A Sledding We Will Go . . .

A Sledding We Will Go . . .
Hi - Ho - The - Merry - Oh . . .
A Sledding We Will Go!!

(Above: Niece Emily & My Darla)

Well a block down the road from our house lies

a superb sledding hill that we visit every winter

numerous times. Today we have nieces Rachel,

Emily, & Sarah joining us, & although it was pouring

down rain the kids were determined to enjoy sledding!

And they did: for 15 minutes then everyone was too wet.

(Above nieces Sarah & Rachel)

(My Nolan Ricky snowsuit sledding)

(Elijah Alan prefers the sled over this snowsuit sledding.)

Wii One, Nolan

Weeeee This Is Sure Fun!!!!!

Darla and Elijah engaged in a hardcore boxing match. I could have been standing there offering to take them to Disneyland and they wouldve been unphased. Darla has been complaining of sore muscles from the serious workouts she has been receiving from playing with their new Wii. They absolutely love their new Christmas gift!! Our living room was converted to our very own bowling alley last night, thanks to this Wii. I have NEVER been a fan of video gaming systems but this is completely different. So grateful!

Thank you Grandpa Bob & Grandma Vickie!!! Payton & Nolan have got to play just as much as Darla & Elijah . . . I just didnt have the camera as handy.

By the way, for those who read my posting on our last name . . . Crombie Cocoa, Crombie Campout etc., . . . . well when Alan was setting up the Wii it prompted him to name our game console. I was cooking dinner & he hollared to me "Amy what should we name our console?" And I of course responded "Crombie Console". LOL I think Alan & Payton came up with something different tho since Payton is a Gaskell, and a Hibberd, and a Crombie . . . . Happy New Year!!!

No Prevention Possible

Our neighbors have suffered the same loss . . . . GUTTERS. Normally the super steep pitch of our roof tops prevent super high build up of the snow, which stands true but this storm was different in that it had layers of DEEP FREEZE . . . . once the layers started to loosen they took the gutters down with them . . . still frozen to them. So a dandy of a home repair to be scheduled.

Christmas Continues

Because of the "Arctic Blast 2008" all of our family Christmas functions were postponed...so to keep that Christmas Spirit alive till New Years we are keeping our tree up longer than normal, and we are continuing to make Christmas Cookies. We are only sad K103 isnt still playing Christmas music.

One of my fav gifts . . .

Darla, our lil' darling

Feliz' Navidad

Papa and I love our new coffee mugs:

My favorite ornament

This beautiful glass Christmas ball (LOL)

Oh Christmas Tree

We discovered that come Spring time, or sooner, our huge above the garage attic needs serious reorganization . . . we could not locate all our Christmas totes this year & thus a number of our ornaments & our white lights were missing this year. So to Alan's misfortune we had to use the huge 70's style colored lights on our tree. Here is this years tree . . . a left over from my dad & Kris' Christmas Tree Harvest. In other words, a reject if you will - an unwanted tree adopted by us for the special season.

Here is a special ornament from my childhood days, given to me in Grade School by an ol' friend & neighbor Nishka:
Speaking of ornaments . . . . every year our kids have always received a new ornament from us. Well, after reading on Beth's blog . . . I am going to borrow a tradition of theirs I think . . . . and that is, they let their children pick out an ornament themselves each year. I love that!!! To see how their tastes change thru the years, etc., What a fun memory for the kids. Now I have always prided myself on picking ornaments with sentimental thoughts of the past year, etc., but I think I prefer Beth's family tradition. So thank you for the idea!

Ahhh traditions, every year on Christmas eve the family gets to open 1 present. Each year the kids act like they are suprised which always baffles me because they always receive the same thing . . . new pajamas. Sometimes they have worn their new pj's to midnight candlelight service at church too. What are your traditions???

Merry Christmas From The Crombies

The snow storm allowed this family TONS of family t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r-n-e-s-s time! We have been laughing so much! Fun times!

Elijahs exact words, when opening his handmade present from Nolan & Papa, were "An airplane? How awesome!! How did you guys make THAT?"

Nolan LOVES his handmade car from Elijah & Papa. He plans to paint it green.

