Living in Munchkinland

Yesterday morning we stayed home and hung out with Marcie and Ann and watched while they and mom worked on the couch fiasco. The green marker is still prominent though many calls were made to leather stores, home insurance companies and couch dealers. My back was better but I still couldn't bend over at all and so mostly I rested. At lunchtime, Tiffany, Keith, Kade and Dad joined us for a wonderful lunch at the Gorge. The food was delicious. I had chili dusted sweet potato fries and a fish sandwich with cider slaw. Tiff and I also had two very wonderful, very strong margaritas. We were very merry. Marcie and Ann left us when we got back and so I went to take a nap while Michael and the boys watched Star Wars episode 1. Then Tiff and Keith and Kade and my little family put on our ski clothes and headed up to the Taos Ski Valley about 20 minutes away. We were going tubing. Sam was reluctant because he really just wanted to sled again. I promised him it was sledding on tube...

Yesterday I stayed home in the morning with Davis, Sam and Cruz while Mom and Dad shopped and everyone else went up to Sipapu to ski/snowboard. Michael took an hour long snowboarding lesson and then did a blue run. He had never snowboarded before and was really proud that he picked it up so quickly. He's sore this morning though! The boys and I lazed by the fire and then went into town to meet Mom and Dad for lunch at this fabulous hotel resort called El Monte Segrado. It was amazing and the food was great too. I had some mussels in white wine, garlic chili broth and it blew my mind. The kids were impressed about the fun anaconda dining where we had our table. After lunch, we said good bye to Mom and Dad and I drove the boys up the mountain to a great sledding hill. We unloaded sleds and started sledding. It was so fun. The hill is great, but there were pretty serious moguls in the middle and they were icy so the sledding was FAST. I had a great time until I hurt myself. ...

So far we've done exactly what I was hoping to do in Taos. We've been sitting by the fire, drinking, eating out, and sleeping. The trip here was exhausting. We woke at 4:30AM (3:30 New Mexico Time). We flew to Santa Fe, picked up our rental car and drove into Taos around 1PM New mexico time. I gave Sam a dramamine for the ride and he fell asleep immediately. Davis fell asleep as well. We were starving by the time we got into town so we went straight to Michael's Kitchen for lunch. Then we came to the house and began sitting by the fire, drinking and sleeping. Yesterday we continued that regime while Kade and Keith went snowboarding. Michael and the boys and Mom and I went to grocery store and then out to lunch at Orlando's. Then we continued sitting by the fire till dinner time when Mom and I made an awesome black bean soup and Marcie and Ann rolled in with the boys in the trailer. Today Michael is headed to the slopes to ski for the day. I'm going to spe...

We had a lovely Christmas Eve. We had our usual party at my parents' house. We sang and drank cocktails and exchanged gifts and made merry. I am so lucky to have this tradition. We went home around eight and put the kids right to bed. They were thrilled to go and were asleep very quickly. Michael and I had a sort of an argument that soured the evening a bit, but we rallied and thrilled getting the house ready for Santa. Christmas morning Martha and Clark came over from the hippy house in the dark and were standing ready with the camera when they boys tumbled out of their rooms when their clocks turned green. They loved their toys. Santa brought them hats, coloring books, remote control cars, make your own lightsabers and real noise making light up light sabers. Michael built a fire (it was cold outside) and I put on Christmas carols. I made breakfast and then we loaded up bags and bags of presents and took them over to my parents' house. We all laid our stockings on ...

We used our season passes for Sea World for our very last time yesterday. We drove down there with Martha, Clark and Lilliana. We rushed and rushed to get there at 10AM. We drove up and felt just like the Griswalds at Wally World. The place was deserted and empty. It turned out that Sea World didn't open until noon. We used yelp to try and find a mexican restaurant to go to for brunch. After 45 minutes of driving and three restaurants that weren't open, we found a great restaurant. We had a lovely early lunch and then went back to Sea World. We had a great time. We saw the penguins, watched Polar Express in 4D, rode some roller coasters, and watched the beluga whale show and the sea lion show. It was very cold, but it wasn't very crowded and we all had a very good time. It was very nice to get in the warm car and then go home to a fire in the fire place and eat my homemade coconut shrimp soup. It was a fun day with family.

I led the service at our UU church last week and our minister asked me to write a reflection on how I felt about Christmas. This was my reflection. I love Christmas. I’m one of those people who start listening to Christmas carols when Thanksgiving isn’t quite over. I like to put up my tree as soon as possible and plan lots of parties. I like Christmas because it is such a time of joy. I don’t really think much about the religious aspects of it. Sure, people can celebrate the birth of Jesus on this date if they like. I’m glad to have the opportunity to participate. There’s nothing wrong with it to me. Jesus was a very enlightened guy and he had a good message. I wish we had big parties to celebrate all the enlightened ones around here. I tried to throw a big Buddha day celebration last year, but it kind of fell flat. I know that Christmas time is also hard on people. I understand their reasons. Maybe it makes them sad or cynical or just annoyed. I can’t speak for them. I ...

