Pink Baby goes to the park

Virtual Coffee

Hi! It's Tuesday!!

What'd you say? Oh...it's Wednesday...hm...

Hi! It's Wednesday! Time for a belated virtual coffee.

I'm sorry, but I totally forgot about it being Tuesday and then when I did remember, I felt that I had nothing to say so I just didn't post. Today though, I feel more chatty.

So, if you were really having coffee with me today, I'd be shocked that you could see the streets to get to my house because it looks like this outside:

It's freezing fog and it's bone chilling. I know this because (of course) I had to go out and take some pictures. Look at my poor tomato plant.
But, it really does make it all so pretty and wintery.
If we were really having coffee today...I'd tell you that I've struggled parenting this past week. I had a total melt down over the weekend due to the sibling bickering and the sullen pre-teenager that is my 8 year old and the tyrant that is this child:
Sure, she looks all sweet, but dear lord, that girl is going to be the death of me. So, after losing my ever-loving mind and crying and telling Evan that we either need to have a solid game plan for how to deal with them over Christmas break (and even afterwards) or I was shipping out, we brainstormed and came up with some new expectations about how to deal with each other (softer voices, nicer words, compromising) and new stricter rules about tv time (2 half hour shows a day with the ability to trade a show in for computer time for the elder tv addicted child), I feel better. And the girls were better. Yes, there's still fighting and there always will be, but I feel like I have a few more tools in my parenting tool belt. I also feel like that them seeing Mommy lose her mind and cry into a Mommy puddle might have also been a bit of a wake up call to them...or a definite trip to the psychiatrist when they're older.

We'd talk about how Christmas is in 3 days. We've wrapped up all the school Christmas parties and extravaganzas. Ebeth had a Christmas party for her dance class and parents were asked to come in a watch them perform.
She also had a Girl Scout Christmas thing. They decorated cookies and made ornaments. I swear this child does not make normal faces any more.
She was super excited to dress up for it though.
I would totally have to show you our finished gingerbread house if you were here! I will be showing it off in a different post, but as will always be the case, Evan did all the main planning and constructing while I did all the baking and decorating.
Did you watch the lunar eclipse the other night? We woke ourselves up at 1:00AM and then got Ebeth up to go and see it for a while. If you click on this picture and make it bigger, you'll be able to see what we saw:
Thanks for stopping by for coffee today. I'm sorry I was late. Have a fabulous weekend and hopefully I'll be ready next Tuesday when it actually is Tuesday. :)

Tea Tour for Two...er...Six!

I don't know why, but I totally forgot to tell you all about the tea tour we went on when Jana and Keith came to visit us over Thanksgiving. We spent a day in Boulder, CO and went to Celestial Seasonings for their tea tour.

Jana does so enjoy tea, so I knew she'd like the tea sampling at the end. The whole place was fantastically interesting! This dress is made out of tea bags:
The tour was free but they gave out "tickets" to show we were part of the tour.
I want this teapot in my home.
For the actual tour of the factory, you had to be 5 and older. So, Julia and Evan (who was in a lot of leg pain because we hadn't found out about the "big ass" blood clot yet) stayed back and hung out in the tasting room while the rest of us toured the tea factory.
No pictures were allowed of the inside of the factory, but no picture could have captured the pure awesomeness that was the peppermint room. You see, Celestial Seasonings not only makes your regular old black teas; they have a huge selection that has green, white and herbal teas as well. And one of their most popular teas is their peppermint tea which they have to keep in its own separate room in the warehouse because it is so potent that the other teas would soak up the scent and would then be tainted. Not everyone enjoyed the peppermint room. Keith found it more irritating than heavenly. It cleared my stuffy nose (I had a cold) in a bout 3.4 seconds and I wanted to stay and do some deep breathing exercises for about an hour, but the tour guide had other places to take us.

The tour was very interesting. Boulder, CO is the only place that Celestial Seasonings is made so it's the only place you can tour. If you are in the area, I definitely suggest you check it out; especially because at the end of the tour is a tea tasting!
You got to pick from almost all of their teas. The lovely ladies at the counter were helpful in trying to help you find teas that would make your taste buds sing. Elisabeth sampled about half a dozen fruity teas.
Jana was in tea heaven. We all found a few favorites that we needed to purchase before we left.
Even Evan, who is not a huge fan of flavored teas, found a couple that he actually liked that weren't just plain black. Of course, one of them was a high-energy tea with hints of coffee and cola.
If you do take a tea tour and then sample, please remember one thing--you will all need to go potty before driving 2 hours back to your homes. Otherwise, there will be some pit stops on the route home.

It's more of a powdered snow world than a marshmallow one here...

We have had two dust-ings of snow in the last 2 days. Elisabeth has been begging for a snow day for over a week now. It's totally not going to happen. She has half a day of school today, anyway, and then it's Christmas break.

I'm standing at my little computer writing this blog and staring at my kitchen which is desperately calling out to me to clean it. My kitchen is so needy. We have the roof to put on our gingerbread house and I still have one more batch of fudge to make and a couple more batches of cookies to bake for gifts. I'm almost done with my Christmas check list. I am actually on time with things this year and I'm both surprised and proud of me. My Christmas cards are mailed, presents are packed and on their way to Illinois, and Santa's totally ready to set up on Christmas Eve after the girls are sound asleep.

