket. i guess she was too tired to walk?