Christmas Re-Cap...

Happy "after" Christmas everyone!!! Is your house still a mess like mine is?? Ha ha, I actually made some good headway yesterday and plan to continue today. My kids are literally bouncing off the walls. They have been forced to kind of lurk around while I attempt to make this mess a home again. We had the whole family over for Xmas eve and Xmas day, so it takes quite a while to recover. And plus, I suck at housekeeping. Anyway, we had a marvelous Xmas filled with family, food, gifts, and a lot of laughter! It was awesome!!! Here's a re-cap for you :)

We spent most of Xmas eve at My in-law's house and had a great time! We ate yummy food and got to open gifts and just hang out. We are finally at a stage where I don't have to follow Hayden around to make sure that she isn't breaking anything or falling down and hurting herself. She's officially a "big kid" now so she can run around with her cousins and have fun while Josh and I just relax :) Awesome!
Here's a couple pics from Xmas eve:

Hayden and her Tompa....she loooooves him :)

Noah playing with his new toy called "fireflyz" which sadly is currently lost in his mess of a room....hopefully it's in there.

Our fam (kids in pjs). My in-laws live about 30 minutes away so the kids are usually asleep by the time we get home.

The house I live in with my family is what our entire family considers the "family" house. My grandparents lived here for like 25 years prior to us moving in, so every holiday was celebrated here. This means that while my little family was at my in-laws house celebrating, the rest of my extended family was at our house celebrating. So, when we got back home on Xmas eve, there was another "party" to attend :) I don't have any pictures of Xmas eve at my house, but we stayed up late hanging out, eating more, and chatting. It was awesome! And, I had all of my wrapping done early this year (yay me)!

Christmas morning Noah woke up up around 7am yelling that Santa had come and left presents for everyone!!! We had to wake Hayden up, ha ha! She's still little :) Josh and I sat and drank our coffee while the kids ripped their stockings to shreds :)

Apparently Santa likes Rice Krispie treats :)

The calm before the storm...

(Santa needs to try to remember that stockings aren't that big. Maybe smaller stocking stuffers would be a better idea...ha ha)

(Noah didn't get less stuff, his stocking is actually a tad bigger than Hayden's).

Hayden can finally open packages all by herself :)

Noah is an old pro :)

They each got a "blanket gift" this year from Santa. I remember when I was a kid, there was usually at least one "blanket gift" in the room for somebody (a blanket gift is one that is too big to wrap and must be concealed with a blanket). The year my little brother got a bike was SO exciting! It was big in the corner of the living room with a big blanket draped over it. He didn't even notice it but Lisa and I were dying with excitement. I have such fun Xmas memories from when I was little.
 Anyway:

Razor Scooter :)

Doll house :)

After we had some special time in the morning with just the 4 of us, the rest of my fam came over to eat, open more gifts and hang out. We had a great time!!!

Look at these CUTE pj's that my sis got for Hayden!!

I got this beautiful print from Studio Mela...

Isn't it beautiful!?!! I love that it says "Live simply" but I put it in the most gaudy gold frame!! Ha ha! Ive heard the whole phrase to be: "Live Simply, so others may simply live." Just beautiful!! Most of my Xmas list this year was made up of items from Etsy :)

And today, our Xmas tree is a definite fire hazard. Josh is at work but he explicitly told me NOT to turn on the lights anymore. He's a fire fighter so I guess I better listen ;)

I will miss you sweet tree. You were our best one by far! Go to the chipper in peace little friend :)
It was a wonderful holiday season and I can't wait to do it all again next year! I got some seriously awesome goodies at the after Christmas sales this year so next year is going to be even more magical (think 6.5' white tree....as my secondary tree of course). YAY!!!
I hope you all had a Merry and Bright holiday!!!

Tamale MANIA!

WARNING: You will NOT find any pretty or staged food pictures in this post. Anywhere. This is REAL, messy, family cooking and it is NOT pretty but it is OH so yummy!!!!

