New Year's Eve Traditions

I'm still here - I just caught a horrible case of bronchitis. I hope to be able to update my blog more regularly again by next week but I wanted to quickly share some of our New Year's Eve traditions, it's one of my kids favorite nights of the year.

New Years Eve for us is a family night. We stay up until midnight playing all the different games the kids (and adults) got for Christmas. My parents did this when I was a kid and I remember loving that we had their complete attention for a good 5 hours. We start the night with pizza and soda - this year I making double stuffed crust pizza at the request of Spencer. I try to have pictures out at the table of the past year and we talk about our year and the year ahead. We try and make at least one family resolution for the new year. Then we break out the games!

Some other things we do to make the night more special -

- We set all the alarm clocks in the house to go off at midnight.

- We each eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight to bring 12 months of good luck.

- We watch the countdown together and then go bang pots and pans. I think this year we are going to have everyone leap off the couch and chairs (i.e. leaping into the New Year).

- I try to make (or buy) different fun snack food that the kids don't usually have.

There have been years where we have done nothing but play games and eat pizza, and years where I have gone all out with extra stuff - but what the kids remember most is the time spent with them.

This year if I feel up to it, we are heading down to Old Town in the evening to participate in some of the First Night Family Activities but we will be home in plenty of time for family game night.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We have so enjoyed the family time this past week (even with bronchitis and all). I would love to hear your New Year's Eve plans. What do you do to ring in the New Year?

My Favorite Nativity 2008

12 Days of Christmas - Nativity

I am so in love with this idea of counting down the 12 days of Christmas with the Nativity. Every day you add a piece to the Nativity and read the poem or story that goes along with it. We started tonight and will end on Christmas Eve but if you want to do it there is still time to start tomorrow and end on Christmas Day. It couldn't be easier - all you need is the nativity. And if you don't have that, I would find pictures on the internet, print them up, and add them that way.

My MIL gave us this nativity a couple of years ago and it is one of my favorite things to get out every year at Christmas time. The kids can play with it nonstop without fear of damaging it. Ella has been moving the pieces around for days as she tells the story of Jesus's birth in her own words. She also has been adding her own version of the story as she goes along, I think once I even heard mention of McDonald's somewhere in there.

Tonight we took all the pieces away except the trees and put them in a box. This really got her attention. We told both kids that we are celebrating Christ's birth in 12 days and we are going to learn each night a little more about the event. Tonight we started with Mary. Along with the poem found on the link above, I included a scripture and talked about the different things thatMary did as a mother. We then placed just Mary on the nativity. Ella loved hearing about Mary because she is playing her in her preschool's Christmas program.

This whole thing lasted approx. 5 minutes. We did it right after dinner while everyone was still in one spot. I'm hoping that by focusing on one character each night, it will give the kids a greater understanding of the significance of Christ's birth.

Thrift store to the rescue

I know we have all moved on to Christmas but indulge me with a Thanksgiving post - I never got a chance to get this up!


So I've mentioned that we hosted Thanksgiving this year at my house at last minute notice. Have I mentioned that I'm a perfectionist?? That once I have an idea in my head I can't let it go??? I really wish I could change this about myself - so does Lance :)

Well . . . upon finding out that we were having Thanksgiving here, I decided I had to have all white matching dishes, among a billion other things to make the day perfect. I knew I couldn't justify it to Lance though. Enter Goodwill. I was there gathering up some cheap frames to alter when I got the brilliant idea to check the dishes. I had to dig and dig but ended up walking away with 16 place settings for just over $30!!! Pretty spiffy, huh? They are such nice dishes that I ran through the dishwasher which made them look sparkly and new. I also was able to score some great Pottery Barn Thanksgiving dishes for the kids table . . . I will have to dig up a pic of that.



For the runner I got a piece of burlap from Walmart for $5. I like it so much both the pinecones and runner are staying up through Christmas. I think it goes well with my nativity and garland. It will be super easy to change the place settings to a more Christmasy feel by just changing out the napkins and wheat.

