Alfredo Sauce

I made an Alfredo Sauce last week that was really quite good. I have not ever attempted alfredo sauce before. I found several recipes and just made my own using what I actually had on hand. Here is the recipe:
Alfredo Sauce

1/4 cup butter
1 cup cream
1 garlic clove
1 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup grated romano
1/2 cup grated mozarella

Melt butter in saucepan over med low heat.
Add cream and garlic.
Simmer 5 minutes.
Add grated cheese and stir till melted.

Pour over cooked pasta.
Wake up sleeping child and watch them enjoy!

Pretty Pink Dresses and Posting 101

This is officially my 101st post!
Here is a picture of Alona in her "pretty pink dress.
"

Its done.

I finished most of my sewing- well all that needed to be done by Christmas. I still have a few projects that I cut out and didn't get to yet. But Alona wore her "pretty pink dress" all day yesterday- and loved it. We had Jeff's family over for dinner along with Louis and Bridget and baby Saya. It was wonderful to have everyone together! After everyone left, I sat down in front of the sewing machine and finished a few more things! It never ends. Then, at about 9 pm (Jeff was playing a game on the PS3) I went to Celina's house to give her a present. They got Rock Band for Christmas and coerced me to play with them for a bit. I showed them how to calibrate it, how to unlock songs, create characters, and start a band. It was a wonderful day, and we sure are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

Merry Christmas!

Wow! Opening presents took about 15 minutes. The kids weren't messing around.
Ashley got the Felicity doll- thanks to Aunt Aurelia! The kids got a camera and Disney's Sing It for the PS3. And lots of movies. Like 10. Or more. Jeff got a Fender strat and amp set and shaving supplies (via The Art of Shaving). I got iTunes gift cards. Yay, more music! I always love that. Thanks to the ice/snow in Portland, I guess I still have a gift coming.
We are hosting Christmas "dunch" at our house. It's like brunch, but later (dinner+lunch=dunch). We just got a dining table and are so excited to have people over for meals now. We were just using the kitchen counter to eat at for quite some time. We don't have all of our chairs yet, but we do have plenty of folding chairs.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Rush

The masses are out shopping, but me? I am at home. I have too much to sew. The dress I am working on has to be done by Friday. It is for the sister of the groom and the wedding is Saturday. I thought I was almost done, but then she tried it on and the dress was just huge in the shoulders. So last night I picked out the seam on the sleeves. I had to remove them completely to rework the shoulders. Hopefully I can have it finished today. Then I can start on the fun stuff. I have several bags I am working on for Christmas presents. And then, there is a dress for Alona that she has been begging for since before her birthday in August. And I wanted to make some skirts for all three of the girls. sigh. There just isn't enough time....

Sisters

Ashley and Alona were sitting at the counter eating pudding this morning. Ashley was telling us that she was going to take care of animals when she grows up. Alona looked at her and asked her if they would still be friends when they are grown up. I told her of course, that's what it means to be sisters. Sisters = friends forever. Ashley said, "We will be friends even if we don't want to."
I know that for me, I feel sometimes my sisters don't consider me a friend. This makes me very sad. I hope for my daughters to never experience this. I want them to always be friends because, to me, that is what a sister should always be. You will never have another friend who is connected to you the way a sister is. There may be friends who come very close, but I have never been as hurt by a friend as I have by a sister. And I must add that I value friendships very dearly. It is harder than most would think for me to lose a friend.
I felt the need to write this down when I heard the girls talking about it because relationships, especially with family, are very important and are one of the most important things we take with us when we leave this life.

Goodies In The Mail

Last week I ordered two patterns and some Trash Ties (for hair) from the Heather Bailey website. They came today! I am so excited! I love reading her blog. It has so many great pictures and some free patterns and tutorials. I was going to make the La Fleur Debris pattern to put on the presents we gave to the girls' teachers, but since today might be the only day of school this week we decided to give the presents to them today. I am excited to try the Trash Ties in the kids' hair. I want to try them out and then maybe get them in more colors. The pincushion pattern looks fun. I can't decide if I should make the apple, the pear, or the strawberry. Maybe one of each?

