Winter and whatever else I feel like writing about...

Winter hates my skin. For as long as I can remember, all the frigid months of every year have made it their personal goal to put my defenseless shell through hell. Believe me, it's not pretty.

Exhibit A:
One of my poor calves...
Scaly, flaky, pink patches of skin. This is the only exhibit I will show, but the scales have also invaded the tops of my feet, my knees, outer thighs, and posterior. It doesn't matter how much lotion I apply or how much water I drink-- the dryness prevails.
You know those lotion infused spa socks they make? Forget those. I need some lotion infused pants. Ones that intermittently drizzle a coat of lotion over my dehydrated hide as I go about my day. If that wouldn't solve the problem, maybe drinking lotion instead of water would help. Or perhaps a lotion IV?
Winter, what did I ever do to you? Oh well. I guess things could always be worse. Like if every inch of my skin spontaneously disintegrated the moment winter arrived.


With the first official snowfall a few days ago, Oliver helped me make a snowman.

He contributed by patting small mounds of the fluffy, white stuff onto the growing snow body.
He asked if he could throw snowballs at our creation, but I discouraged it. Then he asked me to build a little snowman for him to throw snowballs at. He wound up going inside before I even finished this one, probably to throw his toys all over the house.


At first I thought I didn't have anything to make a face for our blank snowguy. But then I remembered some old Easter candy in my stash. I (somehow) let some Cadbury Eggs expire in a dresser drawer, so I sliced one in half to make eyes. Then I found an orange Easter egg candy for the nose, and some stray licorice for the smile. I thought he looked pretty sweet.


I coaxed Oliver back outside to help me decorate the snowboy and pose for pictures.

Then we went in the house as the snow continued to fall all afternoon. The snow would later turn to deadly drops of rain...


Notice how he's slumped to the side here, as if staring into his own grave. His sloppy noggin became one with the wintery ground by nightfall. =(

Well, shoot. And he had such a promising future...


On a happier note, I found something yummy at Dollar Tree. I've bought these boxes of SwirlStix at WinCo for the past few summers, but they've always been a variety pack. The best flavor, cotton candy, was always quickly consumed by the first two lucky treat eaters, leaving the less desirable flavors to sit unloved in the dark freezer.
No need to leave "anyone" out anymore, since I found a box with only the cotton candy kind inside. Yum! Who knows if they'll still be available like this by summertime, so I bought 3 packs to tide us over for the time being.

I like knowing they're in my freezer. And if I can't get them in the summer, at least I can look back at the picture and maybe lick it a little if I really need to.


A couple of months ago I took some time to read all the notes and letters from one of my longtime favorite friends, Renee. I always enjoy little trips down memory lane, but her notes make me miss those days. I've mentioned this before, but as of last summer, she and I have been friends for 20 years!
From 8th grade to college age, we exchanged frequent silly notes. Some about boys, some about school and teachers, and lots of fun, fictional stories in between.

It was hard to get a picture to adequately portray the volume of papers in this notebook.
We had the best time writing stories. I haven't done so since I was about 19. When Renee was away at BYU, along with handwritten tales of college blunders, I even made her a couple of audio stories on cassette tape, complete with noises taken from a set of professional sound effects CDs.

I'm trying to figure out how and what I can write now that I'm "grown up". I haven't tried to make up a story in so long. It used to come so easily. I just have too many distractions in life now. Or do I? I know I'm just making excuses. I didn't ever let school get in the way of my story-writing time back then. Why do I let crap get in the way of me being creative now? I think I need to just make myself do this. Make myself write. It's not that I don't want to. I just don't know where to start! Maybe a brainstorming session with Renee?

The rest of December...

I want to share one more medley of things that made December memorable.

