Christmas with the families

We traveled to Georgetown to celebrate Christmas with my Memaw and all my aunts, uncles, and cousins a few days before Christmas.  Memaw recently moved to a new house, and it was definitely full by the time everyone arrived.  We sat down to a delicious meal of barbecue, and everyone ate too many sweets.  Especially Max, he grabbed a cookie or a piece of fudge every time he snuck into the kitchen.  It is a good thing that he is a healthy eater most of the year.  I am still trying to get him to stop begging for a cookie every 5 minutes, even though we don't have any cookies.  Afterwards we had a completely dignified and orderly gift exchange, with out any heckling at all.  Shortly after all the merriment the children began spiraling towards meltdown, holiday tradition around here.  We packed everyone back in the car and made it back to Houston in time to get everyone to bed for the night.  We enjoyed seeing everyone, but I wish we had been able to stay longer and that I had remembered my camera.  

The next morning we rewrapped a few gifts, thanks to the combined efforts of Max and the dog.  Then I started to work cooking ham and sweet  potatoes for Christmas Eve dinner with Jeff's family.  Kyle and Luke were really excited to set the table "fancy" with all the china and crystal and holiday decor.  I wish I had taken a picture, they did a really terrific job.    After everyone arrived, we sat down to a delicious dinner and moved into the living room for present time.  

 Max helped everyone open presents.  

 Luke really liked the hexbugs he received.  

 Wes found the orange juice mixer in the cabinet, and that was his favorite toy for awhile.  So easy to please! 

 Bill loved his bose headphones.

 Jeff loves to take pictures of his sister making a face.  Sorry Jodie, this was the best one.  

 Fun was had by all

 The camera crew.  Maybe they have some pictures with Alex, Joe, or Nancy in them?  I think our camera didn't make it all the way around the room.  There was a spill right after this, and I think our camera was put away before all the documenting was finished.  I swear they were all here!

Christmas pajamas

A few years ago I bought the boys pajamas and they got to open them on Christmas Eve.  So now we have a tradition of Christmas Eve pajamas, even though it is often a bit difficult to find traditional pajamas in all 3 sizes.  The boys really love them, and I think they are adorable.  I don't know how much longer I'll get to make them look adorable, especially Kyle, so I have to enjoy it while it lasts.

Here are my adorable boys on Christmas Eve.

I'm just starting to dig into the Christmas pictures, but I'll get some up soon.

Mornings

Having three rowdy boys around is sometimes challenging, but it is often a lot of fun and silliness.  They frequently invent games to play as soon as they get up in the morning, sometimes before I manage to get up in the morning.  For example, last week an Egyptian mummy was delivered to my bed.

 He was a very ticklish mummy.  

Then we watched the sultan's procession to the stockings.  

They love to dress up in costumes.  Yes, the cape is actually a snuggie.  

 Of course the key to keeping the peace in the house is to get out of the house whenever possible.  We frequently go for walks on the bayou behind our neighborhood and end up at the park.  It's not exactly a nature walk, but it is more room to run around than the sidewalk.  We've seen a lot of birds and a few snakes.  There was a rumor that someone saw an alligator down there, but we sure haven't seen one.   

I love to see Kyle helping Max.   He can be a very sweet big brother.  We won't talk about the other times.    

 At the park...

After a morning like this, we'll be ready to get down to work when we get home!

Leaf pile

I kicked Kyle and Luke outside during naptime, so I could take care of some secret Christmas business.  I went to check on them and found they had raked all the leaves in the back yard into a big leaf pile.  

So I had to take pictures of course.  

Kyle is getting so big and tall.  I don't know how that happened.  

I think of him like this:

However, he's actually almost eleven.  Crazy.  

That's a pretty cool jump!  They had a great time.  

The dog LOVED the leaf pile.  She attacked it, jumped over it, chased the boys into it, and just acted generally crazy.  I tried to get a picture of that, but she's just too fast, even for Jeff's fancy camera that I don't really know how to use.  This was the best I could do.

Sunday

Jeff was so depressed after the Texans game yesterday that we decided to go on a little road trip to cheer him up.  We drove up to College Station and Jeff walked the boys all over the quad and showed them where he lived when he was in the corps.  He loves telling the boys all about his time there.  I remember wanting to generally stay away from that part of campus, because of all the yelling.  Luckily it was completely deserted yesterday, so no yelling.


