Time to Slow Down

Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas 2008

Over the river & through the woods to Grandmother's house we go!









Scarlette, Cash, Abby, Maggie:


twinning it up, yo gabba gabba style:



Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Post Christmas Post

So I'm finally posting my Christmas post (ahem, Anjie, take note...). We here at the B. R. Quinn household had a pretty good Christmas. Maggie finally had an inkling of what was going on this time around, so it was especially fun to see her open gifts this year. She got really excited about each and every one. Even the practical gifts, like the package of "Princess Panties" which, upon opening, resulted in jammies and "old" panties being pulled off and new! panties! with snow white! being pulled on (I can see Ben cringing each time I type the word "panties"). She went through all seven pairs of panties within a couple of hours. Not going to post pictures of that little risqué show, but here are plenty of other pictures for you to peruse.

New pajamas, books and a soft brown fossie (what my mom calls horsey dolls):


Ma Quinn and "the boys":


Good times with Ma Quinn and cousins:


Maggie's fairy princess ballerina skirt (aka the skirt that's never coming off):


Upon finding out we are going to DISNEYWORLD and on a 3 DAY CRUISE to the BAHAMAS!!!:


Yes, our Christmas was a wonderful one, thank you to all our family and friends who make not only the holiday season, but every day of the year, special.

if i had a million dollars...

...and a yard, i might consider having Santa bring a playhouse like this one for Maggie. (Heck, I might get one for myself).


Or maybe i'd prefer this one:


They even come complete with running water in the "kitchen":


Pretty crazy, huh? You can check out other "plans" here. For those of you who don't have childies, they make doghouses as well (ahem, cliff and erin, i think pepper NEEDS one of these. perhaps the swiss chateau?)

Click!

So, as Ben clearly stated in his last post, I love taking pictures. I do. I enjoy documenting my life and the lives of my children. And some day when Ben develops Alzeihmer's, he'll probably finally appreciate it, too. So, that said, here are some of the newest downloads to our iPhoto library:

Christmas Tree 2007:



Ben has been dying to try an "upside-down" Christmas tree for years. Well, he finally got his wish this season. Merry Christmas, hun. It's actually been rather nice not having to constantly re-hang ornaments torn off by curious toddler hands. Plus it's a space saver in our rather small condo. I call it my evergreen chandelier.


On saturday we went to a production of "The Nutcracker" that Ben's neice Andelin performed in. Maggie was mesmorized by all the beautiful ballerina costumes. She pretty much sat through all 2 hours of the show- impressive for a super-hyper 2 1/2 year old.



Cash LOVES this little couch. He lounged around most of the weekend.



Rooftops

Enter the doldrums...

So, I've been in a sort of slump the past few days. This was going to be the year that I tried to make most of my Christmas gifts for others, but being the Queen of Procrastination that I am, I've hardly started on any of them. And it's the 4th of December. That means I have 20 days (much less for those items I need to mail out) to get these projects done, ready, and wrapped. But instead of feeling a certain sense of urgency, I instead have been feeling unmotivated, uncreative, and at times down right LAZY. I should be oozing Christmas spirit by now: our tree is up and trimmed, a Christmas album (Harry Connick, Jr.) is playing in the background, I'm drinking a Wintery Sweet and Spicy sort of tea (think orange, nutmeg, cinnamon), and I have a Cinnamon Apple candle burning on the stove. But still, I can't seem to pull it together. A list of things on my "Urgent" list:

-Finish making Christmas gifts (of which there are at least 6...)
-Make persimmon steamed puddings (my mom sent me home from Thanksgiving with about 12 persimmons which are all getting dangerously over-ripe)
-Get cards mailed out (I think that one will be nixed this year)
-Make and freeze sticky rolls for Christmas morning (this one can wait a couple of weeks)
-Make and deliver goodies to family/friends/neighbors

Hmmm, doesn't seem too long a list, but still. Well, here's hoping that tomorrow I wake up magically motivated. In the meantime I'm going to go sit down on the couch and watch "A Sesame Street Musical Celebration" with my kids. If Elmo can't get me motivated to do something useful, I don't know what will!

{UPDATE}
So, I guess that writing this post was sort of cathartic because I'm almost finished with 2 gifts, I have a loaf of banana bread in the oven, and I'm making a grocery list for items I need to make my steamed puddings. Let the Christmas season begin!

Testing, testing...

I decided that if I wanted to make dolls for my kiddies for Christmas, maybe I'd better do a practice run. So here is my feeble attempt at doll-making. Whew. What a project. This little kitty is full of imperfections, but Maggie loves her already and has dubbed her "Princess". I just hope I have the energy to knock out a couple more dolls before the holiday. Wish me luck!

Getting Anxious...

My sewing machine- my BRAND NEW sewing machine- got "sick" and had to go to the appliance doctor. I used it twice and then it quit on me, kaput, just like that. I'm starting to feel a little antsy because I have loads of ideas for homemade Christmas gifts, and I want to get started on them...dolls, aprons, things to be appliqued. So many ideas just waiting to become realities. Maybe I should have picked up on knitting. No servicing required there...