1. I got Cora and Jane each a pair of these spectacular sprinkle doughnut PJ bottoms for Christmas. Sometimes I feel a little guilty giving them things that I like, but then I remember my girls aren't picky, plus they like cute things. It just kills me how often I happen upon sweets-inspired attire or decor. It's everywhere I turn. I think I smell another shopping hiatus coming on. If I don't see it, I don't know it's there. (But then I'll always sit there wondering what darling trinket I'm missing out on.)

Yay for super-soft, extra cute jammies!


A little blurry, but I love her smile in this picture.


2. I loved checking the mailbox as the month ticked by, finding cards within from treasured people near and far. While I enjoyed receiving all of them, the one my sister Megan's family created was my favorite by far.

They turned to Savers for their wardrobe choices, got all dolled up, grabbed some props and took their own photos in the beautified lobby of the hotel where Megan's husband (Mike) works. They used their creepiest, cheesiest faces, and later Mike pieced together the most priceless shots for a Christmas card not to be forgotten. On the bottom it says "The Bryants: Very Classy"
Yup, they drew a mustache on their son, Fletcher. =)

3. A few weeks before Christmas, I bought this pretty poinsettia at WinCo, of all places. It's still going strong. I love how it looks in our green living room. I was excited to discover this variety; I like it much more than the typical red poinsettia.

So pretty.


4. Ryan typically enlists one of his sisters' assistance when Christmas shopping, as shopping is not within his comfort zone. So he and Jackie went to the mall one afternoon. They were lured into Pottery Barn, and as he later told me, they encountered a persistent saleslady. Long story short, he came out with a new Nativity Set for our family. It's a pretty one, and probably the only grown-up-looking Christmas decor we own.


I like it because the figures look like they're made of those iced molasses cookies; brown underneath, and drizzled with a white glaze. Call me crazy, but that's what came to my mind when the box was first opened. =) I also like it because it's a beautiful Nativity Set.


5. Santa gave the girls these adorable Lego sets. They've been having oodles of fun constructing things.

I've always been a fan of Lego windows and doors. The ones in this set are so stinkin' cute.

"I've fallen, and I can't get up!" (The girls weren't around when I took this picture. I should have asked if they'd intentionally left the one chick lying helplessly on her back while the others merely looked on.)

6. One day, Erin called to clue me in on the presence of a Candy Land T-shirt at Old Navy. When I went the next day, they only had an XL left. Shoot. I told Erin, and I think later that day she returned to the Nampa store and found me a medium. She then declared it her Christmas gift to me. What a fantastic sister!

Excuse the wrinkles. They might be due to hugging myself so much while wearing it. ;)

Yippee!

A few days prior to Christmas, Erin and I finally made it to see Breaking Dawn. It was pretty much what was expected. Afterward, we went to Dickey's BBQ Pit to try it out. I thought it was yummy. I had the marinated chicken on a lil' hoagie, with baked potato casserole and a Caesar salad. We were delighted to find that they provide a self-serve, soft-serve ice cream machine with mini cones for customers to take advantage of, and it's free! We did take advantage of that machine.

7. The Tuesday after Christmas, Renee and I went over to Maria's to watch Fired Up and Bring It On. (Cheerleader movies. Not what I would have picked, but they were fun to watch anyway. Anything's fun with Renee and Maria.)

8. The only things I asked for for Christmas were 3 albums; TMBG's latest release, and She&Him, Volumes One and Two. I had recently been made aware of the existence of She&Him. I don't know how it took me so long to realize that Zooey Deschanel had music albums out. I'm slow, I guess. Anyway, Ryan put all three of the albums on the iPod Becky bequeathed me, along with most of our existing music collection. (All of the music Becky put on there remains as well.) It was a nice surprise, and now I don't have to worry about the aggravation of CDs skipping. He got me an adapter cord thing so I can listen in the car, too. Woo-hoo!

I really like the old-fashioned style of Zooey's music. Some of it sounds like it's straight from the '60s. And her voice is so nice to listen to. I'd treated myself to their Christmas album earlier in the month when I first heard about it. Then I knew I wanted the rest of their music. It's just so simple and refreshing.

