Thank you

Another Turkey Day has come and gone, and this one had it's own ups and downs just like the previous ones. It seems that no matter how hard you hope for the best in a family get together, you still get a share of drama, great food, cute moments with all of the kids, and a little more drama . . . at least in my family! I hope I'm not alone though! Sometimes, I feel like the only thing that gets me through Thanksgiving is knowing that I can blow off steam on Black Friday with a little bit of retail therapy! Anyway, here are a few pics of our feast prepared mostly by my talented, wonderful, handsome, charming (sorry ladies, he's taken!), sweet brother, Josh. My favorite was the turkey confied (sp?) in duck fat. It was SO juicy and tender it just melted in your mouth. It had a honey glaze on it that you could dip the meat into before putting it into your mouth, so the broth and honey just mixed wonderfully and gave the bird amazing taste. yum. The lamb WAS a very close second, though! The other pictures are of the table and the (over)abundance of food my sweet mom & dad always provide! I swear it's a Persian thing, all of the guests must leave feeling STUFFED! You know, a sign of a hospitable host!?! Anyway, I'm not complaining! It was YUMMMMY! The other pic is one that my SIL, Megan, made, caramel cheesecake with Snickers topping. It was SO good. Even Hudson couldn't get enough of the filling! Kudos, Megan, it was perfect! Oh, yeah, and the last pic, well those are some of the crazy cousins the kids love to play with at family get togethers! It is SO wonderful seeing all of the kids grow up together! Blessings, I tell ya, SO many blessings to give thanks for this year!

Scrapbooking products I ADORE

last night I took an hour or so cleaning out my studio and organizing. It NEEDED to be done! I have so much product that I haven't even unpacked from our move to this house ( a YEAR ago!!!). Anyway, now it's nearly all unpacked and I'm even thinking about decorating my studio now. I think I'm going to do a section on the wall for inspiration and a clothesline-looking spot for newly finished projects. I am so excited to finally have a great big, private spot where I can put everything, be inspired, and create. I recently was asked to be on the Scrapdoodles (lss) design team, and it has been a blast! I can't wait until I submit to Prima and pink paislee this month for their design teams. I just love the papers and rub ons from pink paislee. Their designs are so current, with some cool distressing, I can never wait to get my hands on their new releases. Then, there's the INCREDIBLE color saturation with Prima. It just speaks to my soul. If I could paint a picture of my spirit, the very deepest part of my being, it would flow with the amazing colors and creations that exude from Prima. You can practically taste their product, it's so juicy with color!! ahhh, talking about all of this has me itching to get back into the studio now, and since the kids are busy watching TV and Hudson (the baby) is almost ready to nap . . . you know where to find me!! ha ha ha! I actually found myself today wondering how I'm going to fit in time with the fam and eating on Turkey Day since I have so much scrapping to do for my DT submissions!! Oh well, that's what multi-tasking is for, right!?!!

Sesame "Meat" . . .

is what Eliza calls Sesame Street. She is just SO cute I can't stand it! Some people might be against their kids watching TV, but honestly, I think that's how Eliza and Cameron learned to read so young and speak so well! Maybe I had a little to do with that too, but hey, there's no shame in thanking Big Bird too! :)

WHAT!!!??!?!

Ok, I have cooled off a bit now, but about 2 hours ago I was IRATE!!! I helped my mom go through Costco to pick up things for Turkey Day and what was in one cart somehow filled 2 carts after we checked out! So, in order to get Eliza and Hudson and the 2 carts out the door now, I pushed a cart and the 2 kids in the stroller and my mom pushed another cart. When we got to the door, I decided it was too much, so I told her to pull her car up . . . well, then Eliza needed to go to the bathroom, so I had to leave Hudson with my mom and run Eliza back into Costco. THEN, when I came back to the car, my mom was being ticketed!!! UGH!! It was MY fault, and I felt AWFUL, so I tried to reason w/the officer and explain the situation, but he apparently had no heart (and needed to make his quota) b/c he through out some rude comments, laughed at my comments, and then told me to pay my mom's $100 ticket now. FRUSTRATING!!! Anyway, I am not going to let it bother me anymore. You would think a "professional" could use his discretion when handing out tickets, but apparently he doesn't have that skill! ok, so I've said it. I feel slightly better now, I WILL cover the bill for my mom (eventhough she probably won't take the money!), and I'm OVER it! aaaaahhhhh . . . (huge sigh of relief!).

