12 Days of Christmas!!

Last night we got a fun surprise! Our doorbell rang and we found this beautiful gift basket on our doorstep. It is the 12 Days of Christmas, with a small gift and a story for last night and the next 11, ending on Christmas eve! We are so excited to open them all and see what is in store for us, and so touched that someone thought enough of our family to go to all this work!

Keeping Busy

NINE MORE DAYS UNTIL WE FLY "HOME" FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!
I am excited and somtimes overwhelmed with the thought of all that I still need to accomplish before then, but we are keeping busy and having fun this December.

Here are the tins of magnets that are ready to be delivered to a few neighbors and friends in the ward. Each tin is wrapped in a paper band that is secured with one of the magnets. I love the way they turned out!

Here is the inside -- I couldn't get a great picture, because there is not enough light in our house to get a good close-up. This gives a general idea, though. I think the magnets turned out great! I made a set for myself because they were too cute not to keep some!

In the past week, I have also: crocheted a hat, 2 purses, and 2 scarves. Made cookies for an enrichment cookie exchange activity. Taught a mini-class on time-management for the same activity. Attended book club. Attended a holiday get-together at the home of some ward friends (appetizer in tow). Given Hadley a haircut (sooo cute). Gone visiting-teaching. Gone shopping for those last minute stocking stuffers & out to dinner with Alan. Began crocheting a surprise gift for each child (not sure if these will be finished before we leave!)

I still need to: Make 3 dozen rolls for the ward Christmas party on Saturday. Make a crocheted, felted purse for a gift exchange next week. Deliver the little magnet tins. Finish doing the laundry (does this ever really get "finished?"). Make a list, check it twice and pack, pack, pack! Run errands to the bank, Target, and Barnes & Noble. Re-charge the portable DVD player and get movies for the kids to take on the plane. Find some cute black jeans. Clean the bathrooms.

I'm sure there's more, but I need to refer to my master list...

Needless to say, we've all been exhausted! Here's a shot Alan snapped last Friday when I got home from teaching my weekly yoga class...

Nothing better than snuggle time on the couch! But, it could lead to this...

Come to think of it, I could use a nap about NOW! Mom, if you are reading this, all I want for Christmas is to sleep in for a day or two!

Finally, in the latest Peck Family news, Alan accepted a new job working as the web Art Director for Bare Necessities! (they sell underwear. :) ) We are so relieved to be able to have stable, predictable employment again! HOORAY! Thanks to everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. We hope to see you all soon!

xoxox, candace

My munchkins!

Here is Princess Hadley. She was wearing her pink princess dress all day, so we had to give her princess hair to match. She insisted on wearing it to the bus stop to pick up "brubber", so we added a purple sweater -- truly princess-like.

I finally managed to get a decent photo of the kids together. Yes, Hadley IS wearing the same sweater! Now I need to get busy on one for Alexander -- it's just that tiny things are easier and less time-consuming. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like...

CHRISTMAS!!!

Everything seems a little happier and brighter once you put up the Christmas decorations! Here are mine, and more of an actual blog too, if you scroll to the next entry.

Our Christmas tree and village. Every year, we have to get out Thomas the Tank Engine and build him a Christmas track around the tree. If you look closely, or click to enlarge the photo, you can see Hadley's contribution to the decorating. We have all these little Chinese people that Connie sent from Hong Kong, and Hadley has them all in a line around the bottom perimeter of the tree. It's kind of cute, so I left it that way. Lately, she makes all this little arrangements or "installments" around the house of found objects. I will try to photograph some, but they don't last long. She's very particular about how she arranges things and has a nice sense of symmetry and balance.

