Soon, but until then...

Soon...

Soon I will have more time to blog. Soon I will stop being sucked into FarmVille, FrontierVille or CafeWorld on Facebook. Soon Abigael will stop getting into markers, chapstick and the refrigerator. Soon Rick will have a job instead of having to report to WorkForce in Bellingham. Soon we won't have to rely on TANF to get by. Soon our car will probably die completely. Soon I will pull myself away from my computer long enough to get lost in a good book again (any suggestions?!), or to start crocheting again!

For now...

We finally made the move we've been dreaming of. We finally live in Washington, on the Canadian border, to be exact. We finally have rain and moisture instead of sun and dry skin. We finally sigh of contentment instead of frustration. Our girls finally have friends. I finally get to cook at sea level instead of trying to adjust my baking to high altitude. Finally my cookies don't burn on the bottom! :o) Finally we are settled, even without employment. Finally Abigael gets to have her momma to herself, just like her older sisters had. For now our car runs, and for that we are blessed!

We have been so amazingly blessed in our new home. Blaine and its inhabitants have welcomed us so warmly! I don't think I've ever been told, "We are SO glad to have you here!" by so many people, let alone people we have never met! We have lived here just over a month and we've already met 6 of our 11 neighbors, an amazing feat in itself! :o) We have WILLINGLY walked more in the last month then (I think) in our adult lives. We have discovered a love for libraries; not only for books, but for work searches and movies. :o) It has only been a month, and I can't wait to see what life has in store for us!

Clan Piccini's Day Out

We used to have days out quite often, but now that Rick's new job has him working 4 10-hour days (W-Th-F-Sun) and the girls are back in school... we don't get to take off as much as we like. Today was the PERFECT day for an outing, a random head-where-the-wind-leads-us outing :o) And the wind led us lots of places!!

First we went to breakfast at one of our favorite places, Great Scott's Eatery, here in Broomfield. The girls love the 50's diner atmosphere, and the food is awesome! Rick & I had corned beef hash, Emmie had French toast (she eats like a bird, but she'll eat all of her breakfast at Great Scott's!!), Abi had eggs and Kiera had Bavarian stuffed French toast (with caramel syrup and bananas!). So yummy... if you are ever in town, you should try it out! :o)

After breakfast, we headed off to the little mall, Flatirons Crossing, to see if we could find Emmie a minion from Despicable Me. No luck, but we did find me the coolest hoodie at the Disney Store, on sale! To be saved for cooler weather, of course (seeing as it was 90 degrees today)!

That's right, a sweet Jack Skellington hoodie... I'm in love! I tried it on when I got home, and almost died of heat stroke, but it fit! :o) Very soft and cozy, and on sale (did I mention that? LOL).

We hightailed it out of the mall, because, let's face it, malls are no fun unless you have a LOT of money to spend. :o) From the mall, we took a backroad (I love backroads! So much to see!) into Golden, our favorite city... and one we haven't been to in MONTHS! We thought it would be cooler in Golden, but it wasn't. There was a breeze though, and that helped. A LOT. We figured we'd stay away from actually walking around the shops, so we headed for the Clear Creek and the Clear Creek History Park. We were lucky enough that we came on a weekend where they had one of the buildings open. They do this randomly in the summer, last year we lucked out and the house was open and they were baking cookies! This year, it was the old schoolhouse! We ventured inside and found old desks, slate & chalk and old readers. The girls loved it!

Here, Abi is checking out one of the old desks and playing with the slate. I thought it was so cool how the desks were laid out... there were smaller desks at the front (for the 1st grade) and they continually got bigger (up to 8th grade, which sat in back). The lady in the schoolhouse told us that the teacher would tend to give attention to one grade a day, and the other grades would do work they were assigned and could do on their own.

There was also this cool list of rules for the teachers, dated 1872. They are as follows:

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the days session.

3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay providing the Board of Education approves.

oh... kay.... :o)

Right next to the History Park is Clear Creek. We just wanted to walk next to the cooler water, we had no clue that people LOVED to tube down the creek! But there were TONS of people on the water today... and the girls wanted to join in. Having no inner tube or raft, we settled for getting our feet wet...

Emmie kept telling us it was really cold (well, yeah, it comes off the Rockies!)

Kiera said her feet were numb LOL

And Abigael just kept trying to wade further out toward the center. The creek is pretty shallow, but deep for Abi, so we kept having her come back.

Here is a little clip of the girls playing in the creek... by this time, Abigael had fallen on her butt and her skirt and bottom of her shirt were soaked. She thought this was funny, and kept being silly...

