Christmas!

We had a very fun Christmas! The kids and Justin were 100% completely surprised when Granny and Papa arrived from Idaho on Tuesday the 23rd. I had known they were coming for about a month and it was so hard not to share my little secret! They were able to set up an appointment at Justin's clinic. He thought he had a new patient and was bewildered to see a lady on the exam table that looked an awful lot like his mom! Then they showed up at our house. Care Bear answered the door and stopped dead in her tracks after she opened the door. She turned around and said "Grandma is at our house!" with a look of absolute confusion on her face. Then mass mayhem broke out and the poor satellite guy at our house couldn't finish installing our program fast enough. It was so fun!

Leading up to Christmas, our family did the 12 Days of Christmas for an elderly couple on our street. It was one of the highlights of the season. The kids had so much fun trying to sneak up to their door without getting caught. The couple looked like they were having as much as we were. We could see them watching for us and peaking out their window to try to catch us. On Christmas Eve we took them a plate of goodies like we had done for all the neighbors to try to fool them but they knew it had been us and gave us all the fixings for ice-cream sundaes. We still delivered our final gift later that night, but this time when they yelled thank you, we said you are welcome back and that made them laugh. Here is the list of what we gave.

Day 1 - One bag of gourmet popcorn
Day 2- Two loaves of zucchini bread
Day 3 - Three oranges
Day 4 - Four gift wrapping supplies
Day 5 - Five things for hot cocoa
Day 6 - Six ornaments
Day 7 - Seven sugar cookies
Day 8 - eight chocolate candies
Day 9 - sparkly snowflakes
Day 10 - Ten candy canes
Day 11 - Eleven chocolate chip cookies
Day 12 - Twelve Ferrero Rouchet candies

On Christmas Eve, we woke up to a white world that only lasted for a couple hours before changing to rain. So I kind of got my white Christmas but not like most of you! We had our traditional green pancakes for breakfast and shared them with our friends from across the street. We made cookies and candies all day and fixed a delicious Prime Rib dinner thanks to Justin's mom. I am now a Prime Rib convert! It helped that the meat wasn't red like you usually see. La-La couldn't get enough. After dinner Santa Clause made a short appearance and brought each of the kids a small gift. Jaco had seen on the news the Santa Tracker and then when he arrived in person at our house he was starting to believe again. He asked me if I had lied to him about Santa not being real. It was pretty funny. I just told him Santa is what you believe him to be. We let the kids open their new P.J.'s from G&G Finch and then their cousin exchange gift and we read from Luke chapter 2 after watching a short movie about Jesus' birth. After leaving Santa and the reindeer their treats it was bedtime which went surprisingly well! The girls went right to sleep and Jaco only came out once or twice. But then he woke up at 12:30 and tried to convince dad that it was morning time. No such luck! La-La woke up at 5:15 but I was able to keep her in bed until 6:30 and then I let her loose to wake everyone else up.



It was fun watching everyone open all their gifts and opening my own stash too! Care Bear got a Barbie Jeep from Santa, La-La got a guitar and Jaco got a DS Lite. Then they got other gifts like games, dolls, books, and puzzles and Jaco got a lifetime supply of Bakugan. Justin got a huge plasma TV (too big if you ask me!) and I got a new watch. Justin also got Guitar Hero from his mom and now I am questioning myself for telling her to get him the game! All I hear is screaming electric guitars! I got a kitchen mixer and I am so excited about it! I also got a bunch of jewelry and some other kitchen gadgets. For Christmas dinner we ate an $80 turkey that Justin received as a gift. It was good but not much better than the $5 one we had for Thanksgiving! We had a very good day and I loved staying in my jammies until 4 in the afternoon. I love Christmas in my own home!


Thanks again to Granny & Papa for braving the horrible roads to come spend Christmas with us. We had so much fun with you! It was a Christmas we will never forget.

Cody's Carol

I have been learning a piece from Handel's Messiah titled Rejoice Greatly O Daughter of Zion. When ever I start singing, Cody joins in by howling along. Sometime he will even sing as he is napping on his bed. He will lay there with his head down, eyes closed and howling away. It makes me laugh! So enjoy Cody and I's duet!

Why????

Why was school canceled today? This is what I saw when I looked out my window.

