December 31, 2011

Hi there and Happy New Year's Eve my friends.

I thought about doing some sort of reflecting on 2011 post today,

but I got about one hour of sleep last night and my head just can't seem to throw something like that together right now.

(wearing my new ray ban wayfarers.  thanks a million Don & Kaylen! you spoiled me.  i felt a little bit rock n roll wearing these and i liked it)

As luck would have it the girls and I all came down with colds on Dec 27th.  Good thing I took down Christmas and went crazy cleaning on the 26th. 

I have not been sleeping well this month and it is really irking me.

I'm sure part of it has to do with my cold right now.

I'm hoping once it's gone and I can get back into my workout routine I might sleep better at night.

In the meantime, I've been eating tons of these cuties.

And right now I am drinking an organic tea called throat coat.  It is working niiiiicely.  Now if only there was some herbal remedy for these bags under my eyes.

The weather this last week has been so nice.

We've had the windows and doors open every single day.

 Southern California may be a very populated place, but...

22 million people can't be wrong.

Noah came over for lunch yesterday.

 This picture makes me laugh so much.

I laugh because Noah is playing with his girl cousin's doll heads, just like back in the day when my sister and I used to put hair clippies in my older cousin Don's hair and make him play house and dolls with us.

And I laugh because Noah and Claire are playing so nicely, and there's Hannah, standing up directing orders to everyone.

Miss Bossypants.  I hear I did the same thing as a kid. ?

This next pic was about a month ago, just found it on my phone and liked it.

I'm guessing by the looks of their hair and the bsu shirts it was a Wednesday. (and also game day)

No offense to Mr. Hass or anything. 

;)

 Isn't the color of this Le Creueset pot gorgeous?!

I love it.  My parents gifted me this for Christmas.

I've already used it to make rice one night when we pulled out a tray of our frozen enchiladas for dinner.

I've fallen in love with my new kindle.

I was not sure how I would feel about it because I simply love books.  And paper.  And the smell of books.  And books.

 But the convenience of this thing simply can not be beat.

It is so small, so light, so portable and makes it so easy to read anywhere! I love the case I bought on amazon.  The small light at the top that pops out collects it's energy from the kindle so there is no need for batteries.  Clever.

This week I've read while making dinner (alright it was waiting for the water for Kraft macaroni and cheese to boil, but so what), toted in in my purse on multiple occasions, and today I read while walking on the treadmill and loved it.

Mr. Hass presented it to me with a book on it that I had clipped out and stuck on the fridge.  Observant man.  He bought Bossypants by Tina Fey for me.  I love her and so far it is hilarious.

Sorry I had no wiww post this week.

Here's one shot for ya though...
I wasn't feeling too hot so this is what I came up with.

Last night Mr. Hass and I snuck out for a few hours alone and it was much needed.

We went to Best Buy and he got a kindle with a Christmas exchange he needed to do.

He's already downloaded and started to read Hunger Games on it.

Then we ate dinner in Panera and chit chatted a bit.

And after what felt like forever in there (funny how time goes so slowly without your kids needing you every five minutes), we walked around Barnes N Noble for a bit.

That Mr. Hass, he's just the guy for me.

Did I tell you that yesterday he bought me the Nordstrom exclusive leopard/sheepskin Toms AND new curtains for my family room? 

Yup he did. 

Well, I kinda forced the new curtains upon him (it was a great sale price, I couldn't pass up!) but he obliged.

He gets me.

 I'm usually all over writing out thank you cards, but we are a little behind on it this year.

Plus it takes a looooooong time to get your five year old to sign each one.

Cute cards though huh? 

Marshall's.

Before I close this up here, a random list of a few things I am looking forward to in 2012:

-The Long Beach Hair Show

-cooking the lobster tails that are in our freezer one night at home with Mr. Hass

-a weekend away in Napa Valley

-family vacation with all of Mr. Hass' family in Oceanside this summer

-Claire learning to poop in the toilet (this one might be harder than you'd think)

-Hannah starting Kinder and Claire beginning Preschool
-celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary

-a weekend trip to Seattle

-and who knows what else may be in store for the Hass Fam in twenty twelve.

Have a happy and safe New Year everyone!!!!!

Love,

Genn

It's all boxed up and put away

I'm talking about Christmas.

It's back in the garage. 

All packed up.

Boxed up for next year.

