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Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Mom Does it Best
Whew! I have a lot to live up to. This Christmas especially I think of how my mom has set such a high standard (in a very good way) of so many things. As a mom of a 4 and 2 year old, there are so many instances during the year that I think "well, my mom did it like this" and I think to myself "Will I ever do it as good as she did?" Well, I've come to the realization that the answer is "NO." I'll never meet those standards I'm pretty sure of it. And she's not holding me to these standards by any means, it pressure that I'm putting on myself. However, then pressure has been released. I've realize I will not do things as well as my mom, but THANK GOODNESS she set a high standard, because even if I try, I will still do better than I would without her example.
First of all, cooking. My mom is basically a chef. She does not use recipes and never really makes the same thing twice. This Christmas she made pheasant in one crockpot and also made duck. I can guarantee if I made those two birds, my family would have gone to McDonalds instead. But it was GOOD!!! Really good. Really really good. How do you make duck and pheasant taste delicious? I have no idea. Ask my mom.
And that goes the same for the rest of the meals that she makes, not just for holidays. Each meal is goumet quality. She could make a gourmet mac and cheese, I'm sure of it. She really doesn't have kids living in the house anymore, but still continues to make meals almost every day. Why? "Just in case someone stops by".....Ummm.....if I didn't have anyone to cook for and someone "just happened to stop by", too bad, sorry, you should have called first and for sure should have eaten before you came to my house. Sorry. I'm not a restaurant. So, it really boils down to an attitude. My mom has this great giving heart....me, well, obviously I have to work on that, huh? And let's not forget BAKING, especially Christmas cookies.....I counted last year, when I was a kid I think she made 12-15 different kinds of cookies. With 4 kids in the house! I made Oreo truffles this year. That's it. AND....my Oreo Trufffles look like a kindergartener made them, no matter how careful I am. Hers look like they come from a chocolate shop, all perfect. My favorite cookies are the candy cane cookies....one strip of regular dough, another strip of red dough, twist them together to make a candy cane shape and sprinkle with crushed candy canes and bake. Sounds easy enough. Nope. I made 4 pans last year and each one except maybe 5 of my cookies BROKE when I took them off the pan! She said she was going to make them again this year and I decided to give her a tip (since I'M now the expert, ha!). Told her to just roll the two colors into a ball so they look like a little peppermint (SO MUCH easier and they still taste the same, right?!) But NO NO NO, my mom wouldn't cheat. She has that standard remember? She made them this year, candy cane twist and all and said she didn't have any of hers break. Go figure. And, true story, they DO taste better when they are in the shape of a candy cane:):)
Secondly, decorating. For sure, hands down, without a doubt, I'll never be as good as her. For those of you who have stepped into her house know her house looks like it is out of a magazine. Actually, no, its better. She once told me that she never would never want a set of matching couches, chair, recliner, etc (gasp!!! im all into matching). Nope, no matching. It all goes together somehow, but everything in her house from the furniture to the decor comes from ALL different places. Some homes are "Pottery Barn", some are "Kirklands", some are "Walmart":), but her's is undescribable. If they make more than 100 of them, she doesn't buy it. Her house looks different every season with different decor in the summer, fall, Christmastime, and spring. It took me 15 min to put up my 4 decorations for Christmas this year. It took her an entire week. No joke. We've been in our house now for 6 years and just a couple years ago someone walked through our front door and asked "did you just move in here?" Bare walls, 2 decorations, you get the idea. My mom says "I didn't have everything right away, you'll accumulate things little by little to decorate your house". That may be so, but I'll never be as good as she is. She has a way of putting things together to make them look beautiful. Give us each the same fresh cut flowers and tell us to each put them into a vase and hers looks like a masterpiece and mine looks like a kindergartener did it. Thats not a joke, that happened this summer. :)
Third, cleaning. Now, serisously I really do think I do a good job. I NEED to have a clean house, that's what keeps me happy. Everything in the world could be going wrong, but if my house is clean, I feel good:) When we first moved into our house (no kids) I washed the floor once a week on my hands and knees and deep cleaned each bathroom once a week. That's what my mom does. That's what I grew up with. That's what I thought I had to do. Well, now with only 2 kids, cleaning is not so regular. I know I SHOULD wash my floor once a week, but I don't. And bathrooms? Oh boy, Im not going to even tell you how irregularly I clean them. Oops. My mom always had a vaccum running every morning in our house when we were kids. My vaccum gets turned on once a week if I am lucky. Before we left anywhere as kids, even if it meant we would be 1/2 hr late, the house had to be all cleaned up. My mom never wanted to come home to a messy house, which I understand. But, most times, it just doesn't happen. Syrup is usually still stuck to our kitchen table as we leave the house for church. If we were out all day and didn't get home til really late at night, it was MANDATORY that we still take a bath, no matter if it was midnight or not. I have put my kids to bed more than a handful of times with sticky fingers and mouths after we get home from somewhere late at night. They are still alive. But am I setting a good example like my mom did? Hmmm.....