I guess the district leaders saw something much worse? I have been told the roads are a little slick? Maybe they were worried it would get worse? They wanted to torture all the parents by adding more time to Christmas break? Will they have school tomorrow, the last day before Christmas break really starts? In the district's defense, we have gotten a little more snow since I took this picture but now it is turning to rain. Yes, I said rain and now I am stuck home with all three kids and no chance of a nap!
The real reason I am frustrated is Jaco needed to learn a lesson. He failed to complete a school project that was due today. He told me about it last night at 9:pm and I refused to let him stay up to do it because he had told me he had NO homework. I did wake him up early this morning so he could work on the project and I was almost ready to take him to school with the project still incomplete, when I found out school was canceled. Now he has all day to finish it. Lucky kid!

Mama's helper

Miss Care Bear was my big helper today. She saw me finishing up my Christmas cards and wanted to help. So I let her stuff the envelopes, lick the envelopes and put the stamps on. She was so serious about her job. If I tried to help at all she freaked out because she wanted to do it by herself! I was so proud of her because she was so patient and stuck with it until the job was done. She kept telling herself that Santa would be so proud of her and she would give him a big hug! I am happy to say my cards are done and somewhere between here and there and everywhere! I was crazy and handmade them like usual but this year's card was really quite simple, thanks to my Mom-in-law who gave me the great book with the card idea!!

Santa and first "snow"

We had our first "snow" storm this morning. The girls were so excited to go play in ALL the white stuff. They ate breakfast as quick as they could then they put on their snow gear including hats, scarves, gloves, snow pants, boots, and coats and ran out the door. Their friends across the street were just as excited. Don't you love all the snow! You might have to look hard to see it but I promise it is there.

This afternoon we went to see Santa! We went to a place called Blind George's, a local glorified news stand that sells magazines and famous popcorn and the only place in town that Santa visits before Christmas. The kids were excited, especially the girls. I was afraid Care Bear would be too scared but she did great! Jaco asked for Bakugan stuff and a new DS, La-La asked for a camera, barbie, puzzle, and guitar and Care Bear asked for a Barbie car and a camera.

Jaco might be getting too old for this but I am glad he humored me!
Do you like the wad of green gum in La-La's mouth?We got Care Bear to look at Santa because we asked her to see what color Santa's eyes are. He asked her how old she is so she said "fwee!" He said he will take her home with him since she is free! When we got home she kept talking about Santa wanting to take her but she wants to stay with us!

Go Brandon, Go Brandon!

My big bro Brandon is graduating from college today! Woo-Hoo! Brandon is an awesome guy who would literally give the shirt off his back if he knew it was needed. Graduating is a huge deal for him and I am so proud of all he has accomplished. He is a great dad, husband, and brother.


I stole this picture from my sister's fabulous photography blog. Miranda, please don't turn me in to the authorities! Everyone really should check out her blog. She does amazing work! (There is a link to her blog on the right column)

Christmas Tree!

Justin got off work early today so we bought our $5 tree tag at the forest service and took a short drive into the mountains to cut down our own tree. Today was a beautifully sunny day. We found our perfect tree and Justin had to work a little harder because it was on the side of a steep hill but he succeeded! He strapped it on top of our truck and off we went. We decided to take the scenic route home and good thing we didn't head right for the highway because not too long after driving off, we almost lost our tree! Once we knew the tree wasn't going anywhere for sure, we continued our drive up the mountain. We saw a scenic lookout at the top of the mountain but we could only drive so far. Against the kids wishes, we hiked up to the lookout and witnessed an incredible sunset. It was cold and windy but so worth it! I am falling more and more in love with our new home. It is incredibly gorgeous and you can be in a dense forest in a matter of minutes. I am in heaven!

Here is Justin climbing the steep hill with our beautiful tree. What a good man!

One happy family! And yes, Jaco is wearing glasses. He just got them today and we think he looks so handsome!Oops! Not tied on tight enough!Can it get any better than this?Maybe it can get better with this shot! What looks like snow in this picture is actually fog rolling into the valley. And here are our happy hikers. :) By the time we made it to the top everyone was in a better mood. Jaco gets very frustrated on hikes like this. He thinks it is not fair that he has to do whatever we say and doesn't get to choose whether he wants to go or not. (If he got to choose, we would NEVER leave the house!) On the way down the mountain we talked about this. He asked me how I thought I was preparing him for adulthood when I don't ever let him choose what he wants. He told me that someday as an adult, he will have to make some important decisions and he won't know how to choose because we always tell him what to do. I told him that someday he will appreciate these little hikes and road trips. Jaco loves to be plugged in to anything electronic like the computer or T.V. and has a hard time entertaining himself in the great outdoors. Poor kid, having to hang out with his mom and dad on a beautiful mountain. LOL

Lost all my contacts!!