Darla was so shocked her big brother Payton made her three beautiful pieces of beaded jewelry for Christmas. She loves them!!!

Payton also liked the, handmade & designed by Darla, wooden box to store some of his valuable treasures in. It even has a lock.

"REAL" icycle christmas lights......

Try making these if you want to impress the family!

My husband & 4 kids declared this their all-time favorite cookie . . . I followed this recipe but didnt have UNsalted butter so had to use salted butter & they were still incredible. Also, I had to use a little milk & a little marmalaid in the frosting in leiu of OJ or heavy cream & also turned out incredible! By the way, Alan is a chocolaholic but swore off chocolate because of this tastier treat. I am not kidding.

Iced Pumpkin Cookies
6 dozen Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked, pureed pumpkin (fresh or canned)
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 cup raisins
Icing:
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons whipping cream, fresh orange juice or rum
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg (or pumpkin pie spice). Stir into butter mixture until well blended. Add nuts (which I didnt) and raisins (YES). Drop by teaspoonful onto parchment covered baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake about 15 minutes, or until golden. (for me that was only 10 minutes) Cool.
Icing: Cream confectioners’ sugar and butter. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. (If icing is too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar; if too thick, add more cream, orange juice or rum.) Drizzle over cookies.

Holiday Plans Buried In 3 Feet Of Snow

Hmmmm. . . well the Crombie Christmas will be rescheduled with the In-Laws.
The Gaskell Christmas with Pa, Kris & my brothers also on hold.
Christmas Lights Tuesday night with good friend of Alan's . . . highly doubtful.
Delivering Homemade Gift Baskets to Friends & Family . . . unless we can get their by foot tomorrow, also on hold.
BUT . . . handmade Christmas Cards were sent out a couple days ago. YEAH!!!!
Need to send our gifts to our Californian relatives today . . . . because we love them, will walk that long block in 3 feet of snow & ice. :-)
Basically, homebound. UNTIL ? ? Not sure. The weather reports make it sound like it wont start improving till the weekend. We will be especially sad if we cant make it to Grandpa Bob & Grandma Vickie's on Christmas Eve.
At least we will be able to walk to church service up here on the Mtn if we cant make it to our church in Estacada on Christmas Eve.
I really think I am holding steady in the glass is half full . . . but every now & then I find myself sad about the half empty. . . . . still we are blessed to be home together as a family. I am grateful for that, but my kids are going stir crazy and SO AM I. Merry White Christmas.

A Payton Sighting

Rare nowadays . . . busy teenager.

What a difference a day makes . . . .

Yesterday:

Today : Zooming In On Neighbors House Across The Street:

My car laughing "This is what Amy gets for not parking me in the garage!"

Nothin' but Net:

hodge-podge

Main Entry: hodge·podge
Pronunciation: häj-päj
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of hotchpotch
Date: 15th century
: a heterogeneous mixture : a class ; jumble

- - - - - - - - - - -
Thanks to dear Webster above . . . I now forewarn you that our Christmas Cards this year are a "hodgepodge" of sorts. No two cards are alike. . . . and considering we send 111 this year . . . that could sound rather impressive HOWEVER I am using some pre-made materials this year. Primarily recycling the fronts & random pieces from previous years Christmas Cards. I always do a collage of clippings from the cards in-erds (the sentiments hand written by loved ones). I keep the fronts of the card for recycling/reusing.

So this is the year of the "recycled christmas cards". And it is quite a hodgepodge collection I must say. They are being mailed a good week later than usual & shall arrive in a mailbox near you soon.

Dont Let Your Nose Fall Off

I was so thankful to the News At Noon and the warning they did on frostbite & how easy it is to be inflicted. The kids had been begging to be able to go outside & finish their snow house and wouldnt believe me that their snow house was now an ice house, and they wouldnt be able to "play in the snow". The news story convinced the kids, with my helpful embelishing that they needed to remain completely covered from the freezing air. I would spend the 30 minutes getting them all bundled up but it was pretty dorky for 5 minutes of play. They were grateful for the 5 minutes they said. Well when I opened the door to let them outside, you could see the panic in their eyes if their scarves would loosen & fall a bit below their nose. . . like their nose would literally fall off if exposed to the air.