Kicked the tree to the curb.

Cause that's how I roll on December 26th.

We had a really nice Christmas weekend.

Mr. Hass was off both days which was SO very nice.

We started up a new tradition this year of letting the girls open up their gifts from us on Christmas Eve morning.

 Christmas day always seems so rushed because we go straight over to my parents house, so this year it was really nice to just take our time with our gifts and lounge around all morning.

 These doll heads were a big hit.

They came with lots of hair accessories, colored clip in extensions, and fake scissors.  Possible cosmetologists in the making?  Claire especially likes "cutting" her doll's hair.

After a relaxing day we finally got dressed and ready for dinner (enchiladas) at my parents house.

 In both of those family shots the girls were smiling (well, in the first one at least they were smiling) but their eyes were glued to the tv watching Phineas and Ferb.  Ah well, family shot for Christmas 2011, done.

 
Those two were from my sister's iphone.
I have iphone envy.

After we stuffed ourselves with the delicous enchiladas that we all helped make, we let the kids open up their gifts from Gamma and Geeps.

 And because we just couldn't wait to give these to her...

 my Mom opened up her gift from us as well.

 After a bit, we came home, read Twas the Night Before Christmas to our girlies, put them to bed, and then I made the french toast strata dish that I bring to my parents house for our low calorie Christmas breakfast. ;)

The girls were so excited to run downstairs and see what Santa brought them.

Hannah saw her pink razor scooter and yelled "How did he know?! That's just what I wanted!"

 And Claire said, "My big wheel!  My big wheel!"

Santa also left a Barbie princess collection, and a huge set of tinkertoys.

 About 8ish we drove over to my parents house for more presents and breakfast.

 It was a beautiful crystal clear day here in Southern California.

I can't remember the last time the skies were this clear.

Just gorgeous.

 There was A LOT of coffee consumption going on.

My brother's eyes are closed here, but I'm posting this anyway.

Our baby brother, 6 inches taller than us both. :)

For breakfast we feasted on farm fresh eggs (from my mom's hens), turkey sausage links, french toast strata, bacon, and Paula Dean's gorilla bread.  Hmmmmmmmm.

We went back to our house about noon for showers and then it was back out to my Uncle David and Aunt Glenda's house for more holiday fun.  If you read my blog a lot, you know how I like to tease my older cousin Don (never gets old.), well Dave and Glenda are Don and Chad's parents.  Dave is one of my mom's three brothers.

 There was a lot of people at Dave & Glenda's.

Lots of family to see and socialize with,

and more good food to feast on.

Not much time for snapping pictures.

Especially during all of the gift exchanging.

Christmas 2011, over and out.

 Today,
Mr. H took down the lights outside.

We took the tree out.

Took Christmas down.

Mr. H took the girls to the park,

and I utilized every spare second of my alone time in the house to deep clean and find homes for all the new gifts.
Then he came home and he left for work. (sad face from me)

I got crazy and organized cupboards in my kitchen,

cleaned out my pantry, and the fridge,

made my Trader Joe's list for tomorrow, did loads of laundry,

and even found a little down time to read on my new kindle.

It was a good holiday.

We are so blessed.

I am working tomorrow.

Business as usual.

How was your Christmas weekend?????

Enchilada Party

We had tons of fun last night at our enchilada making party.

I prepped two bowls with the enchilada fillings, and my Mom prepped two as well.

I was callin' her Mrs. Clause all night.

 I made my first recipe pin from pinterest and it was for the win.

Cucumber Limeade Punch.

1 (2) liter bottle of Sprite

1 frozen can limeade

a few cups of ice

1 sliced cucumber

Really tasty and refreshing!

Real men wear aprons with ruffles when attending an enchilada party...

 Just to clarify, those are not my hands!

Even little Clairey wore her apron.

We ate pizza while watching Christmas Vacation.

Then we sent Drew & Diana out to two different grocery stores to buy more enchilada sauce and more vegetable oil.

 once Drew & Diana returned, the real fun began.

We had quite the assembly crew working in the kitchen.

Even the little people were rolling enchiladas.

 At some point my Dad was wearing the ruffled apron that Drew originally had on.

So I nicknamed him "Ruffles".

I think it's gonna stick.

 We made 15 dozen enchiladas!

Mostly chicken, and a few trays of cheese.

 We made quite the mess too.

But it sure was fun.

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas!