Today just felt like a fave lip color day. I just wish I had better lighting in front of our tree!
Fave lipcolor day!
Author Archives: Jen
Between both beds, of course.
Katie let Olive upstairs this morning and after a few crazy minutes she settled down to nap. Between BOTH beds I placed there for her.
First and second naps of the day!
The cleaners just left!
Seriously, Olive? You got all those toys out already? The housekeepers just left 10 minutes ago!
Morning playtime!
Classic Olive
Pysanky lessons!
David wasn’t going to do it but then Evan didn’t want to finish his so David took it over! He did really well and it turned out cute!
Anna swore up and down she was going to suck at this but she did amazing with her very first egg! Now she can’t wait to do some more!
My two cute girls!
Christmas lights on my car!
I saw these on Amazon and had to try them. They are reflective — which is cool but obviously I can never see them because I’m in the car. And there was only enough to do this on both sides (unless I wanted to add more “string” between each bulb). Also, can’t wait to see if they stay on as the magnets aren’t that strong. But it’s cute, right?
Making our favorite scones!
These are always a top request!
White Chocolate & Cranberry Scones
3 cups flour
½ cup white sugar
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup cold butter
1 cup fresh cranberries (or ¾ cup dried Craisins)
1 cup white chocolate chunks/chips
1 cup milk
1 large egg
- Mix all dry ingredients in first group.
- Cut in butter.
- Add in cranberries and white chocolate.
- Add milk and beaten egg.
- Mix until combined BUT DO NOT OVERMIX!
- Divide dough in half. Pat each half into a ¾” thick circle and cut into six wedges.
- Bake at 375° until golden brown—about 20-25 minutes.
The second best part about Thanksgiving!
Holiday decorations go up!
Tom hauls everything up, puts the tree together, then comes back to do the star. Unfortunately the lights in the star were dead and we didn’t realize until it was attached.
She’s part noodle apparently.
Pysanky Step 1 — making the dyes!
I bought just the right number of dyes when we were at Pysanky On The River! Or maybe I bought just the right number of jars!
Our first hosted Thanksgiving dinner!
I was so busy with a houseful of guests and dinner prep that I barely had time to look at my phone (so most of these are from everyone else)! But it was so worth it to have everyone together — from Georgia (Filipek), Michigan (Schwalm & Coe), and Illinois (Schwalm & Hudson). And our best friends joined us, too…and fit right in!
Then we did some reenactment shots!
I can’t believe it was 22 years between these photos. But we all still look the same, right?! Also: no kids in 2000, six kids in 2022!
Let the family festivities begin!
We excitedly volunteered to host the Schwalm side family thanksgiving this year—Filipeks usually host in Atlanta but they’ve recently downsized and didn’t have room. We had plenty of room for everyone (most even stayed with us—kicking the kids out of their rooms of course)!
Everyone had varied arrival times, but by Wednesday afternoon everyone was here! It makes my heart so happy to see my kids having fun with their cousins.
Dinner for 21 is served! Charcuterie that takes up our entire kitchen island!
Gramma and her lobster
Olive did not enjoy the costume. Plus it was a little small.
GJ enjoyed Olive—and vice versa!
Katie’s 5th grade conferences
All good reports on all subjects—plus she’s gaining confidence in math!
I enjoy looking at all their assignments and photos in the hallway. These were from their unit on phases of the moon—they got to make them using Oreos!
Looks like spring. Sounds like spring. Smells like spring.
Too bad it’s only mid-November.
I have so much to do today…
to prepare for our houseful of guests—but as you can see I’m off to a raring start.
You know she’s really tired when she lays somewhere like this!
Nah, this dog isn’t spoiled.
Most times that we turn the fire on it’s for the dog.
Dammit Olive.
We wondered how she was getting gloves. Then I discovered her up on the back of the couch and reaching onto the table. GRRR.
Katie home sick today!
Katie complained her throat hurt last night so off to the doctor today and…strep! Ugh. So it was lots of rest and cuddles.
Of course she felt better in the afternoon and wanted to play in the snow. So she built a mini snowman!
Here’s the new rule!
If I wasn’t so busy getting my house ready for our first huge Thanksgiving family dinner…my tree would already be up. You can bet it’s going up Thanksgiving weekend!
Career exploration at the Shedd Aquarium
After some initial super frustrating snafus with actually getting everyone INTO the aquarium, the three boys (and three parents) took a “deep dive into the day of an aquarist—the animal care staff that work with animals ranging from fishes to reptiles to birds—and learned more about this profession.” They all seemed to have fun!
Earning her keep.
Katie helped me take apart some beauty advent calendars to save some space. She owed me some work after she took some of my makeup (from my office) without asking.
Olive was being a pain in the butt so Katie put her in one of the boxes we just emptied. Olive didn’t seem to mind too much.
Making calendar angels. Or trying to.
Olive wanted attention.
And I’m a sucker.
The video edit:
Play with me.
Play hard, sleep hard.
A tiny little nugget.
