mommypalooza™ ~ a daily dose of mommy mayhem.

Back in some sort of routine. Well, sort of.

With the company we were hosting all leaving today, things have started to resemble somewhat of life as usual around here.  The kids were sad to see their Grammy & Popo leave today, along with Auntie, Uncle Gui, and Uncle Alby.  After they had all driven away, I headed upstairs with them to play a bit in the playroom, as I could sense they needed some sort of attention.

After playing a while I fixed them waffles with syrup and powdered sugar sprinkled about.  Finally, some smiles.  Breakfast was pretty unenventful and I knew that I was going to have to come up with something fun for the kids to do to take their minds off of going back to just us here at home.  I had thought about taking them to the mall play area or even a bounce-around place.  Then, my wonderful husband suggested the gym.  Oh, yeah.  I nearly forgot about that place!  Let's just say it's been a while and I've been exercising my gums since my family's been around, more than my body. 

After breakfast the kids watched a little bit of TV while I started some laundry and managed to tidy up a bit around the common areas.  I quickly got dressed for the gym, dusted off my water bottle and filled it up, and we were off.  The kids were excited.  They love the child care center at the gym and could stay for hours if it were possible.  Too bad I only get to leave them there for a max of two hours per day.

It was nice to get back into the routine of working out, but it was hard today and I could tell that my body was like, "WTF?? You expect me to move like I used to after all those tamales, chalupas, and tortillas?"  Still, it felt good at the end and I was glad I'd gone.

We came home for lunch and then the kids headed upstairs for a nap.  They'd been a bit off their schedule in that department as well since all of our company has been keeping them plenty occupied.  It was nice to have two napping kids so I could catch up on email, housework and other random things.

I can't wait for the day that seeing my family everyday or on a regular basis becomes part of our routine, though.  I like it when it's less quiet around here!  ♥

 

Host for the holidays.

My blogging hiatus has been courtesy of playing host to my wonderful family this past week or so.  It all started when Mom and brother arrived on Saturday the 20th.  We ended up having a tamalada (fancy Spanish word for tamale-making-party) all together and had quite a bit of fun making tamales, although my mom really did do most of the work.

 

My stepdad, sister & brother-in-law arrived on Christmas Eve. A few of us went off to enjoy mass on Christmas Eve and then D and I came home to start prepping our tradition of appetizers on Christmas Eve.  Usually my mom does all of the prepping and cooking in the kitchen for the holidays but D and I decided that this year we'd give her a break so that she could truly just sit and enjoy the grandkids for a change.  I was so busy getting things ready I didn't have time to snap many pics so thankfully my sister managed to get a few.

 

  

  

On Christmas Eve D and I also took the kids for their yearly photo with Santa.  It was the perfect time to go in the morning as we walked right in and enjoyed playing in the kids' area and then the boys had their moment with the jolly 'ol guy.  N asked for a turntable and all W's been talking about is a fancy red kitchen he saw once while we were at Costco.  The kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve present - new jam-jams (pajamas) from Mommy & Daddy.

 

Christmas morning came and the kids were uber-excited!  We wished baby Jesus a Happy Birthday then N jumped out of bed (the kids had slept with us the night before) and ran downstairs to see if Santa had indeed made it by.  Then he ran back into our bedroom and yells out, "William!  You got your red kitchen!  You got the red kitchen!"  

  

The kids made their way down and Christmas morning was officially underway.  I set out our muffins, danishes, and fruit for our continental breakfast while N & W read Santa's note that he'd left behind.  Then it was time to tear open some paper.

  

  

  
My mom was ecstatic to receive a genuine French beret from my sister and this necklace I made for her:

  

I have no photos of our Christmas Day feast because I barely remember making it all come together!  I barely even remember cooking anything but somehow, D and I managed to feed the family by about 3 p.m. on Christmas Day and it all was amazingly scrumptious!   Our menu consisted of herb-crusted salmon, seasoned prime rib, steamed rice, sweet potato casserole, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, green been casserole, buttery corn, garlic sauteed spinach, and rolls.  And for dessert I made fresh pecan pie, and spiced apple cobbler and D made a wonderfully moist pineapple upside-down cake.  D and I received rave reviews from the whole feast, but it was so much work! 

Since then, we've just been enjoying all of our wonderful company and just hanging out.  We've all stayed up every night watching episodes of Lost, our newest favorite TV show.  Yesterday we managed to get out of the house to see a movie so that was nice.  Everyone leaves tomorrow morning and our Christmas decor will soon be taken down, but the memories of this holiday will last a lifetime. 

Hope all of you are having a blessed holiday season!  ♥

 

Perfect Penelope.

My goddaughter was born this morning at 8:45 a.m.  She is perfect! See for yourself.

 
Me holding Penelope for the first time! 

Penelope Rose Martinez
Born Monday December 22, 2008
8:45 a.m.
7 lbs. 7 1/2 oz.
20 inches long

A perfect way to start this glorious week!  ♥

 

Blogging a birth.

My very best friend is in labor right now. I am blessed enough to be here to document it all.  Read about it here:  www.erinsthoughts.com

Five Things: The cold has me thinking I'd rather be . . .

• . . . soaking in the sun at the Grand Wailea where D and I were married. 
• . . . enjoying bubbles outside with the kids instead of snowballs.
• . . . wearing flip-flops.  You know - shoes that don't take eons to put on your feet!
• . . . chowing down on some festival food while enjoying the outdoors.
• . . . somewhere WARM!  ♥

 

Easily annoyed.

