christmas festivities

here are some of the highlights of a few of the parties and gatherings this christmas.

 our small group christmas party, complete with a few Ugly Christmas Sweatshirts, a wii and a projector. the 3 kiddos were in bed already. we're going to just have to see how things change when the 3 babes that are still in the bellies make their appearances in early 2010.

here's a little christmas elf that entertained us at my family's christmas gathering.
what a cutie!

 then my girlfriends from high school got together for a little pizza party. two are newlyweds, three brought their babies and three are preggo! another friend missed the party as she was at home with her newborn. wow.... lots has changed in 10 years.

dancing to a little christmas jazz. woah... check out the belly.... (you may need to click on the picture to see it better)

after the christmas eve service, we had a quiet little family time, just the... 3.... of us, involving an impromptu fondue and garlic parmesan breadsticks. we still have one more gathering coming up in january which i am PUMPED about!

my christmas gift to you

as my christmas gift to you, i bring the gift of laughter. you need to (yes, you need to) check out the david crowder band's rockumentaries. here's the first one. the next 3 can be found here, here and here. the fourth one is a video response to david after dentist, which you must watch (yes, must) beforehand if you haven't seen it yet.

looking forward

"...this is what you have to look forward to...." this phrase, laced with sarcasm, is heard repeatedly by the Pregnant Woman. why is it that people feel they need to so frequently remind us how *terrible* child-rearing is. a mom is trying to soothe her wailing infant, she turns to me. "this is what you have to look forward to." a woman is pushing her shopping cart, trying to restrain her toddler from pulling groceries off the shelf and diverting attention to avoid another tantrum. she looks at my belly. "this is what you have to look forward to." a colleague arrives to the staff Christmas party a half hour late, struggling to carry her potluck dish, diaper bag and the 18 lbs of carseat and baby. "this is what you have to look forward to."

it's enough to make the Pregnant Woman petrified. thankfully, i can honestly say that i am not petrified, not in the least. becuase i know that there are moments (there must be moments) that make it all worth it. there must be, you know, otherwise there would be no such thing as siblings. gazing down at that sweet little thing, after he settles down, watching him sleep. or those tiny fingers curling around one of your own, gripping tightly, jabbing your finger into his mouth to be gummed. or watching your baby learn to sit. walk. learn the alphabet. talk to Jesus.

why do mothers not feel so free to tell me, "you know, they can drive you crazy sometimes, but the overwhelming love that you feel for them is something that you couldn't imagine before you knew them. this is what you have to look forward to." i have heard this a few times and as a Pregnant Woman it has brought tears to my eyes. but i have not heard it nearly enough. may i be the kind of mommy who is quick to remember my blessings even during the rough days.

chocolate almond pear tarts

last night was R's staff Christmas banquet. i'm one of the rare ones who can actually say that they enjoy going to their spouse's staff parties. the other day, R came home from work and told me that he signed up to bring dessert to the potluck party (read: he signed me up to make dessert for the potluck). but i'm not complaining - i've told him that if i have the time, i'd rather make a yummy dessert than bring the bowl of corn. so after my night shift, i came home slept a few hours and then got up to make some deeeelicious tarts. there were so many things i could've made that would have been much much simpler, but i was just dying to make something with almond extract, which is, of course, my favourite flavouring.

this is a recipe that i got from some magazine awhile back. the first time i made them, they were so yummy, but got a little soggy. so this time i modified the recipe and it was better (this time, i just used milk instead of milk & cream, and heated it up with the flour on the stove to cook it and thicken it up. it worked, but then i had to put it outside to cool before i could add the egg, etc. and then after baking them, i had to put them outside again to cool enough the put the cool whip on because i was running out time before the party). and next time, i will modify it some more. here is how i think i'll do it next time....


chocolate almond pear tarts
30  3" tart shells   - prebake for 10 minutes (but don't brown them! they're still going back in the oven)
1  14 oz can of pear halves, drained, sliced. place 2 slices in each tart shell.

beat together:
1/2 C milk
1/2 C 18% cream
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract

mix in a separate bowl:
1/4 C flour
1/4 C ground almonds
1/4 C brown sugar
2/3 C chocolate chips

mix together and fill pie shells. bake for 17-20 min @ 375.

once cooled, garnish with cool whip and toasted almond slivers.

***UPDATE: THE TARTS TURNED OUT GREAT. BUT ONCE AGAIN, THE SHELLS WERE A BIT SOGGY BY THE NEXT DAY. IF YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE THEM, I'D SUGGEST WHIPPING UP THE FILLING AHEAD OF TIME IF YOU WANT TO, BUT ONLY BAKE THEM ON THE DAY THAT YOU WANT TO EAT THEM OR BRING THEM SOMEWHERE***

amazed at God's timing yet again

here's the story. i have 0.8 permanent position at work (that's 80% of full time). throughout my pregnancy, i'm finding that i get tired very quickly and so i was able to start working a 0.5 term position - meaning that when the term is over, i still have my 0.8 waiting for me. this also means that when i return from maternity leave, i have a 0.8 position waiting for me (i forfeit the 0.5 when i go on leave).

unfortunately, i don't want to work a 0.8 when i have a baby at home. i'd rather work more like a 0.4 or casual - just picking up shifts when I want to. the problem with that is that i know that i'll never really want to.

there are two 0.4 permanent positions on my ward and one of them just opened up and I GOT IT! so...... i'll stay in the 0.5 term until my mat leave in february and next february i'll have a 0.4 job waiting for me. unbelievable.

i don't love my job, i'm actually really sick of it and soooo ready for a change. but it will be nice to have something to return to. a 0.4 is about one, maybe two, 12-hour shifts a week.

the amazing timing part of it is two-fold. first, i don't need to be looking for a new job while on my mat leave. i will definitely be using that time to ponder my future and where i truly want to work, but i don't need to do any job-hunting. and i don't need to return to my ward, but i can. secondly, i can take the top-up option! this means that i'll be getting a bit of extra cash during my mat leave if i promise to return to work in the same health region for 6 months at a 0.4. before, i would have had to promise a 0.8 and i wasn't willing to do that. God is good.

funny little guy (or girl)

this morning i woke up and found myself lying on my back with my hand on my belly. the baby was wiggling and nudging me along the whole length of my hand. it was wonderful. when he settled down, i turned onto my side (i know, i know. i try to sleep on my side, but i just wake up on my back!). then for the next 10 minutes he had to get used to that position and he squirmed and wiggled from the top right hand side of my belly to the bottom left. haha.... funny little guy (or girl).

i love this stage of pregnancy.

unbelievable.

i was at the grocery store today, trying to manuever my cart between some shelves and a pallet that was parked a little too closely to said shelves, and i bumped my cart into the shelf. no big deal. i tried again and somehow bumped it again. finally i squeezed through and carried on. an old man walked past me and quietly - but clearly - muttered as he passed, "you drive like a woman."  excuse me??

i stood there with my mouth open - literally - debating whether to let it go or chase him down and smack him on the head with the box of (on-sale) 125 halloween chocolate bars that had somehow made it into my cart.

my pregnancy hormones did not get the best of me, and my chocolates made it home unscathed. that old guy doesn't know how lucky he is.