Christmas Home Tour

Christmas Home Tour of Alexandria.

Thought I'd give you a Christmas tour around our Griswold house. Actually I think we are the opposite of Griswold, cuz he goes overboard and I go way underboard. This year is especially pathetic because we are only in town in the Month of December about 1/2 the month between Aruba and being in TX this year for the holidays. But I supressed my lazy scrooge and on a 70degree day in Saturday we put up the tree and decorated. I normally decorate both living rooms and mantles, but we put it all in one room this year. So here is a tour of our tree and the random things around the house. The first picture below is Ritchey reading like a week's worth of advent storybook readings, since we were gone the first week of advent. I think the 3 of them lasted in that chair together a total of 5 whopping seconds.

Lets take a closer look at this sweet little tree. The year we went to a Frasier Fur, my favorite, we went smaller because they are more expensive, I love small little trees now, although this may be our smallest, standing a whopping 6 ft. This is also our most random tree, I describe it as a crap gun going off on it. But nobody is coming to visit us this year, I am not hosting a party this year, so we just let the kids go crazy, even helping with the lights and choosing whatever they wanted to put up. I didn't do ribbon, or coordinating bulbs and I tried hard not to rearrange what they put on, although I did just a couple times when I found 3 on one branch. I know someday when they strip my tree of all their ornaments for their own homes, I will have that oh so chic tree, so for now I love my toddler tree. Ok, Lets take a closer look and tour some of the time honored ornaments.

Aah, here is me in my brownie uniform when I was 10 I think. See Scouting does run in the family! Carrie I hope you still have yours.

Here is Ritchey in college. My crafty roomate Rachel made this of Ritchey at the time. He's in a bumper car in case you were wondering and wearing Revlon lipstick I believe. This is one of my favorite ornaments so I always put it in a prominent, gaping hole spot.

You think this is Sophie's don't you, nope, Ritchey's. He had a crush on Ariel, in elementary school actually thru college, at which point his parents bought him this ornament for him to admire on a daily basis. Ritchey did actually get to meet Ariel in Disneyland when his family visited (while they were college aged :). She was kinda scary though, very large busted, with very large seashells, so he kinda got over her and then met me :) But each year the boys make fun of daddy for liking a girl movie.

This is our newest ornament. We try to get an ornament from wherever we travel. We are sorta good about remembering to do that. This was a cute one because Santa is snorkeling, and so did we! I'm so intentional about my design like that.

Here is the bottom bough, which you can tell one of my midget children thought was a great spot for many ornaments.

Each one of my kids has an ornament from their first Christmas, this is sweet little Sophie.

Here is our first Christmas together ornament. Look at the love.

And finally, here is the best part of our craptastic kid tree, the handmade crafty ornaments from the kids. It is true that our tree is pretty random and a hodgepodge, but these really are the best part, although this one is actually rather large, therefore perfect for barespots, but still large for basically a piece of construction paper. But those angel wings are Parker's handprints. There are many more such ornaments on the tree. Ok, finally just a couple shots from around the house.

Another tacky but oh so cute handmade Christmas mobile. I think Cooper actualy made this. Which is great because Parker's crafts far out number Coopers.

The boy's private own little nativity outside their room. I can't believe we actually still have the baby Jesus on this one. It is the true Christmas miracle.

Here is the grown up nativity that I just love. I don't do the best job displaying it, but I still love it. This was one of those gifts Ritchey got me early on in our marriage, the first and last time he listened to all my hinting and figured out what I wanted for Christmas. What is missing is this ginormous camel that he added to it, it literally is 2x the size of Joseph, so we leave it out.

This sweet picture of Parker when he was Sophie's age,caught our eye last night after we came home from a party. We just stared at it, laughed and reminisced. We then went and kissed each kid as they were sleeping. 

And finally our paired down Christmas mantle. I just didn't have it in me to fill the vases, put out the candles, yada yada yada, but hey, all of this isn't so shabby for a 2 week December. I guess we're done having kids, there isn't room for more stockings :). Ok, well that is the only home on our tour this year, thanks for visiting, and come back next year when there will be a whole nother year worth of crafts on our tree.

A brief conversation in our home today

Here is just a brief post and a brief convo in our house today during 5 o'clock clean up.
As Parker passes by cooper he punches him in the stomach. Cooper starts to whine and cry.
I tell him, "I think you'll be ok, you're a tough strong kid."
He keeps half-crying.  "he's mean"
Me to him, "yeh, but you're kinda a whiner"
Parker pipes in, "yeh, you're a whiner"
Me to Parker, "heh, only I'm allowed to call him that".

