This is going to sound like an advertisement...

Coolest Christmas gift EVER this year was a soda making machine. You heard me right. A machine that makes soda. Shawners started requesting one about two months before Christmas. When he first asked about it, I replied, "Hun, I don't know if that even exists." He was very upset that I didn't such a thing existed and very adamant that it did. Fortunately for him, the next day I heard about a machine that makes soda called Soda Stream on the radio in full on Christmas advertising from the radio DJ style - "best Christmas gift ever - never have to buy soda again - make all different flavors" and, though skeptical, added it to the Christmas gift list to email to Oma. Wisely, she decided to give his soda machine to the family so he didn't hog the soda to himself. Not that I thought we'd be worrying about having a soda out of a home machine - I mean, seriously, kinda ew, right?

Boy, was I wrong. The soda this thing makes is DELICIOUS. Not to mention free from high fructose corn syrup - the main reason I avoid buying soda and only splurge occasionally on Whole Food 365 brand or Blue Sky. Shawners and I made soda for Shawners' and Justin's friends and they gulped those things down in less than a minute. The best part? Oma ordered tons of different flavors. While I'm still not used to the strange look of the bottles, the variety and taste completely overrides any strangeness. Our flavors include Creme Soda, Root Beer, Cherry Cola, Cola, Ginger Ale, Orange Soda, probably more... and the best flavor of all Essence flavors with absolutely nothing added! The essence is literally an essential oil and super healthy to drink besides the carbonation, which secretly is the only part I crave about soda. So far I've only tried Berry Essence and haven't strayed because the berry is too darn good - reminds me of Clearly Canadian soda I used to get at the gas station when I was little.

On top of it all, making soda takes less than a minute. First you fill the bottle up with water. Then, you insert the bottle into the machine and screw it in. Pull the tab in short bursts until you hear a loud buzz, then keep pulling until you hear two more buzzes. Personally, I like more fizz so I add a few more. Not sure where the buzzing comes from - maybe from being too full? To get this part down took us a few times and included an exploding soda over the kitchen island, and a typical overflowing soda bottle, but, fortunately, in the sink. Unscrew the bottle - depending on the amount of fizz you put in you should get the traditional "opening a soda bottle" release sound at this point. Or, in one of our first cases, "exploding soda bottle" release sound. The tank of CO2 is housed in the tall white part of the machine, but is disguised so sleekly you don't even think about the heftiness of the tank after it's in there. Finally, pour in your flavor - in the case of the sodas, pour in a capful, and in the case of the essences, pour in half a teaspoon. Pour over ice, and enjoy - look at that smile on his face. Seriously that easy. And more delicious than soda out of an aluminum can or sitting in a plastic bottle for who knows how long. Now the idea of those make me say ew. Who would've thought making your own soda could be so simple and delicious?

Last but not least, not to mention economical! I didn't even think about the cost aspect since it was a Christmas gift with all the flavors included already, but now that I've been checking out the links to the actual product, I realize the economics of having one. The tiny little bottle of essence water has already made me three liters of soda and is barely touched. I'm positive I can get at least seven more liters out of it. Besides the initial investment which will pay for itself after awhile, that's less than twenty-eight cents a liter for totally natural soda. The regular flavors of soda come out to forty-one cents a liter. Now, I'm even more excited about having this soda machine. Eek!

Wishing you joy, peace, laughter, & hope

Shutterfly is doing ANOTHER promotion. They emailed me a promotion code for 10 free cards which I immediately used to order more of my holiday cards. As soon as I ordered my holiday cards they offered the option to embed my project in my blog for a $25 gift certificate. Loving it.

As far as my experience with Shutterfly, I have been meaning to review it here. Turns out I couldn't order the nice and simple flat cards with the previous promotion, so I spent a good four hours designing two fold-over holiday cards - a family one and one commemorating our ten year renewal. Designing the one commemorating our renewal was SO MUCH fun. It was as if we were a young couple designing a card for just the two of us. As we've always had at least one child since we've been together we've never taken that opportunity, so designing it was a totally fun and new experience and makes me smile every time I look at it.

After spending SO much time creating our cards, I was nervous as to how they would turn out. When I received them in the mail complete with their own cute yellow box to hold the cards and envelopes, I was blown away at the quality and brilliance of the colors. One of the people I sent them to said they were "the most gorgeous Christmas cards" she's ever seen.

