Happy Eve of Christmas Eve's Eve!

We are loving Christmas break this year.  It has been sooo nice to have the kids out of school all week.  They have done a great job of doing their chores and they are only driving each other (and their mother) slightly insane with their impatience.  They keep counting down the days until Christmas wishing time would move faster but I wish I could slow everything down.  This is my favorite time of the Christmas season--once Christmas is here the best part is over!

Actually I have to admit--while I love this time of Christmas, I also feel really stressed out as the clock ticks.  I am sure I am forgetting something that I will regret.  I had to stop several times today and remind myself that my vague sense of anxiety is not based in reality...

Jen and Ben took the camera on a tour of the house. I always wish I had done more decorating sooner.  If I had my way I would have Christmas quilts on every bed and trees in every room.  I was slowed down this year by our forced smoke-damage-induced evacuation and a serious need for a nap every afternoon.   Rustin will be home tomorrow though so things are looking great!  Here are some of the favorites around the house...

My mom insists on calling this the Charlie Brown tree but I love it.  It has all the little school decorations the kids have made over the years.

This mound on the counter top is what a four batches of sweet chex mix looks like while drying. I really should make at least four more (this filled 20 quarts!) if we have any hope of thanking all the people who have helped and supported us this last year.

And to be realistic this is what the mound of laundry looks like that I swore would not still be lying on the floor tonight.  I only have four loads left in the entire house so tomorrow my Christmas present to myself will be clean and organized laundry then Christmas can come and I can watch Little Women and While you were sleeping all day guilt free!

Scrooge??

We have lots of fun things going on this Christmas season that I really intend to write about.  But I have a lot of distractions that are blocking my writing ability such as...the yucky cough attempting to rip my lungs out, class Christmas parties, rain a.k.a slushy snow, the lingering, lovely smell of a Burned (BURNED) pot of roast beef burned (did I mention?) (did I also mention that I can't smell anything?)  completely to charcoal that is making me compulsively spray Febreese and wash the cupboard doors in the kitchen (honest to goodness smoke damage--which required yet another visit from Summit Restoration; this time they brought an Ozone machine...I can't really talk about it yet--my eyes threaten to let the floods loose every time the stinkin' subject comes up...).  There have been some great things that I am determined to write about so they can be included when I print this blog out into our own family book!  For now I am just going to share a video that made all five kids laugh last night. (Thanks sis.)

Hallelujah Chorus Flash Mob

little brothers.

There are lots of great things about little brothers.  Mine were only 5 and 9 (?) when I left for college so I didn't really get to appreciate all the joys of growing up with little boys.  But I sure do get to see them here in my house.

This morning I was awakened by Benson saying, "Mom we need you to come help us right now."

Apparently Dallin and Landon have noticed that those big chocolate brown eyes of our youngest have the ability to make me do almost anything.

This morning the boys wanted me to help them make sausage for breakfast so they woke Benson up to have him come get me.

It worked.

What can I say!

Wonders never cease...

For the first time in a decade...Twin Falls school district actually cancelled school for a Snow Day!


You can imagine the joy.  (We told them they didn't have school after the ten pm call from the school district.) I woke up to the sounds of the kids playing some game at 7:30.  


" You guys, I thought you would sleep in to at least 9:00..." I whined.


"Mom we usually get up at 6. This is sleeping in. When can we have pancakes?" was the only response.


I'll never understand why Sunday morning is the only day they actually stay asleep until after 8.  All five kids will sleep late enough on Sunday to make us rush around to get ready by noon.  We are all going to die in January when we go back to the 9 am schedule.


So, instead of making the pie dough, finishing laundry and updating the budget, I spent the day hanging up wet gloves, moving wet boots off the carpet and making endless batches of hot chocolate.  And we watched The Princess Bride.  It was a good day.

Snowballs and...

Snow fights.

Beau "rescuing" Jenna who was making a snow angel.

Today we have below zero wind chill and lots of snow but the storms passed just in time to travel for Thanksgiving.  We hope everyone will be safe!

Injury number 5,789

It should come as no surprise that we have yet another set of stitches.  I honestly can't even remember how many sets of stitches we have had around here.

This is living proof that even on no-school days, video games are dangerous.  (Kids were out all day Friday so they played and played and played...we don't have video games during the school week at all...) Dallin got frustrated and chucked his controller across the room nailing Landon on the eyebrow.  What are the odds?   Five stitches.
And a big fat swollen eye.

And here is a really pretty close-up.

For my Dad

My Dad just had his birthday.  I never quite know what to do for him--he doesn't like to get presents;  he says it makes him feel anxious. What if  the gift is something I already have?--how do I make sure the gift giver knows I appreciate the thought even if the gift isn't perfect? etc...
    
So what do you do for your dad?  I still don't know but I do have a few great memories that I don't want to forget.  One in particular was from my college days.
    
One year at college I had an crush on a boy in one of my study groups.  Back then my dad went up to Rexburg for Army reserve training one weekend a month and he would usually come by to visit.


One weekend we spent some time together on Saturday and I told my dad that I was going to go to a play with "the boy" later that night.  But as things turned out "the boy" totally stood me up.  I was sad and rejected.  I don't know how my dad knew but he showed up at my door and just said,  "I was thinking of going to a play."  I didn't have tickets so we went stood in the standby ticket line where after just a few minutes someone just happened to come by and offer us his tickets.  I don't remember what the play was but I do remember my date that night and the feelings are still very tender to me.


Living in the same town as my dad as an adult has taught me more about his soul than the 18 years I spent under the same roof.  My dad worries about keeping people happy.  What I used to perceive as frustration or irritability I now know to be a  tender heart that doesn't like to see unhappiness.  He often shows up at my or Kendra's house to fix whatever is broken or to splice a vacuum cleaner cord bitten by a puppy (I should just happen to leave out the CD player, iron and fan).  Or sometimes he "lets" me cut his hair so we can have a few minutes to visit followed by a hug.  On his days off he works until he can barely keep his eyes open.


Friday night he spent a couple of hours playing Wii with Austin, Jenna and Benson.  What more can I say.

I don't have a gift to give my dad but I want him to know that I see him.  I know who he really is and that makes me feel lucky.  I want him to be happy and to have peace in knowing that he has done well.

Warm fuzzy.

Today I love my crock-pot.

Not so much because of the really pretty red color (thanks Rustin!) but because I really love it when five o'clock rolls around and I have already prepared food.  It really makes my day.  I should do it more often.


One of our current favorites:

Creamy Italian chicken

8-9 chicken breasts (frozen)

1 package cream cheese

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 envelope of dry Italian dressing mix

A bunch of sliced carrots

I mix the soup, cream cheese (warmed in the microwave) and dressing mix together and pour it over the chicken and carrots.  It's done in about 3-4 hours.  Not too long or the chicken gets tough.  

We eat it with rice--I am currently obsessed with medium grain 'sticky' rice.  I buy the big bags of Calrose rice at Costco.  I don't have a rice steamer so I just cook it in the regular rice maker.  It's not truly sticky but we still love it--it's sticky without being mushy.  The perfect rice amount for us--3 cups rice and 4 cups water.  Sometimes I use 4 cups of rice with  5 1/4 cups of water.

I need some more crock pot recipes.  Any great ideas send them my way!