Fresh baked thoughts

More Dec. Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Things have been noticably different this year. I've always thought of myself as a mom with young boys but all of sudden I keep looking at my boys and realizing they are not so little anymore. I've had a lot of moments this month where I have been meloncolly. I miss those little boys. I love who they are now and who they are becoming but I would really like to be able to pick one up and snuggle them. No Christmas train ride this year. No visit to Santa. No cute matching pj's (still holiday but couldn't find cute matching ones in their sizes). No small little gift, Disney character stuff... It's enough to make mom feel really old!

But, Christmas shows are much more relaxed. The boys shop for all their own gifts at the holiday boutique and wrap them. If they didn't have enough money to buy for everyone they wanted to they made gifts. Our church finally moved into their new building (we've been waiting for 10 years) and they were just thrilled! Joey is alter serving for Christmas Eve mass. They help me clean and get ready for guests. Joey went to grandma's house and hung all her lights and decorated her patio. And....Joey helped Dad get the tree ready and then all three boys decorated it.

Last year their grandpa sent them a catalog with animals that were endangered. For their Christmas gift they each chose one they would like to help save and he made a donation to that group as their Christmas gift. This year he did it again. And seriously they had their letters written within 10 minutes.

Look what arrived yesterday!

Some other favorites this season have been:
Taking a boat ride through Belmont Shores to see the lights and then getting to fill their candy bags at Powell's
Christmas party and ornament exchange with my CRHP church group.
Hanging out at Starbucks while the boys exchanged presents and played football.
Citrus Singers with our friends. Watching the boys with Sophia truely warms my heart.
Seeing the coolest house with a light show set to music.
Christmas shopping with Dave while the boys went to the movies with Grandma.
Seeing Noah do an incredible job in his We Come From Everywhere play at school.
Enjoying Noah's talk on tradition and eating at his International lunch.
Watching Zach sing his heart out in his play.
Listening to him stand up and speak about our Christmas traditions.
Making colcannon and Hungarian pullaparts for their classes.
Christmas caroling with friends.
Baking for all their class parties and running to enjoy all of them.
Book exchange with Zach's class.
The surprise song and dance for Joey's teacher telling the story of her pregancy. She announced she was pregnant with twin girls and later found out it is a boy and gift. The kids sung "It takes 2" and then Joey and Lucas pushed out baby strollers. Grayce and Megan took 2 girl babies out and rocked them. Then the dr. came and shook his head and Tyler knocked Megan out of the way and rocked a boy baby. Bonnie outdid herself. It was just darling!
Bringing carloads of kids shopping to for other families.
Having dinner with Andrew and seeing his new apt.
Driving to Families Foward with the boys. Singing carols and hugging outside the office. Joey saying it feels good to give.
Karen and Jeff coming over to help decorate for the dessert party.
New Brian D'arcy James Christmas music.

Ok, I'm off to bake, cook, shop and create more memories :)

December Monthly

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:29:00 +0000

I wanted to do December Daily this year but was not organized enough. I'll try again next year! So, how about December highlights. That's still good, right?

Disneyland with the boys is always a highlight. We wanted to go a few times but only made it once. The boys all tried to go another time but couldn't even get parking so they ended up going to Ruby's and home instead. Oh well. I love Disney in December. It just gets me in the mood. I love all the cool decorations and attention to detail. This year we watched a foodnetwork show about the special treats they do for Christmas so we went with that in mind. The boys got wafflecones dipped in chocolate and candy canes filled with peppermint ice cream. They loved it!

Dh and I got had a great time going to dinner with some people he works with. He has never worked for companies that do big Christmas parties. Bummer! I love parties. But a couple years ago we started having a Christmas dinner with a couple of his colleauges and their wives and that is even better because we really like everyone ;) This year we went to Chart house in Dana Point. What a spectacular view! Especially when the boats are all lit up.

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:52:00 +0000

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A full, proud, sweet day

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:35:00 +0000

Today was a very nice December day. It started off with with two, not one Lyons boy getting an award. It was so fun to hear about your child from someone else. A little peak into their life when you're not there. Although, it seems I am always in their class...Anyway!

After that I did some fun shopping with Bonnie. Serious laugher today. The story wouldn't sound funny to anyone else but
it involved chicken fat. We hung out in Balboa and then hit Fashion Island.
On my way back to school I had to stop at JoAnn's and ended up seeing Sarah. Love her! So fun to catch up! I raced back to school and ended up taking 7 kids home. What a car ride! We were listening to Pink (clean version) and the whole car was dancing and singing. The van was rockin back and forth and we were creating quite a scene. But a scene never hurt anyone. I LOVED seeing the boys laughing and dancing their butts off!