As far as Shutterfly itself, I won't lie. The cards were costly. The order totaled $119 before applying the promotion which brought it down to $8.25 for shipping and handling. Had I not had the promotion offer, I might not have done it. Still, having done the promotion and seeing how amazing they turned out, I'm tempted to order my cards here next year - at least with one of their more affordable options. In addition to that, the site was quirky. Uploading my photos took some patience, and I wasn't able to have two projects open at once. I learned this the hard way as my first project would disappear when I tried to start another project in another tab to see if it would look better. Those issues took up most of the four hours time. If they were to streamline their process just a tad bit better to make it almost effortless, I could definitely see myself ordering more of their gorgeous cards.

Unfortunately, I won't post photos of the Christmas cards here as they have pictures of my boys, but here is how the renewal cards turned out:

Front of card

Inside top of card
Inside of card

To get your own $25 gift card embed your project on a blog or Web site you own. Email an active link (no screenshots, please) to the Web page containing your embedded project to: shareproject@shutterfly.com. They will confirm placement and reply to your email with a discount code. The offer expires January 31, 2011, and the promotional code is good until February 15, 2011.

Here is the obligatory Shutterfly embedded widget for the promotion, which for some reason didn't add the detail of the inside like I wanted, wouldn't let me center the image, nor did it have the brilliant color as the image appears slightly pixelated, thus I included the pictures above:

2010 Flourish Holiday 5x7 folded card

Shutterfly has elegant holiday invitations for your party.

View the entire collection of cards.

Winter Wonderland

Snowboarding at Northstar was amazing! This year I was determined we would make it to the snow, and that's how we ended up at Northstar for Christmas week. Special thanks to Brando's Mom for loaning, borrowing, and buying enough snow gear so that the only thing we had to rent was snow boots for Justinbustin.
At Northstar we took advantage of the small ratio of students to instructors at Burton Academy. While it was more costly, I figured since we only had one day there we might as well make the most out of it. I definitely didn't want to walk away without knowing how to snowboard, and I wanted Brando to actually have some time to have fun boarding the slopes and not have to be stuck like glue to us the entire time.
I'm so glad I took lessons while Brando took the runs from the top of the mountain to the bottom more than several times. My knees were burning but I was able to go down the bunny hill four or five times, and I can definitely get on my new snowboard with a gorgeous peacock on it that I heart, and do a little shredding. The kids took their lessons separate from me - thank goodness because I saw too many parents dragging crying children down the slopes. Justinbustin was catching air by the end of the day, taking the bunny hill by himself and trying to catch the fresh powder in the trees. In between boarding lessons we had lunch together and convinced a cold handed Shawners to go back out and finish his lesson by lining his gloves with hand warmers and another pair of gloves. Shawners was more on my level by the end of the day, but loved it, telling me he caught air then flipped and his board hit his head, he finished his story by saying how awesome it was.

The day was clear and gorgeous. Just before the end of the day the resort turned into a winter wonderland with gorgeous huge flakes of snow for a bit.

Before the end of the day, we boarded around together for a bit, watched Justinbustin come down the run a few times, and watched Shawners walk in knee high snow before heading back down the mountain on the gondola.

Going on our first trip to the snow ever as a family (and the kids and my first time ever) was a complete success and I still can hardly believe we went. What an amazing trip!

Christmas Time

We haven't decorated at all for Christmas as we will be elsewhere, but tonight we made Christmas crafts. Specifically, Shawners made crafts because crafts get all up in my business of annoyance. I love when other people set up a craft, show me how to do it, and then seeing the end product, but the actual buying of the materials, setting it up, and then half the time ending up with a dud? No, thanks. Fortunately, my son has much more patience than I and spent an hour alternating between putting beads in a metal frame with tweezers
and painting etching cream on a glass ornament via a design punched laminate stencil while his brother created an animated cartoon movie. Shawner's finished product was nothing short of amazing. Unfortunately, I don't have a finished shot of the Christmas tree ornament, but you can already tell from the before shot that it is even more stunning afterwards. The glass etched ornaments were new to me, but I used to love these make it and bake it ornaments as a kid! I was so happy to introduce Shawners to them, and am so glad he loved them, too.

