not exactly the olden days.

The power went out the other night for a couple hours and while we lit some candles and made a fire, we also read by headlamp and cranked up the gas fireplace. Cozy.

cuddle buddies

Hee

So.  I've cut way back on working.  I said no to all sorts of things the last couple months but a few weeks ago, a mom called me about her daughter's wedding which was less than two weeks away.  And she brought me an Italian food sampler (and wine) so I said yes.  I somehow forgot pictures of the wedding but I got a shot of these three goofballs who usually work for me on the way out, totally loaded down with leftovers and pieces of cake for their mamas.

Keepin' it real.

More house pictures are coming soon but till then, here's one to tide you over:

 Pink permanent marker.

Found it here first.  Looked down and saw it on the stairs, looked over and saw it on the chair cushion.  Two hours later, actually opened the door and saw it lovingly sprawled around the entire entry.

Did I mention the Big Daddy was out of town for the week?

Don't worry, I saved the masterpiece so he could see it.

and clean it.

That boy is lucky he's so cute or we mighta had to send him back.

sick baby

contemplating what's for dinner.

Jack got this shot of our (usually) nightly ritual.

However, Ed was out of town for the entire week so we look a bit more glum than usual.

Nutcracker!!

This was Jemma's first year for the Nutcracker and she has been talking about it for months.  

My girls:

 We met up the cousins (and more cousins).

 One of the big girls.  Oh the joy!

(december week 2) This one KILLS me...

um, yes, she fell out of the car.

and, yes, I took a picture and did nothing else.  Except laugh.  So hard.

Enjoy.

me and my baby.

We happened to have the Casebolt kids on Tree Day this year so after serving up a massive amount of spaghetti, we got to work.

Watching Ed put up the tree:

Henry guarding it with his rifle.

Even got some presents wrapped:

And finished off the night with this:

Wedding Cake Martini:

wedding cake vodka

milk

chocolate syrup.

Try it.  Now.

Tree Day!!

 We happened to pick the coldest, windiest, non-snowiest day of the year.  

But we also happened to pick our best tree ever!

The girls hightailed it back to the car but Jack stuck it out and helped cut it down and haul it back.

first week of december

I put the kids down for a nap and came down to find the remains of my morning in the kitchen.

If you work around the room from left to right you can see a picture I was painting for our bedroom, appetizers in the oven for the first party of the season, working on book club questions on the computer, making 24 ornaments for an ornament exchange:

Tis the season!

Oh December...

you get me every year.

Where to start the ridiculous catch up??

How about here:

cause she's cute.

Sunday night at the Driskill's:

 yup, this pretty much sums it up.

and, wait for it,  Monday night at the Driskill's:

It's possible that these are some of the best candid shots on the entire blog.  

Because I know there will soon be a day when I miss this chaos (oh how I know it) and while I will never (ever) miss wiping noses and bottoms (never), I will miss having little people who can fit in the windowsills and who play football in the kitchen.  Hurts a little just to think of it.  

And, let's be honest, I didn't do a very good job with my November thankful posts so let me just sum it up here:  I have many (many) things to be thankful for but if it's these four little people  (with their dirty feet on my counters and big boy unders and plastic shopping carts) and their handsome daddy who make my world go round.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our crazy family to yours:

Disclaimer before the picture extravaganza: it would appear that almost all of these pictures are of my funny Jemma Jane...for the record, the rest of the kids are equally loved but apparently no where to be found when I had the camera out.

starting off right with some nibbles:

 Ed tackling the turkey.

Take a picture of my wine:

 Joe's been making this face at me since elementary school.  

He should know I'm just going to take the picture anyway.

After dinner the kids took turns reciting poems for us.

Here is my proud mama face...I've never seen it before:

 Keeping an eye on the desserts:

 Post-meal relaxing.  

I simply cannot stand this much cuteness.

Then everyone left and we stripped down to our usual pants-less ways:

How amazing to spend Thanksgiving in our new little house with both sets of grandparents and a rowdy bunch o' cousins.

So.much.goodness to be thankful for.