I am eeeevil but I couldnt stop laughing as my happy kids slowly walked toward their "ice" house . . . and once they were almost there - I said "Ok hurry, come back in - that was 5 minutes!" Eeeeeeeeevil mama told them I was kidding and they could have 5 more minutes.

The entire time they were out there I never could see Darla's eyes. Nolan is giggling in this picture because he realized how dorky he was when he was whining "I cant breathe mama". He just didnt like being that bundled.

So probably the only good thing about this deep freeze is there wasnt the normal moans & groans when it was time to come in - they were ready to be warm again!

Home

Come warm your mittens at our home. . . complimentary coffee, tea, or cocoa provided.
Name your fancy.

7 Snow Bunnies

3 of ours + 4 of Shawna's = a lot of fun

Our last name

Ok . . . so I have my nifty "Crombie Cards" (wedding, birthday, event invitations & greeting cards clients) . . . . then all our crafty ventures we've always termed "Crombie Creations". Well the "Crombie Craze" continues at our "Crombie Corral" website . . . which who am I kidding?!? Most days it would seem nothing like an orderly corral or even a pasture - no fence at all . . . just wild running abandonment. Moving on . . . up until a couple weeks before marrying Alan I still called him Crombie . . . always have called him Crombie since I was a kid. But now as old married people - when I want to be cutesie or annoying to him . . . I bellow in a foreign italian accent "Crombie-oh-lee-oh-so". In our house we dont like words like "Crummy" or even "crumble". But how many homes have their annual "Crombie Christmas" or their own currency?!! Yep we have Crombie Coins. Oh and dont forget the Crombie Campout, , , and brand new this year?!?!?!?!?! Crombie Christmas Cocoa!! Yup . . . . for only $5 the kids and I made 45 adorable little gift packs for all the nieces, nephews & a few family friends. All I did was put 1/4 cup hot chocolate mix, a big scoop of mini marshmallows & a short chunky candycane stick in the pack.

Next year I might forego all the sewing, knitting, crocheting, & my horrible cross stitching . . .. and focus more on putting together Crombie's Christmas Morning In A Can . . . . well basket is more adorable but I am hooked on the whole "C" thing ya know?! Anyways, for friends & family I would love to not only be able to give them Crombie Christmas Cocoa, but other goodies like homemade banana bread, canned Crombie preserves, etc., Basically a snack basket for families to consume Christmas morning (if they wanted - this would not be enforced or anything). The Crombie Coalition wont fine them or anything. Ok enough Crombie Craze . . . the quality of this random posting is guaranteed to be questionable due to only 4.5 hrs sleep last night & one heck of a busy day. By the way noone can deny that a Crombie Campout doesnt sound way cooler than a Gaskell Campout or Gaskell Cards . . . oh dont forget Gaskell Christmas Cocoa. Yah! Uhhh no thanks! OH - wait . . . in our house we also have 2 hypo-crombie-acs (hypocondriacs). Face it Crombie = Cool.

When's the last time you broke out and . . .

Dropped to the floor in a WILD "BrEaKdAnCe?"

Regular occurrence in our household.

His eyes-how they twinkle! His dimples how merry...

Twas the night before Grandparents Day & All Thru The House
Lots of creatures were stirring, but thankfully not a mouse.

School backpacks were hung by the front door with care
In hopes that Grandpa Bob would soon be there

Darla & Elijah were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of Grandpa's Peanut Butter Fudge danced in their heads

Mama busy in the laundry room, Papa in bed snoring
Hurry to sleep for it soon will be morning

When over on the end table arose such a clatter,
I sprang to the alarm clock & knew what was the matter

Away down the stairs I flew like a flash
Woke up the kids, drew their hot baths

The slow steaming smell of warm oatmeal declared
It was time to eat for he would soon be here

The kids were all dressed & ready for school,
when what do my caffinated eyes should appear

But a handsome extended cab truck
and a Grandpa Bob missing a mustache I fear

With a tall old driver so lively & awesome
It was Grandpa Bob - we knew he would come

More rapid than Casey his coursers they came
He giggled & took them - called them by name

