A yummy cake

I have recently become somewhat obsessed with The Pioneer Woman

I found out about her through my sister when we were discussing Thanksgiving and I was looking for new recipes. Kristen showed me the website and I WAS HOOKED! Everything I have tried from her recipes were fabulous! Plus, I received her cookbook for Christmas, and I spent my vacation between the holidays cooking/baking through her cookbook. It was fun and too yummy!

Here, after a long day of class on Saturday, I decided to help the kids make the Pioneer Woman's chocolate cake as I needed a chocolate fix! We all had fun making it and Evan had an especially good time licking the batter and frosting from the bowl!

The cake was fabulous, but really, what can you expect with 4 sticks of butter in the whole thing. Our dear neighbors (J&MJ) contributed to the frosting and came over later Saturday night for cake & drinks. A great evening to a very long day!

Random pictures

Well - these were not the pictures I planned on posting, but since they loaded, I thought I would keep them here.

This was the week of vacation we took between Christmas and New Years at the cabin. Emma was relaxing on the couch playing with my iPod. (I recently downloaded Angry Birds and while a complete waste of time, she and I enjoy playing it :-) )

And Evan - being crazy I guess.

Star of the week

My little lady was so excited for this week as she is the Star of the Week! On Friday, she proudly showed us the packet of info that her teacher brought home about being the Star of the Week. Emma, me, and Tim (since I was in class) put together a book all about Emma with pictures, her hand-writing, and drawings. (this will be laminated, bound, and sent home for a nice keep-sake) Then, she got to bring in her favorite toy (although she wanted to bring in Kit, I dissuaded her from that. She brought in her Monster Doll instead) her favorite story (about sharks - her favorite thing!) and then an article of her baby clothing. She had a great day and came home with this huge poster that her teacher and classmates made for her.

She went through all the drawings and told me which ones everyone did. She pointed out that drawing of hearts that Jack did for her as well. Apparently they talk in the lunch room that they love each other and they exchanged phone numbers last week as well. Emma (unbeknownst) to me actually tried to call him. I think I was arguing with Evan about something and the little lady got the phone from the wall, went to the living room and supposedly called him. I did not hear the conversation, so if it did happen, I cannot say as to what they spoke about. The redial did list his phone number, so she may have actually called him.

Anyway - I am going in to her classroom for breakfast tomorrow and Tim is going in Thursday for lunch. Such a fun week for a little girl!

Christmas Eve

And the fun starts :-)

Evan and Emma were a little confused about Christmas Eve. They were pretty sure that Santa was going to be there when they woke up. So, after a little disappointment, we reminded them that Nana and Papa were next door and that we were still going to have a Christmas party. We had some breakfast, some excited talk, some cheers, and then started getting everything together.

Bag full or presents - check.

Meatballs - check.

Yummy cheese dip - check.

Homemade blue cheese dressing - check

Evan ruining a Christmas present for Tim - double and triple check. grrrr....

So, we were at the kitchen table, cleaning up, and talking about Christmas. We are all kind of doing our thing when all of a sudden Evan looks at Tim and says, "Mama bought you a flashlight for Christmas Dada!" and then jumps down from the chair and goes to wash his hands. Just like that - the one Christmas gift that was not on Tim's list . . . was ruined. AND - this wasn't any ordinary flashlight - this was a cool, three colored light, ,sensing something flashlight for hunting. The blue light was for tracking, some light for map reading and then another light. Cool, right?

The funny thing is that Evan has been "building" Tim a flashlight since I bought it. He would sit at his little workshop and in his words, "I am building my Daddy a flashlight!" Apparently Tim didn't catch on with the little elf in his workshop building presents -- which is good.

Anyway - we went over to the Kellogg's for Christmas Eve and had a lot of fun. The kids were so happy that we let them open up their presents first before eating and everything. Before you know it, wrapping paper was flying everywhere.

This was a special Christmas Eve because their Nana had a very special gift for all of them. She bought all of the kids (yes even Evan) an American Girl/Boy Doll. Plus, she bought some matching kid-doll outfits, made some outfits for the dolls, and had some other fun accessories for them as well. (and thanks to the woman who made it all possible with the "in" at American Girl who got Mom a great deal on the dolls! And yes, I feel like I need to justify this as the dolls are so expensive and Tim and I didn't plan on getting her one.)