Most Romantic Date Ever

Ice skating on top Whole Foods has to be one of my most favorite dates ever. So very romantic skating around hand in hand,
giggling and laughing at each other, squealing as Brando pushes me from behind, hands on my hips, pushing me to go faster and faster and reminding me to turn, tracing hearts in the ice. Leaning side-by-side over the edge and looking out onto the city lights. Perma-smiles as we walk down the stairs, hardly able to wait until the next time we go.

Merry Christmas!

Pretty sure each one of you would love to get free holiday cards. I definitely do, so I am passing this promotion on as a Christmas gift to you!

The cards people send me that aren't too Christmas-y end up staying up in my home year round, which I love. I chose my favorite pretty & elegant enough to pass for non-Christmas cards from shutterfly, and to make it even more special I designed my Christmas photo cards for YOU! Forgive the absence of the children - I don't like to put their photos up here.

Registration closes on December 10, 2010. Register here for 50 free holiday cards and make your own Christmas gifts.

Thanks, Christy, for the heads up.

Family and Friends

Christmas Eve we spent with my sister and her family at their house. We had pizza, salad, english toffee, and spiced wine. Yummy and easy. We exchanged gifts and it was so sweet to see Justinbustin's presents for them. He had a budget of $50 for his two cousins, and the three of us and he bought the sweetest presents! A kitchen knife for my chef nephew - his cousin, a car magazine for his car enthusiast cousin, a video game magazine and a ornament coke bottle for Brando, two Pokemon toys for Shawners, and a pyramid of Ferrero Rochers for me. I think he even had money left over! My middle nephew's sweet gift to us was a special time with him going wherever they want, and a few nights of babysitting for us! It was a special time spending Christmas Eve with my sis and her family, and a special new tradition we've begun for the last two years.

Christmas day the boys woke up and we all opened our stockings on Brando's and my bed. Then they brought the gifts from under the tree two by two and we spent the next hour and a half opening all our gifts on our bed, starting with Santa gifts. Shawners got a plethora of Pokemon toys, cards, and movies - exactly what he asked for. And Justinbustin got a huge Star Wars lego set that he has spent eight hours working on putting together since. He's almost done! He actually asked for a PSP or an iTouch but was reminded Santa doesn't do that expensive of gifts. Star Wars lego set was stretching it as it was!! My mom bought the boys remote control trucks which reminds me of Christmas mornings in SC, driving around and seeing all the remote control cars out on the streets from being opened that morning for Christmas. Santa did good this year, and all the gifts from our family were so sweet and thoughtful.

I made a baked frittata and raspberry crepes for breakfast and our neighbors, aka Justinbustin's substitute teacher and her hubby and two boys, came over for breakfast. They stayed for about three hours drinking mimosa's and coffee and visiting while the four boys played together. We've never had people over for Christmas before and it was a total blast. I can't wait to do it again!

We spent the afternoon brushing Brownie with her new furminator. We ended up with a pile of fur about a foot by a foot big!! It was AMAZING! I can actually pet her now without her fur flying all over the place or walking away with fur all over my clothing.

For dinner I made garlic and thyme crusted prime rib, mashed potatoes with au jus gravy, cranberry & feta salad, while KT joined us for Christmas dinner and brought an Alabama specialty - turnips and macaroni and cheese (she made it healthy by making it whole wheat). She also brought a DELICIOUS super soft bread from Whole Foods - yum!! I gave her the new Brittney Spears CD, Circus, a few days ago when we went shopping for Christmas because she mentioned she had wanted it a few months ago. I was so glad she hadn't got it for herself yet!! I told her she better not buy me anything in return, but she did - gorgeous silver etched earrings from Macy's that I absolutely LOVE. We had more mimosas for dinner, because she'd never had one and she hung out for about four hours. Another fun time with friends we've never experienced on Christmas before!! The kids LOVEd having their former babysitter over, and her and I sat at the table long after everyone was gone and cracked ourselves up until we were holding our stomachs and our faces were bright red from laughing too hard.

She left to go spend time with her little sister, and Brando and the boys and I settled in to watch Elf and laugh our heads off. I can't believe I hated that movie the first time I watched it!! It must've been my aversion to Will Ferrell that kept me from actually seeing the movie. Now with the boys doubting Santa's existence this year, and Santa having to write a detailed letter to Shawners explaining how he can live in the freezing Antarctic, how his reindeer can fly, how he can make it to all the houses in one night, and why he can't wake him up when he drops off the presents (last time he did that he didn't make all his deliveries and the elves made him promise not to do it again!!), I totally got into the spirit of Elf and believing in the Christmas spirit to make Santa's sleigh fly! I even sang along with Zooey Deschanel aka Emily to Santa Claus is Coming to Town!!

