It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

My oh my! What a Thanksgiving week we have had. The week started off with snow -the kids only had one day of school, the rest were cancelled for snow. This is quite unusual in the Seattle-area especially this early!
It was fun to have everyone home though, take the kids to the sledding hill, and have homemade hot chocolate (like mom & grandma made) laden with mini-marshmallows.

Roads cleared up enough to do last minute shopping at the grocery store (along with the rest of the neighborhood!), and make it to my sister's for a blessed holiday meal.

Yesterday, my daughter and I, along with some fellow Girl Scout troop friends, participated in the Macy's Holiday Parade. I had such a good time -totally able to "anonymously" ham it up! Cannot wait to do it again!

Today we did some shopping, and managed to avoid the crazy crowds of yesterday. We were also able to do all of our holiday decorating, with the exception of our tree which we won't put up for another couple weeks. I am soooo excited -love coming into the decorated house!

Bread and Jam for Nancy

I love the story "Bread and Jam for Frances" by Lillian and Russell Hoban. I love the images of that little badger girl eating her slice of white bread with a spread of purpley-pinkish-red homemade jam. I actually found a stamp some years ago (over 10 dare I say), with my favorite image.
I made my first batch of homemade jam this year today, and there is just something about homemade jam that brings out the nostalgia in me. To me berry jams just capture the pure essence of summer. You can taste the sun and the soil that nourished the berries, you can taste a warm afternoon, you can even catch a mild summer breeze. It always amazes me when I bite into a pb&j topped with homemade berry jam -the sunny places it takes me.

I love jam!!!

*Yawn & Stretch*

Good morning,
I thought today, I would blog just to blog...no cards or other projects to share today. Just hanging out, taking a breather from a busier than anticipated, and slightly sleep-deprived week. Hubby is off today, perhaps we will take the baby down to the chocolate shop for a drink (they've got great coffee, tea, etc.), or maybe I'll take a nap (not likely). DD is in her first year of Girl Scouts, and we have been having fun with cookie sales. She has been achieving the goals she has set for herself, and we've been having "geeky" fun figuring out the most popular cookie flavors by tallying and making graphs (I'm pretty sure I said "geeky" -we like math). Baby is busy cutting teeth, scootching across the floor, and finding her loud voice. DS is crazy Lego building constantly -he'd go 24/7 if we let him. DH has a great project started out in his "man cave" can't say anything here as it's a gift, and well, spoiling surprises just isn't cool, but I suspect his weekend will consist of quality time out there makin' noise and sawdust. :) I am attempting to re-organize my crafting/stamping stuff, cleaning shelves parting with supplies I haven't used lately, etc. Once I'm finished, I'll post a list so any of you out there looking for retired SU! supplies can take a peek.
Well, it's time to get the kids off to school, and I've been up for 5 hours, so I think I'll let Daddy walk them to school, and I may go catch a few winks before the baby gets up.
Have a great day, and I'll be back soon!