Now, to make me forget about all of THAT mess, since it's a little warm (crazy!!!) outside today, when Azelin gets home from school I'm going to dress the girls up in their Christmas dresses and take some cool outdoor shots . . . and then, after bedtime, I'm gonna continue to work on my DT submissions for pink paislee!!!!!!!!!! It's going to ROCK!!

Creating

Well, the movie wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. I wasn't disappointed, though, b/c the dinner afterwards w/the girls was SO much fun! I love fondue (especially when you don't have to make it yourself!). Actually, who am i kidding, chocolate in any form is amazing!

Other than that, I've been creating more pages (scrapbook) this weekend. I would REALLY love to be on a design team and Pink Paislee has a call out now for designers, so I'm in high gear trying to get everything done to submit to be on their team. If you haven't used their products yet, you MUST check out their site. Their stuff is just my style, very hip & colorful. I'll be posting a gallery in a few days, so come back and visit soon!

Anticipation . . .

I'll be leaving the house in a few minutes to see Twilight with a group of friends and then hang out at The Melting Pot with them talking about the movie's finer points (. . . Edward!?!) over yummy fondue! The week didn't go by slowly like I had thought it might due to waiting for this day to finally arrive, BUT the week was pretty crazy! I'll have to post pics later of Hudson finally sleeping as I tried this whole week to "sleep train" him and get him on a more regular schedule so I can have a more regular schedule myself. As it is right now, I am juggling the kids all day with no time to myself and then usually making dinner, helping w/homework, and then getting a little help from Ian to put them in bed. I am so grateful for this opportunity to stay home w/the kids and care for them when they're little, but it DOES drain you and sometimes make you a little nutty! BUT, it's nothing that a trip to the gym and a little time alone can't fix, so that's what I'm doing tonight . . . hangin' with the ladies for a little quality girl's night out! I can't wait!!!!!!

for the love of sugar!

Last week Grandma (Roohi) visited and brought donuts. Well, if you know anything about me, you know that I don't buy donuts! So, my kids were SO excited . . . ok, and, I'll admit, I ate 2 boston cream donuts myself! I couldn't help it!!! Anyway, here's some of the evidence. Poor little Hudson, he's just TOO cute, so I couldn't help but let Eliza share hers with him! Notice she licked all of the frosting off first, though! Well, it didn't matter, he still knows the sweet smell of sugar and dug right in! Thanks dunkin' donuts!! And, I'm still asking: How does my mom manage to stay so skinny when she eats junk food all of the time! Lucky girl! Oh, and the picture w/Eliza crying, yeah, you guessed it! ---> that's when we told her no more donuts! ha ha ha!

Back to real life

Well, I spent yesterday making projects w/friends at the scrapbooking store and it was so great to hang out and laugh for HOURS!!! I worked on a book about Hudson's first year, and did 25 tiny Christmas ornaments . . . yes, 25 tiny, handmade ornaments. It was worth it to see them all completed, though.

I'm still waiting for Hudson to wean and sleep through the night. He was sleeping through the night in his crib at 5 months, but for some reason he's been waking up every night (several times a night!) for the past 2 months. I'm a bit tired and, after 4 kids, can't wait until I can sleep through a night uninterrupted again!

Twilight, the movie, comes out this Friday. I'm excited to see it and head to the Melting Pot afterwards w/friends. I don't know if the anticipation will make the week go by slower or faster! Sometimes I think I live for these little "breaks" from real life! I guess everybody does!