Now. After this video was taken, a couple had shown up with their BIG dog (to catch their girls after tubing down the creek)... Abi loves dogs. She was walking toward Kiera and the dog, toppled forward, and fell face first into the creek! The creek was moving pretty fast, way too fast for my baby, and she was being swept away! Kiera was lunging for her and, at the same time, the man caught her by the arm as I was going for her, too. Here is Abi's after picture...

Funny thing. We had her sitting with us, out of the water, and she kept begging to go back in :o) (now, rest assured, this all took place on the side of the creek, where it was only up to Abi's calves... but once she fell down, it was moving too quick for her. We were about a foot away, her sisters even closer... not expecting it to happen. I'm explaining for all the people who will say that we were being negligent. We weren't, it just happened. We decided on the spot that next time we go to Golden we are 1- packing swimsuits & towels for the girls and 2- packing trunks for Rick) :o)

After our trip to (and in) the creek, we had to find dry clothes for Abi (since this was unplanned). Off the the BIG mall, the Colorado Mills Mall... it has a Target attached :o) We wandered the mall for a little bit, to appease Kiera's pre-teen need for a mall fix.... this must be either genetic or maybe ALL pre-teens & teens have this gene... Kiera is constantly asking to go to the mall. She can't even tell me WHY, she just wants to go! :o)

That was our big exciting day LOL Nothing too exciting, but fun for us... thought I'd share :o) I hope the wind leads you in some fun direction soon!

You'd think...

with my girls being out of school, that I'd have tons of time to blog... well, yeah, I do, but I'm just feeling quite lazy this summer! :o)

Its been a very warm,very humid summer. We've kept cool by staying inside, and sometimes going to the mall (but not often, since we don't buy anythingLOL). USUALLY during the summer we take road trips, but Rick's work schedule hasn't allowed it much... but we have taken a few trips since the beginning of the year that I haven't shared. Here's one...

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One morning, Rick & I woke up with the same idea, but we didn't share it with each other. Instead, he had the kids get ready and as we're loading up in the car andthe kids are saying, "Where are we going??", he says to them, "It's a surprise!" We get in the car, and I tell him, "I hope we're going to Cheyenne!" I ruined his surprise. :o) We set off on what turned out to be a 10-hour, 376 mile adventure. Here are some highlights...

It was a beautiful snowy afternoon when we set out

Thankfully it wasn't snowing everywhere (in fact, pretty much no where else LOL)

These buffalo (bison) are definitely roaming... at the Wyoming state line :o)

Cheyenne state capitol building (89 miles into our adventure)

Then we saw a sign for Nebraska, only an hour away... so off we headed east... it pretty much looked JUST like this the whole way

...except for when you hit this random outcropping of rock covered in pine trees... not too much longer after this, you're in Nebraska

Once you get into Nebraska, its looks a lot like this... and keeps looking like this :o)

103 miles later, we're in Sidney, Nebraska... home of Cabelas. Supposedly home to 'big opportunities'

Sidney, NE looks like this... lots of opportunities? :o)

Then we headed south, back into CO (taking the 14... big mistake) for our 180 mile drive home... on a 2-lane, unlit, back-country road... with the sun going down... but before it went down, I got to see this beautiful sight...

Next time, I'll tell/show you about one of our trips to Garden of the Gods :o)

Lemon Cheesecake deliciousness

In 10 minutes, it will have been 4 months since I last posted... and usually I have so much to say! :o) Life just keeps happening, and I just keep going along with it. Eventually I'll post something personal... right now I'm sharing my lemon cheesecake yumminess that I made last night and we devoured today!

When I bake/cook anything, 9 times out of 10 I'll create it myself... its part of the fun! A little secret to my creating... I Google loads of recipes similar to what I want, compile them together and then make my own from all the gathered information. Usually, things come out pretty good... my cheesecake was no exception (I know, I'm tooting my own horn... to borrow from Alvin, "beep-ba-beep-beep-beep" LOL). Even my in-laws loved it :o)

Spring is a great time for lemon anything, and Rick absolutely loves lemon ANYthing :o)

Luscious Lemon Cheesecake

4 pkgs cream cheese

1 1/3 c. sugar (I love Baker's Sugar... mixes in real well... but regular white works, too)

1/2 tsp. salt

4 tbsp. lemon juice (I used fresh lemons, but lemon juice works just as well)

1 tbsp. lemon zest

2/3 c. sour cream (I used fat free -all I had on hand-, it turned out fine)