Kyle's favorite part of Santa's Wonderland


After our trip down memory lane we grabbed some pizza and headed out of town to see Santa's Wonderland.  It is a large drive through Christmas light display. The wait in line was about 20 minutes, but the Kyle and Luke decided that it was totally worth the wait. Millions of lights and all kinds of holiday displays.  Kyle's favorite part was a tunnel of lights in all different colors, Luke's favorite part was a lighted reindeer that leapt over our car, and  Max's favorite part was a train that had turning wheels and smoke puffing up.  We brought Kyle when he was 2 or 3, and the tunnel was his favorite then too.  They have added a lot more lights since then, and there were many more people than the last time we'd been.



We all had a great trip, and a nice weekend.  Now it is time to prepare for Christmas!

Family time

Not surprisingly, I haven't been keeping up with daily posts in December.  There was just too much going on this past weekend.  I also forgot to take any pictures of anything.  I'm not a good blogger.  Oh well.

On Saturday we got the last of our Christmas presents picked out.  The white elephant gifts always get put off until the end, but I think we found some decent stuff this year.  We also picked out new stockings.  Our old stockings somehow got packed away from all their Christmas friends, and we cannot find them.  Next year I guess we'll get to choose which ones we want to use.

the New stockings

That evening Jodie, JR, Alex and Wes came over for dinner.  I'm happy that we live closer to Jeff's family now, especially so that my boys can play with their cousins more often.  All of my boys had a lot of fun playing with the "babies."  We call them that, but really they are nearly 2 and running all over the house.  Max especially likes to tell them just what they should do.  And take Alex's silverware.  And his cup.  Perhaps I shouldn't let them sit together next time.  He'll probably start eating off his plate too.  We had spaghetti and meatballs, and Jodie brought some delicious gingerbread cookies for dessert.  It was a fun evening.

Yummy Pretzel Chicken

This is my new favorite chicken recipe.  I've made it twice now, and it was great both times.  I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts last night, and it was even better.  Juicy chicken, crunchy coating, nice mustard flavor pulling it all together.  It is great!

I made polenta and peas to go with the pretzel chicken, and realized we were having letter of the day style meal.  Luke thought that was really cool.

Mustard-Baked Chicken with a Pretzel Crust

SERVINGS: 6

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound hard pretzels, coarsely crushed

(4 cups)

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup whole-grain mustard

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Salt and freshly ground pepper

6 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or chicken thighs  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. In a food processor, pulse the pretzels until coarsely ground; you should have coarse chunks and fine crumbs.  Transfer to a large, shallow bowl.

2. Wipe out the food processor. Add the oil, whole-grain and Dijon mustards,

water and vinegar and process until smooth. Season the dressing with salt and pepper.

3. Pour half of the dressing into a large shallow bowl, add the chicken breasts and turn to coat. Dredge the chicken in the pretzel crumbs and transfer to a rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake in the upper third of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked through. Slice the chicken and serve warm or at room temperature with dressing

Cupcakes and happiness

Jeff brought home cupcakes from work today, because he is awesome.  Of course the first order of business was to protect them from the dog and the children until after dinner.

On top of the cabinets is really the only safe place around here.  They can climb.  In fact, I wouldn't trust the cupcakes to be there in the morning if I left them there.

After dinner, it was cupcake time!

Flavors: Chocolate with white frosting, gingerbread, red velvet, chocolate creme filled, and double chocolate


They all were delicious, but I think the gingerbread was my favorite.

Max approved!

Mini Cinnamon Rolls with crescent roll dough

I made these for breakfast this morning, and they are as good as they look.  I like the mini size, because it makes portion control a little easier.  Pretty easy to make, since the dough is already made.  Probably only took 10 minutes to put it all together, and another 10 minutes to bake.

I used smart balance instead of the butter, and I don't think it made a difference.  Everyone loved them.



Mini Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing
Makes 16 mini cinnamon rolls
Ingredients:
1-8oz tube crescent roll dough
2 Tablespoons butter
cinnamon
brown sugar
For the maple icing:
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 Tablespoon skim milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
1. Preheat oven according to crescent roll dough package directions. Layout half the dough (4
triangles) and pinch all the seams together. Flip over and pinch the seams on the back side
together too.
2. Using a rolling pin, smooth the seams and roll the dough into a square about 1/4ļ thick. Brush
with half the butter, and sprinkle with as much cinnamon and brown sugar as you want. Roll into a
log and cut into 8 pieces.
3. Place mini cinnamon rolls into a non-stick sprayed mini muffin tin. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the
other half of the crescent roll dough. Bake according to package directions.
4. Meanwhile whisk together maple syrup and milk in a bowl. Add in powdered sugar until desired
consistency is reached. Drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls.