We got home and set up a table outside for COOKIE DECORATING! Fun! My friend, Amy brought her adorable little boys over and they went to town.

Stomp rockets, homework, and pizza rounded out the evening with the boys. Dh came home from his trip early so I took advantage and ran out while he put them to bed. Trader Joes, Ralphs and Smart and Final. Got home and baked-godiva espresso mousse, smore bars and prep for peppermint bark cookies. Zach's class is having an international lunch tomorrow so I need to run home and do more cooking in the morning.

Now I'm doing some billing for Reflections and watching So You Think You Can Dance. It's AMAZING!!

Pay It Foward!

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:47:00 +0000

How have you been spending your week? I have been spending it taking groups of kids shopping! An annonomous donor gave $10 to each student in our school to do something nice for someone. Can you believe that? Doesn't it give you chills? Noah and Zach's classes decided to adopt families for Christmas. I took groups to Target and Kohls and they worked together to buy presents for these 2 families. Kohls had great sales and we all had a little left over so we bought movie tickets for the family. Then when we went to Target they loved what we were doing so they gave us 10% off and we were able to get movie tickets with that extra money. Cool, huh? Joey's class researched non profits and could choose to donate to something they felt was important. Joey sent his money to save an endagered animal. This motivated all the kids. Joey did extra chores for me to earn another $10 and I took his PALS group shopping to get toys to donate to less fortunate kids.

Start a chain reaction! You can read more about it here.

Run, Don't Walk

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:25:00 +0000

You know how I love my selphy printer, right? Well, my friend loves hers too and wanted to get 2 as gifts but they were $149. She checked back today and they are only $59 on amazon. Crazy good price. Just thought I'd share. Here is the link.

Dec 4

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:03:00 +0000

Today was spent volunteering at school, baking and shopping....pretty much what I do everyday!

We are having our annual dessert party this weekend so I have been trying to get some prep done and it's close enough that I can start baking. I did a totally lame thing though. I sent out the invitations a couple weeks ago and then today when I was getting the first round of Christmas cards ready to mail I found a stack that needed addresses or something like that underneath them. I forgot to mail 6 invitations! I was totally wondering why those people didn't rsvp. Now I think it sounds rude to call and invite them so I am just going to not stress and be way more careful next time.

So, today I made yummy gingerbread cake. I'm not a gingerbread fan but when I used to teach I would make a giant gingerbread man and we would read The Gingerbread Man and then go on a hunt for him and eat him in the end. I found the recipe and instead of making a big man I just spread it on a sheetpan and cut it into triangles. I am going to make whipped cream and then I bought candied ginger to top it with. Yum! I also made those peppermint tassies. The chocolate tart shells are cooling and I'll make the peppermint cream later. Right now the house smells HEAVENLY! I just took this out of the oven.

I'm hoping to get more than 4 hours sleep tonight. We've got a painter coming at 7am. Yuk! 7am on a Saturday. I'll have a nice clean stairway tomorrow night though.

Dec 2 and 3

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:17:00 +0000

Boy, you can get so much done without a headache! I had this headache/face ache thing going on for 6 days. Yes, 6 horrible days! But yesterday I woke up without. Halejlua! I was so productive! And so happy!

I dropped the kids off at school,
ran home and cleaned up a bit,
went to the gym and got my butt kicked in Body Blast,
did a Starbucks run,
went to Costco with Bonnie,
went to Trader Joes
went to the bank
got a fresh wreath for the door,
picked up our Christmas cards
made a cute little sign for the door that said, "bake cookies with mom today" to surprise the boys.
made peppermint bark cookies with Noah and Zach
went to mom's to see the decorations Joey put up
made dinner
did homework with the boys
wrapped up cookies for boys to bring to their friends as a treat tomorrow.
made a pound cake and froze it for the weekend.
did laundry
addressed 50 cards

I told you I was productive!

Dec. 3rd

Today I spent the whole day at the kids school. I volunteered in Noah's class and then helped at the holiday boutique the rest of the day. I just LOVE that the kids can make their own lists and budget their money and shop without any input from us. They usually get pretty cute, thoughtful things for people. I love to see what they buy. I'll have to wait for Christmas though. They ran strait to their rooms to wrap everything as soon as they got home from school. Our fun little December treat was that they got to watch a Christmas show after school. That's a big deal because we usually don't do tv, video games or computers on school days. Tonight I was baking (Godiva Espresso Mousse) and started to make a snowflake wreath for the inside of the door. I was looking for pictures to put in the frames and found pics from 2003 and 2004. It made my cry. My little boys are growing up. In so many ways I love it but I just missed that cute, snuggly, little boy time period. I loved it so much.

