‘Tis the Season

When I took Nathan to do his Christmas shopping a week ago, he stopped in front of a display of simple magic tricks and commented on how much fun they would be.  Big thumbs up for the 100 trick magic kit Mrs. Claus procured in October.

Daniel tacked up his wish list on Christmas Eve and Mrs. Claus was stressed for a just a moment.  Big sigh of relief since three of the top four items (including a telescope) were already safely tucked away.

Matthew has been asking for a big Buzz Lightyear ever since I took him on a date to see Toy Story 3 in June.  Hearty cheer for Santa setting aside Buzz and Woody early in the fall.

This was one of those years when everyone got just exactly what they wanted, including me:

And although Matthew still thinks Christmas is somehow related to snow, Daniel and Nathan have gotten old enough that they can really understand how all the trees, ornaments, and holly relate to Jesus Christ.  It made our family home evenings this month just a bit more meaningful.  So it definitely has been a happy holiday.

Holiday Life Lessons-Part IV

Apparently Santa lives at the church . . . under the floor.  At least that is what Matthew tells us.  I think one of his nursery teachers (one of those crazy, funny guys) told him that.

"I'm Dreaming . . ."

My favorite Christmas movie is “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen.  We watched it nearly every year when I was growing up.  This was in the days before vhs and dvd and we had to wait for it to come on t.v.   Then we would gather round and watch it all together.  I remember watching other musicals with my mom, but this one I remember watching with my dad. 

I watch White Christmas at least once every December and a few weeks ago I introduced it to my children.  Daniel said it was pretty good, but Nathan and Matthew loved it.  Matthew walks around singing White Christmas and Nathan has told me on several occasions that we should watch it every year.  It’s nice to be able to have my children join in one of my favorite holidays traditions!

Holiday Life Lessons-Part III

A Christmas party for eleven of mine and my siblings' offspring is really just controlled chaos.  But it is fun chaos and a great way to use up the odds and ends of craft projects purchased for other things.

And with nine of the eleven being boys, ten pounds of chicken nuggets was just the right amount.

I Love The Folks At Honey Maid

They make constructing gingerbread houses nearly effortless.  We even found special limited edition gingerbread flavored Honey Maid grahams.  And in spite of the challenge we face in not being able to use royal frosting, we only had to rebuild Matthew’s house once.  After that he was much more careful about how hard he pressed the candies when putting them on.  As is normal for Matthew, he was less than enthusiastic about getting his picture taken.

Nathan got silly and created a whole story about why his house ended up the way it did.  Apparently the cat who lives in the house put so many lights on the roof that it got too hot and blew off and then when it snowed there was snow in the house, including on the t.v.  I have a tendency to think there was  little too much sugar involved in the creation of that story.

Daniel didn’t have a story to accompany his house, but he did include a chimney and a super tall antenna on the roof.

And when they were done, all three boys ate their leftover frosting plain.  Talk about a sugar rush.

Santariffic

Today Matthew had a special visitor at preschool.  Santa dropped by the talk to the kids and read them a story.  Matthew gathered round with the other kids for the story and was actively engaged in listening and responding to Santa’s questions, but when it came time to sit on Santa’s lap, he refused.

When I asked him about it later, he told me that sitting on Santa’s lap would make him nervous but talking to Santa didn’t make him nervous.  When Kev asked him if he sat on Santa’s lap and got a negative answer, Matthew told him he was afraid.  But like he told me, chatting with Santa was not a problem and once Santa had Matthew engaged in a lively conversation, I was able to sneak in a photo.  It’s a good thing Santa knows Matthew so well and understands his stubborn streak.  He definitely took the time to help create a photo op for me!

Winter Precipitation

It’s been snowing for two days.  Which means that Matthew has been hyper.  You see, somehow Matthew has confused snow with Christmas.  Every time it snows he runs around the house yelling, “It’s Christmas!”  And when it melts he gets all sad and proclaims, “Christmas is melting.”  During family home evening yesterday I asked why we celebrate Christmas and Matthew responded with something about  shoveling Christmas.  So two days of snow equals one hyped up preschooler.   

