Part 1 of 2

So its only appropriate on this last day of 2007 to look back on the year and do a little introspection. Don't worry - I'm not a deep thinker so you won't get lost in my thoughts. But we are hopefully learning something new every year, whether its about ourselves or the world around us. So I am going to attempt to pinpoint a few things that I think have increased my intellect.

1. It is really an honor to be called " mom" and I need to make sure I live up to it every moment of every day.
2. I'm not one to get too mushy, but I really married well. I've seen a new side of my husband for the first time in 10 years. One time a few years ago I remember saying (in the heat of some argument, I'm sure) "Your not the person I married." And he said to me "that's right, and we shouldn't be the same person we were years ago, we should always be growing and changing". We have probably had the best year marriage wise in our 10 year history. And if you know about some of our circumstances, that could have gone the completely opposite way. I love him more than ever.
3. I have learned you actually have to work to lose weight. In my life, if something doesn't come easy - I just quit. Well, here's something I can't really quit. There'll be more on this in tomorrow's post.
4. I learned that baking homemade bread isn't really that hard
5. I learn this every year. I can't always do everything I want, or say I can. Which leads to overcommitment. Which I have to work on every single year.
6. Even if you keep a clean house and feed your children healthy, they get sick.
7. Having 3 children is not like having 2.
8. Not all my babies are 6 lbs. Some, well one, was actually 8. (I thought my Dr. didn't know what he was talking about when he told me this baby would be bigger than the others.)
9. And finally - God really doesn't care about my time schedule. And if I know nothing else, as long as I cling to the fact that I believe what He tells me in His Word, I have nothing to worry about.

Okay, part 2 is going to be my goals for 2008. Cliche'? yes. Do I care? No.

Man, after 4 days of feeling awful, I'm finally pulling out of it. Its funny, when you're a mom and you're sick, its really irrelevant. I remember Andy getting sick and sleeping all day long. I was lucky to get a 2 1/2 hour nap after begging my husband to stay home with the kids for the morning. And the kitchen.....well we won't even go there.


So, I finally uploaded the Christmas pics so here is a sampling. Enjoy!

The Day after Christmas

Christmas was great. Lots of fun - lots of wrapping paper, food, and fellowship with family. But its the day after Christmas that will be the day to remember:

• First thing in the morning, took Rene' to the Dr. for yet another ear infection that burst her eardrum Christmas Eve. She has to get tubes now.
• Zak played with his Moonsand he got for Christmas then had a horrible rash all over his hands. Guess he's alergic to Moonsand.
• By the end of the day, I'm flat on my back sicker than a dog.

And that has been the last 3 days - me in bed sick.

Good times. Christmas 2007.

Silent Night?

This wasn't quite how I had envisioned her singing it.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Our Christmas Card

Its just not going to make it from my head to paper this year, and I need to mark something off my "to do" list this week. So here is our Christmas picture and what it would have said:

Merry Christmas

Love, Us

I'm supposed to be baking, wrapping gifts and singing carols

Instead, I'm worrying myself to death over that fact that since my son, Zak, now has strep throat, the rest of the family could follow shortly. Aren't there like 7 more days till Christmas?

Yeah.

