A mompreneur's chronicle of life with her boys.
We got a good surprise on Tuesday when we opened our local paper and discovered a photo of our Christmas lights on the front page. This is a close up of the Christmas packages, snowmen and candy canes which are around the front walk. They are running photos of different residents lights all month. Jim is already thinking of what we can add to the display next year. Here is the wide shot of our house too, make sure you note the Ho3 (my idea).
I was looking through the last several years of Santa photos. We have a frame that holds three years worth. It is really fun to see how the boys have changed.
Jack has grown up a lot in the last year, but still has the same cute smile. I am so glad we took the photo for this year when we did. Although you can see the bruise on his forehead, it hadn’t started to give him black eyes. Will has yet to smile in one. He gets closer each year, but no smile. I love the one of him as a baby with his huge cheeks and upside smile.
We don’t have any screaming Santa photos (don’t hate me), just very serious faces. We haven’t been consistent about going to the same place for photos, so we have had some really good Santas and some not as good. I like the ones from the last few years. Enjoy the last five years of Santa photos.
I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writers Workshop this week.
The following is our holiday card and letter (that Jim writes) for this year. For those that aren’t on our list now you can enjoy Jim’s famous letter and our beautiful Tiny Prints cards and for those that have already received them you can appreciate them again.
Ho Ho Ho and Yo Ho Ho. We kicked off the holiday season this year with a recent trip to Disneyland with Sarah’s sister’s family and Sarah’s parents. Lines were Fantasmic so we were able to Star Tour both parks and frequent all of the rides with ease. We even ran into Jack’s kindergarten teacher at California Adventure – it really is a Small World after all. Even though It’s Tough To Be a Bug, Stefani and Paul’s two month-old, Finley, was with us all the way. So read on for more about our magical ride through 2011 or use your Fast Pass to bypass this letter and head straight to our card.
Jungle Cruise (Wait Time to End of Letter From Here: 5 mins) – Hawaii Trip
In March, Sarah and I returned to the location of the last leg of our honeymoon years ago — the Big Island. With kids in tow this time, we spent a week at the Waikoloa Resort. We toured the volcanoes (including a day hike at 10,000 feet), played golf and got our money’s worth at all of the resort’s pools.
Indiana Jones Adventure – Camping
Camping this year included three trips with our dear friends, the Yocums, to Grand Coulee, the Cowlitz Valley and Hood Canal (six families, 13 kids in total, including a Cyclops sighting). We also finally made it to Rainier National Park and camped in the shadow of Mt. Rainier. We enjoyed a day hike on the mountain (including snow) and surreal views with our friends, the Faleys.
Alice in Wonderland – Sarah’s Blog
Sarah continues to pursue her passion as a “Mompreneur” and launched her rebranded blog about life with two boys, www.thewilltosee.com. She has built a following online and through various social media outlets that will serve as a platform when she finishes writing books about pediatric gastrointestinal and vision issues.
Dumbo the Flying Elephant – Mulligan’s Surgery
In an effort to one-up her ACL tear in 2010, The World’s Greatest Dog decided to eat a corn cob this summer resulting in emergency stomach surgery and a huge scar. If she keeps this up, her reign as WGD could be in jeopardy.
Monsters Inc. (Wait Time to End of Letter From Here: 2 mins) – Jack and Will
Captain Jack (6) is now a 1st grader and dying to lose a tooth. He continues to excel in baseball and swimming, is honing his skills as a soccer defender (not so prolific at scoring), and is following in his Mom and Dad’s footsteps with his aptitude for golf. Jack loves to ride his new mountain bike in any/all weather conditions.
Goofy Will (2) found his voice this year and hasn’t stopped talking since. It’s like having the radio on in the background 24 hours a day. He even narrates movies for you. Will has quickly mastered his balance bike – a skill we hope will translate to the slopes when we throw him on skis for the first time this winter. We continue to test his vision twice a year and, to-date, he is testing in the normal range. While his vision impairment is evident and will be a lifelong challenge, we remain hopeful it will be mild.