Help! I thought it would be fun to change my template to a Christmas background and in the process, I lost my friends list. So please comment to this post so I can have your blog address!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Our friends the Bore family came from Seattle. Thanksgiving day was the typical football watching belly stuffing holiday at our house! We ate the usual turkey, stuffing, potatos and Krystin made the best sweet potatos I have ever had! Princess Aurora loved the turkey! If you look at her picture you will see her licking her lips while she watched Justin carve the big bird. Jaco, La-La, Care Bear, & Aiden sat at their own table and thought it was pretty fun. But they really loved playing in the empty pan cupboard.

First thing Friday morning we headed on a road trip. Our first stop was the Redwood Forest. The weather was perfect for the end of November. Jaco taught himself how to skip rocks and was so proud of himself. We all had fun climbing on logs and playing in the HUGE trees.

Care Bear and Aiden have been friends from the day they met but the romance of the beautiful forest brought out a different side to their relationship. I am sure they will hate these pictures someday but I think they are pretty cute!

We decided to check out the Tourist Trap area of the Redwoods. We opted out of the tour because it would have cost nearly $100 for all of us to go. Instead we took pictures with Paul Bunyan and payed $4 to drive through a tree which was totally worth it!

When we finished at the trees, we headed up the Oregon Coast. The waves were huge and beautiful to watch. One of the many places we stopped had a river that joined the ocean. It was not very deep as it ran into the sea, so Justin puddle-hopped over it with the girls to go exploring. On the way back, a huge wave came to shore and turned the trickling stream into a raging river. Care Bear cried the hardest even though she barely got wet on Justin's shoulders but he and La-La got soaked! At another beach, La-La found a skull. We think it is from some type of bird but who knows! Care Bear and Aiden planted sea weed trees in a small castle while Jaco practiced skipping rocks.

We stopped at another spot along the coast that had a natural bridge made out of stone. To really see it up close we had to climb down a mountainside. Near the bridge, the hike became very tricky so only Jaco, Justin and I continued on. If we had of made one false step, it would have been very easy to fall over the cliff into the ocean. The view was amazing even if it was a little scary!

Our final stop of the day was one of the prettiest with the sun going down. It was a little chilly but we got some fantastic photos! It was a perfect way to end the fun part of the day. After that we had to drive in the dark so it wasn't as pretty. :)

I am Thankful For....

....lower gas prices! On Sunday I saw it was $2.02 and today I am thrilled to see it below $2! When we filled up the U-Haul to move in July, we payed $4.70. That is a huge difference!

couple of sleepy heads

Justin thinks Care Bear doesn't need naps anymore. I think she does and I think this picture proves my point. That and the fact that she cries if you look at her wrong! She did not get a nap today and this is what happened around 5:30 p.m. If the kid could learn to sleep past 6 a.m. then maybe we could go without an afternoon snooze. This other picture is just a cute shot of Princess Aurora pretending to be a pokemon.

Rainbow!

Care Bear and I were able to enjoy a rainbow yesterday. We saw it on our way to help In La-La's kindergarten class, as we were leaving the school and then again when we were on our way home from the store. We could see the entire beautiful bow of color. As we were coming in the house she became concerned about the rainbow because it was getting wet in the rain. Too cute!

Book Club and Caramel Cake

I was invited to join a book club and tonight was my first meeting. It was really fun! It is a very diverse group of women. There is a Dr, a teacher, SAHM's, homeschooling moms and who knows what else! This months book was Hallelujah! The Welcome Table by Maya Angelou (Author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). It is a collection of recipes with short stories to go with each recipe. We each chose one recipe to make and share at the meeting and then we discussed the book along with all sorts of other random topics usually centered around motherhood. Tonight was very enjoyable and gave me a feeling of acceptance and belonging. I really feel like I am fitting in with this community. Maybe it is because I think we will be here for awhile so I don't feel like my relationships have to be temporary. Not that any of my other friendships from other states don't count! It is just not the same when you don't live in the same city. Like not being able to hold a new baby, take dinner to a friend with a broken leg or get a massage from a friend. But I do love having friends all over the country! In the past I knew a move to someplace new was always in the future and so I guarded my feelings to protect myself. Now I feel like I can completely commit myself!