At 3:45 yesterday he breaks out in a rash all over his body. That was my cue that the sore throat, and fever he'd had for 2 days was probably not going to go away any time soon. I called the doctor, they were full, but they'd fit me in. I didn't have time to find anyone to watch the girls, and a desperate call to request the husband off work, didn't work. So I loaded all 3 up and raced to the doctor to get there before they closed. All I'll say about the 30 minute wait in the waiting room is that it was full and my 2 year old was jumping to the only 3 empty chairs. That's right. I was the mother that everyone else was either looking at in disgust, because I couldn't get my child under control, or they were feeling sorry for me because they'd been there. Then there were the words every potty training mom dreads most when your in a public place - well, almost - "Mommy, I need to go pee pee." Now, had I not raced so fast to the doctor, I would have put her in a pull up. And at this point, I probably would have done the biggest potty training "no no" and told her to just go in her pull up. But that of course wasn't an option. I beg Zak to stay and wait for his name to be called, but he'll have none of that so we head to the bathroom. Here, I learn it is hard to put toilet paper on the toilet so my child won't get germs, while holding the baby. I can't put the baby down because she'll crawl all over the disgusting floor. I choose the lesser of 2 evils and tell Paige to just get her self on the potty. I had left the stall door open so we could all fit, and in wanders some little girl, without her mother, who wants to check out the commotion. Then of course we haven't mastered wiping by ourselves yet, so I need to do this, while holding the baby. I misjudge the depth of the water below and soak my hand in potty water. I KNOW! Somehow she gets her pants up I place the baby on the counter because I absolutely have to wash my hands, no matter what it takes. I block her from falling with my elbow as I sing the ABCs in my head while I wash my hands because I need to make sure they get really clean.

We didn't miss our name being called and as soon as the nurse saw Zak's rash she said "I bet his strep test is so positive". Our very nice Dr, Dr Albiek confirms this and proceeds to tell me that when they told him who had called, he said he'd see me because he knew I wouldn't bring them in if it weren't serious. We're on a first name basis. I believe in co pays alone this fall I've paid for his entire family's Christmas.

Remember that magical Christmas season I blogged about. Its still just in my head.

Now, I'm going to share a picture of our Christmas tree

More Holiday cheer than you'll know what to do with

So I stumbled up the blogosphere Christmas home tour hosted by Boomama. And since there is nothing I like more than taking a gander inside people's home's, I've spent too much time checking this all out. So my Christmas tip for today is to go here and look until your hearts content. It will make you want to redecorate, or not, or at least clean your house. Have fun!

You can't forget your neighbors

This is what all my neighbors are getting from us for Christmas.
The Rachel Ray Five-Minute Fudge Wreath

1 (12 oz) bag semisweet chocolate morsels
9 oz (3/4 of a 12 oz bag) butterscotch morsels
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 8oz can walnut halves
1/2 cup currants (I'm not using those)


8 inch cake pan, lightly greased with softened butter.

Place heavy pot on the stove and preheat it over low heat. Add chips and milk and stir until chips are melted and milk combined. Save the empty condensed milk can, cover with plastic wrap, and put it in the middle of the cake pan. Add the vanilla to the fudge then remove it from the heat. Stir in nuts and currants if your using. Spoon fudge into pan around can. Garnish of candied cherries in red and green can only be added the first couple of minutes so work quickly. Cover and chill in refrigerator.

Go here to see a pic. I'll post mine when I get them done. I forgot to get the butterscotch morsels yesterday. I hate it when I forget something at the store.

And that people, can not get any easier.

Thrifty Gifty

First things first - we're home and with power. We only had to go 2 1/2 days without it. That was long enough for me (and my parents, I'm sure), but there are still many who aren't as lucky.

I admit, my expectations of the Christmas tips blog have been all but a lot of things in my head. So I'm going to crank it up now for the next 13 days. A tip a day. So here goes.

Who doesn't love Hobby Lobby???? Well, if your Hobby Lobby isn't out of power due to an ice storm and you have some teacher gifts to buy and can only spend about $1.99 each, Their ornaments are half off this week. Who doesn't love a new ornament to put on their tree?? And you always remember who ornaments are given to you by, so you are thought of at least once a year. If your a crafty sort, buy a box of clear ornaments, grab some glue and glitter and create till your hearts content. Actually, you don't have to be crafty at all. Just able to write the numbers 2007 and your name in glue. So if your one of my children's MDO teachers, just forget you read this. And of course the sky's the limit. Check out the adoreable ornament my friend Cristina made (scroll to the bottom)! Yes, Matching ornament trees are very pretty, (my mom's can rival the best of the christmas open houses) but there's something about those ornaments that were given by someone else. And remember, wrapping is EVERYTHING!!