That is parenting at its best folks.

Aruba, Jamaica ooh I wanna take ya!

That song has been going thru our heads for the past month. So here is my Aruba trip blog. I'll probably blog thru pictures and captions to help jog my memory. Cuz let me tell you, as a parent of young children, you forget all about your vacation on day 2 of being home. Ok, so here we go. This first picture is taken in Miami at a yummy cuban cafe. We had to get up at 3:45 a.m. to make our flight out of houston. Ouch, but after sleeping on the whole flight, we were ready to eat, even in the airport. This is cafe con leche and some kinda spicy potatoes. Oh, I"ll warn you, I love food, and this trip was all about food. Mainly because it was an all inclusive and unlike other all inclusives, this food was awesome. So I ate and ate and ate. Literally had 2 breakfasts a day, two lunches... cuz it was there and free. Bad news for a foodie like me.

Breakfast was amazing, please let me tell you. There was a smoothie station where you could give this sweet woman any fruit and she turned it into a smoothie. Then there was an egg station, a carbs/fried food station, yes that is a homeade hot donut on my plate next to a fried plantain (cooked and carmelized banana), at this spot was also hot off the griddle pancakes, how you like them, banana pancakes, chocolate chip, whatever, with french toast, waffles, and oh yes, a big vat of Nutella, my friend emily and kelli always go on and on about it, this was my first experience and I literally covered an entire waffle with it. There was a bread area with any loaf of anything, a fruit bar an oatmeal, yogurt and hot chocolate area, espresso area, you name it. Ok enought, but like I said, food was the highlight of the trip. Not cooking and forcing food down 3 little ones, not cleaning up, not ever getting to eat sitting down, made this a vacation. Oh and lunch was so yummy too, there was always a station with some sort of ethnic food, the first day was a delicious paella!

We celebrated my birthday at this quaint little restaruant off the grounds that literally sat in the sand. Lobster that night, and chocolate mousse with a firework in it :)

Here is a view from our room, gorgeous. Aruba is a dessert island (despite the fact that it rained a ton while we were there). It is also like the wind surfing capital of the world cuz it is so windy there. I thought maybe it was a fluke, but no, super windy, but that means it kept you cool while on the beach. The first day we just spent by the pool and the beach. I even did a pool aerobics class and we played bingo. People watching on a beach and pool, especially one with a bar, is lots of fun. Let me tell you how american I felt in my "tankini" while even the heaviest and oldest of people are sportin their string bikinis. That water aerobics class was scary, one false move and huge bosom could be flung out for all of us to see. Speaking of which there was one solitary topless woman. I get that other cultures are down with that, but when you are absolutely the only one a beach with tons of people, I mean c'mon you know she had to feel a little odd.  More power to ya sister, I guess.

Another highlight of the trip was a catamaran and snorkeling cruise. It was a rainy morning but the last hour it got sunny. The boat ride was fun, lots of fun people on it, good food, gorgeous blue water. We got to snorkel at 3 different spots, but one of the spots was over a sunken ship. It was really kind of freaky, it came very close to the top of the water, so when i looked down some mast or something was right there, like a ghost ship with all these fish coming at you. Ritchey loved this part as he is fascinated with history and things gone by.

The last day we were there it rained all day, so we hopped on the public bus to go into town shopping. Aruba is a great island, very clean, wonderful people, 100% employment there. It is a dutch colony, but almost all the way to south america, they speak spanish, dutch, english and their own native tongue.

Oh, here is a picture of the hotel where Natalie Holloway stayed. That abduction took place 5 years ago, and is like the last murder they had. Super safe place and that poor incident hurt people's perceptions of the island. Ok, this post was really boring. I'll leave you with a two more pictures. One of the book I devoured while there and a funny picture from the arubian airport. I rarely read books, partially because I am an all or nothin kinda girl, like with food or t.v (why we don't have cable). And when I get into a book, there is no putting it down. This was a fantastic book.We had to wake up at 4:30 the day we left(2:30 LA time), but I slept on almost every flight. The sign below was posted in the Arubian airport, random. So now it is back to life here in cold Louisiana. It is very hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you are gone the first week of December and are leaving before Christmas to celebrate somewhere else. I so desperately want to go get a little charlie brown christmas tree and not do much else. But Ritchey probably wouldn't let me get away with that, and I would be eaten up by mommy guilt, so we'll see.