 He was uber excited to get home from preschool so that he could build Frosty since he was convinced that if he built Frosty then Frosty would come alive.  I tried to tell him that wasn’t going to happen, but he was sure that Frosty’s magic hat would appear so Frosty could be alive.  Luckily for me, he was not completely devastated when Frosty did not come alive.  I think he had so much fun building him that he kind of forgot about the coming to life part.  (He was having so much fun that he even let me take his picture!) 

                                                                             

However he was pretty upset when the snow began to melt later in the day and Frosty’s head dropped off.  

Holiday Life Lessons-Part II

When living with a house full of boys, there inevitably comes a point where you must tell your offspring that 1) They really shouldn’t feel obligated to rewrite the lyrics to every Christmas song ever written, 2) If they feel that they really must make up their own words, they definitely don’t all need to be about things blowing up and 3) Yes, I realize that Weird Al Yankovic has made millions of dollars doing that exact thing, but there is a reason (more than one, in fact) that I did not name my children Weird.

Holiday Life Lessons-Part I

Too many helpers can lead to deformed gingerbread men.

Luckily for us, deformity in no way affects flavor.

Of course, too many helpers is just as likely to result in gingerbread men that are happily dancing through life.

And with a house full of little boys, Limping Larry, No-Leg Nancy and Brain-Bashed Brenda are just as likely to get nibbled as Fred and Ginger.

Halle-freakin'-lujah!!

Nathan is finished patching!  After two years and two months, he is finally finished!  He has been a real trooper through all this and I definitely see a celebration in his honor coming in our near future!

The doctor says that if he slips a little in the next three months he may have to patch a bit more, but for now he is stable and patch free.  And we all have our fingers crossed that his eye will stay stable.  So give Nathan a hug and a high five when you see him!  He is happy, happy, happy!

Strep Is A Four Letter Word

Yes, I know strep is actually a five letter word.  In fact, it is actually a twenty-one letter word (Streptococcus pyogenes).  But it should be a four letter word because in my opinion it is just as filthy a word as *&#@ or $%@& or even *&@%!

I hate strep.   It hit Kev in October by bashing him with a high fever.  So two days later when Matthew threw up and started running a high fever, we knew what it was.  But strep is a wily little bugger and slipped in the back door, foregoing the fever and just leaving me feeling like roadkill: smashed flat, limp, disgusting and miserable.  And yes, I think roadkill is miserable.  I mean, can you think of a less dignified way to die than to be smacked down by a 6 ton hunk of metal on wheels? 

But back to the strep.  Apparently my version is feverless so I didn’t automatically suspect strep when my throat started to hurt.  For me a cold always starts with a sore throat so that is what I thought was ailing me.  Of course a severe sore throat, red and swollen tonsils, a bunch of swollen lymph nodes, tons of white junk on my throat, and six days later, I know better.

I hate strep.

And I’m really sorry to anyone that I exposed before I knew what I was dealing with.  But at least I’ve felt crappy enough that I’ve pretty much spent the last few days hunkered down at home.  On the bright side, Daniel and Nathan have been off-track and have happily learned how to cook a few new meals this week which has been a help to me!

Has It Really Been A Decade?

Things I’ve learned over the past ten years: 

#1-Time goes by much too quickly.

#2-Because of #1, this . . .

becomes this . . .

 much too quickly.

#3-Take advantage of each day so you don’t have regrets when

are old enough to learn #1 and #2 for themselves.

#4-Camouflage cupcakes are much harder to make than I thought they would be.

In spite of the strange looking confections, Daniel’s tenth birthday party was fun.  Having reached the decade mark, he is old enough to opt for the dinner and a movie kind of party so we fed everyone and then let them watch "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."  That worked out great for me because I sat and read a book the entire time they were watching and I didn't even have to play musical chairs or attempt to pin the tail on anything!  And they had a great time!

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I love that half of his party guest list is always made up of cousins.  And the two friends right next to Daniel are his best friends from this neighborhood, two wonderful boys that he just loves and we adore.

Due to a migraine, Kev and all the boys helped me decorate Daniel's cake for his Sunday celebration with extended family.  I'm thinking I should have let them do the cupcakes as well because their camo is much better looking than mine.  Perhaps I just think too symmetrically to be able to effectively create the randomness of camouflage . . .

It is hard to believe it has already been ten years, but Daniel is definitely growing up!

A Shout Out For Daniel!