Another one: Shopping, specifically for clothes. As kids, we were dressed SHARP. I remember being a kid and going shopping for school clothes or holiday outfits and the places we went were Macy's (Dayton's), Nordstom's, or any little unique clothing shop nowhere near us. Anything except Target or Kohls or JC Pennys. I never owned one article of clothing from either of those places. I never had the same clothes as anyone else and always had fancy dresses, a dress coat in winter with one of those little hand muffler things. For every holiday (Easter, Christmas, etc), I always had a brand new dress. Of course it was not appropriate to wear one of the other 15 fancy dresses that were in my closet. It had to be new. My hair as a little girl was either in fancy braids or big huge curls because my mom put rollers in or used a curling iron and a whole bottle of hairspray. Well, me being a mom of two little girls you would think that I would keep that same standard of dressingthem as sharp as a tack. Nope, not so much. My kids go to daycare in mismatched clothes. Most days, I don't even comb Julia's hair. They really don't own "dress" coats. A couple of their "nicer" ones are hand me downs. I have yet to buy them anything from Macy's or Nordstroms and mainly for the fact that I don't want to drive there. This year for Christmas, Lyvia wore one of Julia's old Christmas dresses and Julia wore a dress that she's worn a handful of times (and it was actually a hand me down from Gabrielle!) It isn't really even a "holiday" dress, but its black and has some green in it, so it passes for a Christmas dress in my book:):) My mom set a high standard of dressing nice and being put together, however, I still have a ways to go in that department.
I think I will have to continue this subject later......I could go on and on. It boils down to the fact that my mom always did her best to make sure we had the best, looked our best, and she never created excuses or ran out of energy doing it. Will I ever be like her? Will I ever someday come close to meeting the standards that she set for us? All I know is that I am thankful for the standards that she has set- if they were not set high, who knows what level I would be at!
First of all, cooking. My mom is basically a chef. She does not use recipes and never really makes the same thing twice. This Christmas she made pheasant in one crockpot and also made duck. I can guarantee if I made those two birds, my family would have gone to McDonalds instead. But it was GOOD!!! Really good. Really really good. How do you make duck and pheasant taste delicious? I have no idea. Ask my mom.
And that goes the same for the rest of the meals that she makes, not just for holidays. Each meal is goumet quality. She could make a gourmet mac and cheese, I'm sure of it. She really doesn't have kids living in the house anymore, but still continues to make meals almost every day. Why? "Just in case someone stops by".....Ummm.....if I didn't have anyone to cook for and someone "just happened to stop by", too bad, sorry, you should have called first and for sure should have eaten before you came to my house. Sorry. I'm not a restaurant. So, it really boils down to an attitude. My mom has this great giving heart....me, well, obviously I have to work on that, huh? And let's not forget BAKING, especially Christmas cookies.....I counted last year, when I was a kid I think she made 12-15 different kinds of cookies. With 4 kids in the house! I made Oreo truffles this year. That's it. AND....my Oreo Trufffles look like a kindergartener made them, no matter how careful I am. Hers look like they come from a chocolate shop, all perfect. My favorite cookies are the candy cane cookies....one strip of regular dough, another strip of red dough, twist them together to make a candy cane shape and sprinkle with crushed candy canes and bake. Sounds easy enough. Nope. I made 4 pans last year and each one except maybe 5 of my cookies BROKE when I took them off the pan! She said she was going to make them again this year and I decided to give her a tip (since I'M now the expert, ha!). Told her to just roll the two colors into a ball so they look like a little peppermint (SO MUCH easier and they still taste the same, right?!) But NO NO NO, my mom wouldn't cheat. She has that standard remember? She made them this year, candy cane twist and all and said she didn't have any of hers break. Go figure. And, true story, they DO taste better when they are in the shape of a candy cane:):)