I got so many compliments on Thanksgiving. I usually feel the need to divulge all my good deals but kept my mouth shut for once - pretty impressive for me - although now all my secrets are out.

An oldie but a goodie - recipe

I got this recipe from my SIL Michelle when I was a young newlywed (11+) years ago when Lance and I were both in college. We loved it but hardly ever made it because in those days a dish that required both cream cheese and parmesan cheese was too expensive for our tastes. I forgot completely about it until yesterday afternoon when suddenly I had such a craving for it. Strange that I can remember something clearly from over a decade ago but ask me what we did yesterday and I'll have no idea. Anyway, I checked our family recipe book to see if the recipe was in there and it was!

When I made it, I used a bunch of chicken tenderloins (approx. 14) instead of the 8 chicken breasts. I grilled them instead of boiling, chopped them up, and set aside some for Spencer before adding to the broccoli and cheese sauce.

Dinner was so yummy last night. Perfect winter dish. Did you know that broccoli contains omega-3 EFAs? It is great to eat dark green veggies in the winter months because they contain omega-3s which helps boost our moods during the months when we are getting less sunshine. Pretty cool, eh? So while you're lamenting the fact that you are eating a calorie laden divine sauce of parmesan cheese and cream cheese, just remind yourself that you are getting LOTS of broccoli with it which your body needs (at least that is what I told myself - I'm the queen of rationalization).

Here's the recipe -

2 big heads of broccoli
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
8 chicken breasts
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic salt
2 cups milk
2 packages of 8 oz. cream cheese

Cut broccoli into mini trees and place on bottom of casserole dish. Boil chicken and cut it into thin slices. Put sliced chicken on top of broccoli.

Cheese sauce: On low heat, combine milk, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, and garlic salt. Beat until smooth.

Pour cheese sauce over chicken and broccoli. Bake on 350 for 25 minutes, uncovered.

Garland Party

Okay ladies, after hours and hours (not kidding) of wrestling this garland, here's the end result. The garland is hung over the sideboard in my dining room which is where we place our nativity. I wish I was a fabulous photographer and could show you what it actually looks like but you'll have to rely on my description. The garland looks much bulkier in real life, not so wimpy! I wrapped three strands of garland together (one prelit) and threw in some of these thingies:



I also added some more pinecones where it looked bare. This next picture is the most true to life - it escaped the yellowy glow!



Here's the garland from another angle. Check out the cute elf's clothes we have hanging on a clothesline in cut-out into our kitchen. My mom picked those up this year. So fun!



Here are a couple more close-ups. I surprised myself by not needing my handy dandy glue gun. Everything is just twisted and placed in. Super easy. The hours and hours I spent were trying to secure the HEAVY garland. When mere nails wouldn't do it, my husband stepped in with some majorly strong screws.





I'm happy with the end result. I might throw one more string of white lights in the mix. I'm finishing up the kid's garland over the fireplace in the basement. We have a total 1950's retro theme down there and the fireplace is turning out surprisingly cute. I will post pics soon!

Thanks Nester for your original garland post! Can't wait to see everyone's garlands!!

MIA . . . again!

After blogging every day for the month of November, I can't believe it has been so long since my last post! I caught the flu right after Thanksgiving (yuck!) and then my chronic illness flared. I wish I could say I've been bedridden (that sounds glorious!) but I've been super busy with joy school, Young Women's, work, and all the fun stuff that goes along with Christmas. I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow morning for a new symptom that I think might be a major clue to what is going on with my body. I'll be blogging more this week. I have so many pictures to share - We scored a private tour of the West Wing of the White House!!! Spencer was in heaven. Can you believe there are only 15 days until Christmas???