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride – Husky Football
Our beloved Huskies got off to an amazing start this year before crashing back down to earth. Their 7-5 record earned them a bid to the Alamo bowl against Baylor and their Heisman candidate QB. This year we also said goodbye to our beloved Husky Stadium and look forward to her much-deserved update in 2013.
Matterhorn (dubbed “Snow Monster Mountain” by Will) – Whistler Ski Trip
In January, we stayed in a slope-side condo on the Blackcomb side of Whistler, BC. We’ve had amazing luck with weather and conditions at Whistler…until this year. You roll the dice with this resort and this year we drew rain and clouds. However the weather didn’t hold Jack back from ski school or Will from playing in the snow with the nanny while Sarah and I hit the slopes.
Haunted Mansion – Halloween
We agreed again this year to chair the haunted maze at Jack’s school Halloween fundraiser and our “spirits” were buoyed by the long lines and post-event praise. We have qualified for free agency next year but I think we have a few more of these in us before we fade back into anonymity (check out Sarah’s blog for photos). Sarah once again made costumes for both boys with Jack as Tron and Will as a skeleton (“skelskin” in Will language) and both were amazing.
May you have many stars upon which to wish, and may all your dreams come true in 2012. Now sit back, and enjoy the ride.
Jim, Sarah, Jack, Will, and Mulligan
Photo Friday – Polar Express Train
One of the boy’s highlights of decorating for Christmas is putting up the train under the tree. A few years ago Jim built platforms for it to sit on and we now are creating a village too. Each year we add another building. Jim inherited his family’s original Lionel train set and we bought the Polar Express a few years ago. They love to watch the train go around the track and blow the whistle.
It has been years since I have written a letter to Santa, but I thought why not. In our house we believe in the magic of Santa and the joy of the holidays.
Dear Santa,
I have tried to be a good girl this year. I have worked hard to be a good mom and wife while trying to build my blog into a business. Please come visit our house this year, because my boys have been very good and deserve a happy Christmas. As for me this is what I would like this year.
Thank you Santa for all that you do, providing hope and happiness to the world. I will continue to do my best to be a good girl.
Love,
Sarah
I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writers Workshop this week.
The halls of our house are all decked out for Christmas, including our 12 foot Christmas tree. Yes we could get a smaller tree, but that isn’t the way the DeNikes do the Holidays. Plus we need a big tree to show off the ornaments that we have collected over the years, starting with the ones I was given as a child.
I have started collections for the boys, so they will have fun ornaments to remember years from now. Each year they get a new one from us and many years receive ornaments from others.
As we were decorating our tree, one of my favorite ornaments dropped and broke (Jim has tried to fix, but I am afraid to put it on the tree). I started thinking about my favorite ornaments, who gave them to us, when we got them, etc. So here is my list.
1. Glass Bell – My Mom brought this back for me from Germany when she went to the Christmas markets in 2004.
2. Snowflake – My friend Dana gave me this a couple years ago. This is the one I dropped.
3. Mickey Ball – We brought this home from our trip last week. I will always think about the great trip we had when I see it.
4. Hummingbird – I inherited this one when my Granny passed away two years ago. I will always think of her when I see it.
5. Waterford Egg – My aunt Denise gave this to Jim and me the first Christmas we were married. It makes me think of a Faberge egg.
6. Skiers – Family friends, the Bishofbergers, gave this one to Jim and me when we were newly-married. I love how they are skiing together.
7. Watermelon – My Grandpa Harold grew watermelons and one Christmas all of the grandkids were given watermelon ornaments. This one hung on my parent’s tree until we got our own where it is displayed prominently.
8. Bride – My Mom gave this to me the year we got married. She has a groom that hangs near her.
9. Golf Balls – My Mom gave us hand blown golf ball ornaments for our first Christmas together. We always get comments on them.
10. Trumpet –It reminds me of Jim since he used to play the trumpet.
I am linking up with Monday Listicles at Northwest Mommy, even though I am not completely following this week’s theme and Mama Kat’s Writers Workshop.
