Operation Gingerbread House

I can not believe that I had never made a gingerbread house before this weekend. I have walked by them and thought "Wow I bet that would be a big mess!" I will admit that I have been tempted every time I see them.

When I saw them on sale on Black Friday I thought "What is a little mess?" I am so glad that I bought them. What a blast it was to make these little candy houses. So early on Sunday morning I started to put them together and waited for them construction of the houses to dry. My sister and La-La picked up some extra candy just in case we needed a few more pieces.

Anna and Hans enjoyed most of the gummy rings and sour patch kids before we got started decorating the houses. Anna would taste the sour patch kids then say "Share" and give it to Hans. I guess she is learning.

I think they turned out pretty nice for our first time around.

Turkey Time

Here are my favorite pictures from Turkey Day. I thought it would be nice to share with everyone.






Just to answer the question...How do I have random strangers at my dinner table?

Usually they are people who do not have family close by or at all. My sisters and Mother know that if they know of someone who is going to be alone for the holidays then they are welcome to invite them to our home. Two years ago our guest was a professional gambler.

I live near the casinos in New Jersey, in fact Gerard and my one sister both work at a casino. One thing that I think people think when they go to the casino is that they are invisible. In fact this is really not true. Many times the dealers will remember you if you are a regular customer. My sister is a dealer and I will admit many times it is her that brings random people to Thanksgiving. She invites the ones who are her regular customers to come and celebrate the day with us.

I have shared my holidays with exchange students who the children have brought home, My other sister brought home 3 young Russian co-workers one year. The interesting thing is that Thanksgiving is an American Holiday not a world holiday.

So that is how we have random strangers for the holidays.

What is different here?

This year for Thanksgiving I am having only a small crowd of about 9 people. Usually, I have over 20 people for dinner. Every Thanksgiving for the past couple of years I have had at least one random person who I have never met and never met again. I wonder if that will happen this year too. I think I might be a bit sad if it does not because it has almost become a tradition.

I think about my life sometimes when I am driving alone and think "Wow, can this really be MY life?" Let me explain a bit. When I was growing up my life was so different. My parents never owned the home in which we lived. I think this is the reason why Gerard and I make less money on our rental houses in the past because I insist they be complete...fenced in yard, freshly painted, neat and clean on the outside. Sometimes we are blessed and have good tenets and sometimes we are not. That is the gamble that we take so I am not complaining. I always want at least the exterior to look like it is a home and not some one's rental property.

My parents struggled when I was growing up. I do remember there were times when we had maybe one or two presents under the tree and one year when I got nothing. Not until I was an adult did I find out that our Christmas dinner every year was a gift from my Aunts.

I graduated high school with little direction not because my parents did not love me but they did not understand how to get me from point A to point B. I lucked into going to college, first a private Catholic school then I transferred to my local community college where I finished up my Associate Degree in Nursing. Oh and I am a big supporter of Community Colleges if you are asking.

I remember the first day I was looking for a job. I applied in person, there were no home computers back then and told myself I would take the first job offered to me. I did. I was offered a part-time job which quickly turned into a full-time job. I know the only reason why I was offered the full-time position is because I was eager to work, learn and willing to take responsibility for my actions. I can still remember the first time a doctor yelled "Who is this patient's nurse?" and not because he liked me.

The difference in my life would amaze most. I felt free for the first time in my life. That was 18 years ago this holiday season. For me it is hard to believe that I have been a Nurse for 18 years, yes I am still at the same employer on a different unit.

I guess what I am trying to say this Thanksgiving morning is I had help along the way by strangers who I have never seen again. I know God carried me through some very difficult times when I was in college and every day when I have a hard day at work amongst other challenges.

This Thanksgiving I know the likelihood of a stranger sitting at my table will be less and this has actually bothered me. I do have enough food prepared just in case. I made the decision on Monday that I was going to make a difference some where.

I am not sure what everyone else does for Thanksgiving but we usually start with the biggest shrimp I can find at least a pound but some times more. The bowl is overflowing, yes they all get eaten. I love cheese so I find it hard not to have 6 or 7 different types of cheese, then it is a traditional turkey dinner.

I decided we are not doing that this year. We are so fortunate to live in a beautiful home with all the comforts where others do not. I have the luxury of going into a grocery store, picking up anything I want putting into my cart and buying it. Although, I think I might start to use coupons next year. Usually our bill for just Thanksgiving dinner is over 350 dollars for 20 or so people. This year it was still expensive at 190 dollars for the meal.