ICE!!!!!!

This is our second day of no school. It is supposed to reach a whopping 16 degrees today! We got a little more snow and the partly melted snow from yesterday is completely frozen, so we are under a sheet of ice as well. The rest of the week isn't looking much better. This is the last week of school before the winter break and I wanted the kids in school. They fight more when there is no school, and I was preparing myself for two weeks. Now it looks as though it will be 3 weeks. Not to mention I can't get in any last minute Christmas shopping. It's a good thing I already have everything that really counts...except candy canes! I can always walk to Fred Meyer because it is right across the street. Much closer that Dillons was to Dad's house. I'm thinking I need to escape to the south soon. Arizona? Florida? Hmmmm....

SNOW!!!!!!!

We woke up this morning to see the snow they have been saying would be here for a couple of days now. Here are pictures. We don't get snow very often, only once or twice a season. And it usually melts very quickly. It is supposed to stay cold till Friday. I hope it doesn't melt during the day and freeze at night!

These pictures are from our back yard.

The Apple Tree

The Maple Tree

New blog for half marathon progress

I have a new blog to track our progress in training for the Half Marathon. Check it out! I will do occasional updates on this blog, but for more regular posts, check the other one.

Our Christmas Picture

This year we decided to do something a little different for our Christmas picture. So I called Marianne for some advice. Being so very artistic, she thought about and got back to me with an idea. I think Jeff was not sure about it when I first told him about it, but he is always a good sport and goes along with me on these things. So here it is! I'm pretty sure everyone has gotten their card in the mail, so it won't ruin the surprise. There are 15 little girls, 1 Mommy, and 1 Daddy. Can you find them all?

Barbie video

Just a warning: this video has disturbing images (or music). Barbie will be singing Bad Reputation by Joan Jett. Jeff and Josh thought it was hilarious and made me do it.

Half Marathon-what?! I must be crazy!

Yesterday, I was looking at an old high school friend's blog. She is a hardcore athlete. It got me thinking. I have been thinking it would be such an awesome goal to run a marathon. Now that is quite a stretch for me at this point. I think it would take quite a bit to get there. So I looked up training for a marathon on google. I found a website that gives instruction/advice for training. It has a week by week training schedule for 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon training. When Jeff got home I asked him if he would either do the 5k or half marathon with me. He said the 5k sounded good. Until Josh reminded him it was only a little over 3 miles. That's too easy for Jeff, so he agreed to the half marathon. So training is 20 weeks and it is in 21 weeks. Guess we are starting! This is quite the challenge for me, so I'm going to have to work hard. I have some foot problems, so I am hoping they won't make it impossible. I can handle a little pain anyway, right?
So now you can pick your jaws up off the floor (cause I know it is quite the shock that I am planning to run any length at all being the only family member who didn't run track in public school) and get behind me. I'm gonna need lots of encouragement and support! It will be at the beginning of May and I am planning to keep track of my progress here on the blog! So stay tuned! My only goal for this half marathon is to finish. I will work on time goals for any future runs I do.
Wish me luck!

Will Wonders Never Cease?

It is a strange day in Oregon. The sun was shining and it felt like it was 60 degrees. It might have only been 56 degrees, but it was gorgeous. Jeff got rid of all the wood from the old shed floor and even managed to get rid of the piano remains, old paint cans, and debris on the other side of the house! I am so happy to have a clean yard for a change! The biggest shock yet was that I mailed all but 2 of the Christmas cards today!!!!! Can you believe it?!! I think last year(technically this year) I was 2 months late with the cards. The two I haven't mailed are due to lack of an address and the post office being closed on Saturday and one of them is going to Brazil. I am proud of myself for actually getting stuff done this year:) I even managed to fit in a Dove Chocolate tasting party this evening- yummy!