I’m not going to make any excuse for being away from the blog except to say: hubby got a wonderful new job, new job was far away, hubby moved several states away while we tried to sell the house. Then there was NOT selling the house, waiting month after month, the worst New England winter EVER, still NOT selling the house month after month, getting an offer that fell through AFTER our house was packed and on the moving truck, cat running away and missing for 4 days, driving to our new home, getting kids in school to finish the school year, finding new doctors for little girl, summer break, FINALLY selling the old house, new health issues for little girl, starting school, boy in 6th grade (so a new school), and closing on new house soon.

Phew!

So a lot has happened. A lot that I feel inspired to write about so I will. I also had a kind friend say that she thought I should get back to it, especially since I have so much to talk about. And hubby likes the way I write too and was encouraging.

The blog is called Children, Cooking, Miracles. There will still be some of each, plus a lot of home stuff as we start to make our new house our own home. I’m sure there will also be some crafty bits and sewing. I have been making some new clothes for the girl, I have some things planned for me, and of course, Christmas is coming! (As I duck the rotten tomatoes you’re throwing!)

So basically, it will all be the same, just more frequent. I hope.

I hardly know what to do with January.

I guess that says it all! January. January. I don't start off the month with a big, champagne-filled fete -- I have little children, one of whom thinks that 3:30 is party time, so I gotta get my sleep while the gettin's good! This year, I went to bed on New Year's Eve at about 11:15. C decided he was going to stay up, but I heard him go to bed about 5 minutes after I did. Party animals, I tell ya!

I spent New Year's Day putting away Christmas. There has a been some discussion in the blogosphere about "keeper-uppers" and "putter-awayers." I'm normally a keeper-upper, but this year it just made me sad. I had such anticipation of Christmas and preparing for K coming home. But after he was gone, it just reminded me that our visit and the magic and anticipation was over. I so look forward to taking it all out in our new home next year. This was the best Christmas ever, but next year will break the record for Best of All Christmases Ever, Ever, EVAH!

January is such a long month, a long month with no holiday in it. Just at the beginning. I'm not much of a Valentine's Day decorator, but I put up a little heart garland on the mantle just to have something pretty and sparkly since everything else is a little bare. I am keeping the house kinda sparse so that buyers can see themselves here. (C'mon, Buyers!!!) But, yeah, January. Nothing big to decorate for, sew for, craft for, decorate for. I guess that's why all the home organization stuff comes out this month. Might as well pass those long winter days by weeding through your crap! I admit that is a good use for January. Guess I had better get to it.

First I really want to sew a cape for P out this fabric. Cute, right?! Or maybe a little coat like Jane's! That coat in that fabric? Ohhhh..... Does buying more fabric count as organization?

Christmas Tour

Welcome to our home! I really dolled it up this year since K will be visiting for the first time in three months, and also so that it looks homey and warm for potential buyers. I hope you enjoy seeing our decorations!








Every year I get the kids a new ornament. C gets Santas.


And P gets some sort of fairy.

Molly loves it when the tree goes up because she can snuggle up to the baseboard and hide out.












It has been so cold here! As it should be, of course, but this is more like January cold than December cold! I love New England and I do love the cold, except for taking the little one out in it. I have been enjoying our fireplace very much. It puts out quite a lot of heat for a fireplace that's not meant for heating, and I'm happy to go through oil a little slower than usual.

Holiday Shop Gorgeousness

Oh, this is THE most swoonwothy shop. It is, yes, my favorite store and, no, it's not Anthropologie! Gasp! This is Taken for Granite, the prettiest little store in a converted old gas station in the Stony Creek section of Branford, Connecticut. (The pink/orange granite from Stony Creek was used to build the Brooklyn Bridge.) It is on the Long Island Sound shore so there is a definite sea theme, but at Christmas the store comes alive with the most amazing glittery, sparkle-y, vintage displays. Here, just look!





















And here is the centerpiece of the whole holiday display! She is maybe 8 or 9 feet tall with a wire form skirt, lit from within, and covered with magnolia leaves, frosty floral bits, and ornaments. It was so spectacular that I gasped when I walked in!

Tuna Casserole

Food. I love it. I love making it, eating, talking about it, planning the next meal as I'm still eating the current one. The women in my family love to cook, bake, and can and preserve. They have all the family recipes, all that good comfort food.

One of my favorites is tuna casserole. Now, I loved it even with the inclusion of the contents of the red and white can, but Shauna and Daniel's version has none of that! My husband hates tuna casserole. Hates. Won't eat anything with canned tuna. At all. No way. So I save making tuna casserole for when he's away. Since he's working out of state ... it's tuna time!




Yeah, those are potato chips on top, Baby!


Now that's the seal of approval! (Although you can see that he ate all around the mushrooms.) It was soooo good that C told his Daddy that he just had to try it. And he agreed that he might. I'm gonna hold him to it!

Away for the weekend

Aaaah, vacation. Well, sort of. The kids and I went to New Hampshire to visit for the last time, I hope. Not that I don't want to go back, of course. It's just that I want to move. Our family has been apart for about a month now and it's really, really tough. Going away for the weekend wasn't the least bit relaxing for me either and was tougher than usual since I didn't have my dear husband there to help. It's tough being in the inn because I feel like I'm constantly shushing the children, and I don't want to be that way. But it is a business too so they can't just run around willy-nilly! C was "on" all the time because he knew my attention wasn't all on him and P was plain ol' grumpy. She is more of a creature of home and habit than I am, so being in an unfamiliar place with lots on the agenda and lots of people was just unsettling to her. She slept terribly too, as did I. Now that we are home, we can relax! How crazy is that?!

The important thing, though, is that we spent time with friends, ate wonderful food, and got to see how beautiful New Hampshire is in the fall, one last time. While we were there I was thinking what a coincidence it was that the first time we three (we were just three then) went up to the inn seven years ago it was close to my birthday and here this time (a different three) we were there the weekend before my birthday. And so it all comes full circle -- and I hope we sell our house soon so that we can call it all complete.

I had to take a photo of this barn with Totoro, one of our favorites, painted on the door.

Mount Washington. The sign at the start of the auto road says "This is a narrow, steep, mountain road with no guardrails [eep!], so if you are afraid of heights, you might not enjoy the drive." Shoulda taken a picture of that sign. I'm not afraid of heights, but I am pretty terrified of tumbling down a mountainside with my children in a minivan, so I opted out of this adventure. I have to leave New England without one of those "This car climbed Mt. Washington" bumper stickers. I'm pretty sure it's against the law to have one of those stickers if you didn't actually make the drive. If it's not, it should be.

My dear friend Catherine, a gorgeous singer (a gorgeous singer who sings gorgeously is more accurate), flew in from Minnesota to perform a recital at the little white church in Eaton, just down the road from the inn. The church is called The Little White Church and it's easy to find because it's the little church, the white one.

The kids waiting for the music to start. I think C is telling Tim bad jokes. Again.

It's white, it's little, it's the...

And suddenly some magical creature appeared in the window! And he promised me Bailey's!

A view out the window of the church to the graveyard. I just looove a good old graveyard.