 

Almost there

Almost to childfree bliss that is, well 5 day bliss, we're not giving them away or anything. But as I was typing up menus and ideas for the grandparents who are watching the kids, I started to worry. Not about my kids, not about our trip, but for my dear dear in-laws. I mean 5 days watching my kids, at my age it is rough, but at 60, thats even rougher. I am hoping and praying (literally) that their behavior will miraculously calm down for just this week, their yes mam's will be right on, and the tantrums and fights will fade away. Now it is true that grandmas have a much better way with kids then us mean ole crotchity parents, but still 5 days is long. Thankfully the Cables have almost an unending supply of patience, that for some reason I just didn't get.  So just a short little post letting you know we are getting ready for Aruba. I have no idea what we'll do for 5 days with no chores, errands or kids. We are bringing books, cards and dice (any other thoughts all you 10 followers? oh and keep it clean :) I still haven't decided on a swim suit from the 100 or so I ordered, still haven't decided if we want to fork out $50 to check a bag rather than cram it all into 2 little carryons, and most of all, I still need to go get a pedicure, so that my pasty white legs and feet don't scare off too many people. If I don't post before Wed, well think of me on the beach with my mai tai, my rockin new suit. But don't be too jealous, one thing you can count on is I won't return a bronze goddess, you'll never no I even set foot on the beach.

The depths of my love for Ritchey on Thanksgiving.

Oh Asparagus dish, oh how you will not let me escape you. Below you will get a step by step walk thru of my experience with Ritchey's only request for thanksgiving, asparagus dish. I know what you are saying right now, oh I love asparagus! Oh, and so do I. But I really don't think the nasty things I dumped out of the cans can really be called asparagus. They certainly didn't smell like asparagus, more like stale vomit, (I literally had to plug my nose) and they didn't feel like asparagus, but maybe more like a limp wet sock. oh wait that is what they smelt like too. Anyhoo. I'm not even going to go into the rest of the recipe cuz you will see it below. But I will say, this is a Cable family must have, they eat it by the panful at their holiday traditions, Donna (who married my brother in law) and I have both been initiated in the asparagus dish club. Even more mortifying was that I had to bring this to someone's house I had never been to before. But surprisingly many of them enjoyed it, that made Ritchey feel so much better, after the grief I gave him all day. So here you go, feast your eyes on this. And just so you don't go to bed with this as your last image I left you with my family's time honored recipe. Brown sugar and butter in one of the pictures, now that is heavenly. Happy late Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoys all the family traditions throughout the holidays, even the not so enjoyable ones like this.

 The hard boiled eggs really add the delicious aroma of the canned asparagus.

 What would a thanksgiving dish be without cream soups.

 I deviate a little from Janet's velveeta and went with sharp cheddar. I literally could not bring myself to cover anything with velveeta.

 Just when you hoped or thought it was over, the final touch, breadcrumbs (oh no, he wouldn't let me), rather SALTINES!!

 Look at that layered perfection.

 Now this is another story. Anything with brown sugar and butter can't go wrong. This is my mom's candied yam's recipe. And no, there are no marshmallows on this.

Here's to family recipes, the good and the bad!

I miss living with a girl!

Can I just say swimsuit shopping and feedback on clothes is just pointless with a man. Every time I buy a new outfit, get a new haircut, try on the dreaded swimsuit, I have to rely on pictures from a phone, or pictures by said useless man, and then send them off to my sister or some other girlfriend to get some real honest feedback. Today was really brutal, i took pictures in the winter with my muffin top and all, from all angles so that my sister could see whether my new swimsuit choices were truly brutal or not so bad. I threatened her with no laughing, no sharing with a single soul even her husband and no black mailing. But she is kinda used to it now. So yes, there are days I miss living with my roomate Rachel, living down the street from a good girlfriend, and shopping with my brutally honest sister. Sharing shoes, sharing opinions, and less eye rolls when I just can't make up my mind. So if you ever see me in an awful outfit, with an awful haircut, or hanging out of my suit in all the wrong places, just blame Ritchey and his manly lack of contructive feedback in all such things :)

Thoughts about raising kids.