Here is the difference this year. There will be NO shrimp, only 3 or 4 types of cheese, less desserts. Instead I took some of that money about 30 dollars and shopped for the food bank in my community. I think this will be a new tradition. Yes, I took Anna with me for the shopping and the drop off. We talked about what we were doing the whole time. She needs to know that we are fortunate in so many ways. I want her to the type of child who understands that things could be so much different for all of us.





Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who read this blog. I wish each and every one of you were my guest this year laughing at the dinner table with me and my family.

Christmas Cards

I send Christmas cards every year. Usually I am the first to send one. I love getting them especially the one with pictures attached. I am one of those weird random people who save the picture and pack them away with my Christmas stuff. I know sounds strange. I just feel a little guilty throwing out pictures.

Last year I did not send out a Christmas card due to all the craziness that was going on in my family but this year I am determined to get them sent out. I am so determined that I already had Anna's Christmas pictures done on...pleas do not laugh...October 31! It is a long story but basically I had a great coupon and figured I would send out my Christmas card and include a 4x6 card.

I had hoped to be able to write out the envelopes this weekend and be done. Then wham another deal is set into my lap. What should I do? Shutterfly is giving bloggers 50 Christmas cards out free. How can I pass that up. I use Shutterfly to print my pictures anyway so I do not feel like I am opening a random account. So scratch the initial plan for a modified plan of a family picture for the Shutterfly card and I will still include the single shots of Anna because I am that crazy and think she is beautiful.

Shutterfly books are my personal favorite. I organize my photos on the site into 4 main albums (one for each season) for the year and then special occasions like holidays or birthdays. Once the season is over I import them into a 12x12 photo book. I do separate ones for vacations and birthdays too.

Anna loves to pull out the one I did when we went to visit Stacy, Pat and Aidan in Washington as well as the one from Fort Myers Beach. I keep those ones on her book shelf. After you make one or two they are very easy to make in about an hour. Just a side note for the season books (Sept-Nov; Dec-Feb; Mar-May; June-Aug) I leave extra blank pages once the book comes I insert her professional pictures with double sided tape.





Here are the professional photos of Anna, yes I got suckered into buying the CD but I just could not think about not having the copyrights to these pictures.

Gerard's Christmas project

In the three houses I have lived in as an adult none...count them none have had a true fireplace. I love fireplaces! My home is not a formal home. I remember one Christmas Santa surprised me with new end tables, I loved the shape of them but they were very formal with a high gloss finish. Lucky for me Santa let me return them for the ones that are still in my living room today. I can not believe that was 15 years ago.

Although I love my house I would say this is not the last house I will own. As an adult I have only ever lived in new houses with the exception of this one but Gerard completely remolded this one prior to us moving into it. The house was only 4 years old but had been destroyed by the previous owners. I remember our parents being very distressed at the thought of us buying this house. It took over 4 months to make it livable again.

Selling the other house made adopting Anna possible. This house is much smaller about half the size of the one we had built. It was not until I moved into this much smaller house that I realized I am a small house girl. I have no need for a formal living room or two story foyer. I love the way they look but I had a very hard time decorating such a big house.

I would love to live in a 1950's cottage.To meet Gerard's specifications it would have to be completely redone and everything new...sigh. Maybe one day I will get a secret cottage for myself as a retreat. I so wish I had a fireplace with a big mantel. So a fireplace is on the list for my next house which is years away.

When Gerard realized Anna was coming to us he started to measure for a fireplace at once. Our living room is mostly windows so fireplace would be difficult to incorporate into our living area. We tossed around the idea for the last year and he had decided that it was possible even though I was not sold on the idea.

As the holiday season is fast approaching I once again am longing for a fireplace. I came up with in my opinion a perfect idea...a cardboard fireplace. For 16 dollars and a little bit for shipping I purchased a beautiful "brick" fireplace. I imagined us warming ourselves by the fake fire with our stocking hung by the chimney with care.

Little did I know Gerard had been taking Anna to look at fireplaces while I slept during the day. Last week on our way home from Surf Taco he told me he had to make a stop first at Lowes. I thought nothing of our stop so I said "Okay." Once we were in the store Anna started to say "Anna's fire, Anna's fire, Anna's fire!" The two of them took me to the one he picked out we talked about it and the decision was made a real fireplace for the holidays.



