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Happy 2013!

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My blogging surge hasn’t happened.

But I did get around to making a Happy New Year card which is really just a very belated Christmas card.

I’m fine with that and I kind of like it that way.

humphreys 2012 holiday card blog v2

If you have really great eyesight and can actually read the tiny print, please know that the actual card I mailed to friends and family did not say “SB” and “Scary Baby”. Just trying to respect the 13 year old’s privacy regarding internet strangers.

It has been 5 years since I started this blog and 5 years since I sent a holiday card. Probably not a coincidence as I felt everyone could get the Humpfreeze updates on the blog.

And perhaps because we had not taken a decent family photo since Scary Baby was one.

I’m still working on 2012 highlights and getting them on the blog for the sake of our family history. The timeline pressure is all mine and I can go at my own pace knowing that all that I have recorded in the past 20+ years is more than many take the time to do and release some of my guilt over my giant blogging gaps this year.

I’m not ready to stop but I still can’t figure out how to start again.

Thanks for hanging around here and reading when I do post. I love every comment and email I receive.

Happy New Year – may 2013 be the best year yet for you and your loved ones!!

xoxo

Blog Neglect and a Tribute

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I haven’t blogged since mid October.

I had a list of reasons to share about why I had stopped blogging.

I planned it all in my head last week how I would get back in the groove on Monday.

Then Friday’s tragedy happened. I was frozen when Roger Leroy sent me a text asking me if I knew what happened in Connecticut. She shared what she knew.

Without turning on the TV, I walked downstairs and hugged Scary Baby and told her I was so grateful she was home with me.

Then I went back upstairs and called PhilBillPaul and turned on the TV and cried.

My reasons for not blogging are small and irrelevant.

As we’ve prayed and had moments of silence for all the families in Connecticut, it occurred to me today that I need to write and capture the rest of our 2012 stories.

Because the little things are the things that keep us grounded when we can’t fathom what others must endure.

Even if you never watch The Voice, this 2 minute tribute is worth watching.

Click here to see the video if you don’t see it in the blog above.

And maybe tomorrow, I’ll be back to blog about the little things.

Midwest Trip Highlights

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Way back in August when I wrote this sentence…

“Later this week, I’ll show you what else we did on our trip…”

I should have said

“In six weeks…“

Because that’s how long it has taken me to gather myself and beg Scary Baby to create the photo collages of our Midwest trip. I told you last week I’ve been a little crazy busy.

Seems reasonable to me since she was adding to my blog pressure by asking repeatedly when I was going to blog about the rest of our trip.

Without further ado, here is a baker’s dozen of photo collages created by Scary Baby to prove we did more than just eat our way through the Midwest. 😉

Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry

We’ll always remember how Scary Baby got a turn at the periscope in the submarine exhibit. Our middle school teacher friend handled that for us. Thank you Mrs. Bowman. We were so glad she drove from the Quad Cities to spend the day and one night with us in Chicago.

All the exhibits we saw were interesting but the whispering gallery was Scary Baby’s highlight.

Scary Baby’s bird’s eye view of downtown Chicago from our hotel room on Michigan Avenue.

Navy Pier

At night it looks very cool…

Lake Koshkonong

We spent one night in Wisconsin at my high school friend Terry’s lake cottage. She owns an antique shop and added all her special decorating touches throughout the cottage.

Scary Baby was excited to learn how to kayak on the calm lake.

Windmills of Indiana

Driving home, I was glad Scary Baby got to see the windmills in the day light. We saw them at night on the way down and we agreed that their red lights blinking in the pitch black dark night is scary! Either way, they still feel like a science fiction movie as you drive towards them. She took these awesome pictures in the moving car.

Lynn’s Paradise Cafe

Finally, on our last morning before heading home, our experience in this Louisville, Kentucky restaurant was a highlight. Even though she did not want to participate in all the funky photo ops, she enjoyed the eclectic restaurant and gift shop as much as I did.

The ugly lamp contest is ingenious marketing. Our personal fav – the toilet lamp on wheels.

Did you go anywhere fun for a summer vacation? I know today is October 1st. Don’t judge.

