Christkindlmarkt

I wanted to do something a little 

different this holiday.

I'd seen a vlog on a Christkindlmarkt

in Chicago, and decided I wanted to try 

and find one in my local area.

For those of you who are unfamiliar,

a Christkindlmarkt is generally a street

market associated with the four weeks of Advent.

They originally started in Germany 

during the middle ages.

Christkindl translates to "Christ child".

These markets are generally held outside 

in open-air stalls, and sell a variety of

goods including food, drink, and seasonal goods.

After doing a little research, and watching a vlog,

I got busy researching and actually found one in

the Sacramento area.  Talk about excited!

Lexx volunteered to go check it out with me.

So we headed down after the BBBS shopping event.

I would say we arrived around 1PM, 

and I could hardly could hardly contain myself.

We had to park a couple blocks away, so when we

turned the corner where the market was taking place,

I was a little surprised it was housed inside a building.

No big deal, I was sure there was plenty to do inside.

The entrance was decorated beautifully,

and there was a Santa looking character

greeting all attendees.

Lexx and I heard music in the background,

and as we entered the main room...

WHOMP, WHOMP...

it looked like a normal little local 

Christmas Fair that we have in our neighborhood.

 There was singing and performances.

There was some German food,

but everything else just looked like your good old

Christmas fair.  I didn't bother taking any pictures

because frankly, it wasn't that exciting.

One good thing we did end up getting

that I had never had before were

sugar and cinnamon almonds.

Mercy, they were delicious!

So overall, it was a flop,

but maybe only because I had a 

preconceived notion of what it was 

supposed to look and be like.

Just so you have an idea of why I

was disappointed, here is a link to the 

market in Chicago.

http://www.christkindlmarket.com/

And here is a picture of part of it below.

via

Shopping For a Cause - BBBS

The girlie and I had so much fun this past Saturday.

We woke up way too early so that we could go shopping.

This time it wasn't for us, we were asked to be volunteer shoppers

for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Snowball Shopping Event.

We had to meet our littles by 7 AM, so it was a super early morning.

Breakfast was provided to all who participated,

and then we were shuttled to our local Target store to go shopping.

We were greeted by the most adorable elves,

who just so happen to be K9 police dogs. 

The event is sponsored by several organizations,

but the police/sheriff, local fire department, and 

Target were major sponsors. 

The littles were allowed a $200 budget,

and the gal we had was so sweet and frugal.

We shopped our hearts out for 2 hours before 

she finally had found enough to come close to meeting her budget. 

Lexx had a super little.

This cute little one didn't want to wake up to go shopping.

She was mad at Santa, and asked her mom

why Santa had to wake up so early when 

it wasn't even Christmas.

She eventually got in the Christmas spirit,

and by the end of the event was sporting

two headbands she had picked out at once.

Lexx and I had so much fun,

and plan on doing it again next year.

It was only 3 hours out of our day,

and the children appreciated everything 

they were able to buy.

It was definitely a fun 3 hours!

So have you volunteered lately?

If so, for what cause?

I'm Back...and I Survived Thanksgiving

I know I've been gone for a minute.

Don't really have a good excuse.

I was fascinated with the election,

so I spent about a week obsessing over it.

After that I had a funeral, Thanksgiving,

a wedding, and then I will have a few other

random events coming up every weekend until Christmas.

I just didn't really make blogging a priority 

the past couple of weeks.

But I'm back,

and I have a little bit to blog about.

So let's get this party started.

Like the past 3 years,

we had Thanksgiving at our house.

I like to have the one holiday here

because it really makes Todd and I

get our butt's in gear and get some

projects finished.

Todd took Thanksgiving week off,

but I worked until the day before.

I got off work around 3 PM,

and I worked on cleaning and

cooking until around 11:30 PM.

Then I woke up at 4 AM and pretty much 

got the holiday started.

We only had about 12-15 people attend,

but the house was full and we had lots of fun.

The turkey turned out well.

I'm always a little worried,

because if you mess it up....

what else are you going to eat?

Everyone pitched in and brought food.

I have to say, we have some amazing cooks in my family.

I'm not one of them,

so thank goodness for everyone else. 

After dinner everyone tried Robb and Amber's

virtual reality games/demos.