I must make a special thanks to my cyber friend Meredith who had some very entertaining blogs about all the ornaments she has on her tree and how each one is special. Thanks for the inspiration! Thats where I got my inspiration. When you can't create - copy.

Ice storm 2007

Thats what the weather men are calling this one. "Ice storm of 2007". I remeber when we lived in this beautiful place called Colorado where the snow would drift quietly to the ground. It's like a dream now. The past 24 hours have included rain, sleet, and snow. And of course it makes a nice big city wide ice rink. Basically, my family of 5 is at my parents because we lost our power today around 9am - which translates to no heat. Its going to be one big slumber party tonight. We'll see how high strung grandpa Don does with my 3 children playing with their glass ornaments on their Christmas tree. So I will leave you with some photos of the big storm.

So I had this totally cheesy picture of what I did for my kids the other day that I was going to post, but have decided against it. I had a cheesy moment and cut their PBJ sandwiches out with a Christmas tree cookie cutter and then put raisins on them for ornaments. They were very impressed so I guess I should be really proud.
I think I'm in a bit of a writers slump. Which is totally ridiculous when this is my absolute favorite season. So I'm going to post a breakfast favorite at our house. Paige devours it. Zak even asked for some the other day over his usual Honey nut cheerios.

So here you are: Breakfast Granola (courtesy of Southern Living Magazine, slightly modified by me)

3 cups uncooked regular oats
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup sliced almonds
12 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup raisins

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Cook honey and next 3 ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour over oat mixture and stir well. Spread mixture in a lightly greased aluminum foil-lined jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes stirring every 5 minutes. Invert onto wax paper; let cool. Stir in dried fruit.

This is so delicious with vanilla yogurt stirred in. And you can pretty much throw in whatever nuts, dried fruits, etc you want. And it sticks with you a lot longer than a bowl of cereal. And of course, a cup of coffee is a must have.

The Stocking

It all started when I was still dating Andy and I made him a stocking for Christmas and filled it. I tend to like gaudy, sparkly, etc. So its one of those kits that have lots of sequins that shimmer. I was slightly hurt when he didn't gush over the fact that I had made it. Come to find out - he's a plain sort of guy. His stocking growing up was just red and white and his name was written on it in felt marker. Mine had all kinds of sequins and my name written in gold cord. I ended up taking his name off of it and putting mine on. We went back and forth over the years on what kind of stocking we were going to have as a family. And I would really love to have beautiful stockings made out of rich fabric that match my decor perfectly - but really, thats just not me. So finally, I trumped him and said I was making everyone a stocking out of a kit. With lots of sequins. I tried to choose one that was fairly plain for him. As few sequins as I could find, yet it still went along with the theme. Here's what I came up with.



So last year I made Zaks.


I learned a little lesson in choosing a stocking. Don't pick ones with lots of little things. I believe there were like 250 steps and I began early December. After many late nights and before my December 24th deadline, I finished the stocking. And he loves it.


So this year, I guess I forgot I was behind a child and I started what I thought was Rene's stocking, only to find out when I got the stockings out that Paige didn't have one. So I had to take off Rene's name and put Paige's on. And I thought I was planning ahead. It is December 2nd and I am on step 13 of 145. So now every evening when the children go to bed, I am frantically sewing.

Now, for the point of this entire story. Paige is out of control with anything that makes a mark. Pens, markers, pencils, crayons. Her writing utensil of choice is a marker. Its a double edged sword too, because if I need her to be busy for say 20 minutes - the writing utensils work like a charm. The bad thing is, though she starts in a coloring book, I find marker on things like the coffee table, bills, and books. I usually take them away, only to give them back again because I'm desperate and need her to busy. So, it is only fitting that I pulled out the stocking the other night to commence my work and I found she has colored the white back to her stocking with purple marker. It will be on there for years to come and when she pulls it out every year to hang it on the mantle, we will all have a good laugh about how she colored on her stocking. I think the unplanned memories are better than the planned.