The Lighting of the Star

Us, tonite:
I love living in Castle Rock, because we're less than 20 minutes from Denver (I'm a city girl at heart), but we get all those small town benefits as well. Like tonite, to kick off the holiday season Castle Rock had the annual "Lighting of the Star".

See, Castle Rock is named after the butte in the middle of town, and during the holidays, we light up a big star on top it it. Santa does, in fact. It's a big party in downtown Castle Rock. We missed the lighting ceremony, because it was at 5pm, when Justin gets off work, but we strolled downtown when he got home. Here's some of the pictures I took tonite

Here's the star, off in the distance on the "Castle Rock".
One of my favorite stores, The Barn, was open for the festivities:

There was a string quartet playing The First Noel, it made for lovely ambiance:

The Castle Rock fire station held a free chili dinner, which I thought was a quaint small town touch:

Here's one of Castle Rock's most historic buildings, which is owned by the Castle Cafe:

Eisley slept the whole time, I tell you, her stroller is magical:

The One-Hand Wonder

Here's why I'm getting really good at doing things with one hand. Including typing (I'm sure all moms get good at this, but I'm impressed by myself.)

I can also do laundry and dishes with one hand. I know, talent.

There's just nothing better at 12pm than a snoring, adorable baby clinging to your chest.

This morning this family got up and cuddled, smiled at each other (I know, that sounds totally and utterly corny, but if you woke up to a happy grinning baby everyday this would be your corny life, too.)

We went on a walk, with the dogs. When we got back, Eis was sleeping soundly so I tidied up the house, Justin made breakfast. He makes breakfast every morning these days, usually scrambled eggs with either toast or oatmeal. He says he loves cooking. Fine by me!

I'm so glad Justin doesn't go to work until 10am, especially since it gets dark so early these days. We have a few hours in the morning to do corny things like smile at each other and eat scrambled eggs.

And now, for the random pictures:



Happy Tuesday.

FREE!!!

There's two types of "free" I'm gonna talk about in this post. I'll start with the exciting one...

My sister alerted me tonite that the big O (and by that I mean Oprah... what'd you think I was talking about???) is giving away FREE Snapfish photo books (REALLY nice ones, I love Snapfish!) Not sure if there's a limit to how many they're giving away, but hopefully you can grab yours here: http://www.snapfish.com/info18

The second type of free I want to talk about is a bit of a mini-rant. Here it goes...

Tonite on the news I saw a blurb on a topic that, come every November/December, really grinds my gears! Yes. It was that stupid and dreaded topic regarding some complainers out there who find it "OFFENSIVE" for city property to have any Christmas themed decor.

Oh PLEASE!

I find it interesting that people seem more upset by the Christ Child displayed in public areas than the hurtful things all these politicians have been saying in the media during recent months.

Well I've got news for you complainos - and I honestly think there's a very small percentage of society that actually oppose the Christmas spirit, so I resent that the news even bothers to cover it, but hey they love a good controversy - this country was based on Christian values! Luckily, we all have the FREEdom to believe and practice whatever religion we like. But like it or not, it's practically a tradition with our government. Our forefathers were Christians. We've elected Christian presidents almost every 4 years. Our money even has the word "God" on it. Gasp!

But I just don't get it... what's so offensive about a nativity scene? The whole message of Christmas and the Christ Child is God's LOVE for humanity. You don't have to believe it, but why is it offensive?

Ok. I'm done. I'm trying to keep my rants to a minumum but I just couldn't help getting on my soapbox regarding this one...

Here's a picture of a certain cutie to cheer us up now:

Meet Bea

I've seen other blogs do this and I think its a great idea, so every few weeks or so I'd like to feature one of our loved ones - Eisley's relatives - and introduce them to you!

Who better to start with then my sister:

Bea with newborn Eisley

Known as: Auntie Bea. Bea is short for Beatrice, which is not her name. Her name is Brittany.

She filled this out for us:

Education: often arbitrary, but worthwhile all the same

Worst habit? I guess I should say coffee. That's supposed to be bad, right? I don't feel bad about it. Coffee makes me happy.

What is your biggest accomplishment? I knew you were going to ask me this. Honestly I feel like if I can make it through the day without losing my patience or my temper with my girls, that is a huge accomplishment. Writing, and school, all the other things that someone on the outside looking in might call an accomplishment--that stuff is fun for me, and sometimes--often--easy. A true accomplishment is devoting one full day to my daughters and managing to do it without losing my cool. I have two toddlers, ok? It's hard for me!

Me & Bea in high school. Bea was a great role model for me back then, I hope Eisley has a role model like her someday...

How would you use $10,000 right now? Some to pay off debt but most to go on a vacation in Italy, Spain, and the south of France. And a long afternoon of shopping for paperbacks.

What is your dream job? Full time writer.

What is your best childhood memory? I could never pick just one. My favorite memories are of things we did together as a family; camping trips and drives in the mountains, Saturday's at the Art Museum. Hamburgers on the grill and guacamole in the kitchen and Garrison Keillor on the radio. Some of my best memories are of our trips to California, New Mexico, and Seattle. Dad buying me Lord of the Rings. Mom taking me shopping for my 14th birthday. I left the bag of stuff she bought me at the pizza-by-the slice joint. It was still there when we rushed back.

Favorite vacation: the five days I spent in Paris. I love traveling even more than writing.

Here we are last month at Boo at the Zoo.

Nicest thing anyone has done for you: my family supports my dreams; my husband takes care of the girls a WHOLE LOT on weekends so that I can write. Somebody once gave us a car. One time a guy I didn't know walked up to me at church and handed me fifty bucks, and that fifty bucks was all we had in the bank for a week. A friend of mine once gave me money spontaneously at another time when we really needed it. Indy once wrapped her arms around me when I was frustrated and cranky at the airport after 6 days in California and sang to me, and stroked my hair.

Favorite thing about your husband: this is private! I like to keep my most special feelings to myself. I will say that I appreciate being able to go out and write nearly every weekend morning for almost four years a whole heck of a lot.

At my wedding in 2004.

Dream Vacation: Ok well since we're dreaming: Iceland first to see Reykjavik (say RECK-ee-a-VEK). Then onto Ireland, see Dublin, than do a little hiking at a place where the people that own the property feed you scones and tea afterwards. Then Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic. That about covers it. For that trip.

Favorite Place to Spend Money: bookstores! by far, by far, by far.

Favorite possession: my ipod, and my painting by my dad that hangs in our living room. Song that best describes your life: I'm going to be enigmatic and say "Past the Mission" by Tori Amos.

Thank you, Auntie Bea, for doing my first survey. ;-)

I love you, big sis!

This Week - According to Eisley

I thought I'd do something different this week. Instead of uploading a bunch of cute pictures, I threw them together in a slideshow. Enjoy.

(I recommend "popping" it out with that middle button on the lower right)
Eisley's Week - Episode1