Merry Christmas!

Blizzard 2009!

Wow!! I had no idea until 2 PM yesterday that a blizzard was headed our way. My husband called me from DC. "Go buy a sturdier snow shovel". Last I had checked, we were to get about 5 inches....no big deal. Ummm. As of 2 PM today, we have 16 inches and it is still coming down heavy! It says we are supposed to get 12-22 inches through the night! The last storm we had like this was in 2003 when Logan was just a few months old.

After the boys and I finished up a few things at home yesterday, we headed out to get a sturdier snow shovel. Costco was our first stop. They ran out at noon. Picked up some toilet paper while there...don't want to run out of that. Drove to Home Depot and saw a worker outside. Stalked him in my van until I was close enough for him to hear me. "Excuse me. Before I drag both of my kids out, can you tell me if you are out of snow shovels?" " Yes. We are sold out". I didn't bother going to Lowe's because it is right across the street and I figured if Home Depot was out, Lowe's would be, too. Headed to a Ace Hardware that is kind of tucked away and not in the main area of town. They were out, too, but expected a truck around 7 PM. Drove across to a grocery store. Stocked up on a bunch of food and found some ice melt there. Drove back to Ace...it was now 7:15. The sign on the door now said they expected the truck around 8 PM (possibly). I entered and saw a line. I went to the end and asked if it was the line waiting on the truck. Yes, it was. I called my husband, who was on the bus on his way home, and asked if he really expected me to wait in the line. Of course, I was only kidding when I asked him because I had no intentions of waiting.

Headed home and got all the groceries in and put away. I needed to mail a package and thought we could grab some food while out. Well, the snow came early and it was pretty bad when we finished eating. Should have gone straight home, but decided to stop at the Post Office since it was on the way. There was a line at the 24 hour kiosk. I was watching people drop their packages in the slot and hoping it didn't get full before I got to it. Sure enough, the woman before me dropped her packages in and it was jammed. I was out of luck. I had already bought my postage, so decided to take the route home that took me close to the other post office in town. Well, a lady was just going to leave her packages there and when she heard I was driving to the other post office, she gave me her packages, too. Guess I look like a good person :-). Made it to the other post office, but saw one person had slid into the curb, and another had crashed into a pole. Dropped my packages in and we were on our way home. Turned onto the road we live off, but had about 2 miles before we got to our neighborhood. Saw a few other people that slid of the road. I drove slow and steady. Made it 2 blocks from our house and the road going the other direction was closed to through traffic. We had just come down a hill and had one final one before turning into our neighborhood. The light was green, but the cars weren't moving. The person at the front of the line was just stopped in the intersection. I guess they just decided they didn't want to go up the hill. Several people got out from behind them and headed up the hill. I watched as they all slid around. I figured the roads were only going to get worse, so we went around. There was a pickup two cars ahead and they were literally almost sideways going up the hill. I passed the car that was just sitting and switched lanes. I headed up the hill and passed the sideways truck. Wow! We made it up the hill and I've never been so happy to turn into my community!!

Here are a few pictures that I've taken so far---The picture above was taken at about 1 AM on Dec. 19.This picture was taken at noon on Dec. 19.This was taken at about 2 PM on Dec. 19--about 16 inches, so far!!

Prim and Proper!

Last Friday, we took the boys to get their haircut. We use a barber shop and the boys LOVE it! Logan gets his hair cut by the same guy just about every time. He calls him his "friend" :-). There are a couple of ladies that I have cut Lucas' hair. They are both mom's and have lots of patience. He does pretty well, though. He has to go often because his hair grows so fast!

Anyway, Lucas was able to get in the seat right away for his hair cut. When she was all done, the lady spiked his hair up a bit. I, of course, thought it was cute! I told her that Logan wouldn't like it because he is very prim and proper when it comes to his hair. When we went and sat by Logan while he waited for his "friend" to be ready to cut his hair, he noticed Lucas' hair. "That is horrible! Just terrible", he said as he made a mad dash towards Lucas and began smoothing his hair down. I told him that I thought it was cute, but he insisted that it wasn't. Finally I told him to leave it alone because it wasn't his hair. When his "friend" was finished cutting his hair, he walked past me (on his way to get a lollipop) with his hair all perfectly combed and laying flat, I asked him why he didn't have his hair spiked, too. I got the "are you crazy" look!