Not Christmas card photos...

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:30:00 +0000

...but I do love them.

Get it? "2009"

Pretty much every good photo gets cut because of Zach's silly faces. He either has a goofy face, his eyes are shut, or he's not looking at you. That's how he rolls!

This is my favorite one of the day. I just love that silly little happy, mischievious laugh.

Cure for a headache

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:47:00 +0000

I had a headache today. I've had it for 3 days now. It sucks. Anyway, this afternoon I went upstairs and layed down for a little while. The boys stayed downstairs and did their homework. Then while I was making dinner they went upstairs. Zach came down with this little card. It says, "good for 20 minutes of itouch" and it's stuck on the back of a baseball card. Zach was so excited. He said he helped Joey clean his room so Joey made him a coupon to use whenever he wants. My head started feeling better. What mom doesn't want their kids to 1. clean their rooms 2. get along. 3. be sweet to each other.

Speaking of sweet I thought it would be fun to make homemade apple/cherry turnovers. I taught the boys to make them like my grandma used to make with me. They were so delicious!

I can't believe tomorrow is Dec. 1st. CRAZY! I better get some mojo and get rid of this headache for good!

Help needed

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:58:00 +0000

I have been writing a list of fun things I want to do this December. I thought I would make a little book and have something to do each day on it. I have 20 but need 11 more. Any ideas?
So far some of the things include:

driving around to see Christmas lights.
walk to Starbucks for peppermint hot cocoa.
boat parade
going to the candy store and watching them make homemade candy canes
baking cookies
write Christmas note to someone you love
bring food to the foodbank
Roger's Garden
listen to Christmas carols and play yatzee.
make gingerbread houses
make treats and deliver them to our neighbors.
read the Christmas story and set up our manger.

I know there are so many cool things to do that I am not thinking of right now. Help me out, ok?

It's beginning to look...

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:56:00 +0000

....a little like Christmas.

Better Late Than Never

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:50:00 +0000

So we had our Thanksgiving celebration on the day after Thanksgiving. It still counts, right? We were on our way to my wonderful friend's house and when we were just about there Zach started throwing up. Yup, all over my new car. YUCK! We pulled over to the side of the road and were quite a site. Dave hobbling around, Zach stripped down to his boxer, tearing open mini wet wipes,trying to wipe up vomit. Lovely,huh?

So, Dave and Zach had to go home and recouperate. Poor things!

Joey, Noah and I were the lucky ones and we got to stay and deep fry turkey, have fun with friends and eat lots of yummy food!

It is so neat to see Joey and Charlie together. They were each other's first friends. Marie and I became friends when they were 6 weeks old and we met through the baby walk.

Thankful

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Yesterday we had a very untraditional Thanksgiving. Quite surprising for me because I am all about tradition! But my sweetie pie fell down the stairs and broke his ankle and a 3 hour drive to see our friends was not going to happen. So we stayed in our pj's, watched movies, baked, and just hung out. Luckily today we had planned to have Thanksgiving #2 with our friends so yummy food and good friends will still happen. I've made a chocolate tart with maldon sea salt and the most heavenly stuffing. I'm not exagerating. The stuffing is so good! Joey and I made it together and it's filled with sausage and cranberries and pine nuts and oh my is it good!!
I better run and finish up with the rest of the food and get ready to go.

Today I am thankful for:

My hubby- LOVE him! I am so happy he's ok.
Zach-love that he still is the biggest snuggle bug ever.
Noah-the sweetest boy ever.
Joey-such a good, wonderful boy, who always helps with a smile.
My mom
Good friends
Our home
My mini van
Allergy medicine
Diet coke
Being able to provide such a wonderful education for our children
Our church
Time to spend with people we love.

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Don't these just scream, "Christmas!" I'm making them first thing on Saturday. Gotta say, "Thanksgiving" first :) Here's the recipe.

Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:22:00 +0000

Man, I love this kid! He's sleeping now. He played back to back playoff games today. 6 full hours-catcher, pitcher, 3rd base, 2nd base, and outfield. He hit a double and caught a pop fly. They lost the last game and ended up 2nd place but boy did they learn a lot this season. After 6 hours of games we had our end of the year party. I'm beat too.

Elizabeth's Book is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Wooh hoo! Elizabeth's first book is now available!
Congratulations, Elizabeth! I know what is on my Christmas wish list!

Thankful

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:41:00 +0000

Today I am grateful for:
1. Little boys who still want to hang out with their moms. Noah jumped in the van to go to the carwash so he could hang out with me.
2. Joey's love of baseball. I love how he just LOVES the game and tries his best. I am thankful we all can all spend the day supporting him.

