Christmas day

Christmas morning Monkey was so excited because the Tooth Fairy came and gave her money and Santa had come that she bound into our room at 6:30. Rock got up with her and started prepping breakfast by 7:30 all the little ones were up and impatiently waiting to open presents from Santa.

My little monkeys waiting to open presents.

Opening and playing with presents from Santa. Rock got a roasting pan, I got art supplies, both girls got play dough sets, Monkey got the Barbie Princess Charm School doll house, Muffin got some Barbies from Princess Charm School and Tutu got a Little People train track and some Chuck the Talking truck cars.

After that round of presents Rock made us breakfast, he friend up some bacon and made a Puffy Oven Pancake from Aesthetic Nest (yes she provided us lots of food recipes this Christmas). My mom use to make something similar growing up, we called it Dutch Puff and it was super yummy. My mom and I really enjoyed the breakfast.

After breakfast we opened up yet more presents. We opened our stockings from Santa and presents from each other and my parents.

Enjoying Candy Canes

And after dinner we took pictures as the whole family.

I'm glad we were able to get these pictures all together.

And my little models posing for the camera.

It was a quiet Christmas, not like ones we've know in the past where we are surrounded by chaos, family, laughter and love. This year it was just us and my parents. It was nice to have a quiet Christmas but we obviously don't know how to cook a Holiday meal for only  of us because we had a ham, a 17lbs turkey, mashed potato casserole, green beans mozzarella, glazed carrots, Brussels sprouts (a new side dish to our rotation), gravy, stuffing, and buns. We have been eating left overs all week, plus all the leftovers from Christmas Eve. The only complaint I got from the girls was there wasn't enough ham so for New Year's Day I will be cooking another one.

Despite budgets and such everyone got spoiled, the girls got digital cameras (that I picked up on clearance when we were at Target in September), art kits, some money, Tutu got a whole bunch of clothes, and a Cars racing set and a remote control car. Rock got money because there are some retreats he wants to attend next year. I got mostly money (that I already spent some on Boxing Day stocking up on art supplies, yarn and storage at Micheal's), my dad got me a few things from Forever 21 (I found it when we where downtown a few weeks ago) and my mom got me a set of crochet hooks.

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas and Santa was good to everyone. We are planning for a quiet New Year's as well. My cousin might come by and we will just hang out.

Ania

Thankful

As we spent the day today prepping for our Thanksgiving meal, to night I'm reflecting on all the things I'm thankful for.

I am thankful for Rock and the great relationship we have. There are ups and downs but we work through them together. I'm also thankful we celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss last month.

I am thankful for my family. It is a great family and just right. I love each and everyone of them so much.  I got so blessed to have them in my life.

Thankful for my children, they are my blessings my  life. Thankful for my dad and all the help he provides us.

Thankful for my mom and all the love and support she provides. Seriously my parents are a huge blessing to us and are greatly appreciated.  My kids are so blessed to have grandparents around (I never had any growing up) and who play such an active role in their life.

I am thankful that this woman was in my life, she provided me with much love and guidance (and not to mention she use to spoil me rotten). She will be greatly missed this holiday, there has been some breakdowns today missing her.

I am thankful for my art and my crafts,  and I love to create and am so glad I can steal opportunities to do it.

Crafting and creating with my kids. It's such a blessing to pass on my passion to them.

I am thankful for the yummy food we will eat tomorrow and that we eat everyday. I am thankful that both Rock and I are great cooks and come up with yummy meals to eat.

I am thankful for my clothes and my sense of style (it works for me). I am thankful that I have lots of clothes, even if a lot of it is old and even if I seem to wear the same favorite items over and over again.

I am thankful for my friends and my kids' friends.  We have all been blessed with some amazing people in our lives.

I am thankful for this awesome house and the awesome yard. It gives  all of us the space we need and then some. The kids are loving it.  And I:m thankful I have a little corner for my art and craft supplies.

I am thankful for for the beauty and inspiration all around us.  Just outside your window you can find it.


I'm sure I missed tons of things I should be thankful for but I'm getting tired.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow and spending time with family and friends and feasting. And feast we will, Rock is making his famous turkey and gravy, I'm making MIL's famous ham, we're also having mashed potatoes, green beans mozzarella, glazed carrots, sweet potatoes, salad, cheapie buns and my mom's famous cheesecake pumpkin pie.  Oh tomorrow can't get here fast enough.


For my Canadian readers wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving this weekend, I hope you can celebrate with your family and friends all you have to be thankful for.


For my American readers I hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well.

Ania

Weekend Update

So I haven't posted for a week. Here is a look at the art I've created over the past week.

This was a quick watercolour I did of Monkey.


This is a drawing I did to potentially donate to a breast cancer fundraiser. This is the first one I did, it took 2 days to create. I like it and the colours but I didn't like the marker lines.


So I created another one on a different paper. But I still am not 100% satisfied so I'm working on a 3rd one.


So I'm in the midst of the 3rd one.


And this was our dinner for tonight. Rock made BBQ mushrooms and steak. I assembled the potatoes and onions, drizzled with bacon fat we grilled as well. And made an ode to the Canyon Creek chop house salad. Rock cut up the tomatoes and onion, I layered the onions on the tomatoes, pour raspberry vinaigrette on some and blue cheese dressing on the rest and crumbles blue cheese on the whole thing. It was super yummy.






And here are the big news around here is Monkey learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She basically taught herself to do it.

And last but not least I got new glasses. They are so funky, I LOVE them.
These are my butterfly glasses.




And these are my funky cutout ones.



And I will close out this post with some cuteness from tonight.