An anti-climatic Flip Experience

I ordered the Flip HD Cam for Christmas, courtesy of my in-laws (Thank you very much!) and it just came today. It took a little while longer than normal because with the Flip, you can have them customized for your personal tastes. This is ours:
I was SOOOOO excited for this thing, until I realized I hadn't researched as well as I normally do and found out that Kodak makes a far superior "Flip killer" for nearly 1/2 the price. Plus, unlike the Flip, Kodak's comes with recahrgebale, replaceable batteries and an expansion slot for SDHC cards. So, I will be rigorously testing out the Flip during my 90 day return window, but will probably exchange it for the Kodak - which, oh by the way, is weather resistant too! Just smarter all the way around. I got suckered by the customization option of the Flip. Truly. I mean, how COULD one resist the panda? It really is the perfect size, but already I'm seeing that the back is a definite fingerprint magnet!
Below are 2 completely non-sense 30 second videos I took today to test the resolution in bright and low light situations. Both of these are indoor as I have yet to test outdoor. If you have either the Kodak version or the new FlipHD, chime in and let me know what you think of yours.

Food Pron

Yes, the title is a typo. But seriously, nothing gets more more excited than food and beautiful pictures of food. No one does beautiful food pictures like Kayotic Kitchen, but I digress. I made buffalo hot wings with ranch dressing, bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers, roasted garlic bread and Tequiza to wash it down with. Mmmmmm - New Year's food. We watched Tropic Thunder (most retarded movie EVER, but very funny watching Robert Downey Jr. trying to play a black man), watched the ball drop and a very anti-climatic volcano jump by Robbie Knieval. A subdued, but delicious New Year's Eve!

By the Hammer of Thor!

I will contest that there is nary a taste bud anywhere, on the planet, that is popping with more happiness than mine is right now! My hubby today took our aged family recipe for stuffing to new heights! I mean, this stuffing is so good I wanna take it out behind the high school and get it pregnant! (I will give mad respect to whoever gets that genius reference!) And the turkey! Don't get me started! Usually, we throw the bird into a Reynolds roasting bag and let nature take its course. This morning, however, we realized that we (I) had neglected to buy said bags. IKEA dutch oven to the rescue! We roasted that bird for 2 hours, all the while sucking up the drippings with a poultry syringe and re-injecting said goodness into the breasts. Did I mentioned we shoved a beautiful poultry arrangement of fresh herbs under his skin? O-M-G! Seriously! After 2 hours we tented it for another hour and half and let him alone. Then, Jeremy sliced that bird open like a TonTon and we feated like it was Festivus! (Too many pop culture references?) Picture the most succulent, flavorful, RIDICULOUS bird you have E-V-E-R tasted. THIS was our bird. Mixed with the aforementioned RIDONKULOUS stuffing and the combination was pure O pleasure for food ho's and casual foodies alike! All I gots to say is: secret family recipe! You can look....you can drool.....but you will NEVER know!

Christmas Morning....so far

Christmas Morning thus far has been surprisingly peaceful and low key. We got up at 5:45 to try to beat the kids, but as soon as we walked out, Logan and Phoenix came strolling out. Moise came out 1/2 hour later and we finally had to wake up Cai shortly after that. Each boy had 1 unwrapped present under the tree and were allowed to play with those as well as whatever was in their stockings while Jeremy made breakfast. During breakfast, Jeremy read the Christmas story and then it was present time! Each boy opened one present at a time so mommy could get good pics. Fab idea as it created this calm instead of feeding frenzy! Now, everyone is playing happily and the turkey is about ready to come out. We'll post more pics at the end of the day. Merry Christmas EVERYONE!

Christmas in the Square

Our church held Christmas Eve service in the historic downtown square of Ocala. It is beautiful and every year it gets decorated with millions of lights and the horse-drawn carriages come out to play! It would have made for a picture-perfect Christmas Eve had it not been 82 degrees! In any event, the boys were excited to get to hold candles and sing, but were super disappointed that the whole thing was only 30 minutes. Bummer, indeed. Then we went to KFC for some holiday grub, only to wait 25 minutes in line before being told that when we placed out order they had already run out of food and it would be an additional 30 minutes before any magically appeared! Bah-humbug! (I had other choice words, but we'll stick with Bah-Humbug!) Then we went to Steak and Shake which had already closed for the evening and were forced to seek food in other, less desirable locations. But, I digress. The kids are in bed, sound asleep, and the presents are being placed under the tree presently! I have to go help Mr. Claus now .... maybe there'll be milk and cookies in it for me!

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Weekend...

Let the fun begin!

Downtown Disney!!

