more moving

Entertaining themselves while we unpack endless streams of boxes (moving from a 4 bdrm house to a 2 bdrm apt is crazy town)...

You worry you might have scarred you child when he wakes you up with: "so we don't have to go anywhere again?"
No, poor child! For the first time since midOctober, we slept in our own beds last night! I'd call it "luxurious", but in reality it was a game of puzzles since we couldn't find our sheets & had to piece together make-shift blankets & sleep in the middle! #1 priority today is finding the sheets...
and the spoons... cereal with out spoons is quite messy.
Oh, here's to another day of unpacking! Slowly but surely...

dear arkansas

im writing to inform you that you are #8 in the list of the 8 states we've been through on the gypsy journey.
you have nice scenery. you're home to people like bill clinton, the duggars, & bev stevens. good bbq. you had so much going for you. then the gypsy wagon hit close to an hour of one lane, creeping traffic for one 50 yd section of road work.
uncool.
if it weren't for Dora the explorer, i'm not sure we would have made it.
please. get it together.
sincerely,
kelly harp

help.

Help. I've eaten waaaaay too much (for weeks straight) & I can't get up. Or try on clothes with the sweet gap gift card I scored. Waaaaaaahhhhh!
All I can do is sit here & blog.
That's it.
Soooooo... How about some pics from the gypsy journey?
UK.DAY ONE...
big ben (hudson & his clock fetish self was pretty thrilled)








westminster abbey











st. james park (a happy, unexpected find that was perfectly autumn)























buckingham palace












on the way home


& back @ the hotel



It was a great day :)

& now if you'll excuse me, I'm must get back to lamenting my holiday food binging...

seeing santa...

popping in to share our joyous blessed
interesting time seeing santa here {in atlanta}...

oh blessed event.
{in my poor children's defense, we've never taken them to see santa before, so they were a little shocked.  to put in mildly.}
tis the season!

highland park christmas lights with the haneys. good times.
*also: i prefer you think of me as the fun mom who puts her kids in pjs to go see christmas lights as opposed to the mom who sort of forgot to get her kids dressed all sunday & so they still had their pjs on sunday night. thanks for your participation.

normalcy

normalcy is so boring...
except when you don't have it!!!

we gypsies found find ourselves in dallas this weekend. thanks to your sweet friends, the haneys, we spent the day in total normalcy & oh, was it so luxurious!! i shall never take for granted the simple pleasures of easy washer, dryer, dishwasher access. a simple day all together, catching up on laundry, grocery shopping, washing all our water bottles... a grocery shop... normal nap times. ahhhhhhhhhhh.

i insisted on making dinner - so tired of take out. our dear children even blessed us with eating it without toooo much fuss. which was nice, considering they basically spent the last 2 weeks eating pizza & scrambled eggs. i wasn't sure they'd remember how to eat proper food :)

the magic recipe? sure, i'll share it with you.

Lasagna Soup (via the fabulous Jen Haney)

1lb ground italian sausage (I like hot, but sweet is good for kiddies)
1.5 lg yellow onion, chopped
1 c carrot, diced
2 c button mushrooms , sliced (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced
4-6 c chicken broth
1 28 oz can italian style, fire roasted diced tomatoes (stewed works, too)
1.5 c whole wheat pasta (penne, bow tie...)
2 c (+) chopped spinach
1 c parmesan, finely shredded
4 t fresh basil, thinly sliced

brown sausage in large saucepan. add onion & carrot & sauté for 3-5 mins. add mushrooms & garlic & sauté for another few mins until all are soft.
add broth & tomatoes. bring to a boil & add pasta. boil according to pig directions (usually 8-10 mins). add spinach & cook about 1 min longer.

to serve: place a few mozzarella cubes @ bottom of bowl. ladle hot soup over cheese to melt. garnish with parm & basil.

disclaimer: i did bribe hudson with a ratio of 3 bites soup to 1 bite of butter rolled. A mom has to do what a mom has to do.