Today I was so irritated by the non-hustle-and-bustleness of peeps in Target.  All I could do while in the checkout line was laugh.  And shake my head.  Seriously.

I had about five minutes to get through the checkout line, carry my loot to the car, load it, get in the car, back out safely, drive away, and get home in time so that D could take N to school on time.  As I picked up my final item and threw it in the basket, I made my way to a packed checkout lane area only to see that lane 25 actually looked rather short.  Score!  Or, not.

The lady in front of me had just a few more items left on the conveyor belt so I proceeded to load my goods and smile.  Surely I'd be outta there in just a few minutes.  Not so, I soon found out.  The slow-moving trusty Target employee was too busy chit-chatting about holiday shopping and how much she loved to "make the computer behave" (I can only imagine what she meant by that).  And as if that weren't enough, when she finally did finish scanning everything, the customer (a middle-aged suburban mom, no doubt) busts out a fistfull of coupons.  Yeah, you can imagine the look on my face and the "Pffff" that came out of my mouth.  I was feeling particularly self-centered by this point since I had TONS to do.  Nevermind that I, myself, actually had a coupon of my own to use.

There wasn't much I could do except sit tight and wait for the cashier to scan each coupon meticulously and of course, each one did not scan as planned so she had to press a button on the register, then re-scan.  When that didn't work she pushed the register button again and then manually typed in the barcode for the coupon.  This went on for the entire stack of coupons, people!  I was seriously fuming.

FINALLY the coupons were done.  And what does lady who's checking out do?  That's right....she busts. out. her. CHECKBOOK!  I was beyond having had enough.  So the lady makes her stinkin' check out, hands it to the cashier - and WOOPS - wouldn't you know it - forgets to sign the check!  I almost rammed my cart into her left shin. Then I remembered I was supposed to be in the Christmas spirit.

After signing the check and moving on about her merry way, it was FINALLY my turn!  I had just a handful of items and after totalling me up, I handed the cashier my coupon for $1 off.  This girl needs to retake the Scanning Survival module of her Target Employee Training Program.  She could not get this thing to scan to save her life!  And, on top of that, it was a Target coupon - not a manufacturer coupon so we both knew it was legit!  But then she really pissed me off.  She handed the coupon back to me and told me that I would need to take it to the service counter to get my $1 back because the register just wasn't letting her scan it.  I took a breath and then laid into her.

And, no, I really don't feel bad about it either.  ♥

 

More Wintery Fun.

Gingerbread House making: 

 

We finished ours on Sunday and the boys had a blast.  N did most of the decorating while W ate most of the sugared candies and gumdrops.  We did, however, manage to find a small job that he quite enjoyed helping with.

 
Placing gumdrops around the house.

On Tuesday it was time for some snow play.

   

 
Our version of Frosty.

For more snow day pics, including ones of snow angels, check out my Facebook photo album. ♥

 

It's a cold, snowy day in Kansas. Whaddya gonna do?

Here's what I woke up to this morning:

 

And let me tell ya, as pretty as it seems, it's really not.  Not for me, that is.  But here's what I've managed to do all day to keep myself sane.

I've busted out a notebook to keep track of the all the lists I'll be making for the holiday feast.  Yes, hoepfully it will be one not soon forgotten.  It's the first time D and I will be hosting Christmas dinner and we're doing it all ourselves for the family coming in town next week.  I've got lists for Christmas Eve appetizers, Christmas Day dinner menu, household toiletries to stock up on, etc.

I also managed to sneak in about a thirty minute catnap with W underneath the freshly laundered, soft holiday flannels sheets in their bed.  It was heaven.  And looking over at my little W quietly resting was even better.

For my mid-afternoon snack I enjoyed a homemade chocolate chip cookie.  Yesterday while making baked spaghetti for dinner, I came across the chocolate chips in the pantry and suddenly got the urge to whip up a batch for dessert.  So I now have about three dozen leftover sitting on my counter, which we were going to take over to N's violin Christmas party tonight, but I think we'll stay in instead.  I'll be the cookie martyr and finish them off, gladly!

Finally, a little bit of driveway sledding may be in order as soon as N gets back from school.  I'm not looking forward to heading outdoors but it'll all be worth it just to pack the kids into their sled and push them down an icy driveway.  ♥

 

A carriage ride.

The kids and I partook in a carriage ride through a nearby shopping center this Saturday.  Talk about fun!  And, it was FREE, so that was even better!  We almost went back again on Sunday but temps were so frigid so we decided against it.

The weather was perfect for the carriage ride - not too cold or too hot - just a little windy.  The kids got to visit with Santa for a few minutes and then we were the first ones on for the ride! W enjoyed getting to hear the horses neigh a few times during our ride and I enjoyed window shopping from my seat!

 
Trying to say "cheese" while sucking on candy canes from Santa.

 
Immediately after this snapshot, W went up to the horse on the far right and touched his nose.

  
This is what I get for asking a random stranger to take a pic of us. I am not sure what the heck she was doing snapping it here and thinking she got the shot.  I was waiting for a few more people to board the carriage which is why I asked her to hold off on taking it.  Thanks a lot, lady!  ♥

 

The best Christmas program EVER!

Thursday was N's Christmas program at school and he played Joseph in the nativity story.  All of the kids were so darn cute and had rehearsed so hard for weeks and weeks and it was such a pleasure to be part of the audience!

I did order a DVD of the performance but still had to take some of my own video and a few pics.  Enjoy! ♥

 

 
Getting dressed before the performance.

  
  
His signature camera face.