9. Too early one morning, Oliver strutted into our room and asked, "Mom, can we make cookies now?" I said, "Let's wait until the sun comes up." Looking out the window he determined, "It smells like the sun is up!" I had to snicker, but then I convinced him to crawl into bed with me and snuggle until the sun was definitely up.


10. The coming of December meant we'd been living in our lovely house for a whole year! A lot of work and improvements have been done, and the coming dozen months will likely bring many more.

These 10 reasons, among many others, are why I'll remember December, 2011.

Now all we can do is sit here, rocking back and forth, waiting to see what 2012 brings.

New choo-choo train.

As I previously mentioned, Oliver got a train set from Grandpa Lytle for Christmas.

He's in love with it!

These pictures were taken the day after Christmas.


He got new Superman jammies, as his others had a big hole in the knee and were getting pretty ratty. I should have ordered one for every day of the week. When we're not going anywhere important, I let him keep his favorite outfit on. He gets a lot of attention when we're out and about. Almost everywhere we go, at least one person exclaims, "It's Superman!" He doesn't even seem to notice it anymore.
It's strange seeing him in jeans and a t-shirt because I'm so used to his Superman suit. When he's wearing anything else, he asks to change back into his prized jammies the instant we return home.

Being a human bridge.









It's a really sturdy train.







That day he didn't take a nap, it was after 5:00 PM, and he was mesmerized by the movement of the wheels on the track. He asked me for a pillow so he could lie down while watching the train pass by.

He kept staring at it, and staring at it... minute after minute...then he asked for a blanket... Not long after that, I peeked in to see this...



Sweet little sleepy boy. It wasn't even 6:00 PM. I didn't have the heart to wake him, so after a while I carried him up to his bed and he slept all night until around 8:30 the next morning. That's my boy. Such a good sleeper. I guess Christmas tuckered him out.

Anyway, the train is a fantastic addition to our family.

Not-so-plain Jane

Jane's a busy girl. Always up to something fun and/or creative.

On the 23rd of December, Jane and her neighbor friend (Emma) decided to take a series of pictures of each other to be used for some kind of book they talked briefly about making. I found these when I loaded the pics onto my computer.



Either Oliver or Cora took this picture of these two pretending to sleep.


I guess Oliver didn't want to be left out of the sleep-faking fun. He's pretty convincing!


Same day, third outfit.



Another outfit, same day. No wonder her closet is always a nightmare.
I like this picture. I cropped out a bunch of unnecessary curtain.


I wonder what Janey will be when she grows up.


It's ironic that she's been begging me to let her quit piano lessons. She hates practicing.


One day she came home from school and was bored, so she got her white board and drew all over it.
I loved it.
She is such an artistic girl.
I love Jane.

Remember December?

Welp, it's not Christmastime anymore.

I was somewhat sad to see the holiday go, but a bit relieved at the same time. It goes without saying (but I'm going to say it anyway) that December tends to be a tad busy. It's kind of funny how I always seem to assign myself an extra dose of duty this time of year. What? I ask. You need help making more than 300 cookies for the ward party on the 10th? I'll make 200! What? The Relief Society needs dozens of cookies for the prison? I'm sure I can find time to make 2 dozen of the chocolate chip variety, on top of the 200 sugar cookies I need for the same day! Cookies? Piece of cake! I thought.

While it's true I thoroughly enjoy producing cookies, they certainly do take up a fat chunk of my time. And this was just the first round. Later in the month I decided I needed to bake a big-butt batch of sugar cookies for family festivities, along with a modest number of gingerbread guys and gals, plus two recipes worth of chocolate-and-almond-covered butter toffee. I don't know if Christmas would even show its face if I failed to do some customary baking.