What a perfect way to end the evening as we finished up our movie and tucked the boys in bed. Shawners cuddling with his teddy bear in a sweater that Gma gave him, dressed in his moose pajama pants that I gave him to match the ones I gave Brando and Justinbustin (mine are pink with owls in scarves and hats and white pine trees - so cute!!), and Justinbustin big man stretched all over his bed that he is almost as big as.

Brando and I fell asleep to Fred Clause, and I savored the thing that I enjoyed most about Christmas this year. The fact that we are together, and happy. After hearing about my friend's husband moving out last week, it struck me how shallow I had been with gifts and realized I could have returned them all and been happy just having my family with me and being happy together with having friends there as a sweet added bonus.

What the cold does

Delicious breakfast with blueberry pancakes, maple sausage, bacon, eggs, coffee, and strawberry peach smoothies that the boys made. Being so excited for breakfast I could hardly eat.

Trail of Lights in the freezing cold. Scarves, hats, gloves and socks when there aren't enough gloves to go around. Standing close to the giant bonfire. Spinning around under the Zilker Christmas tree. Drinking hot cocoa and eating kettle corn. Walking at a steady pace along the lit up displays is almost worth the cold. Pictures in the tunnel of lights and next to the huge blue and white lit up tree are priceless. More kettle corn. Warming up our hands on the heater when we get to the car.

Last minute Christmas shopping with my neighbor and new friend, JenH, while three of our boys do chores together and play the Wii at home. Bringing Shawner's Nintendo DS so he'll stay distracted while we hit up World Market for stocking stuffers. Picking up KT while she waits for her cars oil to get changed. Going to Walmart for socks, gloves, and an airsoft gun for her oldest. Dropping off KT, then JenH, and having leftover yummy breakfast for lunch. 

KT picking the boys and I up after lunch for my first four hour mall shopping excursion I've had in a looooong time. Parking them with their Nintendo DS's in a corner of each store to keep them entertained. Hitting up almost every store in the mall and having so much fun remembering all a mall has to offer. Eating mini chocolate chip cookies from the cookie store. Perusing for our men. Getting a small item for Brando, but finding nothing else for them. Wondering why guys are so hard to buy for. 

Watching the boys give K the gifts I bought her. Girls night in with Christmas presents from and for Li, M, and Ambr. Finale of the Hills and warm fuzzies (I won't say anymore since I just realized blog readers might not be so yellow text friendly if I were to make it blend into my background). Warm tortilla soup with avocados, lime juice, cheese and tortilla strips. White wine that doesn't keep me up at night.

Brrrr

Gosh it's been freezing lately! Yesterday it barely hit 36F and today it's 50F but it still feels freezing because of the humidity hanging in the air. Did I mention it SNOWed last week? And stuck around in the eaves of our building until 2:30pm? Totally hot chocolate and curled up on the couch with a book evenings.

You Call Us Perfectionists, We Call it Smart

We created a pros and cons list for keeping the (adorable) dog. They were pretty even with the pros falling behind by a tad so we assigned a point system to each pro or con. The cons won out by 6 points but we solved one of the dilemnas, which was car travel, which took away 8 points, which made the pros win by 2. Then we thought of another pro - that it will actually help Justin with his pronoun usage, which we assigned a point value of 8. So pros were up by 10 at that point. For now...

Santa Got Stollen for Christmas

Shawners was worried that we didn't have cookies for him so he wrote him a note that said this stollen is for you Santa, sorry it's not cookies. Justinbustin wrote him a note that said Merry Christmas. As you can see Santa was just fine with the stollen.

We had a flurry of presents this evening, a German tradition of opening gifts on Christmas Eve, and saved the very best few for tomorrow morning. And of course Santa Clause will be bringing gifts tonight and filling our stocking with Christmas goodies! We all exercised patience of the greatest kind waiting for tonight to open presents... and really enjoying the day together. Really enjoying what Christmas is truly about - the gift of love and the birth of the baby Jesus. So the loot list will wait until later. Merry Christmas to all of you! Hope your day is filled with the ones you love.

