Candy

Last year Erinn needed something to stuff in the stockings of all her classmates. What to do? We already made reindeer's out of candy canes and snowflakes with pencils stuck in them so what next. Erinn wanted to make a treat and I thought cookies that's easy and I can do cookies. No Erinn wants candy. With my mom's trusty caramel recipe in hand we start five batches later we complete a fabulous batch. This year with the caramels under our belts we tried fondant to make chocolates. I bought a marble board and flavors (in advance, no last minute this year) procured the ingredients in bulk (just in case) and off we went. This year it only took me three batches to get it right and everyone got to help a little. Erinn is already asking if she can have my recipe when she's my age. Sometimes she makes me feel really old.

Thoughts on Christmas trees...

While the girls and I were decorating our Christmas tree this year (well the girls decorated and I handed them the ornaments) I had a chance to ponder the wonder of changing trees. For instance when Erinn was a baby and Christmas would come around I decorated the tree and she would watch, occasionally trying to either knock it down or eat the tree. My decoration at this period of time were very pretty iridescent icicles and glass angels, sparkles everywhere. Then as Erinn and then Keara started to get bigger my tree had less breakable ornaments and more "home made" or school projects on it. Now this year as I was sidelined by my children, forced to sit and watch as Keara hung all her ornaments on the same branch. And Erinn hanging them as fast as possible, made me appreciate how much patients mothers have and me wishing for more. Of course having a slight case of OCD that comes out when messes are made I fix the tree after the kids go to bed, and the next morning they think they are the best decorators in the world.

Santa? Where is Santa?

Every Christmas season Santa comes to the Elks lodge here in the White Mountains and the girls love to go. The Christmas carnival is a great way to blow off steam while waiting for Santa to arrive. The girls had a blast and all tuckered out with no one the wiser.... well maybe mom knows.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a great time of year to reflect on the things that you are thankful for, even though it sometimes feels like your not. I am thankful for my kids they are great, they bring a smile to my face every day. I am thankful for family and friends who are always there for me when ever i need them.
This year for Thanksgiving we were fortunate enough to go to zoo lights at the Phoenix zoo again, I love going to zoo lights maybe more than the girls. This is a fun family thing we have been doing for the last couple of years that gets us out of the cold and lets us have a break from winter in the white mountains.

Winter is here....maybe

Well last week we got our first taste of real winter... it snowed about 2 inches but that's not bad for only a couple of hours worth. Luckily it did not get real cold too or they could have delayed the start for school which of course the girls always cross their fingers for. Still that just means its time to dust off the old scraper and start the car a little earlier for work.

Trick or Treat

Trick or treat this year the girls decided that they wanted to be a Devil (Erinn) and an Angel (Keara) most fittingly and pretty accurate for the most part. This year Erinn wanted to go "all out" she said so I got red hair spray and some face paint for her and Keara glittered from head to foot.

Those pumpkins look really great all lit up too.

pumpkin madness

I love that the girls are getting big enough to really enjoy all aspects of each holiday like for Halloween its not just the candy now but we like carving pumpkins and they like the trying to scare each other, which is very funny to watch by the way. This year instead of having to do all the carving and scraping out of the pumpkins the girls were pumped up to do it themselves and they did a good job too. Erinn drew her own design on hers and Keara told me in detail how to draw hers and then dad used his power tools to carve it. The results MASTERPIECES

Party on

The town has lots of activities leading up to Halloween and this year I took the girls to the Candy Scramble which is like and Easter egg hunt minus the eggs and you get to wear your costume.(bonus). The girls had a blast running around getting candy and playing at the park.

Fall fun

We love when fall comes to the white mountains not because of the pretty colors,(because pine trees don't turn colors) its because of all the fun stuff that comes with fall like football. The girls love love to go to the high school games, maybe just for cotton candy but the get all excited for the team when we score. I personally think i have cheerleaders in the making but Craig is hoping we don't.

Erinns B-day

Erinn had a quiet birthday at home this year being that we were in between trips to visit family i still wanted her to have something special this year. So she had a REAL Irish feast for dinner because that's what she said she wanted with all the fixins; And a doll cake. Flipping through some pictures of my older sisters she found a shot of Lora and a doll cake and had her heart set on one of her own. Well thanks to my new favorite store in Show Low, a kitchen store and a cake decorating book i attempted a doll cake for my big 8 year old. So between the cake and some presents she seemed to be pretty happy about her birthday this year, now only we have to do a science experiment every weekend thanks to a present we gave her on science.

Part of the theme to the family reunion this year was golf/ miniature golf for those of us who are not coordinated enough to accomplish the real game, and of course the kids loved being involved. On our way back from This trip we decided to take a more scenic route through the eastern part of Utah. Craig and the girls never having been through Moab we though this a great idea for something new to see out their windows, however the girls slept through almost the whole trip. I guess the were totally worn out from playing with the cousins.

I know its been all summer since i last up dated this blog and i really am sorry. I ran into some technical difficulties mid summer requiring a trip to the apple store(which was heaven for Craig) but left me with out a computer for a couple of weeks. Beyond that it just makes me lazy and for that i am sorry. here are a few pics to get everyone back up to date. School started the first of August but before that we went to Utah for the Milligan family reunion.

birthday presents

I will be the first to admit that my girls are pretty spoiled but really only on birthdays do they get to be spoiled on their own. I love that they have a day all of their own and that they get to do almost everything they want. This year we had some extra activities on Saturday because of the dance recital but Keara is only 4. Since she could not decide what she wanted for her birthday I really had to rely on erinn for help and i think she pegged her sis well.
Erinn got Keara a barbie car, Craig and I supplied her with some new skirts, and aunt Cassie scored big with a pink t-ball bat, mitt, and soft ball set.