Somehow I didn't take pictures of anything other than the ward party star cookies. What the heck is the matter with me? Due to the quantity of these, I didn't make them very detailed. When I made my personal batch later, I used a variety of cutters and spent a little more time making each cookie cute. So just try to picture an array of mittens, ornaments, Santa hats and stockings- all decorated with a few degrees more care than the stars shown above.

Okay, so I did take a picture of these pre-cooked mini gingerbread men. Seeing all their tiny figures lined up made me giggle as I imagined the circus that would be my kitchen if they tried the stunt their great-g-g-g-great grandpappy pulled in that gingerbread man storybook.

Just envision the amount of run-running and can't-catching I'd be doing in that eventuality. =)



At the beginning of the month, Jane set up "Christmas Corner" in our living room.

She originally made it for her mini (stuffed animal-type) gingerbread kid to live in. She kept adding on to it and rearranging things as the month progressed.


Special instructions on the white board.


That's Mr. Fluffy Pants by the stop sign. A gatekeeper of sorts.



There's the gingerbread girl on the left, nestled in bed. =) Notice the cute mantle drawing Jane made and put in there. (This is one of our end tables, by the way. Far too tempting for a creative little girl with doll domiciles on her mind.)

In the thick of the Christmas season, Cora had a big day at school. She is a part of the Challenge program that meets once a week at a different elementary school. They work on projects and researching things, etc. They had an open house for family and friends on the afternoon of the 15th. Each student had picked a culture to focus on. They had to create a board game having to do with that culture, write a little report, and make an object out of clay to symbolize her work.

She chose China.



She had trivia questions on the cards. I thought she did a great job on it!

That same afternoon was her first orchestra concert! She plays the viola.




She's so into this song! I thought the program went nicely, and I hope Cora sticks with it a while. She's improved considerably since she started in September-- not as many screeching strings now. ;)
She seems to be quite musically inclined. She's still taking piano lessons, and is really getting good at it. I still can't get her to sing audibly (dangit!), but I'll be happy just to hear her make music of any kind.


Soon enough, Christmas was here. I finished all the shopping and about 2/3 of the wrapping by the 23rd. I don't think I've ever gotten done "early".

Christmas Eve was spent at Ryan's brother's house on the outskirts of Caldwell. Ryan's parents, siblings, nieces and nephews were there. We had Mexican food, assorted desserts, a gift exchange, and a devotional. Then it was time to get home so Santa could swing by. About halfway there, as the radio blasted The Chipmunks' "Christmas Song", our car decided to overheat. We pulled over as soon as possible. Steam spewed forth from the hood. We called Ryan's bro to see if anybody else was on their way past. Lucky for us, Ryan's dad and bro-in-law were. I won't go on about every detail, but we were so glad we had someone to rescue us! They were able to add the needed fluid to the proper receptacle and get it home without further incident. I guess we had a leak.

The kids opened their new pajamas when we got home, put them on, and I ushered them to bed. I should be fired as the photographer in my home-- I didn't take a picture of the new jammies, or ANY pictures on Christmas Day. Flip. I don't know how it happened. The day just slipped by and I didn't have the camera right there with me. Bad mommy.

While I finished wrapping presents, Ryan set up the train track around the tree. Ryan's dad got a Lionel train and track set for each of the 3 little grandsons. It's not exactly kid-friendly, but he wants the boys to carry on his love of locomotives, and didn't want to get them some hunk-o-junk setup. I think his plan is working.

Our tree after Santa came.


We all got up around 8, opened presents, played; fixed scrambled eggs, sausage links and toast, then got gussied up for church, which started at 1:00. We only had sacrament meeting, and it was nice. Mostly music and pre-assigned testimonies. One of the young women played a carol on the harp, which was pretty.
I had been asked all the way back in October to put together a women's musical number for the occasion. Eight of us sang "Mary's Lullaby", a Primary song. I think it turned out pretty okay, if not a little too loud. But it was nice, right?

