Yup...Christmas Elf names!

Me:
Eggnog Ivyballs
She is a very lucky elf who often succeeds by accident! She wears a tunic embroidered with green ivy leaves, and she makes enchanted story books for all the good little children.

Landon:
Fudge Silverpears
He loves to mother the other elves and look after them when they finish work! He wears a sequined jacket with shiny silver buttons, and he makes enchanted wooden soldiers for all the good little children.

Carver:
 Garland Jollyleaves
He is an adventurous elf who loves to see new places and explore! He wears a bright, rainbow-coloured suit covered in stripes and spots, and he makes ferocious toy dinosaurs for all the good little children.


AND.....Fairy Names!

Landon:
Fire Snowsprite
He brings peace between enemies. He lives where fireflies mate and breed. He can only be seen in the light of a shooting star. He wears a jacket that glows with fiery colours and has shining pale blue wings like a cicada

Carver:
Marsh Jupiterbug
He is mysterious and secretive. He lives in reed marshes and lonely fenland. He can only be seen when the dry seed cases pop. He wears a jacket woven from reeds and rushes and has deep mauve butterfly wings.

Me:
Meadow Agaricshimmer
She brings hallucinations. She lives in fields where wild flowers and poppies grow. She can only be seen when the first flowers begin to blossom. She wears a skirt made of red petals and has russet-coloured wings like a brightly coloured butterfly.

AANND...Vampire names!

Me:
The Great Archives determine that I have gone by the vampire identity:
Clémence Blanchard
Known in some parts of the world as: Lioness of The New York Sewers Of this vampire the Great Archives record: Sworn to one more ancient than the devil.

Carver:
The Great Archives determine that I have gone by the vampire identity:
René Choiseul
Known in some parts of the world as: Devil of The New York Sewers Of this vampire the Great Archives record: The offspring of a goddess - beautiful, powerful and ruthless.

Landon:
The Great Archives determine that I have gone by the vampire identity:
Antoine Le Boursier
Known in some parts of the world as: Incubus of Bats And Shadows Of this vampire the Great Archives record: Comes on silent wings in the night and wraps a deadly cloak about the victim; impartial as a die, unyielding as stone.

AANNND...Werewolf Names!

Carver:
Bartlen Old-Runner

Landon:
Kynsmyrn Old-Runner

Me:
Seanna Stalking-Fire

Okay, in light of the last post, we're going to do our super hero names and powers!

Landon:

Duke Storm
Struck by lightning as a child while trying to escape the deadliest twister to ever strike Kansas, you fell into a coma and awoke with strange new abilities! Weather Control - Your powers give you access to the elements of the air, and control of weather - from torrential rain and hurricanes to lightning, hailstorms and snow! Now, you protect Paris from large gangs of worrying clowns, while also battling the evil plans of Captain Death!

Carver:
The Green Machine
You were created in a secret Government lab, but just as the evil scientists were about to destroy you as a failed experiment, you made a break for freedom! Now, you must use your powers, and avoid those sent to track you down! Cybernetic Strength - Your cybernetic body gives you immense strength to tackle almost any feat of endurance! Now, you protect Singapore from graffiti artists, while also battling the evil plans of The Leaping Lizard!

Me:
Rock Girl
Stranded in an underground cave-in, you were rescued by one of the ancient Norse dwarf-folk. Now, gifted by the earth-folk, you fight evil while also trying to prevent the oncoming Ragnarok! Earth Powers - Your abilities give you access to the elemental powers of the Earth itself - you are as strong and indestructible as the living rock itself! Now, you protect Rome from litter bugs, while also battling the evil plans of The Quark!

Okay, so it's been thirty years, but I'm finally watching Star Wars.  I still haven't seen the originals but Landon went to see The Force Awakens at the theater and when it came up as my Feature Title from my Disney Movie Club, I ordered it; and its here.  It's okay, but the kids love it, so I'm blogging/watching and  decided to entertain you with our Star Wars names:

Landon is officially Knots Windhunter
Carver is Bundto Cratergold
and I am Herour Turn

May the Force be with you.

