kismet art

Happy Mother's Day

I celebrate today because of you two...
 

Star Wars

Today, according to Yahoo, the authority on all national holidays, is National Star Wars day.  Why, you might ask (and I don't mean why a national Star Wars day because of course there should be a day devoted to Star Wars), but instead because it is May the 4th.  As in "May the 4th be with you"- and yes I will wait as you utter this phrase out loud so that you can hear the corny movie tie-in.  

So we celebrated in true Ackerman style by watching the very first movie in the 6 part series, the original "Star Wars", and no I will not add it's tag line, I dislike that #1 has become #4 and that it has a new name.  Won't say it.  You can't make me.  True fans know which movie I am referring too.  And while Ben has watched bits and pieces of the movies over the years he has been a bit hesitant to watch them all the way through.  But last night he wanted to watch it, so watch it we did.

And while I do not have a photo of all of us scrunched together in the "big bed" (boy am I out of photo practice ever since the whole week in the life project came to an end...) , popcorn bowls in hand, eyes wide with excitement, Dave's a little teary every time he glanced my way with the pure joy of sharing this movie with Ben for the first time, I will instead share a photo of one of Ben's newest Lego Star Wars creations: 

Easter

Easter weekend was finally here and we started by dyeing eggs- Emma prefers the 2 fisted method, she's all about being efficient :)  We only lost 4 eggs to the drop into the dye from a high elevation method of egg dyeing.
The eggs turned out nicely and are displayed on a vintage scale I picked up at our neighbor's garage sale last week.The following would be the best Easter egg hunt photo you can get of your kids when they wake up at 6 am and you don't have time to turn all the lights on before they are gathering eggs.This is what happens when you are up at 6 am, you are then passed out by 10:30 am.  Bring on the food- I love the family get together and the traditions but I also truly I love the food- and when it rains all day what else is there to do but gather around the table, tell stories, laugh, and eat?  Here are the deviled eggs:

A greek inspired-orzo pasta salad:

A Beeler's spiral cut ham that my mom coated with a dijon-rosemary-garlic paste:

Fruit platter, pickles and olives, and herbed rolls from the Bread Stop: After the food was finished Ben and my brother Joe played a card trick game:

My dad relaxing with a little Calvin and Hobbes (a favorite of Ben, Joe, and my dad):  

Yes, and once again, not in the photo (too busy cooking, and eating, and taking photos, and laughing). Emma has been pronouncing the word eggs like "egg-zsh" and it is hard not to crack-up, pun intended.

Spent the rest of the evening re-hiding eggs, eating chocolate, and relaxing.

Hope you enjoyed your Easter!

Santa

Sometimes the best part about seeing Santa is saying goodbye... well, there's always next year. 

 

 

Ornament Swap

This holiday season I participated in an ornament swap with some of the ladies on the Cocoa Daisy website.  This lovely, sparkly Noel ornament came to our house over the weekend all the way from South Africa!  Sofia, we love it and it was so fun to receive your package, my son loved the cool postage stamps too.                      This was my 2- sided felt tag ornament- it traveled to Florida (hi Vanessa!).                  

A fun little project to participate in and I'm hoping to do it again next year (and see if some of my local friends want to do a swap too!)

Our Tree

                            

                     Ben showing me an ornament on the tree, 2006                        Emma showing me an ornament on the tree, 2009

                                                    Just another reason that I love Christmas.
  
 

Christmas Card Drawing

For the past couple of years Ben has drawn a picture for our family Christmas card.  This is our family, if we were snowmen.  Notice the close resemblances.  We are all working together (just like on Sunday when we decorated our tree.)  And everyone looks happy. Which in turn makes me happy.  Because if the snowmen us are sad at Christmas what chance do the human us have at finding joy during the silly season?

JOY

A little mitten banner I made, hanging in the frigid sunshine.  A little reminder of the fun times coming this season.  And the closer we get to Christmas the more I am feeling that joy in my heart.  

 

Thankful

for this 15 lb., juicy, Shelton turkey...

for eating Thanksgiving dinner using Dave's Grandma Davis' lace tablecloth, a vase from our friend Grayce full of garden herbs that survived last week's frost, flame-less candles (especially thankful after Emma dumped both water and paper in them), and the beautiful bird dishes given to us by Dave's Aunt Peggy...

for Emma using my childhood silverware to eat dinner...

for spinach salad with feta/roasted walnuts/cranberries and rosemary-balsamic dressing, for the turkey, for my mom's homemade rice/rye bread stuffing, for marina-marinated brussels sprouts, for homemade cranberry sauce with orange zest, for mashed potatoes and gravy, for sweet potatoes, and olives brought from California by our friend Carey...

for seconds...

for Dave (we celebrated his birthday a day early with my mom's Chocolate-Kahlua cheesecake with fudge sauce, didn't really miss the pumpkin pie all that much) and for enthusiastic Emma... 

for my mom and my brother, Joe... for my dad and Ben...

really thankful for a nice, relaxing day spent with family, a great start to the very welcome hustle and bustle of the next few weeks...

Just Call Me Scrooge...

Call me Scrooge, I can take it, but seriously, did I need to turn the radio on today, November 16th, and hear continuous holiday music already?  I think not.

(Lego Santa, Christmas, 2008)