This morning I decided to spike Lucas' hair up a bit after I got him dressed. He immediately got offended. "NO!! I wanna smoov my hair down". Oh my, I was laughing so much. I would spike it up, he would smooth it down. By the end we were both laughing and momma got her way! I can't help it, I just think it is cute! It also makes him look older than the 3 that he is! Here are a few pictures of my styling boy:

Santa Train

Last weekend, we took the boys on a train ride with Santa. They really enjoyed it!Lucas especially liked the candy cane that they handed out!After the train we did some shopping, had lunch, and then that evening we went to see a friend's daughter in a play. It was certainly a fun-filled Saturday!

In the beginning....

The curriculum that I use with Logan is Christian based, so just recently we have started learning the books of the Bible. It had been a few days since we had done school and Logan was having a hard time remembering the first book. I was trying to prompt his memory and offered the beginning sounds to him.

me: "Gen....".

Logan: "iffer".

Oh my did I get a laugh over that one. Yes. The first book of the Bible is Jeniffer! Ha!

Story Time with Grandma....

I just wanted to share a wonderful idea that my mother in law had. A few years ago, she started recording herself reading children books. She loves to read, but doesn't live close enough to read to our boys very often. We typically only see her once a year. So, to make up for this, she has been sending recordings of her reading various books to the boys. Just recently, Logan has really enjoyed being read to. We put the cds on for him and he listens to his Grandma read to him as he drifts off to sleep. It is fun for him to be able to talk to her on the phone about the story that she has read to him. Just today a Christmas package arrived with the last few chapters of The Wind in the Willows and a couple of other stories, too. I know that Logan will be so excited to open the new cds from Grandma!

Bed time....

Last night, in an effort to put off bed time, Logan announced that his food needed time to congest. I was on the phone with my dad and my husband had no clue what Logan was talking about. Ummm. Digest. I think he means his food needs time to digest. Good thing these boys have their momma to translate for them. HA!

The Christmas tree....

On Saturday, we got our tree up and decorated. Does it make me a bad mom that I waited until Lucas was in bed to do the decorating?? He was so excited just to have the tree up. He laid underneath it and talked about it all day. Once he was in bed, I shaped it and Logan and I decorated it. My husband helped some (like putting the angel on top), but it was mostly Logan and me. We were up pretty late getting it done, but it was so nice to sit on the love seat and cuddle with Logan admiring our hard work!When Lucas woke the next morning, he was very excited to see that the tree was decorated! We do Hallmark ornaments....we typically buy some each year, but my MIL sends each of us one yearly. She always asks for my help in deciding which ones to get for the boys. Funny thing is, I think we discuss in Oct. and then I totally forget which ones they are getting by Christmas time! Anyway, last year Lucas got a Pat Pat rocket ornament that plays the theme song. He loves it! I put it down low so that he can press the button all by himself. Logan and I had do some thinking before placing ornaments on the tree. The cute little snowmen with tiny twig arms went up high--those twigs can't withstand a curious 3 year old. I figured some ornaments would get broken, but I think we are already down 3 and the tree has only been up a full day!! They can mostly be put back together. Lucas broke the cover off of one of my Winnie the Pooh books (my MIL has been buying me this series ever since it first started in 1998!), so once I glue it on, the book will permanently be open. He is still touching the ornaments, but he is being more careful with them. He was pretty sad that he broke one. Logan broke one, too. He was a cranking the handle on one a little too hard and a bear's head popped off (it moved back and forth with the music)!! He was sad, too. I think they both learned their lesson that maybe the ornaments aren't toys after all. And momma learned a lesson that ornaments don't hold up well when they are dropped.

Does this look like a lot?

Yesterday, the boys and I went to the thrift store. Logan gets pretty bored while I look through the clothes, so his entertainment is to collect empty hangers. Yesterday he had a handful of them and he held them towards me. "Does this look like a lot of hangers to you?" I told him that it looked like a few, but not a lot. "Well, it is 5 hangers. If you think that 5 hangers isn't a lot, then why do you think that 5 dollars IS a lot?" I'm wracking my brain. Why is he comparing hangers to dollars? Oh yes, I've got it!!

When Logan lost his second tooth, the Tooth Fairy brought him $5. This was while we were working on our kitchen and our ladder was in the dining room (and no, Dad, we've still not done anything else on it....maybe once the holidays are over). Well, for some odd reason, Logan decided that he should slide his $5 into a slot on the ladder. Not too bad, except that it went inside the foot of the ladder and there is no way to take the foot off. So, that $5 was basically wasted. I told him that $5 was a lot of money to lose. Of course, I don't think that $5 is a lot of money, but when you are 7 (well, he was 6 at the time) and got it from the Tooth Fairy, I think that IS a lot!