For my entire life, we have eaten tamales for Christmas. I am half Mexican (my mom's side) and it is just something we always did. We used to buy tamales from a lady and her family that made delicious home made tamales. Eventually, she got too old to do it and her children took over. They just weren't the same anymore and we were left with only one option.....make our own. Let me just say that it is a TON of work!! My mom and uncle do most of the prep work before we even start making them as a family. My mom cooks the meat and strips any and all of the fat off of it. She makes red chili sauce from scratch. FROM SCRATCH. Like cleaning dried chilis, boiling them, pureeing them, etc. It is intense. Luckily we buy pre-made masa (aka masa preparada) otherwise the process would take even longer. Anyway, we end up making a TON....no joke.....like 40 dozen!!!! Oh, and, they are DELICIOUS!!! Here are some pictures :)

Here is a shot of my mom (red shirt) and aunt Annie hard at work getting everything ready:

ONE of the many batches of meat...this is pork (we also use Chicken)

The YUMMY chili aka liquid gold!

The masa (this is 2 of the four bags that we buy pre-prepared from a Mexican market)

And the hojas (pronounces o-has)....you have to soak them in boiling water so they are pliable and easier to wrap

First step to making to tamales is to make sure your rugrats are happy and out of the way:

And here is a little tamale making tutorial for you:
First you lay out the hoja on a flat surface:

Next, you spread on a thin/thick layer of masa:

Next you add a scoop of meat and sauce (this one happens to be chicken and green chile):

Then you carefully wrap it up like a burrito (with the tail out):

And then you're done! Then you steam them in a pot for about an hour or more depending on how many are in the pot. Well, if you're in my family, you repeat the process like a zillion times until your kitchen looks like this......

(this is one of the two drawers out of my refrigerator....we filled them both)

Um...yeah. ha ha!

yep...my kitchen is under there somewhere ;)

And here's a shot of my cousin Danielle and I relaxing in the mess :)

And my goofy brother who came for moral support (and didn't make ONE tamale, ha ha)! The guys never help, they only eat :)

Unfortunately I don't have any pretty pictures of this delicious food. It's messy and soooooo delicious! My mom also makes THE BEST pinto beans on the planet (they are in the works as we speak).

My sister and I joke around about how this tradition will most certainly die with my mom. We are no where near qualified to do all of the prep, nor do we have even a quarter of the stamina that she does. Many years from now, we will be sitting around the table with all of the cousins, enjoying the tamales we bought from Costco and reminiscing about the ones our sweet mama used to make and how much more delicious they were!! Ha ha!!! MANY many years I hope ;)

Feliz Navidad!!!

NO peeking....a Xmas craft for Daddy.

Happy Wednesday everyone!!! Are you scrambling at the last minute to shop, wrap, bake??? I sort of am, but having tons of fun doing it. The kids and I worked on a gift for Josh last night and I thought I would share it with you (JOSH - I already told you NOT to read this post!!!!! Log off NOW).

I consider myself to be a crafty gal, but when it comes to Christmas gifts, I am more of a shopper than a maker. I am a very good shopper (meaning I find great gifts at great prices) and the season is usually too hectic for me with Etsy and my own crafts to get gifty crafty.

Well, this year the kids and I got a bit crafty to surprise daddy. My husband has recently taken up golf, which is great! He has never really had a hobby that required gear (he's a volleyball player) so I was never able to get him sport related gear gifts. But golf, golf has TONS of gear. Along with golf pants, golf balls, and a golf club cleaner, the kids and I got him some golf tees....or is it t's....anyway, those little thingys that hold the golf ball up out of the ground. I thought it would be cute if we could make daddy smile every time he pulled one out of his golf bag. This is what we came up with.....

Mine.....

Noah's.........

Hayden's......

I originally started out showing them how to make happy faces etc, but the surface of the tees is way too small so they just ended up scribble scrabbling on them. I think Josh will like them even better this way because there is no doubt that their little hands did the work.
Then, we packaged them up cute so they were all ready to be given to Daddy on Xmas morning :)

I think Josh will love them and they will make him smile while he's out having fun on the course. And, we turned a simple $5 bag of golf tees into a personal and special gift :)
We're getting closer and closer to the BIG day, my kids are SOOOOOO excited!!!!! Yay!!!