Emma LOVES her doll. She got Kit and plays with Kit all the time. Emma, Kaylee, and Kyra play with the dolls before school together, after school, and on the weekends. The girls were so excited and happy and in Kyra's quiet words, "I think this is the best Christmas ever."

Evan, on the other hand, still isn't quite sure what to make of his doll. He got a baby boy doll, one of the Bitty twins, and he, well, isn't sure what to make of it. He decided to name the baby boy Mater (which makes me smile every time I hear it) and while he has changed Mater's clothes a few times, normally Mater is in his closet. . . asleep. I have tried to tell him that he is Mater's Dad, then that he is Mater's brother, then that he is just his friend, but to no avail. He said that Emma could have Mater, then Emma decided that she didn't want Mater, and now I feel bad for Mater :-) Mom, Tim, and I had discussed Evan getting the doll a few times prior to Christmas and we didn't know how he would react and we really didn't care if he got the doll or not. We thought we would try it and see. And, now we know :-)

Anyway - Christmas Eve was great. The kids were so excited playing with their dolls! Evan was excited to play with the present that the Kellogg's got him. From them he received a build set. It was an airplane, motorcycle, and car that he can take apart and put together using an electric drill. He LOVES it! (and I think Mater was sitting next to him while he was playing. But, that was because I put him there!)

We ate a snacky lunch with chicken wings, nacho's, mini hotdogs, meatballs, cheese, crackers, and I am sure other food that I am missing. Then, more playing - and rest time. Evan went to our house to sleep and the older girls watched a Christmas movie and played games. Mid-afternoon we separated ways as my family, along with Mom and Dad, went to Church. We haven't done church with the kids much on the holidays as it is crazy busy at Church. Luckily, the kids did well. Emma brought Kit and I brought some crayons, paper, and snacks for Evan.

After Church, back to our house with Mom and Dad for a nice Christmas Eve supper. We had a yummy beef tenderloin (with bacon, shallots, and wine reduction), mashed potatoes, homemade bread, pecan pie, and butterscotch pie! The kids were pretty tired after the busy day, but still enjoyed a few games of Duck, Duck, Goose with Mom and Dad. Then, we spread the reindeer food on the lawn, got out milk & cookies for Santa (well twice actually as Sage at the first round of cookies) and then put them to bed. They laid down very well and didn't fight much to wait up for Santa. Which was nice. I had cleaning to do, prep for Tim's family coming over the next day, and a few more presents to wrap.

The day was fabulous and everyone was excited for Santa to come. Even me :-)

And finally - Emma with Kit. Notice their matching outfits?

To my faithful readers -

Dear Faithful readers -

I have not forgotten about you. I have many stories to tell and memories to share. However, I am in a fairly intense J-term class at the moment and have been spending nights and weekends doing homework. I have been taking many pictures and good notes about my kiddo's and will be back when I have time. I hope to be back for a bit Saturday after class - lounging in front of the TV, with a beer, and blogging to my hearts content.

Thanks for your understanding-

Christmas Eve Eve

The day before Christmas Eve, Emma had school, which surprised me. Granted, it was a fun day filled with a holiday party (which I was volunteering at) and the movie "The Polar Express" with popcorn. Her biggest thrill of the day (other than me showing up at school, of course :-) It was a pajama day!

I left Evan home with Tim for a male bonding morning and I took Emma to school that morning. She was giddy and bouncy all morning -- she could hardly contain her excitement! All the kids in her classroom were the same way and came up to me with stories about Christmas, their pajamas, their pets - you name it. That is the fun thing with volunteering in the little kids classrooms - the stories the little ones share. They are so excited to see anyone knew in their class and Emma was a star because her Mom was there too.

