Baby, It's Cold Outside

Here is our snow princess modeling her adorable "fur" set, a gift from Papa Derrel & Nana Billie! She loves that it is so fancy, and we think she looks cute-cute and ready for the winter weather! 

Introducing: The Roosevelts

Spontaneity was the word of the day last Saturday! Well, spontaneity and suckers! While running errands with the children, we indulged Kyrie with her frequent request to visit the "pet shop." Inside we stopped to look at the fish, the birds and the small animals. There was also an adoption center for homeless cats. One of the clerks asked if Kyrie would like to hold the kitten. Of course, she did... and me... and then Darren! Once Darren held that kitten, I knew we were on our way to adopting her.

We talked about it and joked about it and questioned our seriousness in the matter. Before we finished our day of errands, Darren announced that if we wanted that kitten, we had better go back to the pet supply store. When we got back to the store, the little girl kitten we'd been admiring had been joined by her golden brother. We filled out an application to adopt the sister & brother pair. After a few days and some contact with the rescue organization, we brought home the darling duo. We have named them Franklin & Eleanor, and will call them Frankie & Ella Rose for short. (All of our cats are named after historical figures, so we wanted to continue the trend with the kittens.) Here are the newest members of the family:

Kyrie is more than excited that she now has her own cats! She's holding Ella!

Franklin

Franklin exploring.

Kyrie with our golden boy!

Little Ella

Sister & Brother (You can really see the contrast in their coloring in this picture.)

 Ella exploring.

O Tannenbaum!

After a day of waiting, we were ready to decorate our Christmas tree! Darren and I worked together to put the tree up and then put on the lights. Years ago, Darren and I devised the perfect way to put the lights on our artificial tree (LOVE my fake tree): I lay on the floor and spin the tree in its base while Darren places the lights on the tree. Good luck trying that with a real tree!

Kyrie dug straight into the ornament box and started decorating as soon as we gave her the okay. Degen held a few ornaments and then decided that he'd have more fun with his toys (though he wanted to take ornaments off the tree later on- we had to put the baby fence around the tree to keep everything in its place). 

I love our Christmas tree because it is a memory tree! Many of our ornaments I made when I was a child. They have been joined by ornaments that I have made with our children. Other ornaments are ones that I have been putting on the family tree since I was a little girl. There are special ornaments that mark occasions such as our wedding and the births of our children. Added to these are the ornaments that we have collected on many of our vacations and trips. Our tree is decorated with memories, nostalgia & love!

 Kyrie made this beautiful Christmas star last year!

The Cobles are now ready for the holiday!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving, our minds turn towards Christmas! We pulled out the boxes of decorations, and I went to work finding just the right place in our new home for all our 'old' decorations! I love how cozy the house feels with all the holiday decorations tucked here & there to remind us of the coming celebration!

Our new Christmas Tree

(Our dear, old tree shed like a cat in an August heatwave. We didn't know what to do with ourselves not having to pick up a thousand fallen "needles" after putting up the tree.)

 

 Our beautiful creche!

 Our menorah! Hanukkah begins the first week in December. We are excited to share the festival of lights with our children each year!

This sweet Santa scene is from Darren's side of the family! It must be at least 50 years old!

 Our mantle is Santa-ready! Momma's stocking is the littlest one! I've had this stocking since I was

a little girl!

 Kyrie & I spent part of the day decorating Christmas bags for the gifts we will give to our family & friends.

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year! I am grateful to devote a month to recognizing all the wonderful things we have been blessed with in our lives!

The day before Thanksgiving, I had laser eye surgery in my left eye to repair my glaucoma (I'll have the other eye fixed in a few weeks). Thankfully, the uncomfortableness of the procedure was remedied after a good night's sleep!

I was up bright & early on Thursday, ready to prepare our feast. It was a quiet day at home that I mostly spent in the kitchen. I cooked way too much food for just the four of us, but I couldn't leave out any of the favorites.

We had our holiday supper in our pajamas in the afternoon. The favorite foods this year were the sausage dressing, the mashed potatoes and the cranberry relish. The fridge is full of yummy leftovers!

Our Thanksgiving Table

 The chairs were decorated with the kids' holiday artwork.

 Our feast!

 The kids gobbled up the cranberry relish!

 Darren & I like the dressing best! I make it with sausage and dried cranberries.

His Future's So Bright...

...He's Gotta Wear Shades!

Degen LOVES to wear sunglasses! Of course, he doesn't have any of his own, so he's always wearing Kyrie's! Here is our little star rocking out some cool shades!



Take Another Little Pizza My Heart

Here are photos of our little chef, Kyrie, helping me make mini vegetable pizzas for dinner (they accompanied leftover meatball soup)!



Hibiscus in Bloom

This is a little, potted hibiscus that I bought for Darren shortly after we moved. It just started blooming this past week! It's a beautiful splash of color against the mostly brown & gray background of the fall landscape outside the window.



Food for Thought

As you may have gathered from some of my previous posts, I really enjoy cooking for my family! I am not a very fancy cook, but I think I put together good tasting & healthy meals. As I grow older, I am gaining a greater appreciation for the beauty of the food I put on the table. I'm thankful that my kids are not overly picky eaters, but they definitely have their own (ever changing) opinions about what they will and won't eat. And, Darren, well, he's just happy to sit down at the table to something tasty that he didn't have to prepare. Here are some food photos that I couldn't resist sharing:

This is a Greek turkey burger. The patty has spinach & feta in it, but needed more salt. I put it on split pita bread with homemade hummus, spinach, tomato & red onion. The hummus really made this burger!

This is a lobster that I found on sale at the store: a rare treat. It was already cooked, and was either overdone or became so during the reheat. Not the best part of the meal (I should have taken a photo of the herbed tilapia filets I sauteed in butter instead- much more delicious), but it sure looked pretty in the pot.

 

 I do love fall cooking AND I love using my crock-pot! This is a meatball soup that I threw together. I actually did have a recipe that I was going to use, but after I went through it I decided that I wanted to go in a different direction and meatballs ended up being about the only ingredient both soups had in common. This was super-easy to throw together and tasted great!

 Kyrie LOVES Chinese food! It is probably her most requested food item (after candy). And she can't just eat it with a spoon, she has to use chopsticks like Mommy & Daddy. Here she is showing off her chopstick skills!

 Here is Degen enjoying every last bit of his breakfast cereal. It's Cocoa Krispies, so who can blame him?

Art at Work

Whether at home, the library, a metro park or the community center, my kids love arts & crafts! Here are a few of the art projects that Kyrie has been working on this fall!

 These was our Halloween table decoration. Kyrie made the little witch at her art class.

 This clay turkey is so cute! We love Kyrie's art teacher!

 Another art class project!

 Kyrie put together this 'family' turkey during lessons. We looked for the right letters to spell our names.

 More Thanksgiving art at home: Indian Corn!

Degen made Indian corn, too!