Awards Assembly

Today I got some awards!!!!!!AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVED IT!! (from Cameron)

Today the kids had an awards assembly at school and Cameron and Azelin got SO MANY awards! We're so proud of them! Azelin is such a good student. We weren't really sure if she'd like school very much, but she has really become a star student! She got the Principal's Award for Kindergarten for the first 9 weeks. Cameron got several awards, and may have even won something for his short story and drawings in a book he wrote called, "Wow! A Kid's Book" . . . stay tuned to see the awards results of his book!

friends (old and new)

So, while I was at the gym today I saw an old friend and started thinking about the whole concept of "friendship." Why is it that at one time we can be so close to someone and then, whether they move away or life changes, we just stop talking to them and the distance becomes so great? Maybe it's just me? But, I really don't think so. I've talked with other friends about this too, and it seems to happen to all of us from time to time. I know we get busy, and honestly, I think that is a valid excuse. But, sometimes I think it's just that our pride gets in the way. Maybe there's an unresolved grudge, or maybe we think that someone just doesn't care enough to call us anymore. Either way, I hope I've never given any of my old (or newer!) friends this feeling. Everyone friend I've ever had in life has had a special place in my heart. And, no matter what growing pains we might have been through, I NEEDED the friendship in order to grow as a person. So, no grudges here. I just wish I had all the time in the world to call everyone!!! (oh, yeah, and a little quiet time so that I could actually hear you all on the other end of the phone! ha ha ha)

Mac-n-Cheese

Hudson's absolute favorite food is macaroni and cheese. While shopping for baby food a few weeks ago, I noticed that Gerber made a mac-n-chz flavor. Since the other kids LOVE (that's an understatement!) macaroni and cheese, I figured I'd give it a shot. Well, the kid will barely even drink milk anymore! He'd rather eat mac-n-chz 24/7!! He's so into it that when we were at the grocery store last week I picked up a few jars and just with the clanking of the jars he about-faced in the cart and started doing his little "excited" dance. Adorable. Anyway, here are a couple of pics from dinner tonight . . . and his second (or maybe third!?!?) helping of mac-n-cheese today!

Something smells yummy!

So, I got this baking bug this morning and made some zucchini bread after the kids got on the bus. I probably would have made a bunch of cookies, etc . . . if I didn't have two crazy kids screaming and going nuts in the background! Oh well, the bread just came out of the oven and smells amazing! I just realized I didn't add ground flax seed like I wanted to, but that's ok, I did put the pumpkin & sunflower seeds in and topped it with pecans! yum yum . . . I'll let you know if there's any left! ha ha! I did manage to make some for my friend, Cindy, who hasn't tried zucchini bread yet . . . so it better taste good! (later ---> ok, I just couldn't help myself, I HAD to taste it! Oh my goodness, it is SO good. I smeared it with a little coconut oil . . . it'll be gone before the kids get home. I'm sure of it.

What it takes . . .

to get a good picture of Ian . . . well, a LOT of yelling! ha ha ha! just kidding! BUT, taking these pics were NOT easy. Ian was chomping (and I mean CHOMPING!) on gum the whole time, so I kept telling (ok, yelling at him!) him to spit it out . . . and he just kept grabbing my butt! Embarrassing! That (the butt thing) even showed up in a few of the pictures! Anyway, I wanted us to take a few pictures for Christmas cards, so at least we got 2 that might work. It took some work, but here they are!

Gratitude

So, every night for a few months now I've tried to go to bed by first writing in my "gratitude" journal. I don't know how you are really supposed to keep the journal, but my way was to write down at least 5 things I was grateful for during that day. This was all in an attempt to keep me positive because sometimes I can just be so angry all day and I don't really know why. SO . . . here's my entry for today. I don't know if I'll always have my laptop available, but since it's on my lap now, here's my entry!

1. I am grateful for the gym.
2. I am grateful for my sewing machine. It helped me sew darts into Eliza's hand me down pants from her sister today (because she's SO skinny, even her underwear won't stay up!!)
3. I am grateful for Target -- the place I can go where I know I'll find something cute anytime, for anyone.
4. I am grateful for apologies. I owe Cameron a big fat one in the a.m. because I was so spent by the time I was supposed to help him with his American Indian project that I just ended up being short with him the entire time . . . and he put up with me. Sweet kid.
5. I am grateful things always get better . . . always. (Sometimes we just can't see the bright side yet . . . especially if you're as stubborn as I am.)

So it begins . . .

Well, I knew sooner or later it was going to happen! I was time to start a blog about me, my family, and anything else that I wanted to talk about! I don't even know if anyone else will ever look at this, or be entertained enough to follow it, but I think we're pretty crazy (well, at least I AM!) . . . so hopefully it'll stay fun to follow! And, hopefully it won't be something I start and give up on a few weeks later! ha ha ha!