Last night was awesome, ya'll. Michael and I drove up to Austin and met my parents at the Four Seasons where they were celebrating their 43rd wedding anniversary. We were planning to have drinks and appetizers in the bar, but it was packed, so we ended up going downstairs to the restaurant for dinner. I'm so glad we did. The food was amazing! I got three sides, quinoa with trumpet mushrooms and chard, broiled broccolini with chili flakes and the best rosemary steak fries I've ever had in my life. They were so crispy and salty and delicious! We laughed and laughed and had a great time. After dinner we drove over to the Long Center to go see the Guy Forsythe, Carolyn Wonderland Holiday show. We had a table for four placed directly in front of the stage. Michael and I have been huge fans of Guy for years and years. We were both thrilled to attend. The show was seriously my favorite concert EVER. Carolyn and Guy were fabulous together. We loved watching the bass ...

We went to a party today to build Graham Cracker "witch" Houses. (that's what the kids call them anyway.) My friend Rachael did an amazing job. She served lunch to everybody and then had the whole set up for about 16 kids to make houses. It was really fun and the kids all loved it. Good times!

Is his top front tooth. And he might need his two front teeth instead. That second top one is awfully wobbly.

Yesterday afternoon we all drove to San Antonio to do a "go see it" for Davis' cub scout troop. We went to San Antonio Museum of Art and wandered around there looking at the art for about an hour and a half. It was really interesting and the boys did really well. They've come a long way with museums even since last summer! After the museum, the cub scouts were supposed to hike 2.5 miles to the Alamo, but we were hungry and decided to skip it. We went to Mi Tierra's instead for the lights, the food and the margaritas. The kids were dazzled by the lights and loved it. I had a great margarita and Michael had some amazing mole. We let the kids choose dessert from the bakery and they were thrilled with their selections. I love going to S.A. around Christmas. We always went down there when I was a little girl to spend time with my dad's family and it became a wonderful tradition for a while and is full of good memories. I was glad to share that with the ki...

I have a recipe for you. I made this night and everyone loved it. It was pretty easy and very tasty. I got it from the blog, Oh She Glows , which I really like. I made a few changes, (I can't help myself), but the results were delish. Let me know if you try it. XO! Yield: One (2-quart) casserole Ingredients: 8-ounces dry fusilli pasta (3.5 cups dry noodles or half a 16-oz package)* I used quinoa pasta, but any is fine. 1 tsp olive oil 1 bunch of swiss chard, chopped 1 red onion, chopped 1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (I left this out because the kids are afraid of hot things) 2 bell peppers (I used 2 red), chopped 1-3 tbsp taco seasoning mix, to taste 1 can black beans (or 2 cups cooked), drained and rinsed 1 cup frozen corn 1.5-2 cups homemade enchilada sauce (see above, or use store-bought) 1/3-1/2 cup Daiya cheese (or other non-dairy cheese or regular cheese if your not allergic to dairy like I am) 1 cup chopped green onions (I left this out because I don...

We did such a fun thing last night. Our fabulous friends, Anne and Jeff threw a caroling party. We all went to their home which is in a dorm since Jeff is a professor. The dorm was deserted because all of the students are gone and we had it all to ourselves. We ate appetizers and drank cocktails and chatted. Then we passed out santa hats and song books and rehearsed some carols. When we thought we'd got a few songs down, we all walked down from the university to the square. We sang at Root Cellar, at a bar, a coffee shop, Valentino's pizza, Sean Patricks, and the Italian Garden. It was so fun and I had never done anything like it before. The kids were absolutely precious. Then we let them run through the courthouse yard where they had lights and blow up santas. It grew pretty dark, so we walked backed to the dorm, put on a movie for all the children and chatted and sipped some more before we had a fantastic dinner of two different kinds of soups made by Anne and J...

Both the boys love their gymnastics class. Unfortunately Sam has been benched for the last month while his finger heals. Last week was the Holiday Skills Show where parents and grandparents are invited and allowed on the floor to take pictures. Mom and Dad and I stayed upstairs with Sam and watched Davis show off his skills below while Michael stayed with Davis and took pictures. Davis did some things I didn't know he could do and was super impressed and Sam didn't act jealous at all. It was a win-win.

We partied all week. I'm loving the holiday season. I like all the chances to dress up, sing and be with my friends. On Wednesday I had a long, delicious, fabulous lunch with my ladies celebrating a birthday. We had a great ranch happy hour on Thursday. Friday night we attended the kids' Open House at Montessori. We all dressed up and the kids really enjoyed showing off their work. Davis showed off his work with fractions and also his knowledge of the parts of plant root. Sam skip counted by nines and worked with phonograms. We were proud. They were proud. Then we all had hot chocolate. We drove home looking for Christmas lights and singing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs. We dropped the kids off at the house with our babysitter and changed into cocktail attire. Then we drove over to my parents' house to cohost our book group holiday Christmas party. We had so much fun! We drank and laughed and did a gift exchange and sang lots of Christmas (and non-...