Because of the book club, I did something today that I have never done before! I made a cake COMPLETELY from scratch. It was called Caramel Cake and was delicious. It was more work than I have ever done for a cake but I found out that it was not impossible! Jaco said it was the best cake ever. He said it is great because of the frosting in the middle holding the layers together. He told me that every kid loves the frosting and usually eats it first and then just the cake isn't as good. So with frosting on the top, sides AND in the middle it is every kids dream come true. LOL The nice thing about it is, it doesn't require anything weird. The only thing I didn't have on hand was heavy cream but I think you could get away with using milk. So here are the instructions.

This picture really does not do the cake justice. It really was very yummy!

Caramel Cake

8 Tb butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 C Caramel Syrup (see following recipe)
2 C sifted flour
2 tsp baking pwdr
½ tsp salt~
1 C milk
2 large eggs
Preheat oven 375. Line two 8" pans with greased wax paper. Beat butter, and slowly add 1 cup of sugar. Beat until fluffy. Beat in syrup. Sift flour, baking pwdr, and salt then add to creamed mixture alternating with milk. In separate bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Then add remaining sugar and beat until there is a fine spongy foam. Add to cake batter and mix. Divide between 2 pans and bake for 25 minutes. To test, gently press cake with finger and if it bounces back cake is done. If not, bake for 5-10 more minutes. Let cool for ten minutes then put on cooling rack and remove paper. Frost when cake is at room temperature. Frost between layers and cover entire cake. Cool in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Caramel Syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup boiling water
Heat sugar in pan over low heat. Stir constantly (about 20 minutes +)until melted to a brown liquid. Remove from heat when entire surface is bubbly. Slowly add boiling water stirring constantly then pour into container to cool.


Caramel Frosting
6 Tb butter
8 oz pwd sugar
4 Tb heavy cream
1 ½ tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
Brown butter in sauce pan and allow to cool. Add sugar, cream, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth.

Another Hair Cut

So I guess this is what I get for cutting Care Bear's hair. She decided I didn't cut enough and cut some more all by herself! I had talked to her last night about how only Mommy cuts hair and Care Bear can only cut paper. I guess the talk wasn't enough. :(

Hair Cut

Care Bear asked me to cut her hair tonight so I did! I love her hair short. For one thing, her hair is not very thick so it looks more full when it is short. It probably should be longer but that is what I love about hair! It grows back! After she looked in the mirror, she said, "Me look like Randa!" Pretty cute that she remembered her Aunt Miranda and thinks she has the same hair cut because she kind of does! I love hearing Care Bear's brain work and remember things from months ago and sometimes even from last year. It reminds me of how big she really is. Kinda sad in a way that kids grow and change so quickly. They go from these tiny helpless newborns to independent stubborn kids, seemingly overnight!

Thank You Veterans!

We live in the greatest country on earth and we have our veterans to thank! A friend sent this video link to me and I thought it was very appropriate for today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ud1Bk3Ns-E

I have brother who is actively serving in the military so I wanted to send a big thank you to him and his family. He leaves frequently and most times even his wife has no idea where he is. He also has two kids. So thank you for the sacrifices you make as a family to help this country stay amazing!

Pictures!

Here are the kid's latest pictures!

Pheasant Hunting

One of Justin's patients has a large plot of land about 15 minutes from our house. He invited Justin to go pheasant hunting on his property. So Jaco and Justin went and had some male bonding time with a gun and a bunch of birds. After hearing the first gunshot, Jaco was ready to stay in the truck with Cody who was shaking like a leaf. But then he got caught up in the excitement of looking for the birds and watching Dad shoot them. In all they brought home 6 pheasant. Jaco wasn't able to shoot at the birds because the gun was too big but he loved playing target practice with a pepsi can and was thrilled to show me the two holes he managed to put in the can. We ate two of the birds that night for dinner and I have to say they weren't too bad! As Justin handed me a garbage bag full of dead birds and asked me take care of them while he visited a patient at the ER, I thought about my sister Miranda. She REFUSES to touch raw meat. I am positive she would have died. It also made me think about cavemen. The man goes out for the kill and brings it home to the woman to prepare. Atleast I didn't have to pluck them. Anyone in my family will remember earning up to a whole quarter for plucking Dad's ducks. Justin was nice and cleaned and skinned the birds so it was like dealing with small chickens from the grocery store. The boys have gone back a couple more times and are hoping to go again, this time to shoot a wild turkey! Maybe we will have the freshest Thanksgiving turkey on the block!

It's so hard to be a mom!