The benefit of living where we live is that Disney and all is glittery, shiny, ooey-gooey goodness is a mere 45 minutes away! This was a weekend a relatively money-less fun, which is ALWAYS a good thing! The weekend started off with the baking of some super yummy peanut butter cookies! The big boys helped with he rolling and the forking (hehe!) and of course, with the taste-testing! Then on Saturday it was off to Orlando for some fun. You have to realize, my kids idea of a grand time is an hour in Smaland at IKEA. And since IKEA is mommy's happy place, we were happy to oblige! I have already bored you with my long-winded ramblings of my love of all things IKEA, so I will spare you this time! After IKEA, we headed to Downtown Disney. By the time we got there, it was already dark, which was really our plan all along! The whole area/marketplace is done up in the beauty and excitement and the gaiety of the holiday season! Lights, street performers, Christmas music, special yumminess to sample and of course, a train ride! The kids LOVED watching the silly husband/wife yoyo team, the jugglers, the Renaissance string trio ad the Toy Soldiers on stilts! All of this goodness would blow any little kids' mind - but for 2 little ones who just came from Haiti - well, there was a glaze and a sparkle in their eyes, a ridiculously large grin and silly dancing any time we stopped for but a moment! Moise's mission was just to get to the train. He's obsessed with trains and to get to ride on one - well, there wa nothing to make him happier! Well, maybe except for the cotton candy and Mickey Mouse lollipops! Oh, and getting to take his picture with his hero, Buzz Lightyear. And, did I mention the "what the heck is that?" discussion he had with Logan upon seeing the life-size Lego Santa Claus? Pretty funny! Even Jeremy had a "happy shiver" moment when he stumbled upon the fully assembled Lego Deathstar in the Lego store! Speaking of Lego store....when putting your child on your shoulders and browsing a store, always, ALWAYS have your spouse check the caboose, lest you end up with a really great photo-op! In case you're wondering about the water- fountain pic - it took him a while to figure out the whole water fountan thing, since it was his first time using one - pretty funny!

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

Charlie Brown Christmas Revisited from Heather Pihl on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving Pt.2 + Grandparents Weekend

This weekend marked the last of our Thanksgiving celebrations. My parents came up from South Florida and spent the weekend. We also decided to celebrate Mo's birthday. It's not until December 22nd, but we wanted him to have a real birthday experience and not feel either jipped or overwhelmed. So, my parents brought him up his birthday present: a new bike. He was retardedly happy and took off like a rocket! My mom brought up hats and gloves she'd made for the boys and they were in heaven! Their little hands have been SO COLD these past few weeks! We also went and got a Christmas tree and spent the day decorating it. What fun for the boys! Their first Christmas! I wanted to get pics of Mo picking out his first ever Christmas tree, but I had taken my mom's cam since it fit in my purse and failed to realize that my SDHC card wouldn't work in an regular digital SD camera. Grrrr! So, no pics. Anyway, plenty of pics of the decorating and such...so enjoy!!

Thanksgiving

Bear with me here cause this is gonna be a long post! Since our family all had different scheduled this year, we had to actually postpone Thanksgiving until Saturday. My sister and her family and my grandparents came over and spent the day.
First, there were shenanigans:



Then, of course, there was football:

I got it!!!

Come on, son, you can do it!

As my grandpa said, "Look at the wing on that chicken!"

This is his Huisman pose! :0)

Grandma calling out plays.

Finally, the bird was finished and it was time for FOOD! Get to carving!

Grandpa got caught cheatin the pot and stealing some stuffing!

Let's give thanks....Yes, that's my chair on the end. The photographer never gets IN the picture.

Finally, sweet bonding with the great-grandparents before everyone passes out from tryptophan overload!

Tonia figured out that everyone passed out and left HER to do the dishes! Payback for YEARS of her doing the same thing to us!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Trick or Treat Day

You know, I always grew up not celebrating Halloween. We would go to our church's "Harvest Festival," play games and get candy and dress up as Bible characters. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well, it's still Halloween, isn't it? So, if the church can make up things and recreate a holiday the way they want to celebrate it, then so can I. The boys love, I mean, L-O-V-E dressing up as super heroes. So, for this reason, we went to the Cheapo Depot (I kid you not, that's the name of the store) and got last year's Halloween costume's for $5 each! Had a party/cookout with our neighbors and all went around the neighborhood together. To the boys, tonight was not Halloween, it was Trick or Treat day. A day of fun, candy, food, friends, fun costumes and our personal favorite tradition, ending the night with "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." I know many Christians have very opposing views on this, and that's all good. But tonight, my boys got to bloss out in their favorite super hero costumes and mountains of candy with no knowledge whatsoever of the actual name of or meaning behind the holiday. Pictures now, for your viewing pleasure.

Logan's Birthday!

So, it was Logan's birthday today - 7 years old. We started the morning off with strawberry french toast - Logan's request. After church was a cook out with his friends next door, cake and presents. Mommy finally found him a killer little R/C car (see my review here and the review for the failed/returned present here). He's been outside all day making his new car do wheelies and flips and practicing his pogo skills. I think the 7 year old mind set has kicked in and he has really begun taking more risks, brushing off wipeouts and crying about things much less. I like this turn of events. Nest is Moise's birthday and a sincere attempt to make sure he doesn't get jipped just because his bday is 3 days before Xmas. Anyway - if you missed it, make sure to wish Logan a Happy Bday in the comments section!

Just in Time for Christmas!

