Why I love this time of year

The holidays are over allowing me to breathe in the cold wet air and cook my heart out. My mother instilled in me at a very young age that cooking a meal for your family is love at it's purest form. Caring about every little detail, making sure the seasoning is right no matter that it may take hours and your picky children my push it away, wrinkle their nose and say something to the effect of," why broccoli? You know I hate broccoli!!" Cooking is therapy. Cooking is creative and heartwarming and passionate and emotionally charged. It provides me with a creative outlet to create healthy comforting meals for my family and center myself.

When I moved out of my parents' home and in with my hubby, he actually did most of the cooking. In the beginning I was worried I'd screw up and burn something or make it too salty, etc. It took a lot of practice and a little self-confidence and now I do about 95% of the cooking in our house... Daddy will take about a meal a week to lighten the load for me and allow me an hour to chase the kids around the house or build a fort with them or play legos, which I appreciate immensely.

Though they may grab their nose and refuse to even try my creations occasionally, I know in my heart that the time and energy spent feeding my family meals that I've made is well worth it. Knowing that it didn't come out of a box or from a drive thru window is very comforting and reassuring to me. Don't get me wrong, we do order pizza a few times a month, but I hope to teach my children a love for cooking just like my mother did for me.

Happy Thursday! Go make something yummy!

Moms ROCK

Just got this from a friend and was the perfect pick-me-up I needed this morning (and my 5 shot latte)!!!

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;
They don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils
Are probably in the sandbox.

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,
Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough
Doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what
The vacuum just sucked up...

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'
And get their answer when a little
Voice says, 'Because I love you best.'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth
Is not measured by height or years or grade.
It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother.


The Images of Mother:

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn't know everything!
14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn’t have a clue.
.
16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's so five minutes ago.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom.
The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
The place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she
Shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

This is what I get when I ask my kiddos to pose for our Christmas card... Notice the nudity! Thank God for creative cropping!

:)

Christmas Decorating -- The Lights

I wasn't able to get many photos as our area went through a few doozy storms and we managed to get the outside lights up just in time for a nasty rainstorm to hit annd send us running inside :)

Lukey Duke's Birthday Party

Luke's birthday was wonderful and I think that everyone had a blast, especially the adults! We were all sore the following day from jumping all over the place and it was nice to not have to clean up after the party for once :)

Been far too long...

It's been a while huh? This time of year is always so nuts for my family with all of our birthdays, our anniversary, as well as the holidays to contend with... Looking forward to breaking out the Christmas decorations this weekend and decking our halls. Hopefully the rain will hold off for a bit so we can go and find the perfect Christmas tree. I'll post a few pics once we get it all set up :)

5 years ago right now...

My beautiful baby boy was being born....

Happy Birthday big boy!!!!!!!!

Questions

I feel like a ball of questions today...

I've had a few questions lately from folks around me as to why we decided to foreclose on our house, so I'm going to answer them as best as I can...


When we bought our home we both believed in the American dream; a house, a white picket fence and 2.5 children. What we didn't know was that the housing market would implode on itself within a year. Believe it or not, I was the hold out for quite a while hoping that we wouldn't have to take it to the extreme of having to file for foreclosure. I hoped, with no evidence supporting those hopes, that the market would rebound and we'd be ok. What's funny about it all is that I work in the real estate business, generating new home loans and basically have my finger on the pulse of the real estate industry. I heard folks around me talking about flipping, buying a new home and then foreclosing on their existing property, but I knew that that was not for us. We had the money and could have done it, but it's downright lying on a credit application and I'm not ok with that.

When we realized that this was our best option to eliminate our house as a liability, we only assumed we'd be in the house for a few months. We never dreamed that 12 months later there would still not be an NOD (Notice of Default) on file with no clear cut end in sight. We've been saving all of our regular mortgage payment money, as this will only happen once in our life. We were both raised to fulfill our obligations and trust authority, but sometimes you need to trust yourself. We know that in the long run what we did is the best for our family, but people still choose to judge. If your choice was to pay into a losing investment for the next 30 years, or cut bait, take the hit on your credit, and start to re-build, what would you do?

Car Envy

We are only a bit more moolah away from my dream car. I can't wait for the chance to not have to duck and tuck kids into the Camry 4 times a day. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Camry, more than I've ever loved any other inanimate object, but it's time for an upgrade. It's time for DVD players and movies on long trips, room to stretch out (and not be able to touch each other while in their car seats!), and space to finally be able to take the dog on trips again. She's just getting too old to be wedged into a one foot space between the kids' car seats anymore. So, hopefully in a few months I'll be able to post pictures of the kiddos in the back seat of our new baby!

That Time of Year Again

Anyone else heading into the busiest time of the year for their family? In the next 4 months, we will celebrate all 4 of our birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve, 8 close and extended family birthdays, and the birth of 2 close friends' babies. Stress and anxiety abound :)

Luke's B-Day is up first so I've got invitations ordered, waiting on arrival to mail out ASAP, the bounce house place booked, decor ordered, his birthday boy T-shirt is ordered, and I'm scoping out presents on my lunch hours. He made me a pretty good list this year, so if you need any ideas, feel free to ask.

Did I mention that I LOVE this time of year (since fall only really last here in CA for about 2 months if we're lucky!), but who the hell decided it was OK for it to be 95 degrees outside?

Planning ahead is key; if only I could remember to plan ahead?

:)