12.30.2009

2010 Resolution to Keep

A new year is almost upon us. I am melodramatic, nostalgic and cheesy enough to use this interim period to linger on the past and draw up new and exciting plans for the future.

What's this year to hold for us?

2009 was a crazy, crazy ride.
Thank you to all who were a part of our lives during that time and will soldier on with us into 2010.

We have been blessed more than I can even articulate. Through all our trials this year with Ada being sick, moving, changing jobs...everything...we have been loved by the Father through friends, family and their kind words and actions. It's so easy to forget, to dwell on things that didn't go well or won't happen that I sometimes forget to rejoice in the now and in the blessings, the everyday and the incredible.

My resolution for 2010 is to simply be thankful.
To live a life truly thankful,
permeated through with joy in God's provisions.

Hold me to it please.

It's the least that I can do for one as gracious as He.

12.28.2009

Christmas 2009 in Videos






Christmas 2009 in Pictures

I know, not many taken/posted but we just didn't this year I guess.
It might have to do with the fact that the 24-hr flu went through almost every single one of us. But who knows?...that's really just a guess.

We got ROCKED!

Region continues to dig out after Blizzard Alvin
Interstate 29 between Fargo and Grand Forks was reopened Sunday morning, and a statewide no-travel advisory was lifted as well, as the region continued to dig out after Blizzard Alvin.

by Herald Staff Report,
Grand Forks Herald

Interstate 29 between Fargo and Grand Forks was reopened Sunday morning, and a statewide no-travel advisory was lifted as well, as the region continued to dig out after Blizzard Alvin.

Most of I-29, as well as other major routes, reopened Saturday night after being closed Christmas Day. But with Alvin’s heavy snowfall, travel was still a bit treacherous on Sunday. A freezing rain advisory was in effect early Sunday morning for most of the region but was lifted later in the day. According to the North Dakota Department of Transportation, many roads in the region were plagued by scattered snowdrifts and icy patches on Sunday evening.

The National Weather Service on Sunday stuck to its earlier estimate that Blizzard Alvin dumped 25.1 inches of snow on Grand Forks, from Wednesday night through Saturday night. Alvin could be a record-breaker in terms of the amount of snow dumped by a single storm, but it will have to be verified in the next few months.

Here’s how Alvin treated some other communities:

- Fargo: 15.2 inches.

- Red Lake Falls, Minn: 16.2 inches.

- Argyle, Minn.: 14.7 inches.

- Starkweather, N.D.,: 10.8 inches.

- Pembina, N.D.: 10.2 inches.

- Warroad, Minn.: 9 inches.

Because of windy conditions and drifting, the weather service said snow totals will vary, but most areas received about a foot of snow since Wednesday.

While shoveling, snowblowing and other cleanup duties may have put a damper on Sunday, it turned out to be a nice December day. The temperature reached 26 in Grand Forks, and snow was melting on some major city streets.

But colder temps are expected the rest of the week. The good news is no major snowfall is expected, according to the weather service. The high today will be about 10 degrees, but a light wind should bring that down, especially in the evening. The rest of the week will be about the same, the weather service said.

12.21.2009

My Little Cookie Monster


Ada and I kicked off our ambitious Christmas Baking List 2009 tonight by getting together a few doughs and finishing the Cracker Brittle recipe from Sheila. YUM. We made peanut butter dough for the peanut blossom cookies, snickerdoodle, sugar, and I actually baked a one and a half recipe of the Russian Tea Cakes because I love them, Ada loves them and Dylan loves them too. So, why not?

The list for tomorrow spans French baguettes, banana bread (this bread is absolutely the best that I have ever made or devoured. DELICIOUS!), fudge and maybe some cranberry orange scones or pumpkin cream cheese muffins. We'll see what the day holds for us.

I'm getting excited for all the Christmas celebrations now that my baking has finally begun, the Christmas cards are mostly sent and all the presents are wrapped! :D HURRAY! It's going to be fun!!

Christmas Vacation = Two Days Away!


Ahhh...TWO days this week.

That'll indeed be nice.

We spent this morning playing with peanut butter playdough and making Christmas "cookies." I didn't want the mess or have to make them all by myself, so I cheated and had the kids cut out pie crust dough instead. We spread some egg wash on top and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and VIOLA! Deliciocity in a snap.

I'm planning on getting some finger paints after Christmas (Christmas is the worst time of year to add any extras into a budget). I think that they'll really like that, we'll probably spread out some newspapers on the floor in the dining room and let them go. I know you're excited to see pictures from that!


