December 31st, 2014

So, of course, it is New Year's Eve; the time for New Year's Resolutions...

I'm not making a list this year.  I know deep down what I want for myself and for my family and I'm going to let my experiences show for themselves how I'm doing and what I'm doing.  I hope to blog frequently (maybe one tomorrow about our evenings hijinks!) and let you in on my life here in Benito.  I hope to make it fun and rewarding for everyone!  On a Resolution note, here is a cool article that I hope helps you out-some awesome advice lurking in it!

Happy 2015!

http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/resolutions-you-need-for-new-year/890253/

P.S. Who else looks forward to putting up there new calendars?

It's Going to Be a New Year Soon!

So the New Year is almost upon us and I'm getting pumped! I love getting into a New Year! I've already posted on my Fitness Blog and Writing Blog about a few goals and of course, I always like to find things to work on in my life and as I was watching the Gilmore Girls tonight, I started thinking that there were a few Lorelai Gilmore traits that I would love to adopt (sounds weird, and I do love who I am, but I also like to try out something new! Also, I've moved into a safe-zone in some areas of my life and miss some of them like...)
1) Wearing cute tops, bright colors and jeans (more often).  I have lots of great shirts, but I think when I feel a little better about my mid-section, I need some cute t-shirts.  I used to wear them with camo pants and now I stay a little safe! I also would like to draw another pair of cool pants as the previous pair is way too big!
2) This is mostly me, but I love that she always has a coffee! I also love the line in The Family Stone where Diane Keaton says, "There's supposed to be a pot of coffee right here!" I would love to drink enough water through the day that coffee intake of that magnitude wouldn't kill me!
3) I also would like to take the time in the mornings to put myself together a little more...earrings, maybe some mascara, definitely face cream (I've been getting slack!). 

And, I hope to post more often about our goings on (New Years is coming...I've got plans!)

And now, to all a good night!

Cookies!!!!

On the nineteenth day of Christmas, we had our Cookie Exchange! It was a lot of fun and we got some wicked awesome baked goods, like Scottish shortbread, homemade Oreos and Eatmore bars, Scuffles and White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies (my favorite!).  We all ate waaayyyy too much! Tis the Season, I guess!  Then, we read the boys to sleep with Angelina's Christmas by Katherine Holabird and a blurb about Christmas in Greece.

On the Twentieth Day of Christmas we made Frozen snow globes...you can't really see it too well on the camera, but the boys put Frozen stickers on the inside plate and then we made out 'snow globe' with a baggie and glitter taped to the other.  Then, we read What Happened to Merry Christmas by Robert C. Baker and learned about Christmas in Mexico!

 

 

Stay tuned...today we're hopefully going to make some Rudolph picture frames! 

There's a Recipe in This One!

Time to play catch up (which is proving very hard since I'm finally digging into Season 9 of Supernatural and it's extremely difficult to turn away).  So, on Monday, we watched a Christmas movie that we've never watched before and the winner was The Polar Express.  I have to say, I'm not sure of our verdict on it...it' had its moments, but wow, it was weird!

 That night we started The Treasured Tales of Christmas and read The Friendly Beasts, The Birthday, and Christmas with the Goblins as well as reading about Christmas in Sweden.

 On Tuesday, we made paper snowflakes (even one that had Mickey Mouse) and the boys glittered them up (Dave is currently making them into a mobile).  We read Treasured Tales, Legend of the Cat and Christmas Poem as well as learned about Christmas in Russia.

 On Wednesday, we baked 7 dozen cookies for our Cookie Exchange on Friday.  We baked White Chocolate and Creme de Menthe Shortbread

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, cut up
2 tbsp green Creme de Menthe
6 oz white chocolate
1/4 tsp mint extract

In a large bowl, stir together flour and sugar.  Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling.  Using a fork, stir in creme de menthe.  With clean hands, knead until dough forms a ball.  Divide dough in half.  Shape each half into a log and wrap and freeze for one hour.  If dough gets too hard, let stand at room temperature for ten minutes.  Preheat oven to 325 F.  Cut logs into scant 1/4 inch slices and place two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Transfer to wire racks to cool.  In a small saucepan, heat white chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in peppermint.  Drizzle over cookies.

 We Read Treasured Tales of Christmas, Legend of the Spiders and Christmas in Hollow Tree Inn and read about Christmas in France.
Today was a real treat because our Christmas activity was to watch Landon's first Christmas concert! It was awesome and adorable and he's the one in the Santa hat!  They performed S-A-N-T-A and What I Want For Christmas and of course, Santa came!

 We finished of Treasured Tales of Christmas by reading the Legend of  Babouschka and learned about Christmas in Italy.

Let it Go....and Enjoy The Holidays!