In November our elementary school focused on respect and this time Daniel was the man of the hour!  He took his turn in the limelight at a special ceremony held for the students from each class who were chosen as student of the month for being great examples of respect.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: although my kids may be impertinent and disobedient on occasion at home, they are always on their best behavior with everyone else.  I’m so grateful that my kids treat other kids and adults with respect when I’m not around.  Daniel’s teacher waxed poetic (literally) about how Daniel shows respect in her classroom:

“Daniel (last name) shows respect

Every single day.

He always listens and obeys

Whatever the teacher may say.

Daniel lends a listening ear

To all the kids around him.

He values their opinions,

Is polite and always kind to them.

Daniel shows consideration

To adults and to his peers.

He is an example of respect

And that deserves three cheers!”

And I find myself a very proud parent for being able to participate in two of the first three ever student of the month ceremonies at our school.

What's On The Menu?

Last week when I asked Matthew what kind of pie he wanted for Thanksgiving, he told me apple pie, pumpkin pie . . . and turkey pie, followed by gales of laughter.  The turkey pie bit was his running gag all week.  He thought it was hilarious.  So when he discovered that we were having turkey pot pie for dinner tonight, he thought it was the funniest thing ever. 

The Holidays Are Upon Us

I ate turkey . . .

. . . and now I’m ready for Christmas.

And Matthew has heard a new Christmas song and is walking around the house singing “Rub-a-dum-bum.” (Think “Little Drummer Boy”)

Taste Test

Next to turkey, pumpkin pie is probably the flavor I associate most with Thanksgiving.  However, my last attempt at egg and dairy free pumpkin pie was marginal at best.  So I searched my cookbooks and the internet trying to find a new recipe.  What I found were a multitude of recipes in three basic categories of egg substitutes: gelatin, tofu, and cornstarch.  The gelatin recipes were mainly just chilled pies and since pumpkin pie is really just pumpkin mousse if you don’t bake it, I opted to ignore that category.  That left me with tofu and cornstarch so I picked a likely candidate in each and pulled out my measuring cups.

Coming out of the oven, the tofu pie looked just like regular pumpkin pie.  It even had the small cracks on top that are characteristic of pumpkin pie.  The cornstarch pie, on the other hand, was very wiggly.  We’re talking watch-it-wiggle-see-it-jiggle kind of wiggly.  I was skeptical. After chilling, however, both pies were nice and solid.  The cornstarch pie still looked a bit bizarre for pumpkin sporting that dried pudding look.  And the cracks on the tofu pie had widened with chilling and made it look a bit old and dried out (which it wasn’t).  But both looked tasty when sliced, giving me hope.

 Tofu Pie

 Cornstarch Pie

However, looks aren’t everything.  In any kitchen experiment, looks must be factored in with taste and the ever important texture.  Some of you may think that taste is the most important element in any cuisine, but honestly texture is just as important.  The right flavor coupled with the wrong texture still signals disaster (Think of buttered popcorn flavor jelly beans . . . mega yuck.).  And so we tasted.  And surprisingly, the texture on both was fine.  The tofu pie had the same creamy texture that regular pumpkin pie has and while the cornstarch pie was smoother and a bit more solid, neither was an abhorence on my tongue.  And the flavor was right.  The tofu pie just needed a bit more spice (it had plenty of ginger but needed just a touch more cinnamon).  The only complaint I had for either was the slight, strange aftertaste that accompanied the tofu pie.  My niece, Sage, (who is also on a completely dairy free diet) agreed about the aftertaste but it didn’t bother anyone else.  The boys and even Kev ate both . . . willingly.

So the end result of our tastathon was a tie in the pumpkin category and two very usable recipes to be baked up for future Thanksgiving celebrations.  Bon appetite, all!

Artists In The Making

This year both Daniel and Nathan came home all excited on the day of the Reflections assembly at school.  They were excited about entering so they got their art groove on and each one entered in three categories.  While neither one was a winner, Nathan’s teacher told him that he was the nearly pick in the 3D art category.  That helped keep Nathan from feeling disappointed and Daniel was a bit bummed, but recovered quickly.

I was particularly impressed with one of the photos Nathan took to use in his photo collage.  I told him to experiment with distance and one photo that he was sure was not a good idea turned out really cool looking: