On the eighth day of Christmas

For the eighth day of Christmas, a priceless memory:

Eight hours of playtime,

seven resolutions,

six nights, scant sleeping,

five first time puffs!

Four at St. Nick's feet,

three playmates,

two crawling buds,

and a joyful, thankful family!

Our house has been a perpetual family playplace for the past few days, and today was no different.  What a treat to all be together for yet another day full of 

pjs 

(today at dinner, E-Bear noted: "Mom, you didn't even change us out of our pjs yet!"), 

playtime 

(Trains! Shopping with the grocery cart! Cars!  Coloring!  Stamps! Learning games!  

We've played with pretty much everything today.), 

football 

(at one point T had rigged a system to watch 5 games at one time!), 

snuggles 

(on the couch, all together, watching the Rose Bowl parade) 

and stories 

(plenty of new winners to read).  

After our long days and short nights, we are normalizing our schedule and today enjoyed a late morning, super naps and a relatively early bedtime.  Tomorrow, our regular weekly schedule kicks into gear, but we'll be doing our best to carry the Christmas spirit into our normal weekly life.  

Grocery Bag

Welcome to the new year!  As we recover from a fabulous holiday and get back into our routine, meal planning is a must.  Here is our plan for the week.  

Day One

Pasta with roasted vegetables and bacon from Martha Stewart Living

with warm shredded brussels sprout salad from Everyday Food

These two recipes are two of my new favorites, full of vegetable variety.

Photo and recipe from MarthaStewart.com

Photo and recipe from MarthaStewart.com

Day Two

Ham salad sandwiches by Happily Ever Johnson

with apple slices and sugar snap peas

T's love for ham salad motivated us to create our own recipe.  This is now a favorite sandwich staple.

Favorite Ham Salad, by Happily Ever Johnson

2 lbs leftover spiral cut or bone-in ham

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sweet pickle relish

1/2 tsp black pepper

Broil the ham for 5 minutes or until heated and lightly browned.  Allow ham to cool slightly.  

Using a food processor, pulse the ham in batches until finely ground.  

In a large bowl, mix the ham, mayonnaise, relish and pepper.  

Serve immediately or chilled.  

Day Three

Sweet potato tortilla pie from Vegetable Planet

with apple pear and poppy seed salad from Southern Living Magazine

A fantastic recipe from a favorite new cookbook!

Day Four

Butternut squash and mushroom lasagna from Bon Appetit Magazine

with homemade rolls and mixed green salad

This is a longtime favorite lasagne in our house.

It is one of my go-to dishes if we are hosting company for dinner.

Photo and recipe from MyRecipes.com

Day Five

Sweet potato salad with spicy peanut dressing from Bon Appetit Magazine

with grilled ham steaks and orange slices

I love sweet potatoes and snow peas.  This salad combines them in a most delicious way.

For the kids, I often keep some steamed potatoes and snow peas out of the salad and serve them plain.

Photo from SmittenKitchen.com.  Recipe from Epicurious.com

May your kitchen be blessed in the new year!

On the seventh day of Christmas

For the seventh day of Christmas, a priceless memory:

Seven resolutions,

New Year's Eve 2011!

six nights, scant sleeping,

five first time puffs!

Four at St. Nick's feet,

three playmates,

two crawling buds,

and a joyful, thankful family!

I am usually not one to make New Year resolutions.  Realism over the power of a semi-arbitrary date to motivate significant change in my life usually gets the best of me.  This year I have a slightly different perspective.  As we focus on the twelve days of Christmas with our kids, I am realizing that the New Year falls smack in the middle of the Christmas celebration.  I know from my own life experience that the birth of a new baby is a powerful, motivating time for change and renewal in lives and families.  If ever there was a birth to give us hope and aspiration to change, it is the birth of Jesus.  This New Year, I am looking out our window at the Moravian star illuminating our porch.   I am praying that its beckoning light would motivate me to reflect and seek change through Christ, the same way that the Christmas star beckoned both peasants and kings so many years ago.  

We floated the concept of New Year resolutions with G-Bear and E-Bear last night.  Here is what they came up with:

G-Bear:  "I resolve to make cake for Daddy."

E-Bear:  "I will make cookies with Mommy."

G-Bear:  "I think we should go to Disney world."

E-Bear: "And I will play with my trucks."

Baby Bear didn't say much, but T and I agree that he seems resolved to stand and explore every inch of our apartment in the new year.  He is unstoppable these days!  As for me, I am resolving this year, but I am keeping my resolution to myself. :)  T never divulges whether he is making resolution or not.  So that brings our resolution total to seven.

Thanks be to God for this new year.  May the joy and hope of Christmas motivate us to be better in it.

  

On the sixth day of Christmas (otherwise known as New Year's Eve)

For the sixth day of Christmas, a priceless memory:

six nights, scant sleeping,

five first time puffs!

four at St. Nick's feet,

three playmates,

two crawling buds,

and a joyful, thankful family.

Amidst all the idyllic pictorial memorabilia, I have no pictures for today's memory which is probably for the better.  Lest we forget that life with little munchkins doesn't stop once the sun goes down, this entry is a shout-out to the sleepless nights of the holiday season.  Traveling to be with family over the holidays is amazing and worth it.  We wouldn't have it any other way.  Time-zones and new surroundings always take a toll on sleep, however, not to mention the excitement of all things Christmas.  We always return home happy but exhausted. We traveled home late into the night on Wednesday, stayed up even later unpacking to get a jumpstart on our first day home.  Then, after a full day of errands on Thursday, we had one child throwing up all night long.  Poor peanut.  T and I took turns rotating between bathroom duty and resting on the floor in the hall outside.  Just as I finished the fifth load of bed sheets and towels at 5am, our youngest awoke.  Finally, last night, tummy cramps kept our Baby Bear unhappily awake every few hours.  Tonight, on New Year's Eve, the thought of voluntarily going to bed before midnight sounds almost too good to be true!  

No pity needed, I'm not pouting.  We are trying to treasure these moments despite our sleep-deprived state.  In twenty years when I am misty-eyed and missing the awesome wonder-filled moments of these early years, I want to remember to be thankful for the blessing of a full night of sleep!  So tonight, T and I rang in the New Year by watching football and cooking Indian food (thanks, Mom, for the awesome Spatulart bowl scraper!).  We have had enough late-night excitement around here lately. 

 We don't know what is in store for the new year, but we trust in God to lead and provide.  May all 366 days of 2012 (remember, it's a Leap Year!) be blessed!

On the fifth day of Christmas

For the fifth day of Christmas, a photo memory:

Five first time puffs!

Not sure what to make of them at first.

Pincher grasp at work.

Closer...

Tasty....

Who authorized this?  I thought those were my puffs!

four at St. Nick's feet,

three playmates,

two crawling buds,

and a joyful, thankful family.

Baby Bear tried his first puffs for the first time on Tuesday and they were a huge success. 

What a great Christmas time treat for our little guy!

On the fourth day of Christmas

For the fourth day of Christmas, a photo memory:

Four at St. Nick's feet,

three playmates,

two crawling buds,

and a joyful, thankful family.

Thanks again to our Christmas Eve visitor, who delighted the crew!

On the third day of Christmas

For the third day of Christmas, a photo memory:

Three playmates,

two crawling buds,
and a joyful, thankful family.

By the end of a week together, G-Bear, E-Bear and Cousin H are like siblings.  They have shared beds, bathtimes, story times, late nights, early mornings, ideas, adventures, toys, sippy cups, ups and downs.  They are able to both delight each other and push each other's buttons.  Somehow, what the other is doing is always more interesting.  The antics of these three have made me laugh and remember the sweetness of holidays past while growing up with my own cousins.  May these relationships grow and blossom in the years to come so that they become even more beautiful and special. 

On the second day of Christmas

For the second day of Christmas, a photo memory:

Two crawling buds,

and a joyful, thankful family.

Baby Bear has been inspired in many ways by his cousin this Christmas.  Only eight weeks older than our Baby Bear, T is setting the pace!  Thanks in part to his encouraging example, Baby Bear has been full out crawling since Christmas Eve.  G-Bear and E-Bear have to be careful where they build their block towers and favorite toys these days.  Baby Bear and Cousin T are now an unstoppable duo.  Just wait until T teaches Baby Bear to walk!

On the first day of Christmas

For the first day of Christmas, a photo memory:

One joyful, thankful family.

MoMo and Papa have hosted an amazing Christmas weekend.  Our Christmas Eve crowd was intact for the first time in years.   We had a member celebrating her 90th Christmas and two baby boys celebrating Christmas with us for the first time.   We also had a visit from Santa for the first time since I was a little girl.  E-Bear was especially welcoming, assuring Santa that he would sleep soundly that night (and then demonstrating!) and singing jingle bells at the top of his voice with his new bell shaker.   What a special celebration.  We are so thankful for our family.  

Merry Christmas 2011!

May this day bring joy and peace, for God is with us and He is our hope.

Merry Christmas to you, from all of us in Happily Ever Johnson Land!