Where have we been???

Here, The Land of Enchantment.















Well, actually we have been home for almost 2 weeks and have been very busy. Updates later.

We went home a few weeks ago because it had been way to long since we had some quality chili! It blows my mind that 2 places that are so different can both hold such a special place in my heart. For any of you that have flown into Albuquerque in the winter time or any time really, you can relate to the shock that goes through your mind when you look our the window and see not one speck of green. Or maybe it is just me because of the complete greenness that I live in now. But it doesn't take long to see the true beauty that New Mexico has to offer. Just look at the photos above and you have to admit that brown is pretty darn beautiful.
I was telling a good friend the other day that Albuquerque will always have a tight squeeze on my heart. There will always be something about it that pulls me back. It is almost like I can feel the pull physically and need to go back to feel whole again. But when we were there a few weeks ago I also felt some closure, like we are happy and we did in fact make the right decision. So much of who I am started in Albuquerque. I was born there and had the most amazing childhood. My wonderful marriage started there and my beautiful son was born there. Not to mention my parents and family who are still there and the friends who are there who helped define who I am. Seattle is where I live and is home but my true home will always be in New Mexico.

By the way... we are loving this new camera of ours!!! Can you tell?

Shop on Etsy and Help Out in Haiti!

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If you aren't familiar with Etsy, it is a great website where you can buy unique hand made gifts often made by other moms! It is a fun website and now you can shop and help out in Haiti! Just push the button below or on my sidebar. Happy shopping!

Wordless Wednesday

Potty Training Confessions

Cooper...

Will...

Kill me one day when he finds out I posted photos of his little bum in Thomas under pants and one of him sitting on his little red potty....

But I could not resist as his little bum is so cute I can't stand it!

We tried really hard to potty train last week and had some really great days. But, we decided he isn't quite ready. He would sit on the potty if we asked him to but even after 3 days of hard core potty training (or as hard core as it gets in our house) he still would not do it on his own, but would rather play instead of say "I need to go potty". It was more of a "I don't want to go potty" when we asked him to go. We did consider it a small success as he had NEVER gone in the potty before and now he will, when asked to. So... we are taking a little break!

I can't wait to get his bum in these cutie under pants again, though!

Christmas Celebrations

Elizabeth putting the apron on Cooper that Aunt Peggy made for them, so cute.

Cooper contemplating his new baby cousin, Matthew. (Were getting one too Coop!)


My Dad, our Po.


Doug picking out a new record to play on Christmas.


My Mom, our Grammy and Livy.


Cooper and Elizabeth. Aren't they too cute! They hugged a lot!


Cooper and Daddy on Christmas morning watching one of Coops new Thomas videos that Santa brought.


Cooper and Mommy opening stockings very early on Christmas morning.


See, they are hugging again!


Cooper and Livia in matching PJ's.


Grandpa Bob and baby Matthew.

We had a very relaxing Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister Ann's house with her husbands family, my parents and Doug's dad and brothers family. Then everyone came over to our house on Christmas morning for breakfast. After that we spent all day doing NOTHING. It was lovely. We relaxed, played with our new toys, and enjoyed our first Christmas together in our own house (we usually travel for Christmas). We usually do way to much driving around and really enjoyed the relaxing Christmas that we had this year. Then, we had a wonderful dinner at Grandpa Bobs house, as tradition would have it.
It was a really good Christmas filled with family and love.
We spent Sunday with Doug's sisters family which was super fun and are looking forward to celebrating with the Mckeans, Fosters, and Blairs this coming Monday. We are stretching Christmas out extra long this year! How great!

Christmas Eve traditions

My mom holding a tamale ready to be wrapped up


Ojas and masa ready to be filled with chili


Fresh, delicious red chili

My mothers lovely hands demonstrating exactly how to spread the masa

There have been many wonderful days of Christmas over the past week. So that this post doesn't have a million photos, I am going to spread out the Christmas cheer over a few posts.

Many New Mexicans make tamales and posole for Christmas Eve. Making tamales is an art passed down from generation to generation. They are usually only made once a year (at least in my family) because they are so labor intensive. We make a bunch of them so that we may freeze them and have them all year long. But, the fresh ones are eaten on Christmas Eve as a very special treat. This year, my mom and my sister Ann and I all sat around a table making tamales together. It made us think about our Mama Lou (my grandmother, my moms mom) and how she taught us to make these special tamales. We also talked about other women in our families who we were missing over the holidays, like our sister Elisa who usually helps out with the tamale making, and Wendy and her kids who are in LA. We talked about Aunt Berta and had a discussion on who's posole is better my moms or hers We decided they are equally as wonderful, although Doug is willing to say that Aunt Berta makes better posole (sorry mama). Mostly it brought back wonderful memories of Mama Lou, who is no longer with us in person but sure is with us in spirit! We laughed and laughed. It is a wonderful tradition that I am blessed to share with the women in my family.
Doug was there to take these wonderful photos and capture the moment. These photos made me realize that mothers hands are very special to me. They are the same as mine and my sisters hands, we all have them. They represent comfort and strength to me and watching them get covered in the masa making tamales reminded me of how much I love them.
I hope you all had a very special Christmas Eve. What do you do?

Happy Holidays

We kicked off the holiday season last week by taking Cooper and Livia downtown to Nordstroms to see Santa. Notice that Cooper and Livia are not on said Santa's lap... this is because Cooper said that Santa "makes me a little nervous" and refused to sit on said Santa's lap. So, we did what the photographer called a "bye bye Santa" photo, where Santa disappears, the kids sit in his chair and then he sneaks in the back of the chair to appear in the photo. I get it... Santa is a strange man and usually I would not encourage him to sit on a strange mans lap...

Next, we picked out our tree and Cooper helped decorate it. He was very into the ornaments and it was so fun sharing this with him but picking out the tree was where the fun really happened...

How...

cute


is my boy?! I can hardly stand it! He makes me melt to a little puddle...



I don't really look this pregnant already :) that is my scarf tucked into my jacket making my tummy stick out. Ahem...but all of you who have seen me pregnant know I get pretty big in the tummy area so stay tuned, this baby is already making him or herself known!

Daddy scouting for the Blair family Christmas tree.

Happy Holidays! May the season bring you nothing but joy!
~The Blairs