Secondly, decorating. For sure, hands down, without a doubt, I'll never be as good as her. For those of you who have stepped into her house know her house looks like it is out of a magazine. Actually, no, its better. She once told me that she never would never want a set of matching couches, chair, recliner, etc (gasp!!! im all into matching). Nope, no matching. It all goes together somehow, but everything in her house from the furniture to the decor comes from ALL different places. Some homes are "Pottery Barn", some are "Kirklands", some are "Walmart":), but her's is undescribable. If they make more than 100 of them, she doesn't buy it. Her house looks different every season with different decor in the summer, fall, Christmastime, and spring. It took me 15 min to put up my 4 decorations for Christmas this year. It took her an entire week. No joke. We've been in our house now for 6 years and just a couple years ago someone walked through our front door and asked "did you just move in here?" Bare walls, 2 decorations, you get the idea. My mom says "I didn't have everything right away, you'll accumulate things little by little to decorate your house". That may be so, but I'll never be as good as she is. She has a way of putting things together to make them look beautiful. Give us each the same fresh cut flowers and tell us to each put them into a vase and hers looks like a masterpiece and mine looks like a kindergartener did it. Thats not a joke, that happened this summer. :)
Third, cleaning. Now, serisously I really do think I do a good job. I NEED to have a clean house, that's what keeps me happy. Everything in the world could be going wrong, but if my house is clean, I feel good:) When we first moved into our house (no kids) I washed the floor once a week on my hands and knees and deep cleaned each bathroom once a week. That's what my mom does. That's what I grew up with. That's what I thought I had to do. Well, now with only 2 kids, cleaning is not so regular. I know I SHOULD wash my floor once a week, but I don't. And bathrooms? Oh boy, Im not going to even tell you how irregularly I clean them. Oops. My mom always had a vaccum running every morning in our house when we were kids. My vaccum gets turned on once a week if I am lucky. Before we left anywhere as kids, even if it meant we would be 1/2 hr late, the house had to be all cleaned up. My mom never wanted to come home to a messy house, which I understand. But, most times, it just doesn't happen. Syrup is usually still stuck to our kitchen table as we leave the house for church. If we were out all day and didn't get home til really late at night, it was MANDATORY that we still take a bath, no matter if it was midnight or not. I have put my kids to bed more than a handful of times with sticky fingers and mouths after we get home from somewhere late at night. They are still alive. But am I setting a good example like my mom did? Hmmm.....
Another one: Shopping, specifically for clothes. As kids, we were dressed SHARP. I remember being a kid and going shopping for school clothes or holiday outfits and the places we went were Macy's (Dayton's), Nordstom's, or any little unique clothing shop nowhere near us. Anything except Target or Kohls or JC Pennys. I never owned one article of clothing from either of those places. I never had the same clothes as anyone else and always had fancy dresses, a dress coat in winter with one of those little hand muffler things. For every holiday (Easter, Christmas, etc), I always had a brand new dress. Of course it was not appropriate to wear one of the other 15 fancy dresses that were in my closet. It had to be new. My hair as a little girl was either in fancy braids or big huge curls because my mom put rollers in or used a curling iron and a whole bottle of hairspray. Well, me being a mom of two little girls you would think that I would keep that same standard of dressingthem as sharp as a tack. Nope, not so much. My kids go to daycare in mismatched clothes. Most days, I don't even comb Julia's hair. They really don't own "dress" coats. A couple of their "nicer" ones are hand me downs. I have yet to buy them anything from Macy's or Nordstroms and mainly for the fact that I don't want to drive there. This year for Christmas, Lyvia wore one of Julia's old Christmas dresses and Julia wore a dress that she's worn a handful of times (and it was actually a hand me down from Gabrielle!) It isn't really even a "holiday" dress, but its black and has some green in it, so it passes for a Christmas dress in my book:):) My mom set a high standard of dressing nice and being put together, however, I still have a ways to go in that department.
I think I will have to continue this subject later......I could go on and on. It boils down to the fact that my mom always did her best to make sure we had the best, looked our best, and she never created excuses or ran out of energy doing it. Will I ever be like her? Will I ever someday come close to meeting the standards that she set for us? All I know is that I am thankful for the standards that she has set- if they were not set high, who knows what level I would be at!