One of my favorite things about the calendar turning to December is that most days we have holiday cards arriving in the mail. It is fun to see the smiling faces of friends and family near and far.
I love seeing what cards and photos people chose and if they included a letter. The letters are a fun way to catch up on what everyone has doing throughout the year. With that said, my pet peeve is when people send an unsigned photo card in and envelope with a printed label — no personal touch. I sign each and every card.
Each year it seems like we get more and more cards that we proudly display. We had to upgrade our display system to accommodate the volume of cards that now arrive annually. The first displays were just ribbons hanging from a door and we would staple the cards to it as they arrived, but we quickly outgrew this system.
One year I tried to make the cards into a wreath using clothespins glued to a wreath form. Unfortunately that didn’t work that great. The cards were hard to read in this format as they required tight stacking in a circle.
Now we have a wire card tree that hangs in our kitchen. Last year it got so full that we had to place the cards on the wall around the tree as well. We didn’t want to hide any nice photo cards.
So our holiday card tree is up and the wall is clear and waiting to be filled with beautiful cards (maybe one or two from Tiny Prints). Then we can enjoy them well into the New Year.
This post has been sponsored by Tiny Prints. Please check out their line of beautiful holiday cards and if you are lucky enough to be on our card list watch your mail box for a Tiny Prints card coming your way.
For me, Thanksgiving is all about the gravy. Sure the rest of the food is good, but it is just an excuse for the gravy. When my Thanksgiving dinner is served, you can hardly tell what else is on my plate, because it is not just covered, but swimming in gravy.
The first time anyone eats Thanksgiving dinner with me they are always surprised when I arrive at the table with my plate. I am greeted with wide eye looks and comments like, “Wow you do like gravy.” And then they see my Mom’s plate. The only difference between us is she will put gravy on her salad and I draw the line at gravy soaked lettuce. In case you are wondering, yes it goes on the turkey, potatoes, stuffing, but that is usually pretty standard. Mine also goes on the veggies, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes (if I choose them, not my favorite) and cranberry sauce — pretty much everything except the salad and the roll. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
As with anything you grow up with you love your Mom’s recipe the best. Mom has taught me her flawless technique and now we are always in charge of the gravy, except for one time.
The year Jim and I were first dating we stayed in Seattle for Thanksgiving and attended dinner at a friend’s house. Now this friend was a great cook and I am sure the meal was otherwise amazing, but the gravy was not. If I remember correctly even he admitted it wasn’t up to his standards. The only thing I remember about the food that day was the gross, chunky gravy (sorry if that turned your stomach, but there isn’t a better way to describe it).
From then on when anyone invites us to Thanksgiving, my first response is we would love to come, but I have to do the gravy. So far a host has not refused my request. I always show up with tools in hand, my ingredients, wire ring, pot, thickening agent, fat separator and the gravy boat that my mother gave me as a wedding shower gift, appropriate I would say. Tomorrow will not be any different, since we are staying in Seattle for Thanksgiving this year and the rest of my family will be in Lodi.
I will miss meeting my Mom at the gravy pot after filling our plates, since there is no point in us using the draining the gravy boat. So we opt to go straight to the source. We usually end up laughing about having enough for everyone else.
So as all of you dip into that gravy boat tomorrow think of me and try adding it as a topping to one of your other side dishes and see what you think. You could end up with a plate like mine, swimming in gravy.
My favorite Thanksgiving memory has everything to do with the day and nothing to do with a good meal, however the meal was quite humorous.
I was ten years old and my parents had started a tradition of traveling over the Thanksgiving week. My father being a farmer (of grapes) couldn’t take vacations during the summer, so we would go on vacation after harvest in the fall. This particular year we went to Disneyland and it was my first visit to the magic kingdom. We went with two other families and pulled our trailer to the Disneyland RV park, which used to be on a prime piece of real estate next to the Disneyland hotel.