Andrew is my favorite brother

My little brother joined us for Taco Tuesday last night, and it was great to see him and hear all his crazy Black Friday stories.  I'm sure he'll be glad when the holiday season is past.  The boys were very excited to see him, as usual.  Max moved his chair to the other side of the table to sit next to him, in the middle of dinner.  I guess we'll keep working on table manners.  I'm so glad that my brother will drive across town to come have dinner with all of us, even if it's just tacos.  

After dinner we had a tumultuous game of LIFE.  Kyle was winning, then he was losing.  Luke was so happy to be the police officer that he jumped up and down and screamed for about five minutes.  Max got sent to bed after taking all the peg people out of all the cars and hiding them.  In the end Andrew won.  

I can't believe it's almost halfway through December.  The time is flying.  

My favorite spinning class starts in about 25 minutes, so gotta go!    

Robots

Kyle and Luke begged me to let them build a robot kit we found while repacking some boxes for science on Monday.  How could I say no to that?

Following the directions to put it all together, while Max tries to invade.  They had to connect wires and follow some pretty complex assembly instructions.  Kyle figured it all out, and Luke assisted with sorting and helping to hold screws in place.  

 Finished product: battery powered doodling robot that draws circle designs with felt tip pens.

They worked together without arguing and managed to do it all with out Mommy intervention.  It turned out a lot better than the science lesson I had planned.  Yay!  

O Christmas Tree

We finally got around to decorating the Christmas tree this weekend.  Having the floors done messed up our usual tradition of decorating the tree on my birthday.  The boys have been rearranging the ornaments on it ever since.  Kyle and I put all the really fragile ornaments at the top, and Luke and Max have been redecorating the bottom half of the tree on an hourly basis.  Kyle and Luke really enjoyed getting out all of their own special ornaments and choosing where to put them on the tree.

Later that evening the Kerths came over for dinner and got a detailed ornament tour of the tree from Luke.  They were also coerced into playing board games by Kyle.   I got to hold the baby a lot, so I was happy.

I love having the Christmas decorations around the house, it makes everything more lovely.  How long is it acceptable to leave them after Christmas?  I usually shoot for New Years, but maybe I'll see how far I can stand it this time.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Canyon Lake this year.  We went for a walk on the dam on thanksgiving morning, because it was such a pretty morning.  

 It was sunny, so of course no one would look at the camera.  At least we are all in the picture, right? 

After we walked across the dam, we walked the nature trail along the river on the other side of the dam.

There is a hollow tree that we usually take a picture in.  

 All of us with Grampa

   Then Grampa took the camera, so Jeff could be in the picture.  

My mom stayed at the house to make sure the turkey didn't suffer any calamities, and once we got back it was time to get ready for lunch.  

The boys with their Grams and Grampa on the deck.

Turkey time!

 Apple cake and pumpkin cheesecake for dessert, yum!

We had a very happy Thanksgiving!  

Luke loves gymnastics

Luke is taking gymnastics classes this year, and he got to show off all his skills at the winter competition yesterday.  They use the word competition very loosely.  All the parents take tons of pictures, and everyone gets a medal.  Philosophically I disagree with the handing out of meaningless medals, but Luke is just SO HAPPY with the medal that I am going to have to get over it.  He won't take it off.  He's so proud.  It's adorable.  Perhaps I can adjust my disagreement to apply to those over age 8.  

Luke's favorite event is rings, and he told the coach first thing, "I don't need any help, I can do it!"

The one above is called "skin the cat."  It makes my shoulders hurt just to look at that picture.  

Cartwheel!

 Everyone knows you have to stick out your tongue when you are concentrating.  

 Chin up!

I can't explain this one

Doesn't he look proud of his medal?  

Museum Day

Yesterday we traveled across town to join 50 other homeschoolers and their parents at the science museum for classes and activities.  Each month the boys take two or three classes in different subjects and usually another activity.  This month we went to the planetarium for our activity, which is always interesting. It's a fun day, and Luke and Kyle really look forward to spending the day with their friends.  They even have lunchtime and recess, which was always Kyle's favorite part of the school day.  

 The kids are divided into age groups for their classes, so Kyle doesn't get to be in the pictures.  Luke's favorite class was Polymer science this time.  They learned about the polymers that are used in diapers and other things to absorb liquid.  Here he is carefully measuring Sodium Polyacrylate into a cup.  After that he added water to form a gel.  Later they measured how much water a diaper would absorb.  It was quite a bit!  

I love it when they wear safety glasses! 