After church, we gathered our cookie trays and went to my parents' house to see my side of the family. We grazed on deli style sandwiches, dips and chips, and assorted other treats. We loitered, exchanged gifts, and chatted. Then some of us played a game, Last Word, which was pretty entertaining. We were there a few hours, then stopped by Ryan's parents' house for a bit on our way home, where we opened a few more things.

It was a really good day. And we did all the driving around in our trusty '96 Toyota Tercel, since the Pacifica was having a time-out in our garage until we could get it in to see a mechanic.

Since I regrettably didn't take any treasured Christmas Morning photos, I went back a few days later and took pics of the cutest presents.

I got the girls these charming mugs.

Cora got the giraffe one, Jane got the zebra. What? You don't think they're anything special?

Then take a peek inside!

I found one at Cost Plus and the other at Pier 1. When I saw the first one, it instantly triggered a memory. Hey! I used to have a mug with a tiny animal in it! Unfortunately, the memory wasn't strong enough to supply my mind with the type of animal it was. I think my sister and I each had one with a different animal. All I remember is happily drinking milk from my mug. At first glance, it was just a pool of white liquid. But as the milk level decreased, the cute, little, ceramic critter gradually appeared. I'd forgotten all about my childhood mug until the moment I saw the first one of these. The sentimental nature of my discovery caused me to buy it, of course. And I was pumped when I happened upon the other one a short time later. I just hope they stay intact longer than mine apparently did! By the way, Cora and Jane were as thrilled about theirs as I was about mine. =)

Next, I wanted to get Jane some cute Barbie dresses. I am consistently unimpressed and/or disgusted by the options available in Barbie aisles everywhere. The quality and prices are laughable. So, I turned to Etsy. And I came across these...

Some crafty lady busies herself making scores of these darling dresses. I was so impressed. I absolutely love everything about them! Except that I couldn't find one in my size!

One evening, a couple of weeks before Christmas, I was wandering around TJ Maxx, when I spotted something marvelous. A tri-fold, canvas, candy shop masterpiece! Perfect! It was only $60. A steal of a deal, considering the sugar-inspired work of art it is. I had to get it. I knew I would kick myself many painful times if I passed this beauty up. Everyone knows I'm a sucker for sugar.


It looks sweet as can be in Jane's ice cream cone themed bedroom.
I almost didn't even go over to that side of the store. Just think of the lifetime of delight I would have missed out on!



The painter did such a perfect job illustrating my dreams.


So cute!

I love the details-- down to the scalloped shelves and yummy-looking chocolate covered strawberries.


It stands up like this, but Jane likes it flat against the wall. I guess it's less likely to tip over that way...

A few days after Christmas, I took Jane and Oliver with me to Pocatello for a long-overdue visit. Ryan had to work, and Cora doesn't have anyone left in Poky she wanted to visit, so she stayed home to spend time with her cousin, Malory.

We met some pretty priceless friends while living there a few years back. We've stayed in touch and we love getting to see them whenever circumstances allow.

Melanie, my closest Poky pal, has a daughter who is Jane's BFF. It works out great for visiting purposes. When we are there, we spend the bulk of our time hanging out at their place.

Jessie and Janey



This is Mel with Oliver and me. I don't know why my face looks so slippery.


It looks like I got some Crystal Gravy on my cheeks and chin. And my bangs could use a trim.

We stayed Wednesday-Saturday morning, which didn't turn out to be long enough. Jane spent the night at Jessie's all three nights, but due to lack of space, Oliver and I stayed in a hotel one night, then at my fun friend Suzy's house in Idaho Falls the other two nights. Suz and I have known each other since high school, where we sang in a quartet together. I was excited to get to stay at her family's beautiful home, where she tried her best to fatten me up. But really, she's wonderfully hospitable. In case anyone needs a place to stay in Idaho Falls. ;)

And that's it for now. I have a few more December gems for another post, but I fear this one is already too long.
I hope everyone had a fanciful Christmas, as I did.