The week before Christmas break the girls had school spirit week.
They had pajama day.
And holiday fashion day.
And dress to impress, which Averi was all about.
One afternoon we decorated gingerbread men.
We had an early Christmas with the family and then spent an afternoon in Coronado.
We ran off for a few days over Christmas and celebrated with the girls a couple of days later. They were tortured by having to wait.
And wait.
Finally, they were able to open the ridiculous amount of presents that they had.
I need to have a talk with Santa about the Mini Brand Mart he brought all three girls. I think he needs to come back and put these together himself.
Save yourselves. Do not purchase unless you want to spend hours of your life putting together a million little pieces, that are flimsy… AND then watch the kids pull their hair out trying to the items to stay on the shelves.
Anxiety in a box. These should come with wine and a Xanax.
Last year my brother gifted us a night’s stay at Ponte’s Inn and Vineyard in Temecula for our birthday’s.
We finally had a free weekend to enjoy it. Once we checked in and dropped our stuff, we headed out for wine, starting at Altisima. They are a newer winery, making old world and new world wines with Spanish roots. The grounds are beautiful as is the tasting room. Luckily we had a knowledgable pourer who had a fun personality, that can make all the difference (well that can make a difference in the experience, not in the wine). Luckily the wine was superb, everything we tasted we enjoyed, and that rarely happens.
We moved on to a couple more wineries that we haven’t been to, and honestly, didn’t really like. We ended at Bottaia. Bottaia is Ponte’s sister winery, the same winemaker but elevated, I guess. I was eager to try it because I do like Ponte’s wines. When you walk in you are greeted and then asked to pay depending on what type of “experience” you want. Uh, ya, we want the one where we try your wine please. Their description reads “chic”, I say boujie… They say “elegant”, I say expensive. The experiences that they were offering were….we could either sit out on the deck and choose from a flight of wines or we could sit in the cold barrel room, and choose from a flight of more expensive wines. We chose the deck, ordered some hummus and wine.
Nope, not for us. It felt as if the focus of the winery was on the atmosphere, opposed to the wine. We didn’t like any of them and you guys, it’s not cheap. I wouldn’t go back on purpose.
However, the view of the vineyard when the sun started to set, was gorgeous.
We had dinner at Bouquet, the restaurant at Ponte. It was good, very intimate. Mushroom soup and scallops, not bad at all.
The next morning we were looking for egg bennies before we drove home. We stopped at a winery whose website said that they had it on their menu. Lies, all lies. Once we were seated we were handed a menu for lunch, which as you know, isn’t breakfast, it was very sad way to say, the end.
The next day the girls and I went to a Christmas party at the clubhouse.
They ran in and headed straight for the soda and donuts, and then waited for Santa.
Giving Santa the lowdown. Unicorns, horses and toys..oh my!
The girls met up with some friends and ran around outside for a good hour. Finally, when I was so bored I couldn’t take it anymore, we headed home.
The next morning we woke up to Cupcake confused on where he was at.
This is a festive and easy activity to do for the holidays. Two ingredients, that’s it. These will make the house smell amazing and they make a great homemade gift.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup applesauce
4 oz. cinnamon
rolling pin
cookie cutters
glue
glitter various colors
straw
string
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 200°. Mix applesauce and cinnamon in small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed, your hands are the best tool for this.
I divided the dough amongst the three girls.
Roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap.
Peel off top sheet of plastic wrap. Cut dough into desired shapes
Make a hole at the top of ornament with a straw.
Place ornaments on baking sheet.
Bake for about 2 1/2 hours. Cool ornaments on a wire rack.
Once completely cool. brush with glue and decorate with glitter.
Did you remember…. the 1st night of December (insert Earth Wind and Fire tune) lucky for us, our elf did remember to pay us a visit. Santa sent his elf Cupcake Dustybum to ours on the first night of December. He left a wrapped present for the girls.
But first, they had to read the official North Pole letter that our elf brought.
