I’m taking a little break from the blog to relax with my family. It’s been a fun week in the Seattle-Tacoma area (it’s NOT raining, ha)Â and I can’t wait to share some great places, food and finds.
While we were sitting around having a lazy morning, I heard my little man squealing with laughter mixed with screams from the laptop. Of course, I wanted to know what was going on and my nephew showed me this game. I found it slightly disturbing, but I couldn’t help but laugh. Tell me, am I sick? Warning to those in an office – turn down your speakers and try not to laugh out loud.
We attended our first craft show together, a first of many mother-daughter crafty outings I hope.
With Laura (Bugawumps.blogspot.com)
And she played in her first soccer game.
Am I a soccer mom yet? I think not. It was the first time I screamed out loud, “GO, ABBY! RUN!!! Get the BALL!!” but not the first time I’ve cheered her on. That’s every day: when she leaves the car (Bye, Mom!) and runs off to school, when she’s working really hard on her homework or a project, when she’s sitting with her little brother and reading a book to him, when she tells me a funny joke and she’s messing around with her dad. Go, Abby!
Now that the holidays are over and I’ve recovered somewhat, I tend to review our hosting strategies, successes and misses. Every year we have at least 1-3 guests stay with us for any given length of time. It could be an overnight stay or a couple of weeks. Don’t know about other people, but I get worked up. I just want to make sure that our guests feel welcome and comfortable, that they enjoy their stay and would want to come back.
We have a slight challenge of not having a dedicated guest room, but here’s how we get around that: the basement. It becomes a semi-private suite. In the case of my awesome brother-in-law, he’ll room in my kid’s room, or with my kids. No problem. However, I can’t necessarily assume that everyone will be as accommodating.
My must haves: No matter what the state my house is in, I will prep good pillows, a good air mattress (we have two), towels, sheets, clock, storage cubes doubled as nightstand, hangers, and coat rack. Don’t have yet but would like: luggage rack.
Entertaining: Here, I luck out again with pretty easy going relatives. My in-laws did most of the shuttling around last Fall with our guests. But, it’s helpful to have schedules and sight-tour brochures handy. Seriously, I even picked up at our library a few copies of “family-friendly” publications that have local things-to-do and set that on the bedside table for our guests.
Meal times: I’ll ask about favorite snacks and more importantly, kids favorites, if I’m not exactly sure what my guests are into. Putting together a dinner/meal schedule was also a super timesaver. It was more like a guideline, if anything, but sure helped with grocery lists. We had plenty of drinks on hand too.
Here’s my favorite way of setting up my towels on the bed for a cute “welcome”. One of my best friends taught me this a long time ago when I stayed at her home for a few days. Sorry, you might only get this the first time you come over, after that, you’re like family and I don’t sweat it out so much.
Abby took video footage of me putting it together (our first video tutorial), but the file was too big to upload! This will have to do.
**Update** I figured out how to add video:
1) Take the bath towel and fold into thirds along the long direction.
2) Fold into thirds the other way (short direction).
3) Take the hand towel and fold into thirds along the long direction.
4) Now wrap the hand towel around the bath towel.
5) Take the wash cloth, fold into thirds, then wrap around the hand towel to hide the ends and create a “bow” appearance.
We’re having fun with family in town, visiting relatives and friends who have come home for the holidays, hosting family and friends at our home, not to mention playing with new toys (Santa brought me Copic Markers!!!) It’s been a whirlwind of activity, and so there hasn’t been too much time to write.
See my kids personalities shining through
Just a sincere thank you to our friends and family for visiting “So This is Julie” this year. It’s been fun sharing parts of our life with you. We hope you’ve had a wonderful 2009 and look forward to sharing more home, crafting, food and party ideas in 2010!
2009 highlights
Little Man’s
-learned his ABC’s and can count up to 20 fairly well by himself
-started going to “Tiny School” (once a week program)
-took a memorable plane ride to California
-was ring bearer when his aunt got married
Daughter’s
-lost her first tooth right before school started
-learned how to ride a two-wheeler, finally
-took a trip to California
-started second grade
Husband’s
-sister got married in October
-being introduced to the cheese counter at Whole Foods (we love Joanna)
-losing some weight
-getting braces for 18 months
-teaching Abby to ride her bike
Julie’s
-started this blog and has made some cyber-friends
-seeing some icons: Martha Stewart and David Foster (now I just have to meet Oprah)
-visited family in California
-started exercising…again, but actually enjoying it
-got a new bike and will be gearing up for a “century ride” in September ’10
Maybe you tape cards to the back of the door. Maybe you string them up along the top of the wall, or maybe line the cards up along your fireplace mantle. Here is a fun way to display your holiday greeting cards if you want to try something new.
Supplies: 2 x 4 ceiling tile, fabric, ribbon, light duty staple gun, picture screw hooks, heavy twine or rope, push pins
Make sure you have enough fabric to cover your board. Place your fabric on the floor, right side down, and then the ceiling tile, also right side down. Wrap the fabric around the edges, and staple to the board. Turn right side up, and place ribbon horizontally and vertically to make board look like a present. I also stapled these to the board. On the back side, I screwed hooks into the board a few inches in from the edges and then strung twine through them to create a hanger. I loved how it turned out last year.
Thank you everyone for the kind words, thoughts and prayers as my family is dealing with the loss of my aunt. Another relative is very ill, so my parents and brother flew out earlier this week to California to be with our family. It’s been a stressful and teary two weeks, but I still want to make this a special Christmas for my kids, my family. I’m usually so happy and excited to get our home ready for the holidays, for guests, to celebrate… but I’m “blah” right now. Even Christmas songs on the radio aren’t getting me in the mood as they usually do. I mean, I’m still doing stuff. Just with a bit of a heavy heart – I set out to decorate our home (Father-in-law strung the lights outside), started addressing the Christmas cards, got some cookie dough in the refrigerator.
I think in a little time I’ll find the Christmas spirit…
