Christmas 2010

Yes, while people are posting wonderful posts about New Years, I'm still catching up with Christmas!!! :)

Christmas Eve started out with good friends and good food!! We met up with the Bush's and Lee's at McDonalds. It's tradition now. :) Eric and I ran into Steve & Jami there last year, so yes, that makes it tradition!! Ha! We had a great time catching up with each other and the kids loved goofing around.

The gang
And don't forget these two munchkins!! Yes, Maggie loves feet. ;)

We had a pretty low key day. Just played around the house a lot and spent the evening at my parents for a great roast beef dinner. Then it was time to head home because SANTA was coming!!!!! Eric and Levi were sure to spread the reindeer food on the front lawn so that Santa knew to stop at our house.

Then we all headed to bed. I had an image in my mind of us all getting a good night's sleep and waking up early to see what Santa brought. Um, when will I learn to not plan ahead?? Maggie got sick. She was up pretty much most of the night crying. Poor girlie!! She started with a cold and couldn't breathe, which meant she couldn't suck on her paci, which meant Momma didn't sleep either!! BOO.

But morning arrived and yes, Santa came!! Levi was SO excited. He gets three gifts each year (cuz that's what Jesus got!)...two from Mommy & Daddy and one from Santa. Only, Santa doesn't really bring the gift into our house. Frank does. (Ohmygosh...are we weird or what??!!) Frank is our Elf on the Shelf who reports back to Santa. Since Levi is terrified of the thought of a big man with a white beard dressed in red coming into our house, Santa comes to the front yard and Frank runs out to get the gift. OUI. My kids will need therapy! ;) SO, Frank & Santa brought Levi a new guitar. He also got a new scooter and a remote control helicopter.

Here's a pic of Maggie opening her gift from her brother: sippy cups!!

After our Christmas at home, we headed to my parents house where it is down right present-madness! Dad fixes his annual ROCKIN' breakfast (bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, fried potatoes, biscuits & gravy and chocolate milk!!) and the kids sit and stare at the adults. Why? Because we won't let them open gifts until we are all.done.eating. Great Papa was the last to finish and all the kids were lined up around him. SO FUNNY!!

Before the madness...
Levi, Maggie, Griffin, Bailey, Emmy, Casey

Our Christmas was so full this year! Not just because we got gifts, but because it was full of family, friends and lots of laughter and memories. Little Miss Maggie got a lot worse before she began to get better, so my holidays were a little off this year. I just now feel like I'm getting back to normal. There were about 6 or 7 nights of little to no sleep and I just didn't function that well!! But, I am still SOOO blessed. :)

bald pizza horse cake

Yep, that's my title.

Bald.
Here is a random picture Eric took today of Mags with her Papa Phil. She has more hair than him!! ;)

Pizza.
Today is my Momma's birthday!! HaPpY bIrThDaY to the best mom ever! We planned a fun little evening out with the whole family (minus my brother who was on call and had a pretty rough day...sorry Trav!! :( We missed you!). We started out eating dinner at Charlestown Pizza Company. Mmm mmm good! I'd never been there and I WILL go back!!

Another random pic...my nephew Griffin looking more and more like my brother every day!

The fam :)

Horse.

After dinner, we headed over to the park for a carriage ride!! I was very excited. The Christmas lights in Charlestown are beautiful!

Levi ready for the cold ride!!

Mags is ready, too. I dressed her in about 18 layers!

Mom and Dad took the "princess carriage" and the kids hopped in with them. Mom told us later that they sang "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" the whole way! Look how excited my Dad looks!!! tee hee...

Family pic!

Jenny trying to avoid the camera! ;)

My festive sister :)

Smokey Joe, our horse

Cake.

After the cold rides, we warmed up with ice cream cake at Mom's! I love just sitting around their kitchen table and visiting. Mags entertained us by trying to talk over everyone and when I noticed she was really quiet, I looked over and Uncle Daniel was feeding her ice cream! He's on Santa's naughty list!!!

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you bunches ;)

recipe

Amanda, thanks for asking for the cinnamon recipe! Of course I will share. :)

Hard Cinnamon Candy

3 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon oil
red food coloring

Combine sugar, light corn syrup and water into large pot. Stir together for a few seconds. Cook over medium heat (do not stir while cooking) and bring to 310 degrees (this takes a long time!). Remove from heat and add in cinnamon oil and red food coloring. Pour into greased cookie sheet (with edges) and let completely cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and break into pieces with a knife.

Usually you have to buy the cinnamon oil from a pharmacy. ***Do not touch the oil. It is potent stuff!!!*** Be careful when pouring the cinnamon onto the cookie sheet and avoid the steam.

my babies...sniff, sniff

Being a Mom is hard. Period. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. Some days, I love it. Some days, Eric and I give each other that "why did we change our wonderful life" look and just trudge on.

On days like this, you realize you wouldn't trade it for the world!!

One of Eric's co-worker's just started her own photography business and blessed us by doing the kids Christmas pictures. She did an awesome job and I'm so proud of my little boogers! I adore them so much.

Keep reading! I've done several posts at once. I have a few more to get all caught up!

t.i.r.e.d.

Eric and I checked on Levi before we headed to bed the other night. This is what we found!

Poor little guy!! I guess he was super tired. :)

i know why i don't own a bakery!

Tuesday was set aside as a very important day. It was our first annual family cookie & candy baking day!!

Now, if you've read my blog very long, you know that I don't cook or bake a lot. I'm getting better now that I'm home with the kids! :) With that said, my mom gave me an important first job.....remove the Hershey's kisses from the wrappers. Humph.
I guess she was right in giving me a basic job! My next job was to melt white chocolate. I burned it. As the day went on, I got better, though!!! :)

Ok, who was there? Precious little Emmy came along to help!

My sister and I were raring to go at 9 sharp! (We were scheduled to start earlier, but the 2 hour snow delay put a kink in things!)

Sister-in-law Jen rolled in after she got little G-Man on the bus!

Of course, Maggers made her appearance in between naps. :)

My aunt Gail drove in from Indy!! And my Mom hosted - big mistake! Her beautiful kitchen was left in a big ol' mess!!! ;)

Alright, people. Here's the nitty gritty. We each brought two (mom and Tricia didn't stick to the two recipe rule!!) recipes and the ingredients. I wanted to make cinnamon candy and the peanut butter crackers dipped in chocolate.

We went way back. I'm talking old school. Have you ever seen one of these?? (Nice manicure mom!!)

It's called a candy thermometer. Yes. I had no idea they existed. You stick it on the side of whatever you are cooking. Now, this was my grandmothers, so it's really old. When mom showed me where it needed to boil to, it reads "310 - Hard Crack". I thought that was hilarious!

But, it worked it's magic and ta-da!!! Beautiful hard cinnamon!

It took us ALL.DAY.LONG. But we finally finished! I'm so proud of our baking so you have to endure a picture of each thing we made!!! ;)

Peanut butter crackers dipped in chocolate (even mini ones, too!)

pretzels with Hershey kisses & M&M's

haystacks

Peppermint bark

Peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses

Iced sugar cookies

Wreaths

Chocolate covered Oreo balls

Chocolate toffee pieces

Oh, and really cute little chocolate covered cherry mice!!!

The peanut butter fudge was probably my favorite! (Of course I tried everything!!!)

And, the finished products!!

We all had a really fun day! We made up little tins of goodies for all the kids teachers, Sunday School teachers, bus drivers, neighbors, and helpers. I love giving stuff away during the holidays! I have an incredible family and am so blessed to be able to do these things with them!!! Love you guys!

gangsta

Don't mess with me. I know people that know people.