In the letter, Cupcake pretty much threatened them to be good, or ELSE!
The present was the Elf on the Shelf book that Santa sends them each year. They each took a turn reading it.
Along with the book, Santa sent them each an animal ornament, so nice, that guy!
Then the girls ran all over the house looking for Cupcake, every noise, anything out of the ordinary, it HAD to be him. But alas, he didn’t show his face until the next morning.
He got himself all tangled up trying to write a joke.
What kind of pictures do elves take?
Give up?
Elf-ies. Haha ha ha ha
Speaking of pictures, I took one of him and this is what I got.
Spooky eh? I didn’t even show the girls, they would have been in distress.
Apparently there was a cold going around Averi’s classroom and I guess Cupcake must of caught it. We woke up the next morning to this….
I think we should take Cupcake to get his Covid vaccine, just to be safe. If this is who he is kicking it with at night, we can’t be too careful.
We went and picked up a tree while the girls were at school that day.
They were so excited to decorate.
They asked Alexa to play the Justin Bieber Christmas song, repeatedly.
Later that afternoon, we had a belated traditional Thanksgiving with Shawna’s mom. I had a game plan, the potatoes were prepped and ready to cook, stuffing was a no brainer, rolls just needed to be heated, but, there’s always a but, the turkey was still partially frozen, or so I thought. I over compensated for the cooking time and I’m pretty sure the (13 lb. ) turkey was done in an hour and a half. I had the oven safe digital thermometer inside of the bird while it cooked, and it read done hours before I was expecting, wtf? Anyhow, I second guessed myself and cooked it a tad longer, and we ended with dry turkey meat. The SOLE reason I’m not a fan on the traditional Thanksgiving menu is becuase there is nothing worse than, dry meat. (Get your head out of the gutter) Boring, not enough dark TURKEY meat, too much white meat AND it was over cooked. Ugh, it still makes me frustrated. Anyhow, I am going to try and make a cranberry pecan turkey salad with the leftovers, wish me luck.
The next morning we woke to this.
Where are his manners?
This morning he was hiding pretty well.
I needed a hint to find him.
So, that is how the first few days of December has gone over here. I can’t wait to see what else Cupcake has up his elf sleeve.
Christmas came a few days late, it had to wait for all of us to get back home. Once we were all back together, it was off to the races.
Santa brought way to much this year, waayyy too much. I’d like to say it’s all put away by now, but I’d be lying.
Wearing her new Sombrero, Averi helped me make cinnamon rolls. I made a semi-home version using pre-made bread dough and then just whipped up some cream cheese frosting. They were amazing and the pan was empty by the end of the day.
The week felt like 10 years, I swear you guys. We went to plenty of parks, we cooked, and we made this weird candy that Santa brought. There was sushi, donuts and waffles; I am actually shocked the girls ate it, strange stuff.
AND we also sang Karaoke, yes we have apologized to the neighbors.
My family came over for a nice family belated Christmas. We had a taco bar, the annual Sherry cake and played games. Sadly everyone chickened out on their time to be a singing star. Averi however has found her niche.
Averi also got what she asked for from Grandma and Grandpa, a horse. It’s getting a lot of use.
Somehow it’s already mid December, I have so much to catch you up on. Currently our Elf, Peppermint Sugarcookie is playing Twister with a few scantily clad and very limber Barbies.
Every morning the girls give a full report on what trouble he got into the night before.
Our neighborhood puts on a Holiday party each year. It’s the perfect time to meet the neighbors we never see and probably won’t see again until the next party. It’s also a great time for the girls to see Santa. Averi loves to get fancy for all occasions, she also loves to have her photo taken.
Our Elementary school put on a Frozen movie night and of course the girls had.to.go. We saw Frozen 2 the day after it came out and that is all Averi can talk about. Frozen Fever. But the movie theater is different than the school auditorium. Drinks were spilled, bathroom needs were constant and the Avester decided she was “too tired” and stayed put even after the lights came on. Yep that’s my kid.