Why don't kids just do what we ask them to? Why don't they listen? I hate it when we as parents have to follow through with a threat because our kids chose to do something they had been warned not to do. Yesterday I had to follow through with a punishment I had threatened to do. La-La keeps pooping her pants and then continues playing and denies it when I ask her what stinks. I have asked her why and she has said it is because she doesn't want to stop playing. It is gross that she poops but it is even more frustrating that she lies to me about it and stays in the soiled undies until I notice! Jaco is easy to punish. I just take away the tv or computer because he spends time with those things everyday. La-La doesn't have one thing that she LOVES. If I take away barbies she will just play babies. The only thing I could think of was her hair. She loves it that her hair is kinda long now so I told her if she soils her panties again then I will cut a little off her hair. I am sure this makes me the worst mom but it was the only thing I could think of and I just hoped I wouldn't have to follow through. Well yesterday, she did it so I had to trim her hair. She cried and cried. Her hair is still plenty long to put in piggy tails or a pony tail but she is still sad. I just hope she is sad enough to remember to use the bathroom when she needs to go!

On a lighter note, Care Bear had her 3 year check up yesterday and she is doing great! She is perfectly average in height and weight and ahead in her motor skills. I asked the Dr about her STILL not sleeping through the night. He thinks it could be night terrors. He instructed us to disturb her sleep about an hour before she usually wakes up screaming. He said not to wake her just move her around enough to break up the sleep cycle. If it is night terrors hopefully in a week her body will change the cycle of sleep after we have forced it to. I tried it last night and she never woke up screaming. I know it is too early to whoop and holler but I am hopeful! We also are going to try an acid reflux medicine. Care Bear always wakes up with a scratchy sounding voice and several times during the night, she has pointed to her chest when I ask if anything hurts. As a baby, she was on medicine for reflux but had improved enough to quit the medicine. I tried to give her the medicine last night but she refused to take it because it tasted horrible. So I am going to talk to the Dr again and see if there is something else we can try. She also is going back on the singulair as an asthma prevention drug. She is doing great that way but the Dr just wants to make she has a good winter and because she has been so sick in the past with asthma. So wish us luck on getting her to sleep at night! Hopefully either the reflux medicine or the changing of her sleep cycle or maybe even a combination of the two will finally give all of us peaceful slumber!

Kick or Treat....

....is what we heard all night from Care Bear who did not want to stop getting candy last night! She would have gone to every house in the city if she had her way. We had a lot of fun. Justin got paged after going to only three houses because another guy decided to shoot himself in the foot. This guy wasn't as lucky because he lost several toes in the blast and will probably lose the rest in surgery. So Justin had to leave us but was able to meet back up with us while he waited for the OR to be ready. His partner Monica has been here 8 years and never had a gunshot patient and Justin has already had two!

The kids decided this was the best Halloween ever. The church had a great carnival Thursday night, Jaco & La-La went to a party at school on Friday, Care Bear went to a birthday party and of course we all went trick or treating. Plus a fun package arrived from Granny & Papa and some cards also found us in the mail. We have more candy than ever! In years past we have been able to sell the candy to a dentist who would give the kids $2 per pound. Last year everyone got $8 and a trip to Toys r Us made getting rid of the candy very worthwhile! This year the treats just may disappear.....

Am I the only one who finds Halloween a little odd? Who decided it was ok to go to complete strangers homes and beg for candy? Don't get me wrong, I loved doing it as a kid and I love seeing my kids have fun but don't we teach them not to take candy from strangers? Isn't candy bad for us?

I'll quit talking now! Here are the pictures from the best Halloween ever!

Care Bear was a Care Bear for the church carnival and then at the last minute decided to be the acorn as she called herself for trick or treating. She was the Care Bear last year and the unicorn was a hand-me-down from La-La. Money spent for Care Bear's costume this year? zero $La-La wanted to be a witch this year. We added the hat, nose, broom, and wig to clothes we already had and abbra-ca-dabbra a witch is born! I had fun painting her face. Her best friend kept saying, "You don't look like yourself at all but it is weird because you still sound the same!"Jaco picked out his Gate Keeper costume and added the sword for extra protection. He couldn't wear a spooky costume to school so the orangutan costume that our neighbors gave him worked just fine. Cody went as a football player. You can see how much he loved it!I had so much fun decorating this year! Last spring someone put a bunch of brand new halloween decorations by the dumpster so I snagged them! I can't believe they didn't want them but I wasn't complaining. I added a couple $ store headstones and bones so for under $10, we had the coolest house on the street.