Don't worry! I haven't forgotten to post, but we've been super busy!  On our tenth day of Christmas, we wrote out our Christmas cards and Landon and Carver helped sign them to Grandparents.  Then we read more of The Return of Light and learned how they celebrate Christmas in Germany.
On the eleventh, we made paper towel angels with hand print wings and read another chapter of The Return of Light and learned about Christmas in The Netherlands.

In December twelfth we actually got very busy and didn't do our craft, but luckily on Landon's birthday, he wanted to do one, so Dave helped them with melted snowmen ornaments while I baked a cake.  We did however read more of The Return of Light and learned about Christmas in Poland and Czechoslovakia.  Obviously, the thirteenth was Landon's birthday which was Frozen themed and fit in perfectly with our month of Christmas! That night we read a little more of The Return of Light and learned about Christmas in Finland.

 And today, we worked on our Teacher Christmas gift.  We baked chocolate dipped orange shortbread and put them in a mug that I painted with her name on one side and Santa on the other (all Landon's color and artwork choices, I just put them into reality).  Also, Landon made her a lovely little picture to go into it.  Then, we finished The Return of Light and read about Christmas in Norway.  We also read The Christmas Donkey by T. William Taylor.

More Christmas Fun!

Yesterday we did both a Christmas craft and a Christmas activity.  We made footprint snowmen and specialty hot chocolate.  The kids love any craft that requires me to paint their feet or hands and Landon's always loved drawing snowmen and the hot chocolate was very rich but went down quick!  Then, we read another chapter of The Return of Light and Merry Christmas, in which we learned about Christmas in America (no surprises in that one, but it was cool all the same).

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

3 cups milk
1 tbsp light corn syrup
4 squares dark chocolate (or milk chocolate if you prefer a lighter taste)
2 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa

In a small pot over medium heat, melt peanut butter and dark chocolate.  Add corn syrup and milk.  Whisk in sugar and cocoa and heat through.  Pour into four cups through a strainer (you don't want to miss this step or you'll have floaters).  Enjoy!

Wow...One Day, Two Posts!

So yes, I'm prepared to catch you up to what we did today.  After Landon got home from school, we watched some Magic School Bus, ate some supper and made some paper plate name snowmen.

Landon did his all by himself! I helped Carver with his but he was a trooper!

Afterwards, we got ready for bed and tried to catch up a little on our reading by diving into the first chapter of The Return of Light, A Christmas Story by Dia Calhoun, Santa's Toy Shop, Jingle Bells and the first installment of Merry Christmas, a book outlining the Christmas Story and a selection of countries and their Christmas traditions.

The 24 Days of Christmas Catch-Up

Don't worry, we're still doing the 24 Days of Christmas, but I just haven't had time to blog it! Finally, I'll catch everyone up on our shenanigans!

On the third day of December, we got ourselves into un-fun shenanigans and didn't have time to do anything Christmas-y as the entire day was taken up with Landon and his mysterious illness. The poor little dude had to be taken to the doctor and then for blood work, etc and then later at home, developed a fever and wouldn't get off the couch so we took a break.  But, we did read another chapter of The Forgotten Helper before bed.

On Thursday, we made hand print reindeer and Dave read them some more of The Forgotten Helper while I was at my PA Meeting.

Friday, Landon still was not too well so I took them to their Great Grandmas earlier than planned so he didn't have to travel around, but I did a little bit more Christmas shopping for Landon's class gift exchange.  And the kids got a reply from Santa! (And is it me, or are the letters getting better?)

On Saturday, we still had no children, but we did have a staff Christmas party where we were treated to a production of Hilda's Yard (which my hubby was in and did a fabulous job)!

And on Sunday, we had a Credit Union kids Christmas party at the bowling alley!  Then, for bed we finished The Forgotten Helper, and read also Little Miss Christmas and Reindeer Round-up!

It's Christmas Time Again!

So, I don't know if you remember from last year, but we did 24 Days of Christmas and we haven't changed too much this year! Yesterday was the first and since the house was entirely decorated (on Sunday because someone...no names, couldn't wait), we decided to write our letters to Santa!

That night, we read Dear Father Christmas, Get Well Soon by Alan Durant which is a wonderful book with actual envelopes and letters (one which includes a recipe for Harvey the Elf's Christmas Cookies and hot chocolate).

Today, we made Christmas wreaths with our hand prints and foot prints.  They were a little muddled because our paper wasn't big enough but they still look cute.  Also, we made Harvey the Elf's Christmas cookies and they were okay, but I've had better!

And tonight, we started The Forgotten Helper by Lorrie Moore.  We read the first chapter and Landon is eager to find out what happens.  It's a great book and my sister and I have been reading it or having it read to us for a long time.