Once a Month Blogging

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After I hit the 500 blog post milestone, it certainly appears that I’m become a once-a-month blogger. Never my intention but…

Life happens.

I can’t really blog about the trivial stuff of our summer and ignore one of the worst tragedies we all woke up to on Friday last week. Sad, sad stuff and my heart goes out to all those families in Colorado.

We are all fine, fine, fine here.

It seems a little funny to think our summer is busier this year with one 13 year-old at home and the 3 college kids mostly managing their own lives than when we had all 4 kids at home. Feels weird to me anyway.

More to come because I really don’t want to abandon my neglected little blog. Until then, here are some snippets of the Humpfreeze summer memories.

Reminder/Disclaimer: Food pictures follow even though this is not a food blog which is obvious when you look at the pictures.

Even though we’re working hard to stay away from boxed foods and make homemade things as much as we can, I will confess that many convenience foods were used to make the darling twins birthday dessert requests.

I used The Best Chocolate Cake Ever recipe and cheated with a box of Jello chocolate mousse I didn’t even remember buying that I had in the pantry. Homemade no-bake cheesecake filling and homemade whipped cream. We all thought it was one of the best cakes ever!

Rachel’s dessert request took on a life of its own. Recipe inspiration came from this crazy Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreas ‘n Brownie Bars recipe. It was surprisingly edible. Even at 21, who doesn’t appreciate monkey party hats and plates I brought to as well as the princess napkins? It’s a twin thing to pick a few special things for each twin and I picked things that match their personality.

We delivered their cakes after making them cut them so we could bring 2 pieces home for Scary Baby and took them to dinner.

Forgot to take a picture of Rachel’s monstrosity after we cut it.

I bravely cooked again at 4th of July. The summer heat has us avoiding turning on the oven so I opted for crockpot shredded pork BBQ.

I used two recipes from Monica’s blog, The Yummy Life and we all loved the BBQ. I really liked it because even though “they say” the fat from pork roast adds flavor, I don’t like it and don’t like to strain it all off. Picture of the pork is before I added the Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque sauce. Here are links to both recipes:

14 spice dry rub mix
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

We also enjoyed the super sweet variation of strawberry shortcake that my friend Leigh Anne had posted. It’s hard for me to say anything is too sweet but the frosting layers on this cake were very sweet! I loved the butter almond cake but would use a lightly sweetened whipped cream with the lemon curd next time. We shared half the cake with neighbors who raved about it.

Berry Almond Butter Cake with Strawberries

It’s rare that all six of us are all in one place at one time with the 3 college kids’ summer work schedules but whenever we can capture any of them it seems to usually involve bribing them with food.

How are you surviving this summer heat?

Best Job Ever

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We have recovered from the grandmas visiting last week but we’re pretty sure that the grandmas have not.

When it occurred to us that since having kids, we have had the grandmothers together 3 times in 23 years, we decided it would be a perfect time to have a family photo shoot.

Did I mention a surprise family photo shoot?

A few of us who shall remain nameless might not like to have our picture taken.

Nothing like a little last minute fun involving trying to coordinate 3 college kids and their busy schedules. Add dressing the top half of eight people and I will say that I hope to not see the inside of the mall for at least 6 months or so.

In spite of the last minute preparations, the weather cooperated and we were able to pull it off.

It had been 12 years since our last professional family photos were taken. I’m so grateful we made the time to do this.

This weekend I spent time learning some fun new things while creating story boards in Photoshop and sent them to Costco for printing.

So excited to see the finished products and send some copies to the grandmas. We are so glad we got to include Granny and Grandma in some of the photos.

Love.

Love.

Love.

My absolute favorite creation ~ these four kids.

I grumble about them and have been sharing stories about our life for over 4 years here on the blog. I probably don’t say it enough…I am so proud of them.

On the very worst day…

being their mom is still the best job I’ve ever had.

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P.S. My email subscription service is not delivering my blog posts consistently. I say this in case you get Typo Tuesday on Wednesday and think I am losing my mind. I write and schedule those in advance and when the email service doesn’t deliver on time, I look more crazy than usual. I don’t think it even delivered last Monday’s little gem on PhilBillPaul’s job suggestion for me.

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