Logan's logic was that if 5 hangers isn't very much, then $5 isn't either! I thought it was pretty clever of him.

How old are you?

I just had my birthday somewhat recently (Nov. 3). Logan asked me how old I am. Thirty. The big 3-0. He thought for a minute. Then said, "30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. So, that means you are close to 100, right?". Goodness, I know that 30 is getting older (not old, older...as in no longer in my 20s), but please, oh please don't speed the clock up that fast!! Time is going by way too quickly as it is.

It seems like this was just yesterday:But it can't be because one week ago I was out taking pictures and that little (or not so little, since that was the day I went into labor!!) bump in my belly now looks like this:

New shoes...

Yesterday, we went to the mall to get Logan some new shoes. I pretty much have a limit of $20 on new shoes for him. I can hardly bring myself to spend more than that. It takes a bit of searching, but I can usually find some. We walked all over the mall, and most places the shoes were $30-$50. I finally found a pair of Fila shoes on clearance for $20. Well, last year I bought Logan Sketchers on clearance and he was convinced that would be what we got this year. I couldn't find any for less than $27 and I didn't like most of them anyway. When I found the Filas, Logan had already convinced himself he didn't like them. Well, he is 7 and I am the mom, so we bought the Filas.

When we got home, he asked to wear them even though bedtime wasn't that far away. He got his pajamas on, then put his new shoes on to wear around. Each night, we gather in Lucas' room for family hugs then Logan goes to his room and we tuck Lucas in. Then we go to Logan's room and tuck him in. I am typically still in Lucas' room when my husband goes into Logan's room. Last night I could hear them talking about wearing shoes in bed and how shoes are dirty so you shouldn't do that. Turns out, Logan left his shoes on when he got in bed. He wanted to sleep with them on! My husband took the shoes off of him and told him not to put them in his bed.

Well, last night before I went to bed, I went into his room and he had the shoes back in bed with him. I guess he decided they were pretty cool shoes afterall!!

Precious Boy!

Halloween fun!

I'm a bit late in getting these up, but I still wanted to share. We had a really nice Halloween. We took the boys bowling and they always love that so much. We got home and had just enough time to get them into their costumes. I took the boys out trick or treating and my husband stayed home to hand out candy. Lucas got the hang of trick or treating really fast. He was excited to go out for a walk. When he went to the first door and I told him to say "trick or treat", he did. Boy was he excited when they put candy in his bag. That was it for him. He was saying it before they even opened the door at the next house! We made a loop and then stopped by our house before heading up the street. He screamed and cried and refused to come towards our house because he thought I was taking him home. He kept saying, "No. Go get more candy!". It took me a while to convince him he was just going to say "trick or treat" to daddy! He walked around the whole neighborhood with Logan and me, but near the end he wanted me to carry him. Poor little thing was tired! I think the highlight of the night was when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in someone's door and he kept saying "Baby. Baby. Hi, baby". He didn't recognize himself in the costume....LOL! Here are a few shots we got before leaving the house.....

Here is the pumpkin I carved. Sorry the pic is a little blurry. I was trying to hurry because the boys were ready to go!

Our king and our golfer!! Please excuse the beat up baseboards. Lucas is a bit rough with his toys.


Lucas really liked the costume. He thought I picked a good one.....LOL!

Christmas Carol Train Tour Character Morph.....(WW)

On the Christmas Carol Train tour, there was a program that allowed you to morph yourself into characters from the movie.

PLUS

EQUALS

For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit here.

Menu Plan Monday....

We tried two new recipes last week, pan seared red snapper and rice pilaf with pine nuts. They went very well together. The sauce on the fish was very strong (it was still very good, I just needed a bite of rice with it and it was perfect). If we have it again, I would probably cut down on the vinegar a bit. The rice was really, really good. Logan isn't a big rice fan, but loved it as long as I took the pine nuts out (he doesn't like nuts or seeds).

I went to watch a friend's daughter play softball one night last week and didn't cook the meal planned. We all just ate various things that we had at home, so one meal is carried over to this week.

I typically bake banana nut bread each week. Last week I bought a bag of ripe bananas and made 4 loaves. I need to wrap some and get them in the freezer. I still have bananas to use so I will likely make more banana nut bread and put it in the freezer.