Even though I said I was not going to be doing any holiday projects this weekend Gerard had other plans. Operation install the new gas fireplace went into effect on Friday night. Below is a picture of Anna helping Gerard with cutting the hole in the wall.



Projects of this nature with a 3 year old are difficult was I was sent shopping (poor me) and Papa came over the help Gerard. Now we have a completely working fireplace and boy is it toasty in here now.



***Please note that Gerard is a licenced Electrician and his Father a plumber.

We borrowed...

Me-Me's leaves. Last year Me-Me and I took the kids pictures in the leaves in my backyard. I will say my inspiration for those pictures were from another blog. As much as I loved those pictures I disliked how brown the leaves were when I got around to taking those pictures.

I remember Me-Me being a little nervous about putting her fresh clean baby in the dirt and leaves but once she saw how cute they looked we snapped away.

This year I have been waiting and watching for better leaves so to speak. The other day I got my chance. I had been watching Hans while Me-Me was working when I was dropping him off I realized Me-Me had been keeping some of the best leaves safe in her backyard. Out came the camera and rake. Together I think Me-Me and I got some pretty good pictures of these guys.

Who is up for a little before and after?

Fall 2009






Fall 2010

This week's project

Salt dough ornaments! As a child my Mother, sisters and I would make all different things for the holidays. One year we made puppets from felt. I still have that puppet and put it out every year. The funny thing is I can so clearly remember picking out the eyes for my Santa puppet, they were red and white. When I look at this puppet every year I think 'What was I thinking they don't look like eyes!' I wonder how much of our projects Anna will remember if any.

This past summer when I went to Brooklyn and stopped at the Russian grocery store I guess I spent enough money to receive a free bag of flour. I know it may not be very different but I think making these salt dough ornaments from my Russian flour was a neat way to connect one of my family traditions to Anna's heritage.





The recipe for these ornaments is very easy and usually you have everything in your pantry.

1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup of water

Mix together, roll out flat, use cookie cutters to make the shapes. Air dry or bake at 200 F degrees on a cookie sheet. I baked our for quite a few hours. Then paint, seal with a spray sealer, add a ribbon and hang.

As much fun as it is for just Anna and I to do a project I love it even better when I am able to spend time with my family too. We decided to make it a family event. Julie (my sister), La-La, Me-Me (Hans' mommy), Nanny and Hans joined us.

We set both of the kidos up with a bowl for mixing up their own dough. Anna measured out the flour, then the salt. We mixed it up and that part went pretty quick. Anna's favorites are the deer and camel. Many of these cookie cutters were my Mother's that my sister still had and uses every year for her cookies.

Then it was Hans' turn! Flour was poured, Hans slipped then the flour ended up on the flour. Hans was not hurt and instead started to giggle and do his best to get down to play in the flour on the floor. Believe it or not I think this made it more special for me because we all had a good laugh. For years to come when I look at these ornaments I will think about the cup of flour all over my floor and I will giggle.





I was also able to get an imprint of Anna's hand and foot. Her hands and feet are still so little. I am sure that I will love these ones from a long time. I know it is hard to see but Anna is trying to get my Mother to help her get King's foot print too.







I am sad to say there will not be a weekend project this weekend because I have to work. My work days are some what clumped together but then I should be off for about a week. I can not tell you how excited I am for the holidays this year. I think my plan to extend the holidays this year has made me feel better. I just love spending time with Anna.

I Help...I Help

The past two days were amazing. Not to sound funny but my baby is quite the amazing little girl. I think it is easy to feel like you child is wonderful but in the past two days I got a glimpse of how she acts when I am not around. I was a bit surprised.

Yesterday was her Fall Festival party at school. As much as I hated the thought of her going to pre-school I do think she has benefited on some level. I imagine that the transition home from her baby home was hard because she was use to being surrounded by other children. Although I do not regret keeping her home with me or with family for the first year for attachment purposes.

Her preschool class only has 12 children in it. 10 parents showed for the party. The party consisted of decorating a foam turkey, story time and snacks. I loved seeing so many parents at the party for their children. I know that many parents work during the day but to see so many their really tells me that the parents feel their child is very important. I imagine it is very hard to take off for all these special occasions for the kids.