It was pretty awesome and we had 

a few laughs when my dad tried the

roller coaster vr and almost fell over.

My sister and niece visited from out of state.

It was a secret, so it was a nice surprise when

they showed up at the door.

After dinner we all just sat around and

talked, played games, and took a few pictures.

Not many though, cause we were 

too busy eating and drinking.

My sweet baby girl was so helpful getting stuff prepared.

I'm not sure why there is no picture of Austin.

He was there, but for some reason he didn't make

it into any of the pictures.  He also was a life saver.

He helped Todd with all the manual work.

I don't know what we would do without those two!

I got a random picture of my beautiful

sister-in-law Amber.  Isn't she so cute!

The last picture we got were of some of the gals.

Karen, Ava and Amber didn't make it in because

they were in a different room...

plus I don't think Lexxa's arms would have been 

long enough to get the entire group;)

It was such an enjoyable afternoon.

I really love it when the family gets together.

We don't do it often enough because of 

everyone's different schedules.

But it does make it that more special when we do.

My Random Life

I wasn't sure what I was going to post this

week, then I looked at my phone camera

and decided I would do a photo dump.

Cole was relaxing on our bed, 

and when I took his picture, his beard

turned out purple.  I didn't color it for

Halloween.  There was a blue light on

in the background that reflected off 

the white hair on his face.

So cute!

We were on our way into town

the other day, and when we came around the corner,

a HUGE pine tree fell in the road.

It completely covered our lane,

and went partially into the other.

So glad we didn't leave the house

30 seconds earlier.

Can you say "Guardian Angels".

Todd and I decorated the pumpkins

we got from Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.

Guess which one is mine...

hint:  It probably took me less than

5 minutes to decorate my pumpkin.

My Mother-in-law and Father-in-law

were kind enough to throw a birthday party.

As usual, there was delicious food and I was

spoiled rotten.  I didn't manage to get a picture

of the food, but I did get a picture of the 

white bottom brownies my MIL made.

AHHH MAAAA GAWD!

They are so delicious!

It's a good thing I only have 

a brithday once a year

cause these goodies could be dangerous.

So there you have it.

My random life in a nutshell.

Pumpkin Farm With the Fam

This year, I managed to get Todd and Lexx 

to go with me to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.

If you remember last year,

I had to go by myself because Todd was

helping his brother with his house,

and the kids were both away at college.

Todd's brother finished his house,

and Lexx graduated, so they had no excuse 

not to join me this year.

This made me super happy!

Last year, as you remember from my previous post,

I was discombobulated and took 

a while to get my bearings.

This year, I was an expert!

I knew right where I wanted to go,

and had no problem directing Todd and Lexx.

We ended up exploring some cool little areas

that I didn't get to really see last year.

We actually started our afternoon in the

garden area of the farm.

Bordering the flower garden was 

their antique farm equipment.

After we explored for a little bit,

we decided to go get some food.

Of course we got my favorite,

the pumpkin bread, as well as a cranberry

and white chocolate scone and a cinnamon roll.

We didn't eat it all there, but we taste

tested all of it while relaxing at their

little picnic area.

After we finished stuffing our faces,

we decided to take some pictures of pumpkins 

and the cute little pumpkin farm train.

We visited the field on the back side of

the farm.  This field was much smaller 

than the others, and it was pretty picked over.

It was really fun seeing all the little

kids excited to be at the farm.

After we wandered around, and didn't find

any pumpkins, we decided to just pick some

pumpkins out of the trucks.

After approximately 2 minutes of looking,

Todd and Lexx found the pumpkins they 

wanted and we were able to check out.

 

In all, we were there for a couple hours.

Although it was fairly crowded,

it was still relaxing and fun.

I just love spending special time with my family.

It's way more fun when you can share experiences with someone.

Maybe next year, Austin will be able to go with us.

Halloween Porch Ideas

I'm not one that likes super scary

Halloween decorations.

I'm what some would call...a chicken.

So while searching for cute porch

decorating ideas, I looked for ideas

that wouldn't scare young children or me.

I think some of the following examples

are adorable, and some are even

easy enough for me to pull off.

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Via

Cute right?

You find anything you might use?

Miranda Lambert - Vice

I'm not a huge Miranda Lambert fan,

but I have to be honest,

I love this song.

What do you think?