On Thanksgiving morning we walked across the street and into the park, going immediately to Pirates of the Caribbean. There were hardly any lines, so we got to do everything we wanted and then some. I remember riding the Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and watching the Country Bear Jamboree. We wound up the day at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad where we closed down the park. Since there were no lines we would jump off the ride, run all the way around to the start and immediately get back on. We must have ridden it at least 10 times. Eventually we started to lose a few folks who would sit and watch us crazies from a bench. It was an amazing day of good wholesome family fun.
After closing down the park we decided to try to find dinner. Since we had sacrificed cooking the traditional Thanksgiving meal to have our fun we were happy going to a burger place we had found the day before. As luck would have it the place was closed; now a scramble ensued. Imagine how hard it is to find a place to eat dinner with ten people who are hungry and tired and who don’t know the area and who didn’t have access to the internet and smart phones.
Eventually we ended up at a place called Tiffy’s (which surprisingly is still around) across the street from the park. Our first clue should have been that they could actually seat us. The turkey on the “turkey” dinner plate was pressed turkey. The mashed potatoes were cold and the gravy was nasty (this is probably where my love affair with Thanksgiving gravy began, because I now started to appreciate my Mom’s). The most appalling thing though was the corn dog that one of the kids ordered– it was blazing hot on the outside and frozen in the middle. I actually read a few of the reviews of Tiffy’s on yelp and it looks like the food and service hasn’t gotten much better in 25+ years.
Needless to say we all had a good laugh about the meal and it brought a great day to a comedic end. When any of us talk about Thanksgiving trips, that day always comes up.
I am linking up with Mama Kat’s Writers Workshop.
For us Halloween is a marathon, not a sprint. That isn’t to say it is bad; it is just long, stretching over days or weeks if you count all the preparation.
It all starts months in advance when the boys decide what they want to be for Halloween. I have a sickness that prevents me from buying pre-made costumes (I know, but at least I acknowledge it.) This year Jack decided he wanted to be Sam Flynn, the main character in the movie, Tron Legacy. Since Will doesn’t have an opinion yet, the plan was for him to be either the character, Tron, or Rinzler. I was going to try to make Jim and I costumes too, but that idea got thrown out due to lack of time.
Jack’s costume came together well and I even found some glow in the dark Frisbees that look like the disks. However, Will’s was just too plain. After I saw it together on Friday I knew he needed something different.
Last Friday (like last year) we chaired the haunted maze for the Halloween Bash at Jack’s elementary school. Since we did so much of the building work last year it made sense to take it on again. We were able to add more black lights and decorations to fill the space of the maze better, including a second coffin, jail, mummy man and zombie. We were able to get some photos from inside the maze this year, thanks Jerry Ann from Deddo Arts.
Since we build the maze in the gym, we have to build and decorate it on the morning of the event, then take it down that night. Luckily we had amazing crews of people throughout the day to help us, including Alan and Dennis who were there all day (they were rewarded with beers afterward.)
The Halloween Bash followed a walk-a-thon. Unfortunately the weather gods were not smiling on us and it poured rain, prematurely ending that part as people headed inside to get out of the garden hose that was coming out of the sky. I think everyone still had fun at the 2nd annual Halloween Bash.
Saturday morning I decided to make Will a skeleton (“skelskin” as Will says) costume. Yes, two days before Halloween. It actually came together well and he was happy with it.
Sunday night we carved our eight pumpkins with Allison, Dennis and their kids; well technically Dennis, Jim and I carved pumpkins while Allison cooked and the kids played. Next year Jack is going to help with his pumpkin. It is a memory I want him to have like I do.
Then Monday arrives… Halloween on a weeknight is hard. It feels like such a race to get through everything, get the kids in bed at a reasonable time and remember to enjoy the night. The teachers were great and didn’t give homework. We trick or treated through the neighborhood in a group of 11 kids and eight adults with cocktails. The bigger kids quickly moved from house to house, while Will took his time. He just moves to his own beat and does what he wants. By the end of the night he would just ring the doorbell and say “I get candy now,” instead of trick or treat. We will work on his manners.
We survived our Halloween marathon and may even sign up to do it all again next year. As Jim likes to say, “we are on a year-to-year contract renewal and next year we qualify for free agency.”
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