The stockings (and film negatives) were hung by the chimmney with care. If it ever gets cold, I would LOVE a fire, but so far, no dice. Please, Santa, send some snow to New Jersey, the kids are quite concerned about it, especially Alexander, who keeps asking why it doesn't snow in New Jersey. He also wanted to know exactly what was going to happen with these stockings and us going to Utah for Christmas. I assured him we would take the stockings with us and Santa would fill them there. Then he was worried about where mom and dad's stockings are. I told him Grandma has some for us. Hear that, Grandma!? I like a pomegranate in the toe, and Alan prefers an orange. :)

Our front door -- decked out and waiting for our first Christmas card to attach to the ribbon. OH-- an example of Hadley's art installations was that, the other day, she took all the little magnetic letters and lined them all up vertically on the ribbon. But today she is carrying them all around in a basket along with wooden closepins and balls.

Here are the carolers -- Alexander was proud to participate in setting up the fragile display by handing me the lid for the top of the lightpost. He was so proud, and showed Alan when he got home. More below...I exceeded my photo limit!

Happy Holidays!

Hadley, eating in "the restaurant". When we have dinner guests over, we always have to move this little table downstairs to accomidate our smaller guests. If I don't get it moved back upstairs, we play restaurant at lunchtime. Alexander and Hadley are demanding and sometimes downright rude customers, yelling "waitress" to me as I'm in the kitchen preparing their food. Luckily, right now we have a plethora of leftovers on the "menu" -- 2 kinds of soups plus the makings for a full Thanksgiving dinner, or turkey sandwiches, and cake or ice cream for dessert! In this particular photo, Hadley is having her 2nd breakfast of Jam Toast and peaches.

Alan spent most of Thanksgiving weekend painting. Here is the pomegranate painting I requested with a touch of Alan thrown in for good measure. I hope he finishes it soon, because it will mean I get to eat a pomegranate that he uses for reference. They are my favorite treat, and what's more, the kids don't like them!

More paintings in what I am calling "The Blue Series", for obvious reasons. I have dibs on the Winter Witch (the girl with antlers) -- she is crying in this picture, which seemed appropriate for the year we've had, and the Blue Bird of Happiness is winging it's way TOWARD her as Alan pointed out...I had mistakenly thought it was flying AWAY from her, but it looks like good things are in store after all. :)
This is our one and only Thanksgivng Day picture, sadly. My camera was in my bag while I helped with the meal and cleanup, but I was able to snap this one of Hadley's pumpkin pie face just after dessert. Girl loves her pumpkin pie, and a photo-op! There are no pics of Xander in this post! Hadley is around more, holds still, and most importantly, hams it up for the camera.

Another picture of Hadley, who put on my lipstick one morning while Alan was on the phone...she told him, "Now I look like a Mommy!" Note the unwashed cinnamon toast face. Lovely.

Cranberry sauce simmering on the stove. The color was sooo pretty I had to take a photo.

Carmelized Butternut Squash. This was my contribution for Thanksgiving dinner. Again, pretty, so I had to document their glazey deliciousness! OH, and I also took homemade rolls, which received rave reviews.

22 Days till we come "home" for the holidays! (But who's counting?)

xoxox

candace

Today's Blog is Brought to You By Artichoke Chicken

mmmmmm! doesn't that look yummy? don't you want to come and visit and eat some? or at least call or email to request the recipe and/or praise my culinary skills? you know you do! come on, how long is it going to take to leave a little comment or type up a quick email? pretty please? pretty please with sauteed artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes on top?

xox

Happy Halloween!

This is my favorite picture of the batch. We went to a halloween party last night, so we all got dressed up. I think only about 5 other adults were in costume. Lame. Shelley -- this pic makes me think of Lost Skeleton ROWR! BTW, my dad watched it and loved it!
I have some sort of glowing orb of ancient power, but I misplaced it at the party. Oh well. (Insert another Lost Skeleton reference here) "Mut-i-late, Mu-tant, hmmmm, I wonder....Oh well."

Alan looks a little drunk, but I promise he's just drunk on LOVE, baby! Like my new make-up? I'm thinking of doing it like this all the time....to the grocery store, to teach yoga....to church....if I do, I think I'd better wear the wig as well.

Hadley is sprawled out on the carpet, it reminds me of that "pressed fairy" art!

