Midweek News

1. Last night we delivered little Christmas packages to all of our nearby friends. We did it early this year, because last Christmas everyone was already out of town for the holiday. It is our little tradition to go out for Chinese food after we make our deliveries. It might be the only time during the year that our kids get to eat at a real restaurant!

Ty and Max love orange chicken, everyone loves fried rice, and I have always been a beef and broccoli fan.

Dinner was delicious and we had a wonderful evening together. 

2. On a sad note: Zoey has a staph infection :(

She is on antibiotics, ointments, and house arrest until she feels better.

3. Max went to a viking themed birthday party, because nothing says December birthday like vikings.

4. I have decided that Ave Maria is one of my very favorite Christmas songs. Especially THIS version, sung by Josh Groban.

5. I don't have dinner planned for tonight yet. I know it will involve a nice loaf of bread that I have rising, but so far that is all, and man can not live by bread alone! Unless that bread is adorned with butter and honey :)

Yay Wednesday!

Max Bakes

 Max loves brownies. He loves plain, chocolate, no frills added brownies. Lots of times I make brownies full of nuts, caramel, or peanut butter. Max just wants nothing to do with that. I decided he had better learn how to make himself some plain chocolate brownies. He used a mix, but he did it all himself. He was so pleased! ( He had already sampled these when I took the picture.)

and then he did this....

oh well.

Cookie Decorating

 Ty will be working all weekend long so it's just the kids and I at home. I turned up the Christmas music and made a big batch of THIS cookie dough. It's not technically gingerbread, but it has plenty of cinnamon in it and it works well for roll out cookies.

 Yes, I am lazy. Instead of cutting out all of the pieces for gingerbread houses and then struggling to put them together, I simply cut out the front section of the houses. No one seemed to mind!

 This is what I get whenever I ask Mia for a "pretty" smile :)

 Max likes decorating cookies because he can sneak ridiculous amounts of candy into his mouth while I am not looking.

I let the kids do everything themselves this year. I love how pleased they are with their own work.

 No matter how simple.

and this is Zoey looking up from the ground. She likes to be included.

That's our Christmas fun for the morning. Later we will be watching the Santa Clause.

Christmas movies and kitchen drama

The Christmas fun this week has been movie watching. It started with "The Holiday". We watched a quick Nativity movie with the kids for Family Home Evening. Ty was working a lot this week so the kids and I watched the original Grinch movie (I am not a big fan of the new one!), Mickey's Christmas Carol, Santa Paws, and the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I am also working my way through "The Family Man" (another good one!).

and it's only Friday! 

I have had several kitchen disasters this week. I actually threw away 2 whole batches of cookies. They turned out terrible! To redeem myself, today we are going to make some of this:

Peppermint Ice Cream from Your Home Based Mom.

The kids are having friends over this afternoon and the recipe requires no cooking so we can all get involved.....I am especially looking forward to having Max and his friend smash all of the peppermint candies for me.

Also....I am sure it will be delicious in front of the fire while watching more Christmas movies :)

Have an Awesome Friday!

Chapstick

I adore chapstick. I am not a big makeup girl, but at any given moment I have 2 or 3 tubes of chapstick with me. If not, I am headed to the store to buy some. 

I saw these festive little holiday series while shopping the other day.

I had to try them out. Mia supported my decision and suggested we get some for her as well :)

They would be perfect for THIS project:

Merry "Kiss"mas and a "Chappy" New Year!

A happy little gift for friends, sisters, moms, or whomever in your life needs chapstick.

Thursday Things

Christmas shopping so far:

Kids - done!

Stocking stuffers - not begun!

Teacher gifts - done! (except for cards...)

Parent presents - done :)

Ty - I still don't know what to buy a man for Christmas

Neighbor Gifts - I think so...

SO....I have got to get to Target alone at some point in the next little while.

To celebrate the few things I have been able to get done I am going to make a batch of THIS granola.

In other news. I love squash and I have been eating it in abundance. I read this tutorial on how to roast an acorn squash about a month ago and I have been happily eating acorn squash ever since. Zoey likes squash too. Ty, not so much.

How do you get your family to eat more of what you love? You cover it with cheese!

Try THIS recipe for spaghetti squash gratin. Max asked for seconds and that is saying something.

Is anyone all the way done with Christmas shopping? In past years I have really tried to be done by December, but this year it just got away from me.

Happy Thursday....Yay, almost Friday!

Burpees

I like to consider myself a fit, fairly athletic person. I enjoy exercise and try to include it in my daily routine. I follow a few health and fitness blogs that sometimes feature different workouts and exercise ideas. One blogger almost always includes an exercise called a "burpee" in her routine. I had no idea what a burpee was. I googled it and this is what I found:

Seriously????

I am just not that bouncy.

Sorry burpees.

The Littles

Max is Zoey's favorite. Max is a great big brother to her. She will go to him and let him carry her around!

 I hope he will always be a comfort to her :)

Little Miss Mia....

 She was not feeling to happy so we stuck Zoey on her lap.

 Mia loves Zoey. Yay for sisters!

Zoey got a baby doll for her birthday.

 She adores it. She carries it around and makes everyone give it kisses!

and here is Zackary.

He wanted a picture with his ninjago man.

Love these Littles!

Recovering from Yesterday

Yesterday was busy. Zack had speech, Max had karate, I promised Ty his favorite dinner, and I was driving the kindergarten carpool. Last night I was tired! Sadly, I forgot to give Zoey a dose of tylenol before bed. She is teething all over her mouth all at once. I didn't figure out why she kept waking up until I had already been up about 20 times with her. Poor baby! Poor us! 

Sometimes I look at a picture of myself and wonder where those dark circles under my eyes came from and then I remember that I haven't slept in 7 years. Oh yes! That's right!

There is a scene from "The Holiday", one of my favorite movies any time of year but especially at Christmas, where Cameron Diaz is ranting about stress and work and life. She says that women get stressed and then they get wrinkles and then they look hagard! Sad:(

I guess I should be glad for wrinkle cream.

and I think I should watch "The Holiday".

Anyway...

I have declared today to be a day of recovery and therapy!

I am going to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
 I don't know how I do it, but I somehow manage to forget to watch it every year when it airs on the first Sunday of December. 

I am going to make Cinnamon Rolls for dinner.

I am sure they will pair well with hot chocolate and a movie!

and I am going to remember to give Zoey her tylenol before bed.

Monday morning things

1. On Saturday Ty took the kids to pick out a Christmas tree. It is big and beautiful and full of pine needles. When I came downstairs on Sunday morning the area around the tree looked like the forest floor! I hope our tree still has some green by Christmas!

 2. Ty and I went to the temple on Saturday night. It has been a long time since we have been there together and it was lovely :)

After the temple we treated ourselves to some mexican food from Cuca's. Freshly made tortilla chips are my weakness! Next we headed to Target and finished the Christmas shopping! Hurray!

3. On Sunday, after we put the kids to bed, I made Ty watch "Elf" with me while we wrapped presents. Present wrapping is a lot of fun and a lot of work, especially when you only have one pair of descent scissors between the two of you and the other person keeps stealing them ;)

4.  Chocolate!

Quadruple Chocolate Fudgy Brownie Cookies from Averie Cooks

5. Speaking of chocolate, I am so far behind on all of my Christmas goodie baking/making. There seems to be a great need for treats this year, between the friends, neighbors, and parties!

Happy Monday!