To all you wonderful peeps out there who keep up with the Pihl's here in blogland, I give to you a gift - the gift of awareness! There is this incredible little internet boutique you should all check out. It features knit couture apparel and accessories at fantastic prices - everything from shawls and wraps to hats, purses and scarves! All handmade and of the finest quality materials! This is the perfect time and the perfect gift for any friends or family you may have up north or in the colder parts of the country.

As an added bonus, the designer has agreed to donate a percentage of the profits until December 1 to the relief effort for hurricane devastated Haiti.

So, buy a gift for family and friends and do your part to help a devastated country.

Click here - BluMorfo Creations to check out the full website. Below is a slideshow of some of what the boutique has to offer. Some of the products are located on the boutique's website and some of the others are located at the sister boutique, blumorfo.etsy.com

Little Christmas on the Farm

So, we had a nice little Christmas...our first ever by ourselves as a family. We spent Christmas Eve together at home, reading the Christmas story and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.

When the kids woke up in the morning, they enjoyed their new slide and art supplies while daddy made a special Christmas breakfast.


After they opened the rest of their presents, we spent the day outside playing with the dogs and our new toys


playing tag with daddy

wishing the animals Merry Christmas


and flying Logan's new airplane.....or at least trying to.


We spent the rest of the afternoon monkeying around and playing games inside while waiting for Christmas dinner to finish cooking.


All in all? Stress free, relaxing and really merry. How do you like the new handmade sweaters from gramma? My mom rocks!

Christmas Tree Question

What happens when you combine a 10ft. crooked-trunked, fully decorated Christmas tree, a rambunctious 7 month old Labradoodle and 2 young boys left unattended for a quick potty break?

A horizontal, fully UNDECORATED 10ft. tree that is impossible for a 5'6" woman to reseat in the stand!

Had to call Jeremy and have him come home during his lunch break to stand the tree back up. Took three days to fully, properly reseat and redecorate. Do you know how difficult it is to take pics of a lit Christmas tree without it looking.....well, just not right?

On the bright side of things, most of our light strands were broken and the lights we had didn't wrap the entire tree on the first go around, so it looked wonky. The re-do allowed me to go buy the blue lights I really wanted and use those. The kids think it looks like a million little fireflies live in the tree now.

I am so secretly anal about the tree decorating that the crash actually was a relief. It allowed for the warm family moment of decorating the tree together and the blissful, organized, precisely paced ornament and light redecoration in the quiet after-hours of bedtime!

It's a sickness ~ I know......

So, I have this thing about ornaments. Some people like perfectly themed trees...Pier One glass balls, all butterflies or all flowers, stuff like that. In the spirit of the holidays, I can't fathom how the "facade of perfection" wins out over the romantic nostalgia carefully chosen, annually bought ornaments offer. Sure, the tree looks like a mish-mash of ideas and hobbies, fleeting obsessions and "what the heck were we thinkings." But that mish-mash provides the kind of warm, familial "rememberies" that are strong enough to blanket any crazy cousin......

Here are a few of my favorite "rememberie" ornaments:

1. This was the ornament my grandparents gave me for my very first Christmas! It's held up pretty well, wouldn't you say?

2. This one was made by yours truly when I was in first grade. From what I remember, it was clay into a mold, kiln-baked, glazed and hand-painted! If this ever broke I think I would cry!

3. This was the first ornament Logan ever made. It was a project he and Jazzy did. We took pics on the beach, collected shells and here's the result! I love this silly thing!

4. Jeremy and I had this made our first Christmas together.

5. Logan's first Christmas

6. My mom makes such great ornaments!

7. Bought this one a couple days ago. Bird feathers - random, I know, but I thought it was really pretty.

Now, for your viewing pleasure....the mantle. Never had a mantle before. Fun to decorate....still have to put some pine garland across the top, though.

I searched FOREVER for the perfect nativity and finally found the dream one last year...on wicked clearance no less! The beauty of this is that each handcarved piece has a part of the Christmas story painted on it so that when all the pieces are together, the story of Christ's birth is perfectly displayed. LOVE IT!

Yes, that's a Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas to be precise.

Though the kids know there is no Santa Claus (why are we gonna let a fat, judgemental, only-works-one-night-a-year, stranger take credit for the gifts Jeremy worked so hard to provide?) we still celebrate the unbelievable truth of who Saint Nicholas was! Google it and you will be amazed at how many cultures have their own "Saint Nicholas" legend. One of the earliest and most well documented stories of the "true" Nicholas is a story of a pastor of a small town who loved his people greatly. One day, close to the holidays, he learned that one of the men in the town had three daughters and was not able to afford their dowries, thus forcing all of the daughters to remain unmarried, very unhappy spinsters. Nicholas' heart ached for the man and, on Christmas Eve, he stole away to the man's house with three small satchels. He opened the window and found, as was the custom in those days, the girls boots all lined up under the window. He dropped one satchel in each of the sets of boots and went back home. In the morning, the girls each found that the satchels contained exactly enough gold coins to cover their dowries! The joy that spread through the town as the people learned of the anonymous deed so touched Nicholas that each year after on Christmas Eve, he dressed in his finest robes and went around to all the houses in the town and delivered small presents through the open windows.

And so the legend grew! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!