the best of 2014

And here we are, the last day of the year. For four years now I have sifted through a years worth of pictures to find "The Best Of..." It's an awesome (and time consuming!) way to process the last 365 days. This year my pictures correlate heavily to the months of the year...showing the seasons of farm-life, mom-life and community-life as they change throughout the 12 months. I sort of love this. Since I love the thought of a life lived fully aware of the world around me, I'll mark this as a step in the right direction. 

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you The Best of 2014:

That last one is a tease for Friday's blog post. Can't wait to tell about these ice bowls I made with my nieces. They. are. awesome.

best of lists from: 2013 / 2012 / 2011

brightening the night

Ivar and Elsie are thrilled by Christmas lights. They announce each house we see and narrate what they are seeing. One night Ivar yelled, "mom! look at that very tall tree with lights at the tippy top!" I pulled over and we took in this tall tree.

I started to think about the person who stood on a ladder, or used a fancy pole to hang the lights we were admiring. I felt grateful for them and I sort of recognized what a cool tradition this is, where home owners take part of their weekend and, especially in Minnesota, freeze their fingers off in an effort to brighten the winter with their Christmas lights.

I looked at this tall evergreen and saw Ivar's eyes in my rear view mirror. And I almost pulled into the drive way to go and thank whoever hung the lights.

But then I had a different idea. I have friends who take an annual Light Drive with their kids in their jammies, hot chocolate in their sippies and head out into the night to zig zag through their neighborhood. I decided  we could do something similar, and make a dozen thank you notes and take along, taping a note of gratitude to the door of our favorite light displays.

I ordered my stationary at Tiny Prints and was so excited when the cards arrived. I wrote a note on each card and had the kids help me decorate the envelopes. And then on Saturday night we took the kids on a Christmas Light drive.

I explained what we were doing to Ivar, telling him that we were giving out "awards to houses that had pretty lights on them." He was all in. He yelled every time he saw lights, told us to "stop the car" and "give them an award!" The best part was that, in his mind, the quantity of lights had nothing to do with who deserved an award. If a house had a single strand of lights, he wanted to stop the car.

Rory and I, on the other hand, were a little more particular.

I walked the notes up to the houses and taped them to the door. Except for the houses where I had been spotted already, and then felt obligated to explain why I was there. That led to some awkward moments and story material for another day. I would advise just to tape the thank you to the door.

All in all, it was awesome. It felt like a fun way to share gratitude, to give a little credit and kudos to the person who took the time to hang their lights, and best of all, Ivar understood what we were doing and the joy that comes from a grateful heart. This will be a new tradition for us. And I really hope it catches on.

baked french toast

My friend Beth had a Christmas brunch and served a feast of good food, including this Baked French Toast. Everyone wanted the recipe and she commented how easy this one is to make. My ears always perk up extra high when someone says that.

She sent out the recipe and I decided this would be our Christmas morning breakfast. And after a successful first run, it will forever (with a side of sausage) be our Christmas morning breakfast. Here's the thing: I loved it when I was making it (so easy!) I loved it when I threw it in the oven just before we started opening presents (I felt so organized!) And I loved it when we had a hot breakfast waiting for us after gifts (This mom has got it together!). Most of all, I loved that my whole family loved it. (And when you see the ingredients, you'll realize there's nothing not to love...)

So here it is:
1 loaf of Pepperidge Farm Swirl Bread,cut into cubes
6 beaten eggs
3 cups half and half (you heard me!)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Grease a 9x13 and place cubes into bottom evenly. Mix eggs, half and half and vanilla. Pour over all. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours or overnight. Uncover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Should be golden brown and set in center.

We ate ours with butter and syrup. It's basically a combination of french toast and bread pudding. Perfect for a Christmas Morning. (Or New Years morning, or a birthday morning, or a Saturday morning, or tomorrow morning...)

winter play

 

We were going to head to Ikea today and at the last minute decided to stay home for another lay low day. At some point we realized there was a considerable amount of snow outside...not just a dusting. Enough to play in and certainly enough to get the tractor back out! I pulled the kids in the sled and then we found all the toys I had stored in the pole barn for the winter. Ivar was thrilled to find his dump truck again, "Oh thank you mom for restoring this for me! I have missed it all my life!"

Winter play is a whole lot of work with little kids. While getting our snow pants on Elsie stepped in melted snow so that I had to run upstairs with my snowpants on to get her a new sock. And while I was gone Ivar decided he was way too hot and had taken everything off again. It was only with the bribe of hot chocolate that my kids went outside. It's so much work to get them bundled, but once outside I remember how worth it it is. We played hard and came back in with rosy cheeks and running noses and ready for that hot chocolate with "twelve marshmallows! and christmas sprinkles!"

a fun idea

Just before it was time to go to church for Christmas Eve I whispered to Ivar, "Now Ivar, lets you and me go upstairs and very quickly and quietly get our church clothes on and come down and surprise daddy with our nice looking outfits."

Ivar whispered back, "Why did you say that like it was a fun idea?"