One of my favorite Christmas traditions

Every year around Thanksgiving I buy myself some free time by handing the kids some toy catalogues and having them circle what they want out of them. BIG MISTAKE! This year it has totally backfired! Ella circled every. single. thing. The girl literally wants everything. And if she doesn't want it for herself, she wants it for her friend Josh. She is constantly talking about EVERYTHING she is getting for Christmas. Spencer is more selective in his desires but has taken to reminding me 10 million times a day about what he should be getting for Christmas. Ugh. We definitely will not be doing the catalogue thing anymore. I realized last week that we need an intervention over here fast. I started to think about ways to make this year's Christmas season more meaningful when I remembered one of the Christmas traditions my mom always did with us which is absolutely perfect.

At the beginning of December, my mom would set out an empty manger sitting on top of a bed of hay. She would explain to us that the manger was empty and it was up to us to fill it with hay for baby Jesus before Christmas. She would put all of our names in a hat and we would each draw a name. Every time you did a secret act of service for your person, you got to place a piece of straw in the manger. The service had to be secret - if you got caught it didn't count. Every week we would draw new names.

I remember loving this as a kid. I'm not sure how many years we actually did it, but it left a strong impression on me. I remember the first year thinking the manger would never get filled and then excitedly trying to do my part to fill it. I remember how much love I felt when I realized someone in my family had made my bed for me or did one of my chores. One time I drew one of my siblings names who had particularly been getting on my nerves. I remember not wanting to do any thing at all for them. But as I looked for things I could do to make their life easier, I was granted a new perspective and was able to see that person in a completely different light.

We will be setting up an empty manger tomorrow night with the kids. My hope is that this Christmas instead of focusing on "what can I get," they will be more focused on "what can I give." I have high hopes that it will make the same impact here in our home. We have several other traditions we do every year, but this one will be new to us.

I would love to hear some of the things you do in your home to make the season more meaningful!

Christmas Kickoff

We took the kids tonight to see the annual tree lighting at Fairfax Corner. It is such a fun community celebration with free horse and carriage rides, Santa, hot chocolate and cookies, carolers, and entertainment. This soldier on stilts definitely stole the show. Any question he asked, Ella took very very seriously. I think she believes he works for Santa. The little boy bundled up in the back of the picture is my nephew Logan (visiting from Arizona). It was a great way to begin the Christmas season.

One more Advent idea

I am seriously in love with Christmas Advents. I would have one in every room in the house if I could get away with it. I'm trying to remind myself that having a lot would take away from the specialness of each one. In this case I think it definitely is quantity over quality.

But I just can't resist this Christmas Book and Activity Advent from The Crafty Crow. Every day for the month of December they will be listing one children's Christmas book to read to your kids plus a craft that goes along with it. How much fun is that? They have the list of books up right now so that you have time to go to the library or purchase them.

I don't know if this is one we will do every day of December but it will be fun to at least do some of them.

Anybody get any good deals shopping today? I ended up in my doctor's office all day with a migraine. Yucky for me - but happy for my bank account. :)

Online Black Friday Ads

I will be doing all my Black Friday shopping this year from the comfort of my home. Tons of online deals are listed here. Check it out!

Advent Calendar Inspiration

I love Advent Calendars. My next project after Thanksgiving is to hurry and get ours done. The Crafty Crow compiled a huge list of amazingly neat Advents. If you are looking for inspiration - check it out.

That's all for today. My sister and her two fun kids are in town for the Holidays. I am getting a ton of fun baby time in with my newest nephew. We are trying to give her a much needed break for a week (her husband is in Iraq). It is fun and BUSY having a houseful of people. I finally got my tables set for Thanksgiving tomorrow and am heading to bed.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

WFMW - Thanksgiving Macaroni

There really is nothing thanksgivingish about this macaroni recipe. Is macaroni and cheese even really a Thanksgiving dish? Or is it just in my family? As far as I'm concerned, pasta should be a part of any celebration. Anyway, I call this Thanksgiving macaroni because it is one of the only times of the year that I will allow myself to eat this delicious concoction that has 500,000+ calories in every bite. I kid you not. But once you take a bite of it, you will no longer care. It is that good.