A Very Quick Update

Just wanted to say that November is going well! I've been accomplishing a lot of my list goals a little every day and even though I woke up super cranky today...I brushed it off after an hour or two (no insane yelling needed) and got a little cat nap that will hopefully help!

I feel that every time November comes around...I get the need to step on it and work myself out so I have my s*%t together for the New Year.  So, here's my list:

1) Control my temper and be patient!
     For those of you who really know me; you know I hate making people angry and I hate dispute, but I also have a short fuse and one little thing can set me off.  Of course, as with most people, we abuse this habit with people who will love us no matter what (I have two kids, no math required) and I want to curb that behavior.
2) Take care of self
      I want to make sure I take the time to wash my face and put on my lotions and put on a little make-up and maybe a necklace.  I'm definitely not the mom who wears sweats around the house, but when I'm put together and taking care of myself by pampering, I always feel more collected
3) Get fit and healthy
    What a long road...I'm blogging about this one at www.fitnessaccordingtoallison.blogspot.com
4) Spare a few minutes for Jesus
      I let myself put a lot in front of the Big Guy and even if I say 'hi' every day once, that's a start!
5) Blog
6) Don't sweat the small stuff
    I am a clean freak and a perfectionist....it's an almost uncontrollable personality trait, but I'd like to try and tone it down and have fun instead of worrying that the floor still has wax on it (I had a small candle accident today)
7) Work on relationship
     Dave also gets back burnered and I need to turn the heat back up!
8) Write

So, there's my list.  I've done a few steps towards clearing my plate so that I only have the main things left to focus on.  I'm looking forward to an awesome blow-out to 2014!

The Icing Fiasco

So today we were making scarecrow cookies and I actually found a recipe (listed below) for sugar cookies that make two big ones only so I was pretty psyched.  Anyhoo, we whipped those up and then we used icing, wafer cookies, chocolate chips, candy corn and sliced almonds to make scarecrow faces...

Carver basically tried eating all of his icing and I stopped him from eating the chocolate chip eyes, but I couldn't stop him from getting to the candy corn nose.  However, he does look like he's giving a thumbs up which earns him some points.  Landon is getting very good at following instruction and put his own smiley face on with an icing tube no help required.  I'll let you take a guess at which cookie is which!

Sugar Cookies for Two

Ingredients

• 2 TBS butter, softened
• 3 TBS sugar
• 1 egg yolk (or 3 TBS egg, about half)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 6-8 TBS flour
For the Frosting
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• food coloring, optional

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine butter and sugar in a small bowl.
3. Add egg yolk and vanilla and stir well.
4. Add salt, baking soda and flour and stir to combine.
5. Roll out dough to be 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters or scoop into balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for about 8 minutes then remove from oven.
7. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to cool additionally on cooling rack.
8. Combine all ingredients for frosting (add more milk or more powdered sugar if too thick or too thin) and frost cookies once cool.

Two Types of Glue =

Hello again! Okay, so we've done two more days of Thanksgiving activities and I am finally here to post about them...
Remember three days ago when we did scarecrow heads? Well, we also went crazy and did some pilgrim heads!  And then yesterday, I got REALLY brave and decided to make a hand print turkey table runner using fabric glue...yeah, you heard me correctly!

 And again, sorry about the askew picture...here are the boys gluing together their pilgrims.

 Landon's is on the left and Carver (and Dad's) is on the right.

 There are no pictures of us doing this activity as it was just myself and the kids, but here is the finished product!

Okay, I understand they sort of look like demon turkey's but I had a limited color supply and two fidgety toddlers.  I still love it.

P.S. I should really have a pic of Carver as he is still covered somewhat in fabric paint.

An Outside Treat

So today we made bagel birdfeeders.  We love watching the birds outside our window, especially with winter coming because we won't be outside as much.  So it's important that we keep those feeders filled.  So, today, we took raisin bagels and covered them in peanut butter and sunflower seeds and hung them outside our window.  I was surprised that it sent so smoothly! I ha the boys in aprons and everything and they were surprisingly tidy!

 I think Carver should pursue a career as a French maid...just saying.

Bring it on birds!

Leaves and Scarecrows and Fun...Oh My!

In case the title didn't give it away, we've been watching The Wizard of Oz.  But, we've also been keeping up with our Thanksgiving activities!  Last night, after dinner, we made leaf rubbings (I'm sure you remember them from elementary school!) and this afternoon, we used paper plates, construction paper and googly eyes to make scarecrows!  Check it out!

 Landon's still getting the hang of the crayon holding thing but both boys loved scribbling away to their hearts' content!

 The finished product!

 A bunch of goofballs and glue...a scary combo!

Landon's scarecrow on the left (unassisted) and Carver's on the right (with some help from Dad)