On to this week (which happens to include lots of green beans.....our favorite veggie!).....

*=new recipe

Monday-- My husband's birthday, so I am making a favorite (got the recipe from my MIL)!! -- Italian cheese balls, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, berry pie (he doesn't like cake all that much)

Tuesday-- My birthday and I'm not cooking!!-- leftovers

Wednesday-- baked chicken, baked sweet potatoes, green beans, frozen banana salad*

Thursday-- steak* burritos (just using the recipe for the meat)

Friday--chicken strips, mashed potatoes, Syrian green beans (We love these!! I omit the cilantro.)

Saturday-- jambalaya*

Sunday-- Asian tuna patties*, sesame noodles, steamed broccoli

I'm going to attempt homemade granola bars this week, too.

Breakfast, lunch, and snack choices pretty much stay the same each week.

Breakfast choices :
--eggs, sausage, toast with jam
--cold cereal
--cereal bar, yogurt, cup of fruit
--oatmeal
--banana nut bread with or without peanut butter

Lunch choices this week:

--hot dogs, chips and fruit
--sandwiches, fruit
--macaroni and cheese, fruit
--grilled cheese and tomato soup
--leftover bean soup

Snacks:
--hummus and pita chips
--fresh fruit or dried fruit
--nuts
--goldfish crackers
--banana nut bread with or without peanut butter
--graham crackers and applesauce
--graham crackers, almond butter, choc. covered raisins

Treats:
--Halloween candy
--leftover pie and ice cream


Head on over to Laura's for more menus!

Pinky Dinky Doo

On Tuesday, I was talking to a friend and out of no where, Lucas started screaming and crying. The cry told me hurt himself. He was maybe 4 feet away from me, but my back was turned and I didn't see what happened. My friend was facing towards him, but didn't see what happened either. He was standing near the coffee table and she said she thought he might have hit his head. I picked him up and was holding him out from me looking at his head. His little forehead was wrinkled up from crying, but I didn't see any indications that he hit his head. I had already asked him what he hurt, but he was crying so much he couldn't answer. It hurt so bad he was literally crawling up me. Finally he blurted out, "My foot, my foot". I looked at his foot and his "pinky toe" was red. He got a couple kisses on his foot and all seemed to be better.

When his daddy got home that night, I told him that Lucas hurt his foot. Lucas went to greet him and we noticed he was limping. I inspected his toe and it was swollen and starting to bruise. My husband thought I should call the doc even though we knew they couldn't do much if he happened to have a broken toe. I called the doctor the next morning and they said they wanted me to bring him in so they could take a look. The doctor felt all around his foot and Lucas didn't mind at all. When she started feeling of his toe, his eyes got big and he said, "Nooooooo. Don't touch it, don't touch it". The doc said she didn't feel anything obvious, but it was very likely that his toe was broken. As we already knew, they can't really do anything for a broken little toe. She said to keep an eye on him and that if he was still limping in a few days to take him and have it x-rayed.

That night, I went out alone and when I came home, my husband told me that the boys had been rough housing. The toe clearly was no longer slowing Lucas down. He had even cut it on who knows what and had a new bump on his head. He is certainly a clumsy one!

Logan insisted that Lucas did not have a broken toe, but Lucas would always correct him, "No. It's broken, it's broken". I had called his injured toe his pinky toe and he corrected me, "No. My pinky dinky doo toe!".

Here are a couple pictures of his "pinky dinky doo toe".

First Grade....

We are several weeks into first grade now and so far it is going great! Each week Logan has been learning a new Proverb. He typically remembers it by the end of the first day!

Here is this weeks Proverb (click to enlarge):



I thought this was an excellent one for him to learn. I asked Logan if we should try to be wise or a fool. He said we should be wise, but then he raised his eyebrows and said, "But, you're not a man, Momma. Does that mean you are a wise girl?". I smiled and told him that I guess it does. Momma wants to be a wise girl!

When my husband got home that night I showed him the new Proverb. I told him I thought it was an excellent one. He raised his eyebrows and said, "I'll let it slide since it is part of the curriculum". Haha, at first he thought I had hand picked this Proverb for him. It is true that I think we all give full vent to our anger from time to time, but I am striving to be wise!

Logan also made a little book. Each day he would write a sentence and illustrate it. I just loved watching him illustrate each page and thought I would share it with you all. (You can click to enlarge if you wish.)