6 - 8oz lemon curd

yellow food coloring

Prepare your crust. I used Nilla wafers (2 c. crushed cookies, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1/4 c. butter, melted.) Press into bottom of spring form pan. Put the spring form pan on a baking sheet, it helps with moving the cake. Bake crust at 350* for 10 minutes, set aside. I used an 8" pan, and this filled it to the VERY TOP. You can use a 9" pan.... I just like mine taller :o)

Mix cream cheese, sugar & salt together in a mixer until well blended. (I tend to just leave my mixer running while I'm getting things together for the next step) Add in the lemon juice and lemon zest, mix well. Add the sour cream, mix well.

Pour half the mixture into pan.

Add the lemon curd to the remaining mixture and blend REALLY well. Add 3 - 5 drops of yellow food coloring, mix well. The coloring isn't necessary, but its real pretty :o) Pour into the pan. I used a knife to swirl it up a bit, but not too much... and also not necessary, just another pretty thing :o)

Put a oven-safe bowl filled with water (I used a souffle dish) on the bottom rack, moisture is supposed to keep the cake from cracking... it works for me!

Bake at 325* for 1 1/2 hours. Turn off oven, leave to cool. I've read that you can use a wooden spoon to prop the door open... I didn't do that. I just kept the door shut and left it sit for about 2 hours. Then I put it in the fridge overnight, leaving the side on the pan until I was ready to serve.

Enjoy... its so yummy! I topped mine with fresh raspberries :o)

Cookie Decorating Party!

I, voluntarily, had 11 children (8, plus my 3) in my house decorating sugar cookies & gingerbread men! :o) That's right, I asked some of my friends to bring their kids to get hyped up on sugar to ring in the Christmas season! :o) Those of you who know me may be wondering if I've lost my mind... maybe :o) But it was so much fun!!!!

I was up late last night baking sugar cookies, and then early this morning baking the gingerbread men...

Then, at 5:30 this evening the first of our guests arrived! :o) A fellow COVA mom, Laurie, and her 3 girls. She and I have chatted on Facebook for the last year or so, but we've only met maybe twice! :o) I had so much fun getting to know her, and her girls! They are all pretty close in age to my three, so that was very cool!

Oh my gosh, Laurie, this picture just makes me smile!!!

They were followed by a new friend, Ivy, and her daughter. We go to church together and met through our 'anchor group'. It took Laura a little bit to feel free enough to run like a maniac (like my children were/are), but she LOVED making the cookies! :o)

And, last, but in no way least, my friend, Cheryl and her 4 kids arrived! By this time, all the kids were running amok and watching Veggietales Christmas movies in between. :o) Some of them had eaten all their cookies (my kids!), others were working on it LOL

The kids played dress up, they ran around, the jumped off the walls (well, maybe that was just my girls LOL)... in all, I think they had a great time! :o)

And you may be wondering where MY youngest midget was during all this manic running and dressing up was going on...

She was eating frosting... from the containers! And later, she was eating sprinkles! Every time I'd turn my back, I'd hear the sprinkle containers LOL She was SNEAKING around the table trying to get to the shakers as I was picking them up... I was in stitches watching her! Believe it or not, she went straight to bed... I know! I was surprised, too! :o)

Such a fun way to kick off Christmas; hanging out with friends and letting our kids go crazy :o) Thank you Laurie, Ivy & Cheryl for joining us... we had a blast!!

Been a while...

I've had it pointed out to me that its been a while :o) Lots has happened in the last two months, most of it not wonderful, but all of it strengthening our faith!

Rick got laid off from his job on October 23rd... and while we knew it was coming, it hasn't been easy. It took his employer three WEEKS to finally send his severance package, which was taxed like it was a bonus... so almost 25% taken! Ugh. But it came, and we're thankful... it will help us pay one more month of rent. :o)

Since Rick has been home, its been pretty nice... personally, I LOVE being around my husband 24/7 (and no, I'm not being facetious!) He's been helping me with the girls' schooling and we've been getting little projects done around the house! Last weekend, we took the spray paint we used on the ceiling fan and we painted our kitchen chandelier... it just looks very cohesive now! And pretty! :o) He's also been helping with laundry and dishes... THAT is so awesome! There is no downside to him being home, but there is a downside to the layoff... NO ONE is hiring! We're waiting on unemployment to kick in, 4 - 6 week they say... hopefully 4, we need it to pay our space rent/mortgage! :o)

A good thing that has happened is we have joined a small group at our church, not quite a Bible study, just a group. :o) We've met some really wonderful couples, and they all have kids! That kid part is wonderful, so often we meet people and they just can't handle kids or kids aren't invited or whatever... now the girls come with us and all the kids hang out together! LOVE IT! :o) Its been wonderful having people pray for us, and being able to pray for them... we've had a lot to pray about! :o) We're working on an idea for serving our community as a group, with our kids, too... I can't wait!