The beauty of this recipe (besides the 3 yummy cheeses) is how easy it is to make, yet it seems very impressive to friends and family. It helps me continue with my masquerade of being a good cook. Just be careful about who you make it for - you will be asked to make it again and again and again :)

Ingredients:

Butter for greasing the dish
12 oz wide egg noodles
3 cups whipping cream
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt - plus more for pasta
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups (packed) grated Fontina
3/4 cups (packed) finely grated parmesan
3/4 cups (packed) grated mozzarella
4 oz. cooked diced ham - optional (sometimes I throw in Trader Joe's prosciutto)
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Preheat oven to 450. Butter a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and set aside. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until firm - tender (about 5 minutes). Drain well but do not rinse. Whisk the cream, milk, flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper in a bowl to blend. Stir in 1 cup Fontina, 1/2 cup parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella, ham, and parley. Add the noodles and toss to coat. Transfer the noodle mixture to the prepared baking dish. Toss the remaining 1 cup Fontina, 1/4 cup parmesan, and 1/4 cup mozzarella in a bowl. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the noodle mixture. Bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts and begins to brown on top. Takes about 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

Recipe from the Food Network a couple years ago - I can't remember which chef.


For more great tips and ideas head to Shannon's blog where she hosts Works for me Wednesday every week.

My previous WFMW posts:

Sweet Spinach Bread
Library Bags
Letterboxing
Curling Ribbon
Safe Plastics
5 Ingredients or Less
Laundry Tip
DIY Lip Gloss
Tips for Clothes Shopping with girls
How to teach a child to swallow pills
Removing old stickers, adhesive, etc.
Easy Hair Bow Instructions
Managing school papers
Fall Traditions
Coupon Binder
Toys Worth Buying - Board Games

Fun Ego Boost

What Your Home Says About You

You come across as very intellectual. People take your wisdom seriously. Your hygiene is passable, but you may be hiding some dirty secrets. You are a very domestic person. You enjoy decorating, cooking, and making things homey. You are not a nurturing person by nature, but you can easily take care of someone you truly love. You feel settled in your life. You have enough time to focus on little details. You are a very self sufficient person. You can get along well without much help. Your friends see you as honest, humble, and responsible.

What Does Your Home Say About You?

Thought this was a fun little quiz just in time for Holiday company. No dirty secrets here though. I have cleaned out every cupboard, closet, room in my house over the weekend. Just don't look in my attic :)

NaBloPoMo

Posting every single day for a month is HARD WORK! I'm beginning to think it was not so wise to try this challenge during the month of November. I have so many projects that need to be worked on for Christmas and not enough time.

My mom and I spent Saturday doing one of my all time favorite things - thrift store shopping! We found so many fun things I'm going to tweak and either give away or use in my house - I will post pics when finished. I haven't been to a thrift store in such a long time that I forgot how much I LOVE it. We ended the day by stopping at Anthropologie so my mom could pick up an early birthday present for me - a new gorgeous apron! Just in time for the Holidays. I heart aprons but somehow can't get my husband to understand that I need more than one. Thanks mom!

Thanksgiving Help

Due to a last minute change of plans on Thursday, I am now hosting Thanksgiving for between 20-30 people (the numbers keep shifting). I am really excited - I haven't hosted Thanksgiving since the year we were married. That was a disaster! A couple of friends came over, we cooked ALL DAY, and were too tired to eat when it was ready. But we did have a lot of fun.

Anyway, I came across this handy little Thanksgiving Guide by Pioneer Woman. She shows you what her day to day cooking schedule looks like for the next week while she gets ready for Thanksgiving. I love how she breaks everything down so a majority of the work is not done on the actual day of Thanksgiving - I wish someone would have clued my 19-year-old self into that idea. She also has some fun recipes that I think I am going to try out. I also LOVE the idea of making an extra pie crust to make turkey pot pie with leftover turkey. Yum!

I am now on the hunt for a great centerpiece for my table. Any ideas???