Elisabeth has reminded me of a few things we still need to do. We need to decorate our gingerbread house, we need to go to the zoo, there's a couple of Christmas movies we still need to watch, etc. etc. She knows our holiday traditions and completing them make her feel like Christmas is really here. Part of her need for the same holiday routine is that we aren't with family again this year. She had 6.5 years of lots of immediate and extended family at her fingertips during Christmas time and she misses some of the things we did in Illinois. I do too. I miss seeing my grandparents, aunts and cousins. I miss Evan's family's Christmas celebration that's always a couple days after Christmas. I miss attending Matt and Kyle's Christmas Eve Eve extravaganza. I miss making our annual Chicago trip to see the window displays at Macy's and going to Kristkindlmarkt.

We've started some of our own traditions, though. Elisabeth loved going to the Winter Wonderland at the zoo. She's mentioned going again and I think it's a fabulous idea. But, you know how I feel about zoos.

We also are celebrating an early Christmas dinner with Rachel and Kim and their families for our weekly Thursday dinner. One of Evan's co-workers is having a Christmas Eve brunch that we'll be going to as well. I'm positive that celebrating holidays with others who aren't near their families either will be something we will be participating in for as long as we're in the Air Force. It's kind of like having a uniformed extended family. :)

There are traditions that we are continuing even though we're so far away from everyone. Making the hand ornaments is one of them:
And continuing with gingerbread house making is another.
We still get brand new jammies every Christmas Eve.
And make sure Santa and the reindeer are hooked up when they visit us.
Of course, we see Mr. Clause and let him know what we'd like him to bring us this year.

There are things we miss.

We miss seeing our families on Christmas day and are sad we have to wait for their hugs and smooches until we see them in the fall next year.
And there's Chicago. Ugh...we are definitely missing being so close to Chicago this time of year (and the people who live in Chicago as well).
Bonnett Family Christmas is one of the things I super miss. We haven't been in two years and I'm always sad when they are all together without us. I still remember the first Christmas I attended with Evan's family. It was at his house and his Uncle Tom so sweetly offered me one of his home made Rum Balls...they could make you tipsy after eating 2 of them.

Of course, there are those whom we will miss forever but always think of this time of year. Grandpa Bonnett surrounded by all 9 of his kids, 30-plus grandkids, and almost 30 great-grandkids is one of my favorite memories.

So, we keep up all the traditions we can and pick up some new ones along the way. I, personally, am anxious to see what ones the girls make part of their own family holidays someday. I'm wondering if they'll make gingerbread houses and what cookies they'll "have" to have each year. I can't wait to see what holiday traditions we do today with them as kiddos will be important to them as grown-ups.

Virtual Coffee

It's Tuesday, my friends. And while I do know it is very cold and snowy white where a lot of you are (*cough*Illinois*cough*), here the high is 64 and it's already 50 degrees. So, I do have some nice hot coffee brewing away for you all but we also have some iced tea in the fridge too. :)

If we were really having coffee today...I'd tell you that Hanukkah ended last week. Julia still asks for it because she really misses lighting the candles.

Elisabeth asked if we can celebrate it every year and Evan and I both said yes. She was very excited and said next year we could check out even more books to read. I guess we've started a "Hanukkah children's book reading before lighting the menorrah" tradition.

If you were at my house having coffee with me today...you'd be leaving with a small tin of cookies. We've been baking up a storm here and I love to share them. You could have one now if you want. Julia can tell you what one to eat since she's sampled and helped bake them all.

Julia's been my big helper this year. She's excited to put on her apron and dump in ingredients. She's very adamant about me needing her help. Elisabeth's helped a bit here and there, but mainly has only been "helping" by licking the spatula. I think I'll be seeing her help more when school's out for winter break on Friday. It's a half day and then they have almost 3 weeks off.
Have you seen Santa yet this year? We have. Thankfully, the BX on base had a spot set up for Mr. Clause and there was no line the night we went to visit him. Last year we waited over an hour to see him at the mall. I shall be checking the BX from now on. Julia was so excited this year. She went straight to him and told him exactly what she wanted--a big red ball.
Elisabeth had a letter she'd written for him that gave him lots of options. She's all about making Christmas easy on Santa. One year, when she was around 4, she told him to just surprise her because she knows how busy he is. I love that girl.
We'd sit and sip coffee and talk about the upcoming holidays. You'd tell me your plans (are you going anywhere? what are you making for dinner? are people coming to your house?) and I'd tell you that I'm making a traditional Italian Christmas dinner this year. Last year we had a traditional English dinner. Next year, Elisabeth wants a traditional Mexican Christmas dinner since we'll be in Texas and so close to Mexico.
Ooh! Then I'd remember to tell you that Kyle, Matt and the boys are coming to visit us again this year for the week in-between Christmas and New Year's!!! The girls are so excited. They want to take Ethan to a billion different places. I'm excited because I have plans on squishing Owen's cheeks and smooshing his fat baby belly with kisses and huffing his baby scent while I cuddle him. He's 6 months old now and is a total butterball. We're also going to go out to dinner with Kyle and Matt solo. No kiddos. I can NOT wait!
I'd ask what your plans for today are. I'm going to be be baking gingerbread like it's my job. We're going to build our big house tonight and start decorating it tomorrow. Last year we made a grocer store like what Evan's family used to own in the 1930s. This year, we're making a bird house. I will definitely be posting about it when it's completed.
Thanks for stopping by today. I know it's a busy time of year, but I love brief moments of sitting and slowing down to just be with friends. And I totally love our virtual coffee Tuesdays.