We've also had quite a bit of snow over the last month... very fun! We got something like 18 inches a few days before Halloween! It was mostly gone BY Halloween, but some was hanging around... it was funny to see the jack-'o-lanterns amidst the snow piles :o)

Almost done (check out the snow! LOL)

Our house & our pumpkins!

For Halloween, Kiera was a pumpkin spice princess (basically a go-go dancer with an orange wig!), Emmie was Mickey Mouse (made for her by her Aunt Kathy) and Abigael was Little Red Riding Hood... all very cute costumes! We went trick-or-treating by ourselves this year, it was different, but still fun. A good time was had by all, and the kids got LOTS of candy! :o)

Emmie as Mickey Mouse

Kiera as a pumpkin spice princess :o)

Abi as Little Red Riding Hood

Just before Halloween, Abigael celebrated her THIRD birthday! I can't believe my baby is 3!! We had Rick's parents over for a dinner of lasagna and then her Auntie Manda, Uncle Richard and baby cousin, Gianna joined us for cake and presents. Her Aunt Kathy & family couldn't make it because the kiddos had H1N1 (but all are well now, praise God!). :o( I made Abi's cake this year, mostly :o) I took an angel food cake and then filled it with a cannoli filling and topped it with a whipped cream 'frosting'... YUM! :o) Abi got some cool presents, too! It was a very happy day! :o)

Our church band decided it was time to make a Christmas CD, so we got to go to an early Christmas concert... very fun! We go to Crossroads Church (north campus), its about 5 minutes away... and we love it! We found our church the weekend we got here and we have never left! We are blessed to have Billy Sprague as our worship leader, and he is just amazing. The whole worship team is amazing! I enjoy watching them play/sing... you can just tell how happy they are to be up there, it just makes my day to watch them! Every Sunday is like a mini rock concert with some amazing worship songs! Love it! We are so spoiled :o) They sing this song, Beauty & Awesome. Rick and I love it and I want to share it with you... enjoy! :o)

And my dad came to visit!!! That was SUPER COOL! We hadn't seen my dad for so long... it was so neat that he came for a weekend :o) We took him into Denver & Boulder, but mostly we hung out and enjoyed his company! The girls absolutely ADORED him! Abigael was happy to cuddle with him, as were the big girls... I was just happy to have my dada around! :o) I didn't realize just how much I missed him. And on a selfish note, he brought me a TON of pictures from him & his siblings growing up... THAT was super cool, too! My dada was one good-looking kiddo :o)

Me & my dada

My dada , Emmie & Kiera in Boulder

Abigael & Grandpa

Grandpa with Emmie & Kiera

So that is pretty much how we've been... we've had good and bad days, with mostly good winning :o) And for that I'm most thankful!

She's just goofy that way...

Abigael will be 3 on October 17th. Honestly, I'm surprised she's still alive... not because I'd have killed her, but because she seems set on doing it herself! :o)

We're talking about a girl who has tried to drink dry erase board cleaner and Pledge Multi-Purpose cleaner. A girl who has eaten A&D ointment, Desitin and gummy vitamins (but I caught her after only 2!). A girl who drinks anything within reach including soda, coffee and plain ol' water (thank God we're not drinkers!). A girl who climbs up and down her sisters' bunk bed ladder, and has fallen off said bunk bed. A girl who used to run into the street, but thankfully now runs AWAY from the street when she hears cars coming! She's just goofy that way...

So, she's also starting to talk... a lot. Seems to be a genetic thing. I'm a talker, my girls are SUPER talkers... watch out future boyfriends/husbands. LOL

Today Abi comes into my room telling me she had a 'bloo bloo'... she'd cut herself on a pencil. How does one do that? She's just goofy that way...

So I take her in the bathroom, set her on the counter and turn around to get the bandaid & ointment. This is her normal 'booger sucking' position (she's just gotten over a head cold... lots of boogers LOL)... she kind of wigs out and tells me, "No 'niff mama... I no 'niff!" I had to promise her that her nose was safe... she's just goofy that way... :o)

Thought I would share :o)