Family » Life Lyn Style

A Wonderful Christmas Day minus enough SLEEP

Dec 262011

Christmas Eve went really well for us. Santa came around 10PM and I was ready for bed. Unfortunately, Sally was not. Even though she had been tucked in around 8PM, she was still awake. Stephen and I took turns trying to calm her down. It didn’t work. Finally, I went to bed around 11:30PM. Stephen’s Christmas morning started around midnight with an hour long car ride, hoping that would make Sally fall asleep. They finally made it to bed around 1:30AM. By 5:30AM, I was up with Sally. By 6:30AM, Nick was up too. I went ahead and starting baking the bread pudding that Nick had made the evening before.

We let Stephen sleep until 7AM and then Nick went up to wish him a “Good Christmas Morning”. They came down and we opened some gifts.

The “biggest” gift was a kitchen and a tool bench that friends had given us. Both Sally and Nick were impressed with the wrapping, which consisted of a blue sheet covering the goods. Sally thought it was a card table since we usually make card table tents with a sheet in the living room.

We spent the next couple of hours enjoying present opening, bread pudding, enjoying new things and getting ready for a trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

We arrived in time for Christmas dinner and then enjoyed opening gifts. It was fun to have all of the family together.

We surprised mom and dad by giving them a room at a beach house for a week this summer. I think we have 5 families going in June. My sister made the card which included a photo of the house and the dates. It’s a joint gift from their kids and covers several holidays (birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Earth Day, etc.). Dad was happy too, but he doesn’t show excitement like mom. I think this is my favorite photo of the day.

Sally really likes her aunts. Here’s a photo of her with Aunt Holly. Uncle Frank liked his shirt. He’s studying to be an engineer.

Lily got a “big girl” bike. She was quite happy. Carol was perplexed with this gift. She had no idea that Stephen had got her cheese (and a few other items)! She loves cheese and was very happy with the gift.

After gifts, we tried to get the kids to nap, played some games and enjoyed our family time.

After enjoying some left overs for dinner, we headed home via some Christmas light displays. Once home, we used Skype to open gifts with Stephen’s parents and brother in Delaware. Technology is a wonderful thing.

We had a great day!

Merry Christmas Music!

Family No Responses »

Dec 252011

Santa came and we had a great day! We listened to holiday music of all types today.

Here are my top 5 Christmas songs in no particular order:

1) Sleigh Ride

2) Carol of the Bells

3) Thistlehair the Christmas Bear

4) Feliz Navidad

5) Linus and Lucy

Of course there are many more fabulous Christmas songs, but these are the top ones that come to mind. I’ll be back tomorrow with a full recap of our wonderful day.

Christmas Eve Day!

Adventures with Nick and Sally, Family No Responses »

Dec 242011

We spent the day as a family of four. We started out shopping at Heinen’s around 8AM. By 9AM we were making cookies.

Stephen worked on Stollen all day. It’s bread with cherries and raisins and usually is served with a glaze. We haven’t tasted it yet.

Both kids napped today. I did too! Then, we all got ready for church. Our service was at 5PM.

After church we enjoyed an appetizer type dinner with cheese, spread, crackers, shrimp, meatballs, hot dogs and more.

Nick helped me make the bread pudding for Christmas morning. It’s all ready to go into the oven when we wake up.

We finished the day enjoying a cookie and now the kids are tucked in and we are finishing up a few things for the morning. Good night!

Grandma’s Christmas Party

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Dec 202011

Usually my Grandma has a Christmas party the Saturday between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Since Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, her party was on December 17th this year. It sure felt early!

The party was at my aunt and uncle’s house. They also host Thanksgiving. The Christmas party is much calmer and less hectic. There was family, food and fun! There were 4 main courses to the evening. They included pizza, salad, cookies and drinks. My uncle home brews beer and there’s always a new beer to try. There are also usually some shots of sorts throughout the evening.

No family affairs are complete without a game of Scrabble. We have some really good players in our family. Although it’s a 4 person game, routinely it’s played in teams so more people can play.

My aunt is good at getting toys out for the kids. Nick and Sally were the only two kids at the party and after pizza, a tub of Legos appeared.

Nick enjoyed checking them out. It’s so cool that his Great Grandma will get down on the floor and play with him. It’s so precious to build awesome memories!

Sally liked all of the little pieces. She’s still a bit little for them, but she had an audience, so I wasn’t worried. My aunt’s tree was tall and slender and looked great with all of the Grandma’s packages around it.

Sally and Aunt Carol take the best photos together!

This clock on the wall cracks me up. It’s more than 15 inches across and has a prominent spot on the wall. The funny thing is that everyone is always asking what time it is and everyone is always looking at their phone for the answer. Sometimes things are too obvious.

Aunt Melissa gave us this pink comforter and a few pillows for Sally. The kids fell in love immediately. And, so did Aunt Carol. It was getting late.

Soon after these photos, it was time for pajamas and the drive back home. We took a few detours to look at the awesome Christmas lights in their neighborhood.

Thistlehair the Christmas Bear

Adventures with Nick and Sally, Family No Responses »

Dec 042011

Whenever we decorated the tree or opened presents growing up, we listened to Alabama Christmas. Specially, we liked the song “Thistlehair the Christmas Bear”. Even today, we always play this at our family’s holiday gathering. So, we played it this week as we set up our tree.

It really was a week long project. One night Stephen made room and rearranged the entertainment center gate.

Another day, he put the tree together. Another day, he put colored lights on the tree. One night was spent debugging them. We ended up with the white lights this year.

The kids are super excited!

Finally, they got to help decorate.

I handed them ornaments and untangled hooks. Their hanging job was pretty good.

Here’s the finished product. My grandmother made the angel for the top. My mom always hung red bows on our tree growing up.