He asked for a bit of help on the mule's nose, but I think he did a pretty good job on his drawings!

I'm really loving homeschooling him. Getting to see his little light bulb moments is amazing!

Menu Plan Monday...

Last week we didn't get to a couple of meals because we ended up having friends over for pizza on Thursday. Then we had pizza and other leftovers on Saturday, and Sunday. So, I am carrying over some meals to this week. I have been baking a batch of banana bread every week because my husband loves to take it to work with peanut butter on it for a snack.

The pulled pork sandwiches were very good! I used ribs for mine. I cooked 4 pounds of bone in ribs in ths crockpot with just water, salt, pepper, and garlic on high for 4 hours. They were falling off the bone, so I figured that was a good sign. I don't make ribs very often and was concerned that 4 hours on high might not lead to very tender ribs. It worked, though. I shredded the meat and disposed of all the liquid and bones. The first night we had them, I did not toast the buns, but I had one for lunch on Saturday and toasted the bun (a bit of butter spread on then heated in a cast iron skillet---YUM). It was way better with the toasted bun! I really loved this recipe, but my husband is not a big fan of pork, so I likely won't get to have it again any time soon.


On to this week.....

*=new recipe

Monday--baked chicken breast, baked sweet potatoes, and green beans

Tuesday-- pan seared red snapper*, rice pilaf with pine nuts*, and carrots

Wednesday--honey balsamic chicken, homemade spaetzle, steamed broccoli

Thursday-- cheeseburger crescent rolls (recipe below), baked sweet potato fries, salad

Friday-- chicken strips, mashed potatoes, Syrian green beans

Saturday-- bean soup with kielbasa, roasted potatoes, corn bread

Sunday--leftovers

Breakfast choices:
--eggs, sausage, toast with jam
--cold cereal
--cereal bar, yogurt, cup of fruit
--oatmeal
--banana nut bread with or without peanut butter

Lunch choices (never anything exciting):
--hot dogs, chips and fruit
--sandwiches, carrots and dip, fruit
--cheese quesadilla, chips, salsa
--macaroni and cheese, fruit
--grilled cheese and tomato soup

Snacks:
--hummus and pita chips
--fresh fruit or dried fruit
--nuts
--banana nut bread with or without peanut butter
--graham crackers and applesauce
--graham crackers, almond butter, choc. covered raisins

Treats:
--Jiffy Cake cookie bars (recipe on the box....so easy and so good...I baked these up on Sunday.)
--rice crispy treats with choc. and peanut butter chips (I didn't make these until the weekend, so we still have them)
--ice cream

Cheeseburger Crescent rolls:

Last week I was making the bacon cheeseburger wellingtons and decided to try something different (with a little inspiration from my sister). Instead of making a patty and wrapping it in 4 crescent rolls, I just scrambled the hamburger meat with the seasonings. I used 2 triangles of dough to make a rectangle and put the cooled meat onto the dough. I topped it with cheese and mustard, folded the dough over and sealed the edges (I was out of bacon, so I omitted it, but if I had it I would have chopped it into little pieces and included it). It made great little pocket sandwiches and these were a much better size for us (the patty and 4 crescent rolls were HUGE). I did a pound of meat and one can of crescent rolls and that left me with leftover meat for this week!

Head on over to Laura's for more menus!

Smart boy!

A couple of days ago, I was in the basement doing laundry and talking on the phone to Christi. Logan had been sent to his room and I could hear him saying, "Momma, can I come down now?". I told Christi to hang on and walked out of the laundry room headed towards the stairs to go back up to the main level. I thought that is where Logan was, but when I headed that way, his voice became more distant and muffled. I walked back into the laundry room and I heard him more clearly. "Momma, can I come down now?".

Hmmmm. That is when I realized that he had gone into the bathroom and was talking to me through the vent. LOL! We have a 3 level town home and he was in the very top and I was in the very bottom and I could hear him like he was in the next room. Smart boy!

Funny how....

It's funny how a smell can take you back. This morning I was getting Lucas dressed and he grabbed some lotion out of his closet. I put a little bit on his hand and turned to choose some clothes for him to wear. When I turned back around, I smelled the lotion and was immediately transported back to when he was a tiny, new baby. I always used Johnson's Soothing Naturals Lotion and hair/body wash on him. It smells so good! Man, I miss that sweet, new baby, but I am loving this feisty preschooler, too! And when I say feisty, I mean completely full of energy ALWAYS (oh, and loud....did I mention loud)!