So Ritch and I got in a serious child raising discussion the other night. I think I have mentioned that my boys have been in this neverending (like going on a year now) hyper mode phase. Its hard to enjoy dinner times, free time, family time, and all times in between because you are having to holler over their loudness, force them in the bath, force them in bed, and break up the fights. But more than outright disobedience it is just the energy they have which does lead to them not hearing a word we are saying. Anyhoo, Ritch in particular has not enjoyed this phase of parenting. It exhausts him physically and me mentally. He feels all he does from the minute he gets home is say, no, stop that, no, no, cut it out, time out, spanking, get in bed, quiet down, kinda stuff, and that is no fun. He was sharing all the fun memories of his childhood, and specifically commented that he was ever like this as a boy. Now granted we rarely remember what we were like, but I do believe that he was a quiet boy, always in his head, solving problems, etc. And the personality of he and his brother are different then ours. But its also hard not to examine our parenting, is there something we are doing that is causing such distruption and craziness. So since Ritchey can only compare our childrearing and homelife to that he had growing up, this is what he went on. The only conclusion Ritchey can come to is the fact that we lead a much more structured home life then he had growing up. His family never had bed times, never monitored t.v. time or junk food consumption, never had their kids get jobs in their teen years, no curfews, etc. Sam and Janet are very much go with the flow, flexible folks. And despite what most parenting books might say, they produced 3 excellent, responsible young men. Our house is quite different. We are in no way some authoritative prison like home. But we definitely have some boundaries. We have snacks at snack time rather then grazing all day, we have limits on t.v. time and video game time. We have a pretty consistent bedtime and nap times. We have family dinners most nights, battling with Cooper every night to choke down his food. We have homework time, clean up time, etc. etc. Now I personally don't feel that these structures are too, well structured. But Ritchey wonders. Are our kids having a fun and carefree childhood, or are we dictating their every move. It definitely got me thinking, I see his point. But when I break it down, I truly feel like all of these structures/routines are from my conviction and heart, and are best for my family. They are not decisions made on a whim or to have a controlled life. I truly don't want my kids watching t.v. at their whim. I don't want video games to be their go to activity, I want them to ask when they want a snack rather then have free reign of the junkfood drawer and so forth so on. I realize this is different in every family and I totally reserve judgement, but my heart of hearts just can't relax on it. I have this problem lots in life. I am pretty black and white when it comes to my personal convictions. Now thankfully, thanks to Romans, I have relaxed in how I apply my convictions to others, but for myself and my family, its hard to shake what I feel is best. I'm certainly open to discussion, as Ritchey and I did the other night, but it takes a very good argument or a massive movement of the spirit to show me otherwise. And let me interject that I am trying to say YES to their random crazy impulses more, reserving no to those things I feel strongly about. Anyhoo, So here are my conclusions, and I would definitely be open to some of yours. Ritchey thinks the boys are acting up because of all the rules/structures (but he couldn't name a rule or routine that he thinks should go), I think they are in this phase cuz of their ages. 7 years old is a not an older child with maturity and self discipline, but they are slowly trying to find their new independence, have wildly creative minds, and still tons of toddler energy. Cooper, my 5 year old, well that is all you have to say, 5 year old boy with an older brother. No longer is he this 3 or 4 year old toddler that just toddles around folllowing and obeying his brother, now he is a full on participant with his own crazy ideas and plans and voice. I dunno, any amens to these two ages. So combined, watch out. And Cooper especially is my free spirit, melodramatic one, which Ritchey's family never had thrown into the mix. And my second conclusion, is yes, my kids may not have the same fond memories that Ritchey has, like late nights with his parents, or cartoons all Saturday morning (although we do all snuggle in bed and watch a few cartoons together on Saturday), but they will have fun memories, just different memories. I dunno, maybe I'm making excuses. I do know that as Parker in particular ages, I need to figure out how to give him freedoms and independence. And I don't want them to look back on this time as a time they tried to break free. But I just don't feel that is what our family is like, I"m not sure Ritchey thinks that way either. The point is, we are trying our best (pretty much), we are seeking the Lord and following what I hope He is laying on our hearts, and we are trying to keep the dialogue going, remaining flexible over the years. I think our kids have  a good life. I think when we do follow our routines and our rules, I do it in love and most of the time tenderness. We all do damage to our kids in the long run, I hope ours is kept to a minimum. So as Ritch and I ended our discussion, our final thought, was, man, raising kids is hard. Especially if you want to do a good job. Ok, I vented. I don't post this necessarily looking for answers, although if you have some, do share. And I don't post this to hear feedback saying, "oh, no, you are doing a great job". I just do it to keep up the dialogue I suppose, and to be held accountable maybe, and well just to vent, cuz that is what a blog is all about. Thanks for listening to my more serious rantings this evening. Here is a pic of my wonderful little clan, just for the fun of it.