It certainly didn't take them very long to figure out that the playdough was edible and ended up eating most of theirs. In fact, I set the timer because I didn't want their tummies to get sick or too full before lunchtime.

On another note, I think that we'll have to call an electrician to come and fix a faulty breaker for our dryer. It's been going out about every 10-15 minutes when in use and so we just haven't been using it. Instead, Dylan's been schlepping all of our wet laundry over to Terry and Sheila's to dry it. Obviously this is not ideal.

So anyway, the dryer guy came today and tinkered around for a while before telling me (and charging me $60 for a house call) that the dryer itself seems fine. In fact, it's only about two years old and has minimal wear and tear (which is the silver lining to this dreary home maintainence cloud), so he thinks it's a faulty circuit breaker or soemthing like that. BOO!

A Christmas...a time of thanksgiving, celebrating and fixing?...

12.20.2009

Christmas-y Errands and The Such

Both Dylan and I have Sunday off this week and it has indeed been a gloriously lazy one at that. (Although Ada didn't get the memo and awoke at 6 this morning--thank God for Elmo and his irritatingly memorable Elmocize!)

I plan on running out for groceries later today and stopping at Sam's Club and maybe Target and the bank if I feel like it. Otherwise, those things can wait til Monday or Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday.

I haven't done any Christmas baking either. I know, I know, completely uncharacteristic of me, but I just have been seeped in the everyday and have not had the energy or time to indulge. SO on Tuesday afternoon/evening I intend to commence Christmas baking into Wednesday/Thursday morning at the latest. There will be delicious treats to be consumed all along the way and I, for one, am very, very excited. I have even given in to doing sugar cookies so that Ada can experience it. My Grandma gave me her old cookie cutters as a present and I intend on making a big batch to bring with to that side of the family's after-Christmas celebration.

Thus, I had best be going. I need to figure out my shopping lists and plan of attack while Ada is tucked away in her room (note: I did not say sleeping. I can hear her bringing every stuffed animal, doll and Elmo that she owns into her bed with her.)

12.17.2009

Not Kosher.but Delicious!



Spicy Korean Glazed Pork Ribs...

MMmMMMMmMMM...


Oh I how I wish I would've made the 5 pounds the original recipe calls for!!

Big Girl Bed Day 4


It is now Day 4 of Ada's big girl bed...this video is from the first night that Dylan put it together. We're so happy she's stayed in it so far!!

12.15.2009

Christmas is A Foot

The tree is decorated.

What meager Christmas decor we have accumulated has been hung, taped and strung.

The Christmas cards are coming together (except a few stragglers that have procrastinated the sending of their current residence) and I've almost finished wrapping all the Christmas gifts. Clearly they won't be going under the tree as my daughter is now a fanatic about presents and a pro at ripping them open, heedless of appropriate times.

It's funny to think that this will be Ada's second Christmas and the first that she'll be spending with immediate family (although SOME of her immediate family will be vacationing in Mexico...). Could it have been so long ago that we were in California? It seems like just yesterday and yet here we are, approaching Christmas and then January and we are seven months removed from our mountains and beaches.

Crazy.

But we are excited to spend Christmas with Dylan's family. I think that we'll be having it here at our house and so, a few more stragglers may drop in to celebrate with us. I love the feeling of a full, happy house--just excited to be together. I think that is certainly the best component of all holidays.

12.12.2009

Serenity Now. NOW.

My daughter has entered a phase of which neither her Father or I are very appreciative.

She learned how to get out of her crib tonight because of said phase during a rather extraordinary display of tantrumitis. She literally threw herself, head first of course, over the side of her crib onto the floor and marched her angry little elf-self straight to the door in protest of naptime.

What did we get ourselves into?!?

12.10.2009

A DBS Christmas






Mustache Moment


Why my husband insists on doing this is beyond me. However, the mustache has become an unwelcome visitor from time to time within our marriage.



Dressing Up





Ada loves to dress up.

The day I took this she was mad that I opened her door to take a picture.

Is this a glimpse into her all-to-near-adolescence?

Lucy, Lael and Ada

Three BEAUTIFUL Girls.

My Little Klepto




Ada loves Starbucks.

She loves to run behind the front counter and push the buttons on the safe to make it beep.

This is an old picture, in fact, the post prior to this and the one after this will all be oldish pictures that I shamelessly stole from their owners.

No wonder my daughter is the klepto she is.

Miss You Guys.


We miss you guys.
And your drooly dog.