Bringing up Geeks

Bringing up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-To-Fast World.

I picked up this book from the library last week and LOVE it. Here's a quick synopsis from the publisher (then I'll tell you what I like about it):

Marybeth Hicks suggests an alternative to the culture of cool: bringing up geeks. In this groundbreaking book, she redefines geeks as Genuine, Enthusiastic, Empowered Kids, and inspires parents to free themselves and their kids from cultural conditioning while instilling in their children truly important values.

I think my favorite part of this book is that the author has raised four children and has had kids at all different stages of parenting. I like that she has been in the trenches, so to speak. It gives her a lot more credibility in my opinion. She has ten rules for raising geeks:

1. Raise a braniac.
2. Raise a sheltered kid.
3. Raise an uncommon kid.
4. Raise a kid adults like.
5. Raise a late bloomer.
6. Raise a team player.
7. Raise a true friend.
8. Raise a homebody.
9. Raise a principled kid.
10. Raise a faithful kid.

In each of these sections she gives clear ways to implement these values into family life. She gives examples of how to do this at all different age levels and what challenges parents can expect. It is a fun easy read filled with examples from her own family. I love reading books that inspire me to do better and this one certainly did.

Area Honors Orchestra - He's in!!!

Tryouts for Area Honor Orchestra were this week. Spencer has been waiting all year to be old enough to try out. He was super nervous Monday and I was nervous for him. We have wondered all week when he would find out if he made it and have talked about it often. Tonight while we were driving home from a church activity Spencer casually said "Oh - I forgot to tell you. I made it into the Honor's Orchestra." Silly boy.

The honors orchestra is comprised of 5th and 6th graders from different schools in our area. There are a LOT of practices but luckily the schools arrange the whole carpool list if your kids get in. He loves playing the viola so we are really excited for him.

Yesterday

I had a million and one chores to do yesterday. Ella had other plans.

First on Ella's agenda:

Perfect leaf criteria: Red or yellow, never brown - unless it has a hole in it.

Next on Ella's agenda, Covering each other with leaves -

Mom's turn (a pictorial) -


Nothing better than running, jumping, and playing in leaves on a brisk fall day -



Unfortunately for one sad little girl, it must all come to an end -

But mom saves the day with hugs, kisses, and promises of hot chocolate -


One afternoon well spent!

WFMW - Super easy way to melt chocolate!

My MIL makes the best chocolates every year for the Holidays. She taught me this super easy way to melt chocolate - no double boiler required. Here it is broken down:

1. Turn on oven just until it clicks on. You want it on the lowest degree possible.

2. Chop up chocolate and put in glass baking pan. If I'm doing a small amount or a single batch, I use the Pyrex glass measuring cups.

3. Put pan in oven and check often to make sure the pan is not getting too hot. An easy way to test this is to touch the pan. If the pan is too hot to pick up without hot pads - IT IS TOO HOT. If this happens, take the chocolate out, cool it off, and then return to the oven.

4. Stir the chocolate often as it melts.

Yum . . . I'm ready to go make chocolates right now. I love the Holidays!


ALTERNATIVE METHOD: If you can't get your oven to a low enough temperature (I lived in one house where this was the case) turn the oven on just until it clicks on. Leave on for 5 minutes and then turn off right before you put the chocolate in.

For more great tips and ideas head to Shannon's blog where she hosts Works for me Wednesday every week.

My previous WFMW posts:

Sweet Spinach Bread
Library Bags
Letterboxing
Curling Ribbon
Safe Plastics
5 Ingredients or Less
Laundry Tip
DIY Lip Gloss
Tips for Clothes Shopping with girls
How to teach a child to swallow pills
Removing old stickers, adhesive, etc.
Easy Hair Bow Instructions
Managing school papers
Fall Traditions
Coupon Binder
Toys Worth Buying - Board Games

Fun Cake Decorations

Ella is our resident decorator. She LOVES looking through catalogues and telling me what we need for different rooms in our house. It's funny because I rarely look at catalogues. She is constantly telling me how she wants to redo her room and the other day asked if she could switch rooms with us. She very specifically told me to put all of her stuff in my room and take my stuff out and put it in hers. She said this is a "great idea." When we go to stores she will rearrange shelves to make sure everything is organized and in the right place (I so wish she would apply this skill to the playroom)! She loves to cook and at 4-years-old can whip up a pan of scrambled eggs from start to finish by herself (of course with an adult standing by). She is such a mini Martha Stewart.