I was in charge of the Dreidel game and had to bring in large marshmallows, pretzel sticks, frosting, and a Hershey's kiss so the kids could make and eat their dreidel. Then, we got to play the game. Other stations in her classroom were a jingle-jangle bracelet station, a "make yourself an elf" station, a Christmas tree station (where each child was given a sugar cone, green frosting, M&M's, stars, licorice and other candy to decorate and then eventually eat) and a Christmas Bingo station. The noise level in that room was pretty high, but all the kids were behaving well and having a blast. The biggest excitement - probably more than all the sugar they were consuming- was the fact that it actually started snowing mid-morning. Many kids gasped, many jumped up and down, and some exclaimed "Look - it is a blizzard outside!" but all were happy to see the snow had actually arrived.

After the holiday party, it was home to spend time with Evan and start cleaning my house and baking for the next few days. Evan took a good nap, I peeled some potatoes, cleaned the house, and did other un-fun errands. Evan woke up and we made a yummy batch of fudge and it was back to Emma's school to pick her and all of her art-projects up and bring them home. The month of December was spent learning about all the different holiday traditions and doing a fun craft to go along with them. I now have a Dreidel on display, a Ginger Bread house, a paper poinsettia, a Santa Clause, an Indian craft, a Kwanzaa craft, and other various things.

Tim was out doing his Christmas shopping, so the kids and I went outside to enjoy the 3/4 inch of snow that fell that morning. Emma had to get on her cross country skis and head outside and Evan and I shoveled the snow. Evan LOVES shoveling the snow. Sage, unfortunately, also loves it when we shovel snow as she enjoys running away with Evan's shovel.

That night was more cleaning and prep for me - more jumping and excited hollering by the kids - and the discussion that Santa wasn't coming that evening... they had to wait one more exhausting day. I finished up my wrapping as the kids were nestled snug in their beds and watched my last cheesy Christmas movie.

The next few days - fun chaos! More to come. With pictures hopefully! (taken on my new camera!)

The days leading up...

Christmas has been such a blur this year (as can probably be accounted for by my lack of blog posts.) No matter how hard I try to be prepared, the week and half leading up to it always seem frantic, stressful, busy, but fun. This year I had most of my presents bought early, but could be found late evenings (not blogging) wrapping presents while enjoying a cheesy Christmas movie on TV. Oh, how I heart a cheesy Christmas movie on the Hallmark or Lifetime network. Tim does make fun of me because of it. And yes, they are the same story each time with either a widow or corporate exec. The widow inevitably finds love and the corporate exec gets fired, moves to Colorado and coincidentally finds love as well. And then, it snows. Sigh.... I think I like them because the story always ends happy. Anyway, I am digressing....

The weeks leading up to Christmas were busy with my wrapping up of my B-Law class, Sunday school for Evan, Faith formation for Emma and I, and the baking, the wrapping, the shopping, and everything in between. The nice thing is that Tim and I decided that the weekend right before Christmas, we would go to the cabin for a holiday reprieve - and it was nice. We went out to eat one evening, did some ice fishing, had some movie nights, and relaxed without my pile of unwrapped presents or mounting list of holiday to-do's.

We enjoyed ice fishing both days of that weekend and had some luck with the crappies. Both kids had fun with that and sliding/boot skating on the ice. We went to town one day and Emma and I bought some ornaments that were on our Christmas list and we savored some family time together without the disruptions of our computer, stores "lowest prices of the seasons" sales, and other distractions. It was nice and needed.

(and, I have to add much to Evan's embarrassment in the future - he had some big news as we were leaving the cabin on Sunday. Our going-home-from-the-cabin-ritual always includes packing whatever toys/clothes/misc items we brought, loading the cooler, packing snacks, and going potty. This particular weekend, the truck was packed and Emma was in the truck. We were waiting for Evan to come out so we could lock up and head home. He excitedly opens the cabin door, puts his little fists in the air and exclaims, "Daddy! I peed through my undie hole! I did it!" and then he bounces out of the door and down to the truck. --- and yes, to those that are wondering what that actually means - he was able to go potty without pulling his undies down - the big boy way. You can figure it out from there.)

The week after was busy with our last night of Faith Formation with the giddy kindergartners, final shopping and last-minute returns, book club for Mom (and much needed girl time), karate, and other stuff. Then - the big days - Christmas Eve Eve with Emma's school Christmas party and some unexpected snow, Christmas Eve with a fun kids party, and the big day. More on those later!