On a Planned Note

We opened gifts from Opa this morning and Shawner's gift that he was entirely unhappy with he is now completely engrossed in. It must be the age. Justiners, the one we were worried about, was perfectly happy with his Learning Case and says, "Yay! Math!" The stollen is yummy, the coffee is warm, the Christmas tree is full of presents - and this is a tough year. Our lives are full of people who love us and it's a beautiful day to cozy in and be.


stollen: An annual holiday tradition hailing from Germany, stollen is a sweet dessert bread made with nuts, raisins and other dried fruits. Oebel is a world favorite, known for their delicious varieties (the moist marzipan is especially popular), superior quality and rich buttery flavor. Try it toasted for Christmas morning breakfast, or use for a memorable French toast, as well as for dessert, snacking and gift giving throughout the holidays.

We May've Been Given A Dog For Christmas

Brando's brother came downstairs this morning with a puppy in his arms asking if we could watch her while he's away the next few days and asking to talk to B and I. Then said that was his thought of a Christmas present to us and the boys if we wanted and that he has everything for her, the huge kennel, the dog bowl, the leash and collar, complete shots and free vet visit. He adopted her from some Christmas adoption thing. She's colored black and brown and the same as Shawner's little puppy, Brownie. We're watching her for the next few days and thinking on it. I've never had a puppy before, but I know they are almost as much darn work as a baby - only you can leave them alone at home when you need to go somewhere. What are your thoughts? I'm thinking a bunny would've been easier :) .

Illusion

I swear I didn't dissappear! Things have been really quiet around here with J on break from school, the Christmas parties over, and everything else on break as well, and we've been enjoying every moment.

Walkway of Lights

in order of appearance...

Major Case of Cabin Fever

If there was a backyard nearby for the boys to play in, heck it could be the neighbor's backyard even, I would've been saying "GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!!!" four hours ago. Instead they are in their room very sweetly wrapping present after present of their belongings to give away to Mommy and Daddy and each other. So far it's been a chess set from Justinbusting and a ball from Shawners for Daddy, a batman car and the madagascar lion from Shawners for me, and there's quite a few other things not identified under the tree.

Satsumas and Sunshine

It's a gorgeous 75 degree weather day out there. They are building an extreme home makeover home in our town and the boys and I went to the benefit concert with Trace Adkins on Monday night. It was invitation only and Brando received an invitation. I was expecting a mob, but there was less than a hundred people there which was really nice. Ty Pennington was standing next to us and Paul introduced himself to us. I was a little awestruck mostly because Brando wasn't there and I REALLY wish he could've been. That is his. favorite. show. ever. He cries. The boys are too young to volunteer so we're content with the concert. Keep an eye out for them on the show. They spent a little time with the cameras in the boys faces!

It's that time of the month and I haven't been taking my calcium and acidopholus like I should so it has been a roller coaster week. Monday I was in tears and lost on the east side of town. Tuesday was okay. Wednesday I don't think I wanted to go anywhere and yesterday I actually did go nowhere and stayed in my skivvies until 3pm. I even succeeded in painting my nails, letting them dry, talking on the phone, and falling off the chest in our living room that doubles for a day bed. Today I didn't eat all day until now when I finished off the fig newtons and started searching for something else. I went for the marinated beets and came up with an avocado, beet, and spring mix salad drizzled with balsamic and olive oil. Mmm. Not quite filling, so then I ate a delicious satsuma orange with the super easy peel skin. In a minute I'm going to finish the other half of the avocado.

This time last year I was looking forward to going to my Grandma's for Christmas. This year we are staying home, and with the rush of events we've had so far this year, I'm glad for that. At the same time it's always a little sad when there's not going to be extra family around. After the holidays last year I was extremely sad family wasn't around. Not so much this year, though I do miss the free whenever babysitting! Seriously so much drama has gone on back home that it reminds me daily of so many of the reasons why we are here and not there. Not that we don't miss them. It's just good that we're here. I'm glad I can say that now and mean it.

Williams-Sonoma Overload

All this showed up at our door in addition to three more hot chocolate tins, peppermint bark and kinder-chocolata. We have plenty to give away this year! That or get really really sick with all this sugary goodness.


Oh. my. God. Literally. I just received three more packages from Williams-Sonoma.
And that doesn't include the two box holiday cookie sampler that I couldn't find the picture of. My holiday shopping is complete. By the way for those of you that aren't awares this is all from my mil. Becky I so know you're reading this with your jaw dropped. It's no joke.