Morning time

Woke up this morning to our bed being invaded by two little boys in feetie pajamas.  Who doesn't love little boys in feetie pajamas? They were cute and snuggly for about five minutes.  Then Max's pillow somehow flew across the bed and knocked over the water glass and table lamp.  So it's going to be that kind of day.
Now everyone is out of bed, eating cereal, and the floor has been freshly mopped. We're off to the natural science museum for our monthly museum day with other home school families.  Let's hope no one breaks anything there!   

Easy, healthy, and yummy

Just to make up for lost time, here is a very good, foolproof winter recipe.  I used lean ham, and this was a delicious stew that tasted like it had been simmering all day.  Which is a wonderful thing to know how to do on gymnastics day when everyone is hungry RIGHT NOW, and you just got in the door.  YUM.

Fast White-Bean Stew 

Yield: Makes 4 servings (or about 6 with kids) Active Time: 10 min Total Time: 20 min Ingredients: 2 large garlic cloves, chopped 1/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 (14- to 15-ounce) can stewed tomatoes 1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth 2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (3 cups) 1 (1/2-pound) piece baked ham (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 (5-ounce) bag baby romaine, chopped spinach or baby arugula (10 cups loosely packed) 8 (3/4-inch-thick) slices baguette Directions: Cook garlic in 1/4 cup oil in a 3 1/2- to 4 1/2-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat, stirring, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Coarsely cut up tomatoes in can with kitchen shears, then add (with juice) to garlic in oil. Stir in broth, beans, ham, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Stir in greens and cook until wilted, 3 minutes for romaine or spinach or 1 minute for arugula. While stew is simmering, preheat broiler. Put bread on a baking sheet and drizzle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil. Broil 3 to 4 inches from heat until golden, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Serve stew with toasts. We skipped the toast, as I had some left over cornbread from another meal.   This one was a keeper.

December Daily

I'm blatantly copying my dear friend Jennie, and I'm going to try to start back up the blog by posting most every day in December.  Of course it is already December 8th, so I'm a bit behind to begin.  That is in keeping with my whole blogging record though, so I don't feel too bad about it.

We had new laminate floors installed this week to replace the old carpet, and I really love having solid floors again.  You can see them in the picture below.  I'm most happy to have the run of the house again.  We were out of the house to avoid the installers all day Monday, and I need to send a big thank you to Cindy for letting us take over her house for a few hours.  Then we were trapped in the kitchen and breakfast area Tuesday morning.  That is not enough room for 3 bored boys, one concerned dog, and a mom that is desperately trying to keep everyone occupied.  However now we have nice floors.   We also have the entertainment of watching the dog slide across the floor and careen into the furniture.  I'm sure she'll get the hang of it soon, she just forgets sometimes when she's excited.  

The boys love art time, especially Luke.  He is always ready to come up with a new art project.  Here is a picture of one of my favorite ones from last month, pre haircuts.

That one was really fun.  We each used wax pastels to trace all sizes of circles in different colors.  Next we used watercolors to paint the back grounds one solid color.  Then I just glued them all together on one page.  We've done a similar project with fish that was cool too.  The boys really liked how the wax shows through the watercolor so well.  

May your days be merry and bright!
Kelly

Max the messy eater

My sweet friend Cindy, who thinks I know what I'm doing, asked me how I streamline the baby meal time and mess process.  It's a funny coincidence that I just took these pictures of Max after his morning cheerios and yogurt. 

 Yogurt is good for the skin, right? 

 I don't think I can give her any advice about this subject! 

Beautiful Day

We had an amazing day today.  I really love this time of year, mostly because the weather is perfect.  Also though, we are anticipating the holiday season and we have gotten into a groove with our schoolwork.  It's nice when it all is effortless and predictable.  Then we have time to think of fun things to do when we are done with our work.  Like go on a picnic and feed the ducks!  We LOOOOVE to go to the park and feed the ducks.  It's one of our favorite things in the whole world.  We even have names for most of the ducks that have distinguishable appearances.  They are Gooseneck, Gingersnap, Domino, Oreo, Little, Waggers, and Flamingo.  What I love most about this is that Kyle and Luke came up with all these names for very specific reasons.   Everytime we go they retell stories about the previous times we've visited and things we've seen.  Remember the time when the ducklings jumped off the wall.... remember the time when the catfish bit Gooseneck and made him flap and trumpet for a long time... remember when... it goes on forever. 

We were all very excited to welcome a new batch of ducklings today, and I snapped a picture.

We also had a lovely afternoon and dinner.  After dinner we decided to have hot chocolate and read stories by the fire before bedtime.  It was really nice, and one of those nights where Luke and Kyle were both listening to the story and snuggly, instead of squabbling.  I feel like supermom today, so I have to document that while it lasts.  Probably until breakfast tomorrow!