The children started to play with some blocks. When it was story time the teacher played her magic clean up song. I call it magic because the children scrabbled to get everything put away and in the right spots. I heard Anna saying "I help...I help" Listening to her put two words together spontaneously is amazing. Watching her help and interact with the children was even more amazing.



Gerard takes Anna when I am sleeping during the day. Most times it is a trip to see his parents, to Home depot or to one of the houses to do a little bit of maintenance. Gerard and his Father have been working on one of the new rental properties fixing, cleaning and painting. Gerard keeps telling me that the minute Anna gets there she wants to help with what ever they are doing. When it was installing the fence she wanted to hold the piece up like her Daddy. When it was painting it was holding the brush and painting too.

Today I passed Gerard on my way to pick up Anna so we decided to surprise Papa with lunch. When she got there her routine started. First is was chase Papa around the house, hind and seek in the empty closets then a drink of water. We were getting ready to go home and she spotted Papa starting to paint the new fence. She started to cry "Down, down, down." I put her down and straight to Papa she ran. Then she looked around and found the other paint brush and went straight to work right next to him.




She loves to help. She loves to do things. I love that she wants to see how things work and help too.

What do you do when...

your dining room table is finally cleaned off? If your house is anything like mine either the dinning room table or my kitchen counter has "stuff" on it. Clutter has always driven Gerard nuts and through the years I have become conditioned to not like the clutter either. I am the biggest offender of placing the clutter on both of these surfaces. Before Anna came home I had a pretty good handle on the amount of stuff and things that we had out. Now with the addition of her toys I am in a different part of my life where things may not always be where I left them. I do feel like I am starting to get a handle on the clutter again and I am managing her toys better. I love the feeling of coming home to a house that is neat and clean but I love coming home to seeing Anna playing with her "guys" better.



This past weekend I had that old rare feeling of everything in its spot in my house. Nothing on the counters or dinning room table. I looked around and enjoyed it for close to 30 minutes while reading Anna a book. Now that was long enough so I told Anna that it was time to start our Sunday project.

Last year during the holidays I was not in a good place. I felt rushed, bombarded and that the holidays came and went far to fast for my liking. I have to work on holidays that is the one thing that I dislike the most about my job. The holiday schedule wish list goes up and we get to pick what we would like to work. In the unit where I work I am blessed for two reasons we split the shifts for Christmas Eve, Christmas and the New Years holidays. What does this mean? Rather then me working a 12 hour shift over the Christmas holidays I usually only have to work 1 six hour block of time. Six hours is a walk in the park. I will be working Christmas Eve or 12/25 at 1 am-7:30 am. I should make it home for 8:15 am and hopefully Anna will still be sleeping.

See this all is complicated by the fact that Gerard is only off for the holidays if it falls on his day off no exceptions. I chose Christmas Eve so that Anna will be able to wake up at home on Christmas morning. I dislike that my work schedule causes so much stress for me around the holidays. Last year my friends were kind enough to give me both days off but I had to work the 2 days into and out of the holiday so I was wiped out before the actual holiday. I know this is the reason why I got so upset last year that I was being pressured to not be at home for the holidays. Being off for both Christmas Eve and Christmas day is a very rare occasion.

Wow way off topic here...So I want the holidays to be extended this year. I want to celebrate the season longer so I have decided that we will do a little something every week. This week I decided on cinnamon applesauce ornaments. I LOVE the smell and taste of cinnamon. For me, cinnamon is a very comforting smell. I know I have a few of these types of ornaments from about 20 years ago and they still have a faint smell.

The recipe is easy...equal parts of cinnamon and applesauce mixed together, roll it out like sugar cookies and cut with cookie cutters. Let dry on a rack. We added glitter to our ornaments. Ours are still drying on top of the dryer in the laundry room so I am guessing it will be a couple of more days before I can put the ribbons on them. I am really enjoying the smell of them as I walk into the back of the house. We made about 50 ornaments and I plan to tie them to gifts and keep a few for the tree.

Anna loved this project. I let her pour the applesauce and cinnamon into the bowl that I used as a child to make cookies with my Father and cole slaw with my Mother. The dough gets stiff so I did some of the kneading but she did mostly every thing else. This is a no baking project so that made it even more fun because she could do the entire project with my supervision. I hope to be able to make the salt dough ornaments next with her and the girls.













If you know of a good project for a 3 year old please let me know I am always looking for something fun to do.