Traditions
We are in the midst of Christmas celebrations this weekend and I've been thinking about Traditions that we are starting as a family. It's exciting to create these fmemorable moments (although we've both agreed at ages 4 and 2, what we've done with Julia and Lyvia so far they will not remember any of it!) I don't remember anything when I was 4! Oh well. So, its for us right now:)
As a kid, my family always went down to Macy's (Dayton's) 8th floor holiday display to see Santa and its something that we are continuing today with the girls. The past 2 years we've went there on Christmas Eve morning and its great- short lines, no crowds, just perfect! And Santa is still there because he doesn't need to get into his sleigh until nighttime:) It's been a really great way to start our day since we go to church at 4:30pm and then to the Vetsch Christmas after that.
Just this year, on Chirstmas Eve, after the girls got out of the bathtub, they walked to their room wrapped in their towels to go get their pajamas on and found a present on the floor from Mom and Dad. Another tradition that I'd like to continue, it was Christmas pajamas for each of them. Especially cute for pictures by the tree on Christmas morning!
When I was young, we always went to the Hollidazzle Parade, but I'm not brave enough for that one yet. Seems like a lot of work with little ones right now! Maybe when everyone is a little older:) So, that's it for now, I'm sure as our girls and future kids get older we will create more family traditions.
As a kid, my family always went down to Macy's (Dayton's) 8th floor holiday display to see Santa and its something that we are continuing today with the girls. The past 2 years we've went there on Christmas Eve morning and its great- short lines, no crowds, just perfect! And Santa is still there because he doesn't need to get into his sleigh until nighttime:) It's been a really great way to start our day since we go to church at 4:30pm and then to the Vetsch Christmas after that.
Just this year, on Chirstmas Eve, after the girls got out of the bathtub, they walked to their room wrapped in their towels to go get their pajamas on and found a present on the floor from Mom and Dad. Another tradition that I'd like to continue, it was Christmas pajamas for each of them. Especially cute for pictures by the tree on Christmas morning!
Another Tradition that Johnny has started is reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the girls on Christmas Eve. They sit on the couch and cuddle up- its the only time of year that they read that book. Johnny makes sure to hide it until that night.
When I was young, we always went to the Hollidazzle Parade, but I'm not brave enough for that one yet. Seems like a lot of work with little ones right now! Maybe when everyone is a little older:) So, that's it for now, I'm sure as our girls and future kids get older we will create more family traditions.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Julia's 4 yr birthday!
I am posting this a little late. Julia turned 4 on July 8th! We celebrated with her twice- for her birthday dinner, she wanted cheesy noodles and we had a look-alike ice cream sundae cake. The next day, Friday, we invited all the grandmas and grandpas over as well as the cousins in town. It was a HOT day and they played outside in the sprinkler and jumped on the trampoline. Everyone made their own ice cream sundaes and we had all the toppings there.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Family Triathlon!
We Ran! We Biked! We Swam!
We drove over to the Barthel farm to do a family "practice" triathlon. Word is that my sister Gabrielle is organizing a "secret" triathlon for the family....secret for the fact that she is not going to tell anyone until it gets closer so she has more time to train and thus win. What a stinker. Well, we are getting ahead of the game.
We started out with a 1 mile run with the girls in the double stroller- Holy Hot outside. That got us sweating. Then off for a bike ride on country roads. Problem- I forgot Julia's helmet (she is on the trail-a-bike behind my bike) so we decided to "off-road" it and take a bike ride around the farm. Wow, that was hard. It was like mountain biking...rather farm biking. Lots of hills, bumps, trees to dodge. We biked for a solid 30 min (there is a lot of space to bike around the farmyard). Much more fun than biking on a boring old road!! Then for the swim (I went solo on this one while Johnny entertained the girls)- 10 laps in the pool. Whew! Good workout.
We drove over to the Barthel farm to do a family "practice" triathlon. Word is that my sister Gabrielle is organizing a "secret" triathlon for the family....secret for the fact that she is not going to tell anyone until it gets closer so she has more time to train and thus win. What a stinker. Well, we are getting ahead of the game.
We started out with a 1 mile run with the girls in the double stroller- Holy Hot outside. That got us sweating. Then off for a bike ride on country roads. Problem- I forgot Julia's helmet (she is on the trail-a-bike behind my bike) so we decided to "off-road" it and take a bike ride around the farm. Wow, that was hard. It was like mountain biking...rather farm biking. Lots of hills, bumps, trees to dodge. We biked for a solid 30 min (there is a lot of space to bike around the farmyard). Much more fun than biking on a boring old road!! Then for the swim (I went solo on this one while Johnny entertained the girls)- 10 laps in the pool. Whew! Good workout.
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