3. That Joey is so happy for his friends. His friend got a home run and Joey ran on the field to chest bump him.
4. That smile.

5. My camera so I captured this.

6. Going to church and sitting next to our friends. I love our church community.
7. My husband-he's such a good husband and a good dad.
8. Finding an old Target gift card that had a $50 balance on it.

Back and running!

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:11:00 +0000

Karen and I were lucky enough to take a little break and fly to Utah for Spark. It was such a nice, creative getaway. It was so fun to just have creative time! Rhonna, Elizabeth, Jefra, and Margie did a great job on their event. The decorations were just too cute! Lots of really cute, stylish girls there. I loved the etsy/anthropology feel of it.

It was so nice to get to meet Elizabeth and her hubby in person. I can't wait until she comes to teach at Reflections!

We got to hang out with some old friends and make some new ones. Hi Elena, Sally, Lori, Kim, Erin! We spent most of our time hanging with the funnest girl- Miss Haley from Sassafras Lass. She is a total hoot and I can't wait until she comes and visits. She is just too cute. I did a little photo shoot with her. Don't you LOVE the effect of the extra lens. It's my new favorite thing!

The weather was pretty warm while we there. We were a little bummed because we wanted to wear all the scarfs, boots and sweaters we brought. The day we left the weather cooperated and it was a chilly, crisp 40 degrees. We stopped to take pictures. I love this one. Imagine how pretty this would be at night...or with snow!

I got back and jumped right into mom stuff...planning soccer parties, baseball parties, donuts with dads, dining out nights, pta meetings, laundry, shopping, cooking, cleaning.... But I am totally loving it. I am so fortunate to be able to do all this for my boys.

Oh! The boys had Wed off from school and we went to see This is IT! AMAZING!! No matter what you think of Michael Jackson there is no denying he was a GENIUS! I absolutely LOVED the movie. I may go see it again. It was so interesting to see it with the boys because they know none of the controversy, they just know what they see and hear. Right before the end Noah leaned over to me and said, "He must really believe in God". I asked him why and he said because he loves nature so much and loves music and is so kind when he speaks to people. Interesting insight. Makes me really want to make sure I speak kindly to others and enjoy that sunset, the ocean...

one more

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:36:00 +0000

Happy Halloween to everyone.

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:31:00 +0000

We carved pumpkins. I just can't get enough of this little pumpkin. He is just too sweet.

Everyone got into the Halloween
spirit this year...event the dog!

Tonight for dinner we had the "Creepy Cafe". On the menu-Mummy fingers, freaky fruit, sunken skulls (baked apples), oozing slime (baked brie) and some other goodies. Noah was too cute. He wrote out menus and was the waiter.

Even dad was a good sport and dressed up for Trick or Treating.

Let the parties begin!

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:38:00 +0000

The friday before Halloween To do list
1. get everyone in costume
2. load car for first party
3. Halloween parade. Man I love that our school still does this!!
4. Noah's party-I had 3 wafflemakers going making hot pumpkin waffles with chicken apple sausage and fruit.
5. head back home to finish ghost merringues.
6. pack up car with ghost cookies and pumpkin muffins.
7. don't forget treats for the teachers.
8. back to school for Zach's party.
9. head over to Joey's party.
10.jump for joy that there is no homework tonight and let the kids watch a movie.
11.carve pumpkins.
12.enjoy every minute of the day with the boys.

Scrappin'

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:29:00 +0000

I was so happy to get some scrappin' and some girl time in this weekend. I took Rebecca's class at the Oasis with Annie and Debbie.

Tonight I'm having more girl time at the Women's Conference. I'm so grateful for friends :)

Reflections 2010!!

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:54:00 +0000

I am so excited that we are planning Reflections 2010. It is just so much fun to plan and I feel so blessed to be doing it with Karen. She's such a great friend! Last year was great and I know this year will be a blast. Here's some info if anyone is interested in it :)

Registration Now Opened

We've officially secured the dates! Reflections 2010 will be on April 30th - May 2, 2010 with registration beginning on Thursday, April 29, 2010
The Highlights

Here's the full scoop... During your 3 day extravaganza you will be treated to:
• 3 full days of classes
• 7 amazing designers
• 3 hour long, technique packed classes
• Breakfast provided - Friday
• Lunch provided - Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• Make 'n' Takes
• Isle Carnival
• A special event on Saturday night
• Getting Ready Crop Thursday night
• Crop rooms open until midnight on Thursday, Friday
and Saturday

Plus lots and lots of surprises along the way!

noreply@blogger.com (susan) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:49:00 +0000

OMG- I am going to be placing a big order! Check out this cool site
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!