We’re excited for the holidays this year. Our calendar is filled with fun events and we’ll be keeping busy.

Workout Plan

Exercise, Family No Responses »

Nov 282011

My knee is finally showing great improvements. It still gets a bit swollen and tender after activity, but generally doesn’t bother me. Next week on Monday, I am going to do a full spin class. That will be the test.

With the holiday weekend, I didn’t go to the gym. But, I tried to stay active. On Thanksgiving, we had a morning hike as a family. Later after dinner, my sister and I went on a walk. Sunday, we walked a bit in the rain to go over the two suspension cable bridges that go over Grainger near Canal Road. Nick’s wanted to see them up and close all summer and yesterday was the day.

Today, I did a set of weights along with 30 minutes on a stationary bike.

The next few weeks will be tough for workouts. There are many activities planned throughout the month that involve food and not activity.

I’m planning on a solid 3 workouts a week and hoping that I can usually get 4.

For the rest of the week:

Tuesday: off from the J.

Wednesday: high intensity elliptical workout for 45 minutes. I need to charge my ipod and load some new songs.

Thursday: off from the J.

Friday: eSpinner bike and weights.

Also, I’d like to implement a family walk most nights after dinner. I’m not sure if that is realistic. We’ll give it a try tomorrow.

The Muppets, Luigi’s, Swenson’s and games

Adventures with Nick and Sally, Family No Responses »

Nov 252011

We spent the day with my family. We started out with a 10:30AM showing of The Muppets.

We beat the rush and arrived to find an empty black Friday parking lot. It wasn’t even that crazy by the time we left.

This was the “passing of the torch” as the new generation of cousins carried on with the tradition of a movie the day after Thanksgiving. This is a tradition that I grew up. Sally is still a bit young, but Nick enjoyed his first movie with 2 of his cousins.

He enjoyed popcorn, previews and the whole movie theatre experience.

After the movie, Stephen and Nick spent the afternoon at home. I enjoyed Luigi’s with my siblings and some shopping with my sister.

Later, we met up at my parent’s house for Swenson’s and some pre-birthday cupcakes for Sally. She even got a few gifts.

We ended the evening with a few rounds of Bananagrams before heading home.

Happy Anniversary G&G!

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Nov 242011

Today, I am thankful for many things. As we head to dinner with my family at Uncle Marty’s house, we will also celebrate the 65th wedding anniversary of my grandparents. They were married on Thanksgiving morning.

Here’s a photo of them with Stephen and I taken at our wedding September 16, 2006.

I’m so happy to share this day with them and many other family members.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Trip to the Dentist

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Nov 162011

I used to like going to the dentist. I had the same dentist for my first 30+ years. I even kept him when I moved from Akron to Mayfield Heights. Once Nick was born and started getting teeth, I decided that I needed to get a local dentist. So, 6 months ago, I found a local dentist that I like. His office is about 7 minutes from our house.

Last Thursday, Nick and I went for our 6 month check ups. I was told that I had a cavity and that I’ll need a crown soon. I was also told of another problem spot that we need to watch. ARGH!

My old dentist used to tease me about how he never made any money off of me. I went years and years without cavities or problems. Maybe I’m just getting old.

Today, I went in for an 8AM appointment to have my cavity filled. The dentist numbed me with a topical solution and then gave me a shot of local anesthesia. I was especially nervous today since the last time I was in for a cavity, I felt something in the middle of drilling. The same thing happened today! So, I got another dose of medicine and things were better.

The problem is that it takes a while for the medicine to kick in and my mouth, tongue, face, ear, head, etc. continued to get numb for at least an hour after my appointment ended.

By noon, I couldn’t feel anything yet. Around 1PM, I started to get my sensation back. The rest of the day, my mouth just hurt from all of the poking and prodding. I’ve been hungry, but eating hasn’t been appealing. I was glad that I made yummy applesauce yesterday.

Most of the day, I’ve just been a grump. I see an early bed time in my future!

Fabulous Food Show

Family No Responses »

Nov 142011

For some reason, I have a hard time finding gifts for my husband. I’m “anti-Amazon” wish list and feel like my gifts should be more personal. So, for his birthday present, I decided that a trip to the Fabulous Food Show was in order. We had talked about going a couple of times in the past, but hadn’t been willing to spend the money. It was $25 each to get in the door, plus extra if you wanted to see a celebrity chef.

We took the kids to Akron to stay with their grandparents and aunt Carol for the day and headed to the IX Center. I was glad that we bought out tickets ahead and didn’t have to wait in line.

We were able to walk right in. One of my favorite areas of the show was the local farm section. It was fun to see so many products that we were familiar with. We returned at the end of the day to make a few purchases.

The highlight of the day was seeing Michael Symon. The theatre was set up like a rock concert with screens, stadium seating and lights! He made a braised pork shank with a Brussels sprout slaw. It looked great! We loved his shirt and are trying to figure out how to make one ASAP. It’s a tyrannosaurus dinosaur with a carrot and says EAT LOCAL.

We came across this set up for a make it and take it gingerbread house. I thought it was a little cheap looking for $15, but I’m looking forward to making one with Nick this season. The Holiday Show at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens opens right after Thanksgiving. We’ll make a trip there so Nick can scope out some ideas.

Many of the booths had samples of their products. Some we waited in line for and some we just passed by. The apple sample was totally worth waiting for. There were 4 apples to sample from and once you knew which one you wanted, they sliced it for you and gave it to you in a bowl. It was such a welcome treat in between all of the processed “junk” food we ate during the day.

We sampled so many different products from chips and chocolate to pretzels and dip. We bought a few items along the way. We ended up being at the IX center from noon until 6PM. Out date ended with dinner at Rockne’s. It was definitely a successful birthday outing!

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