So I wasn't too surprised when she came home from the library the other day with Matthew Mead's Cakes for Kids. I love Matthew Mead's site and used a lot of his Halloween ideas and free templates but I didn't know he had a kid's cake book out.

Tonight we looked through this book together for her bedtime story. She was so excited to look at each cake and try to figure out how each one was made. I LOVE having someone in the house who appreciates this stuff. So fun for me! We are going to try our hand at some of these cakes in the upcoming weeks. I'll let you know how they go.

Way to go Spencer!

Spencer's first big project for 5th grade was to write a 5-6 page research paper. The kids could choose any topic they wanted. Some chose sports, others animals, and I think some even chose people. Spencer chose, without hesitation, the atomic structure of the earth. He definitely takes after his father.

The first step of the project was to decide on a topic and turn it in to the teacher. He was excited but when he came home that day he told me his teacher didn't think there would be enough information available for him to write his paper. I tried to help him think of some alternatives (that were way more fascinating to me) but he wouldn't budge. He knew he could do it.

He worked very hard on this paper for quite awhile and was quite nervous when he turned it in. He was so excited when the report came back with an A+. His teacher wrote:

"Spencer - wonderful report full of important information that helped me understand a little better. Great job!"

Good grades and A's come very easily to Spencer but this one was different. He worked very hard on this project and was so proud of his accomplishment. I'm proud of him for sticking to what he wanted to do when his teacher (and mom) tried to talk him out of it. Way to go Spencer!

On my radar

1. Love, love, love this post from Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer.

2. I stumbled upon a new blog this week that I can't stay away from. MeckMom is a site full of "ideas to make life a little easier." I love that her tips are easy and cheap solutions to ordinary problems. You have to check this out - Must Have Tools for Easier Kid Hair Styling. She is absolutely brilliant!

3. Have you seen theStory of Stuff? I meant to just watch a few minutes the other day but then couldn't tear myself away - it's that interesting.

4. Derfwad Manor had me laughing out loud with her post about liberation from Spanx.

5. 13 Fixes for Tired Moms - Some of these tips look interesting. I am always in the market for ways to have more energy.

6. Finally, one more Nie Nie post. I am amazed at her talent of making the simplest moments extraordinary ones. Her post, Attention all Mothers, definitely captures this. She is constantly in my thoughts and prayers.

Rainbow Bath

Ella was going stir crazy this afternoon so I surprised her with a "rainbow bath." I used one of my older muffin tins and filled each well with shaving cream and then stirred in food coloring. I gathered up paint brushes, sponges, and rollers and let her have at it. She painted pictures on all the tile in surrounding the bathtub and covered herself head to toe in a rainbow. I made sure to tell her that "rainbow baths are very rare and only happen after rain" or else I knew it would be a daily request. It was so neat to see her face when I brought in the tray - she was so excited. It was a cheap fun way to brighten up a rainy day! (I originally saw this idea on WFMW but now can't find the link).

"I Can Make That" - One more easy gift!

Here's another super easy gift idea that I stole from my SIL Michelle. It is just a glass shower block (I think it was $4.00 at Home Depot last year) and vinyl lettering (from The Letter Cafe). Tie a big fat bow on top and you are done! I gave several of these out last year and some of my friends have kept them out year round. Couldn't get any easier.


Just a Girl's I Can Make That Party is still going on. Head to her site to see more easy homemade Christmas gifts. I have had so much fun seeing everyone's.