Here are the two tricksters! Alexander is Dash Incredible. Don't even think of calling him "Mr. Incredible", he takes great offense! Hadley is always a total ham whenever I break out the camera. Maybe we could get her a modelling gig...
The amazing DASH! He can run circles through the living room at lightening speed. That's a toy frog perched on his pects. He had a whole line-up, but only one stayed balanced for the photo.

Here are somep ics from Alexander's halloween program at school. they sang a ton of spooky halloween songs. You can hear some snippets and see him in action if you go here.

Ilove this photo! You can see that Xander is a little enamored with Arshi, who had the cutest costume as an Indian princess (dots, not feathers). Click on the photo for a bigger version to get the full effect.

Alexander gives me the thumbs up as he parades around the Kindergarten circle with the other classes. This was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Here is a class picture, I posted this mainly so that you can see Mrs. Moss, who is dressed as a pirate, complete with beard, eyepatch, and parrot! So cute!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I would LOVE photos of your halloween ghouls, email me and as always, comments earn you major brownie points!

xoxox

Fun With Leaves

some leaf art collages we made a week or two ago. the kids loved it and it kept them busy for upwards of an hour! amazing! alexander's is the blue, mine is green, and of course, hadley's is pink!

the artists with their works. click to enlarge, their faces are really cute in this picture. i think they were looking at their daddy, who had his "ticket" (a leaf) to see their art in the "gallery". they thought it was so much fun to hang them in the gallery and for us to come see them. it's time to rotate them out now, though. the leaves are all crinkly and not so pretty anymore.

alexander was inspired one evening while i was cooking dinner. this totally reminds me of a documentary we watched about an artist who works completely with items found in nature...it was amazing, but the name of the artist and the documentary escape me right now. anybody know? i highly recommend it...it's incredible!

the face is priceless here too! he's on his way out for more leaves!

the artist at work...he was so sad when dinner was ready, because he wanted it to go all the way to the dining table by the time i had it ready. unfortunately, he only made it about to the far end of the couch. i didn't have the heart to clean it up. alan did it after the kids were in bed.

hopefully i will be updating more frequently now, and for anyone interested, i am posting all my crochet work at DaisyChain, so as not to bore everyone! Lindsey -- I would love a picture of the carseat blanket i made for you. forgot to snap one. you can sort of see it in the leaf trail photo of xander by the door. i will be selling crocheted items at a store near you soon! literally, in provo! i am making a few clutch bags for beccy's new boutique. more details when i have them, or maybe Lori can fill us in!

xoxox

halloween is in the air! but i just can't seem to get into the spirit of things this year. :(

Dump-truck Sweater

This is a baby sweater I just completed for the neighbor's new baby boy! If you click to enlarge, I think you can see the cute dumptruck buttons!

Completed Projects. Batgirl Gift Spoiler! WARNING!!!

Here are the projects I've been working on this weekend.

I finished the sweater for Hadley, all except the buttons. Looks like I'm destined for JoAnn's tomorrow. It buttons all the way down the left side with 6 buttons. Hadley chose the yarn herself, and I was a bit leary about it, but it turned out beautifully. It is mostly purple with varigated colors of aqua, pink, and magenta. The trim is from my yarn stash. It's bright purple/magenta and very fuzzy and soft.

Next is the handbag I did for Batgirl. I confess that I want one for myself now. But as my best friend pointed out, "well, for one thing, you're 33." Yeah, THANKS A LOT!!! :) But seriously, I think I might make one anyway. I think it's super cute. And now that I know the basics of crocheting an image I have all sorts of great ideas.

Isn't it cute!? I call it the skele-purse! Hopefully, I can mail it tomorrow or the next day. Here's another view, to show the size a bit better. Oh, and I don't really have a hunchback, as it appears in the photo below.

Whoo-hoo! I love it. Morning session of conference left me with half a baby sweater completed for the neighbor who gave Alan a ride to the train station every day. She had a baby boy about 2 weeks ago. His sweater is olive green with pumpkin-colored trim and is the same basic design as Hadley's. I think I can finish it during afternoon session. All except for those pesky buttons.

xoxox

Halloween Song

Hadley sings about a haunted house here! (with a little help from mom). Updates soon.
xoxox

Tangled up in Brown?

Lately i've been on a crochet bender of sorts!

Here is a picture Alan took...I wasn't really sitting in the dark like that, but he made me close the blinds for the sake of the photo! Hadley was being a "kitty" and had strewn my yarn all the way into the hallway.
Clutch handbag I made for my cousin's birthday. Man, I wanna keep it for myself!

And the lining! It's the best part, I think. :) I am also currently working on and/or planning on starting 1. gift for my sister's baby 2. poncho for hadley 3. blanket/throw for my sofa 4. hat for Alan 5. Xander wants a sweater...haven't actually purchased yarn yet 6. surprise for my sisters and sis-in-laws 7. surprise for batgirl

Something at Last -- Hey, we were busy!

We really have been busy. Promise. Just take a look for yourself!

We went to the beach...Hadley enjoyed the picnic the most. Mmmmm...rice pudding! Thanks for the yummy recipe sister Mindi! We love it!

When not eating, Hadley really, really likes to dig...and fill up this bucket. And dump, and dig, and fill....and so on.

Alexander was a bit more of an active beach participant...when the tide washes out your castle and moat, SIT IN IT! Here's a story of me and how dumb I can really be. Alan says it ranks right up there with the bald eagle/kite story... if you click to enlarge the picture, you can spot some clear blobs on the sand to Alexander's right and up...I thought that someone dumped their ice on the sand and asked where all the ice was coming from...turns out they are pieces of jellyfish. I found that out the hard way, when I touched one with my toe. *shudder* Alan laughed for a long time. He may still be laughing.

I love this photo of my little bathing beauty. She finally dared walk onto the sand and play! I also love the fat guy in the background. Priceless.

90% of Alexander's beach time was spent filling a bucket with water, carrying it to the sand, and dumping it out. Don't ask...I have no idea. :)

Alan, of course, started a sand sculpture. Yes, it IS a robot. How did you guess?

Soon the kids joined in the fun...even kids that didn't belong to us. This little boy tried later to steal Hadley's chopstick. She was using it to poke the sand. She stood her ground and the boy retreated in shame. I helped on the robot too....the shell eyes were my idea. And I made most of the head and one arm. I'm so talented. Unfortch...everyone was having too much fun to take any pics of mom. Sorry, Jake, I know you were really hoping for one.

Sand robot almost complete. Just missing one leg. :)

This is just to show off how amazingly cute Hadley is getting. Check out the curls!

Being cute all the time is tiring. Except when mom wants you to nap or go to bed...then it's wild and crazy party time. There is singing and laughing coming from her room at night for hours!

Bums. They were "watching the tornado". A favorite after-bath pastime for my kids. I raced to get the camera when I came back with towels and saw this.

A family photo! Alexander needed to take one to school today, so a neighbor snapped this for us. Thanks Carmen! And now...the moment we've all been waiting for...

The first day of school! Note the fish nametag, color-coded by teacher, and the yellow bus number band on his arm.

Alexander and Kevin waiting for the bus. Kevin lives in our court and is in Alexander's class! So is a cute little boy from up the street a ways...Noah. Mom is relieved that he will have friends close by, because there are no kids his age in the ward. Alexander is the only mormon in his school!

Finally, he arrived home safely. :) Note the added paraphenalia...on the right a bus sticker with his bus number on it (even though it is on his name tag and wristband) AND on the left another sticker denoting that he is a kindergartener, thus needing extra help. Tiff, doesn't this put your mind at ease? NO WAY he was getting on the wrong bus! :)

I saved the best for last...I found a way to post short video clips! Let me know how it works. Our speakers died, so I hope there is sound!

Love you all, and I promise to update more consistently from now on! xoxox