Now Darla - Now Elijah off we must go
To Grandparents Day at your school ya know

Into the truck, down the driveway they went
Mama in her slippers becoming quite bent

For silly mama forgot to take photos of the trio
Had the camera in hand but forgot to use - forgetful me-o

The kids were so proud to have their Grandpa at their side
as they walked their school halls, even took him outside

They shared a nice breakfast and a ton of great laughs
Darla's favorite was interviewing him inside her class

Of course Grandpa Bob endulged them at the Book Fair
& they even remembered young Nolan, who wasnt there

Grandpa Bob came quite a distance to be there for the kids
He never ceases to amaze us - his love & unending kindness!

Happy Grandparents Day To All & To All A Goodnight

You know Dasher & and Dancer. . .

& Prancer & Vixen. . . Comet & Cupid . . . Donner & Blitzen . . . but do you recall the most famour reindeer of all????

Well he wasnt Rudolf but quite a majestic site outside our front door Thanksgiving afternoon.

Consider checking this out

www.facebook.com

I finally caved in & signed up after numerous family & friends kept urging me to. . . . and it has been a lot of fun reconnecting with a lot of people. Warning: the initial setup in terms of tracking down long lost friends etc., is a bit time consuming tho. So make sure you can afford to neglect your home, kids, & life for a while. Hee hee.

A Bounty Of Blessings

Day After Thanksgiving At Our Home . . . .

Granted Darla still doesnt like anyone's mashed potatoes, and Elijah never has cared for sweet potatoes . . . but that aside everything on the menu was a huge hit this year at Thanksgiving! It still never ceases to amaze me how much work & time goes into preparing the holiday feast & the so little time it takes for them to devour it. I am so thankful for this family 'o-mine. They unanimously gave this meal a "10" for delicio-so!

By the way Darla decorated the Holiday Table this year. She is grumpy in the picture because she was growing impatient with her Mama as she was eager to share a suprise with us all regarding the sunflowers at each of our place settings.

Interesting Father & Son Chat

Elijah: Hey papa, today I said hi to Michael's Dads Son, Michael.
Papa: Michael's Dads Son, Michael?
Elijah: Yes Michaels Dads Son, Michael is a nice kid.
Papa: Oh ok.
Elijah: Then Skyler said hey why are you saying hi to Michael?
Papa: Who's Skyler?
Elijah: Michael's dad.

4000 Calories

I heard on a news program this morning that the average Turkey Day Dinner is 4000 calories.

Wont stop me from posting our Thanksgiving 2008 Menu in all its splendor:

Thanksgiving 2008 Menu

Appetizers
Regal Ritz, Relish Tray & Stuffed Mushrooms

Main Course
Roast Turkey & Mama’s Stuffing
Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Twice Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Roasted Asparagus
Caramelized Onions & Carrots

Homemade Rolls
Cranberry Sauce & Grandma Jo’s Jell-o

Dessert
Pumpkin Pie & Grandma Kristi Cake

Got PEACE?

This book is incredible and super helpful to those of us who know we need to rely on God to see us thru situations, seek wisdom thru His Word, and pray . . . but still tend to put a lot of energy in trying to fix problems & coming up with answers for life's constant situations on our own. The issue is there always seems to be a situation which can stir up worrying & drama/stress. Say it with me . . . . Ahhhhhhhhhhhh . . . . . (deep exhale) . . . . . PEACE, , , , this book teaches you how to claim it . . . and when you lose it - how to get it right back! Plus it's easy to do!!!

Decking The Halls . . . . ALREADY!

*Thank you radio station K103 for playing all Christmas Music!

*Thank you Thriftway for the eggnog.

*Thank you handsome husband who braved the dark & 37 degree temperatures to put up some of our Christmas lights already! We are the 1st in the neighborhood this year to sparkle! Some years our street is the Peacock Lane on the Mtn...which is sure fun!

How's YOUR handmade Christmas efforts going??? Next weekend we are having our best friends up and us 4 adults & 7 kids are going to be making Christmas Cookies & singing Christmas Karaoke! We will be using Tiffany's cookie dough recipe again this year - thanks Tiff!