The next day we spent swimming at uncle Casey’s new place. They decided to slum it for a bit and move to Coronado Island, sigh. The view is awful. And yes it looks cold, but the pool water was just fine….for the kids…and Casey.
Since all three girls weren’t able to attend the holiday party, we went back to the mall for another visit with Santa and some quick shopping.
As luck would have it, when we went to walk the neighborhood Christmas lights, we ran into Santa again. What a tiring job he has. Luckily he will have cookies waiting for him as a reward, or treat? So many kids and cats, I can’t keep it straight.
Averi’s teacher held a rehearsal for the Kinder Christmas show early so I could record it. The girls are heading up to WA with their dad this holiday and she’s missing the show. It was both super cute and painful at the same time. The first picture is when they just sat down in the auditorium, the video is 30 minutes later. Wrangling cats, that is another word for teaching Kindergarten.
To say I slacked on Christmas pictures this year is a bit of an understatement. I procrastinated taking our pictures and then slightly panicked when after I purchased them,I was told they may not make in time. On top of that, I somehow didn’t order nearly enough. So if you did not get a card from us this year, I apologize. You will next year.
We took some day time photos at Crystal Pier in Pacific beach. I think they turned out great.
On Kaili’s last day of school before break, her class had a Christmas performance.
It was the cutest thing and they sang some great traditional and non-traditional songs.
Once school was out I decided I probably should take them to Santa.
As you can see, Averi didn’t want to sit with Santa but other than that it was painless.
Our Christmas was nice, despite poor K bear getting sick most of Christmas day. She wanted nothing to do with her presents until later when she started to feel better. I hope everyone had a great holiday. Only a few days left on 2016 can you believe it? See you in the new year.
This was my go to recipe for years when I was teaching. Each year I would make a couple batches, let the kids choose their cookie cutter shapes, decorate them and then send them home for a little Christmas gift for mom and dad. My classroom smelled good the entire month of December.
Now that Kaili is old enough, she can pretty much make these on her own. She enjoyed the glitter the best, they always do…the messier the better.
If you are going to make these in your classroom and don’t have access to an oven, they will air dry, it will just take a few days. (Hint-make them on a Friday)
Also, if you don’t want to make ornaments you can turn them into magnets by hot glueing a small magnet on the back once they are dry.
1 cup applesauce
1 cup cinnamon
cookie cutters
glue or paint
glitter or glitter glue
skewer, straw or chopstick- something to make a hole for ribbon or string.
Mix the applesauce and cinnamon together until a dough is formed.
Sprinkle cinnamon on workspace and then roll out the dough.
Cut dough into desired shapes.
Cook in preheated oven at 200 degrees for 2 hours (or let air dry for a couple of days)
Once cool, decorate your little hearts out. Once dry, add a ribbon or string and voila, a lovely smelling ornament.
9 weeks, wasn’t that a racy movie with Kim Basinger? A lifetime ago I was meant to watch that movie on a very unsuccessful first date. Hashtag awkward.
I haven’t had much to write about since I have been housebound for what seems like forever. Christmas was nice but it always seems overwhelming, maybe it’s because I haven’t been doing much other than sitting at home. I think a quiet Christmas in Hawaii or Mexico sounds pretty good, although getting there with a 3 year old and a baby doesn’t seem so great. Somehow I think sitting with my feet in the water with an adult beverage may help ease that pain. Shane’s birthday always gets lost in the holiday so it would be nice to have a low key Christmas and focus more on his birthday, although he says he doesn’t really care. Anyhow we have 363 days to plan something or nothing.
Kaili seemed to enjoy herself and is getting good use out of her new toys.
My Tuesday ultrasound was rescheduled twice. I have still been spotting/lightly bleeding on and off, I finally head to the Dr. in a few hours where hopefully they can assure me that everything looks fine. I will also have my blood drawn and if my levels look good I can stop all my meds, hell to the yes!
The Art of Thyming 