1. Food
Food is a celebration in and of itself. My energy can wax and wane around my menus, but there are days where I put something together and when I sit down I can’t help but feel such joy. The colors, the textures, the flavors and everything looking so delicious!

My challenge these days is how to have the slow dinners that I desire with a very active family. Our eating time needs to equal at least half the time I spent making the meal in my mind..or at least this Mama wish it did!! I am sure as the kids get older and more conversational (I hope).

These pictures make me hungry and also very excited to plan next week’s menu as it is store day!

Ya know, I sometimes don’t pay attention to all these shots, but I am starting to because they are truly hilarious. I think I need to back through my files and pull out some more. To see what they decide to take pictures of cracks me up. Most fun is that I don’t always know when they have walked off with my camera, so downloading often has some fun and hilarious surprises for me.

Our two cats are very shy and pretty much live under the bed. Since the kids don’t get to snuggle them as much, they love to take pictures of them. Tyler’s foot makes an appearance as well – I think this was his camera shoot this time. I don’t always know!!

Today the waters were quiet compared to the excitement and energy expended in the sun yesterday. For all the chaos that seems to be around me, it feels like we were following some natural rhythms today and that was nice. I love Wednesdays anyway. It is bread day and I love that anchor…

So each Sunday, our family would share a special meal and dessert together. The dessert being the exciting part because we don’t have that every night.

This particular night we had Tomato Fennel soup (Med Vegan cookbook) – simple and uber yummy. We paired that with a link of sausage, chard and some sourdough bread. Delish!

And the main event – homemade eggnog. Kicks the store-bough stuffs butt. And people – 4 ingredients, a hand mixer and 2 minutes. Heck – a whisk would work. Anyone can do this and you should..it is so good!

And so this is how I have decided to survive 2010 – have fun! I picked up a free mag at the store that had homemade donuts on the cover last week. What fun! Never done that. Sounded like a good weekend thing…and we should invite some friends to join in and so we did.

CRAZY week and leading up to that morning it was starting to feel like a bad idea. I was tired, cranky, annoyed with the kids….Chris woke up with a migraine 15 minute before friends and kids due to arrive.

But then our friends get here and suddenly all is right with the world. My girlfriends jump in the kitchen helping cook food and clean up, they listen to me ramble about future plans, and we laugh.. a lot. Oh, and the donuts were incredible. We made strawberry jam-filled, blueberry fam filled and plain rolled in cinnamon sugar. We have made plans to have a regular breakfast club every 4 to 6 weeks and just rotate houses. And so it begins.

Later that night, I hook up with another circle of friends, have many drinks and pizza and laugh for many hours. This is the medicine to a hard day, to a dismal outlook, to a down cycle. This is what needs to be peppered in regularly.

Last night I felt so very alone and bummed and so it was such a gift to have a day filled with so many wonderful (and hilarious) people. I am trying to make time for fun…and so far, so good! :-p

For us, the celebration of Epiphany, or Three Kings day, is the official end to the holiday season. We had a lovely evening giving out our last heart. I love this tradition – especially seeing the kids faces beam as they listen to the many things that their Mommy, Daddy and sibling appreciate about them. It is also good for Mommy and Daddy to share their gratitude for each other with each other…ahem!

Tonight we dined on a lovely, simple meal of Winter Minestrone with basil pesto and Irish Soda Bread. For dessert, we have our traditional cake that the kids helped me bake in the morning. Butter, sugar, eggs, flour, cherries, pecans, lemon zest and a pinch of cinnamon. Then we drizzle the top with honey. Yummy!

These birthday posts are hard for me. Usually I “save” them for when I have the time and energy to sum up the year and say some really profound things about the year. And then the pressure of composing such an important post weighs on me and I never do it. I enjoy blogging about every day life so much more – I think it speaks volumes compared to a summary of the year. And being a Mom my brains can only stretch about two days in any direction anyway. So I will keep this post simple.

People who know me might think that I get really into doing it up for birthdays, and actually, I don’t. I am incredible lazy when it comes to them. I like the small traditions we have at our house, but when it comes to the party part, we just have it at the park by our house with tacos, coffee and cake. The kids play at the playground and the adults chill and talk. My kind of party – I don’t have to do anything! :-p

Traditions
The night before we hang up the birthday flags, hang streamers from the dinging room light and then create a scene on the dining table with a bunch of their toys. The love to wake up and marvel at the scene. This year we incorporate Tyler’s gift from us into it. He looked very pleased.

Party
This year Tyler wanted a Saturn cake. I turned that challenge over to my very talented neighbor who does all kinds of cake creations. She did an excellent job! Especially with the awesome rings! Tyler wore his birthday crown which he was into this year! It had 5 stars on it and a moon that he wanted me to add last year. At the end of the part he was hanging with some friends showing them one of his favorite presents from Grandma Susie.

Kids with Cameras
Some days I get annoyed with the many pictures the kids have taken with my camera. Some days I take a moment to look at what they captured and have a pretty good laugh. Here I think Quinn was trying to take a close-up of one of Tyler’s new car. And we have a picture of Tyler’s new camera sitting on a doll’s high chair. I somehow wonder if his sister was trying to commandeer it..hmmmmm