I know most of you who read this are parents and you will find this extremely true and humorous...happy Saturday!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/x-memes-that-totally-made-parents-laugh-in-2015?utm_term=.hfAL6yKv9&sub=4095239_7521584#.fjMdwqE6l

40/69...Not Bad

This is in your life:
(X )Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school...
( )Watched someone die
( X)Visited Canada
( X) Visited Hawaii
( ) Visited Cuba
( ) Visited Europe
( ) Visited South America
( )Visited Las Vegas
( ) Visited Central America
( ) Visited Asia
( ) Visited Africa
( )Visited Florida
( )Visited Mexico
( ) Seen the Grand Canyon in person
(X) Flown in a plane
( X)Served on a jury
(X) Been lost
( X)Traveled to the opposite side of the country
( )Visited Washington, DC
( X) Swam in the Ocean
(X )Cried yourself to sleep
( ) Played cops and robbers
(X)Played cowboys and Indians
( )Recently colored with crayons
( )Sang karaoke
( ) Sang a solo or duet in church
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only
(X) Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( X ) Had children - does being a father count?
(X) Had a pet
(x )Been skinny-dipping
(X)Been fishing
(X) Been boating
( ) Been downhill skiing
( ) Been water skiing
(X )Been camping in a trailer/RV
(X) Been camping in a tent
( ) Driven a motorcycle
( ) Been bungee-jumping (ripcord jumping)
( ) Been Sky Diving
(X )Gone to a drive-in movie
(X) Done something that could have killed you…
( ) Done something that you will regret for the rest of your life
(X ) Rode an elephant
( ) Rode a camel
(X) Eaten just cookies or cake for dinner or ice cream
( X)Been on TV
(X) Stolen any traffic signs
(X) Been in a car accident
(X)Been in the Hospital in past 24 months
(X )Donated blood
( )Gotten any type of traffic ticket in the past 12 months.
(X) Gotten a piercing
(X) Gotten a Tattoo
(X) Driven a four door vehicle
( )Ever owned your dream car
(X)Been Married
( X) Been divorced
(X) Fell in love
( X) Fell out of love
()Paid for a strangers meal
( X) Driven over 100mph
( )Been scuba diving
( X)Written a published book/story (poem) (song)
( )Eaten snails

This song perfectly matches your personality! It just can't be a coincidence that the artist is telling a story that perfectly reflects your life. You should declare this song your personal anthem! Share your result with your friends and let them listen to the song that seems to be written about you!

Scar is your opposite!

Whereas Scar had ill intentions and engaged in Machiavellian pursuits, you have plans for good and dreams of a better world. You’re less interested in dominating a kingdom, and more interested in spreading kindness wherever you go.

Monday Laughs

So this came up on my Pinterest this morning and when I read it, I laughed and laughed because most of it is true (however, I was lucky and did get synchronized naps pretty easily).  Have a good read and a great Monday!
What No One Tells You About Having a Second Kid

So, as most of you know, I've become slightly obsessed with The Walking Dead and perhaps more so with Norman Reedus, but all that aside...I never thought I would be.  And now, I just want to share it with everyone...it's so well done; I love everything about it and when I ran across the following video on Pinterest, I thought, 'wow, if I saw this as a Walking Dead virgin, I'd have to see it.'  It only goes through three seasons and so if you enjoy the video, imagine what the next three hold!  And, if that doesn't get you, at least watch it for this:


The Walking Dead Goodbye

Okay, single tips number two, three, and four....

Firstly, know your tools! I'm lucky to know a little bit but I'm learning, too! The other day, I did two things around the house, I bracketed the book case to the wall and reattached the flush chain in the toilet.  The bracketing was pretty easy but I did learn that in drywall, you want to make sure that you don't try and pin it right against the wall, work with the space it's comfortable with.  Anyways, the thing is, you should take charge and when something breaks around the house, pick up your tools and try fixing it yourself, or at least watch and learn! You may need it.

Secondly, I know that this is said all the time, but don't sweat the small stuff.  Especially with kids.  Days don't always turn out how you plan with little ones and sometimes, you have to not care.

And thirdly, don't be afraid to ask around for prices, deals, etc and don't be afraid to haggle or look for ways to make payments.  I've been dealing a lot with getting my car fixed and house renos and financial stuff and I've been making calls and asking and admitting to being a single mom and needing help and believe me, it's worth it! My life has been made much more simple, by this rule!

Alright, so I'm not one for breaking news over the Internet, but I'm learning a lot from my experiences the last three weeks and I figure I might be of use to someone in the knowledge I am gaining.
So, here it is....Dave and I split up; of course I'm not going into details, it is what it is, but I am living with two boys mostly on my own and I'm doing a lot of things I haven't done too much of, at least for a long time and the number one thing I've learned about being on my own is know your vehicle.  I wasn't involved much because Dave always drove it so he was responsible for oil changes, recognizing weird noises, etc.
Well, when it became mine, I wanted to make sureit was as fixed as it could be and with what I could afford and the number of things that I had to look at with it was ridiculous...so here's my tips, ladies....help be responsible for your car....book oil changes every 5000 kilometers and when they change your oil, get your wheels retorqued and air pressure checked.  Get new noises, shakes, etc checked out right away so it puts the costs at a minimal, and never be afraid to ask questions and wheedle out the best deals.
Anyways, those are my words of wisdom for the day. 
Blessings on your weeks.

 It's officially 6 days into the New Year, and while I didn't post on New Year's Day, I promised some shinanigan photos! And here they are! However, before we get started, I must note that New Years kind of kicked Christmas' butt.  Mostly because the flu hit and the family gatherings, while awesome fell away from the actual holiday so it was pretty quiet.  Fortunately, I was in my prime for New Year's Eve.  As you can see from above (it's rotated on my desktop, but my silly blog does this sometimes!), we made the dining room into Party Central! We have banners, noise makers, New Year's plates and cups (which I actually made by putting glittered numbers on plastic ones), balloon and a photo booth! So the deal with the balloons is that there are twelve and in each balloon, is an activity for the day.  On the outside of said balloon, is the time when you bust it and find out what that activity is.  Our first balloon kick started the day at 7:30 a.m. with Breakfast!

 Basically, I just turkey basted the batter and everyone got 2015 pancakes!

 9:00 am was cupcakes! I actually don't have a pic of them because they didn't look how I expected, but that's because we experimented...we of course made chocolate, but Landon wanted to substitute Egg Nog for the milk so we did; this equals, tasty, but non-conforming, which means they were more like mini molten lava cakes.  So, when I put splashes of colored icing on, the puddled in the middle and looked less like fireworks and more like tie dye. 

 Carver is testing the batter and has the guiltiest face I've ever seen!

 9:30, while the cupcakes are in the oven, it's time to make New Year's play doh, which is basically play doh with a crapload of glitter in it.  And then, let the games begin!

 At 10:45, we did a noisemaker craft using two cups, dry split peas, glitter and some crazy duct tape!
I apologize for lack of photos on the next couple...11:30 was lunch; devilled eggs and raw veggies.  Then, after a nap, our 3:45 p.m. balloon told us to go to the hair dressers for our New Year's haircut! (This is a treat for everyone, I promise).  Mom met us at our place at five o'clock where we popped our 5:15 balloon which was Pizza Party!  While we waited, we played with my homemade photo booth!

 The pizza was amazing! I made a cauliflower crust and then I had a selection of toppings; bacon, ham, turkey, pineapple, mushrooms, so everyone could pick what they wanted.  It turned out to be pretty easy! Every topping made the pizza, except for half with no turkey and then we topped it off with Havarti cheese!

 7:00 was time for sparklers to wear off that pizza.

 8:00 was snack time with crackers, apple cranberry cheeseball, our cupcakes and of course, shrimp!
8:45 was time to prep for the new year (we rang it in with the kids at 9:00) and for a new book! The Night Before New Years by Natasha Wing, which runs to the same cadence as Night Before Christmas.

Then it was time to make some noise and ring in the 'New Year'.  The kids went to bed not long after that, but thanks to being riled up, they didn't actually fall asleep for awhile.  It didn't help that Dave, Mom and I were killing ourselves laughing while playing Worst Case Scenario game until the real midnight when we toasted it in with Arbor mist and singing Auld Langs Syne.  Awesome, awesome day!

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.