I love this time of year! My kids being extra good because some creepy fat guy in a red suit is watching them all the time! But I also love doing all the fun little things with my kids. It starts by decorating the tree, counting down the days till Santa comes, reading all the Christmas books, Christmas programs by my kids, and my favorite making holiday goodies. When I was a kids, every year I would help my Grandma with this huge project of making Christmas Chocolates. I loved testing the treats, just to make sure that they tasted good (even though I knew they were always going to be the best, cause my Grandma made them!). As I got older, I learned how to make them myself. Now that I live 9 hours away, I am forced to make them by myself, but I get the joy of teaching my girls how to do this Christmas tradition. It is a lot of work spread over days of making these chocolates. First you start by making the fondant, which has some spacifics that you have to tend to them constantly. Then when it is cooled, you have to whip it with a wooden spoon the knead it like dough. Then let it chill overnight. Then ya wrap nuts and cherries in the fondant (I forgot to get a picture of that, oops). Then let that cool overnight again. Then ya dip them in melted chocolate. I also make homeade carmels, and ya dip them in the chocolated too. I love to give these for gifts. A true gift from the heart.
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
Love ya all!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Wrestling And MORE Hair cuts!!
First item of business...
Cayge had his 2nd year of wrestling that started in October. What a guy! It is amazing to me the difference that 1 year of a sport can make. Last year he did pretty good. He would win one or two matches at each tourny. This year on the other hand, he went 25-5. He pinned 7 guys, and didn't get pinned once this season. He is such a good sport. Cayge even went undefeated at one tournament taking 1st in his weight class. He is a very emotional wrestler, if ya notice in the picture, his face is red. That is a mix of being hot from wrestling, and crying; even though he got the win. His dad and I are so proud of him. He works so hard, and has a true love for the sport. We do not want to push our kids into any sport that they don't want to do. At the first of the season, Cayge was also doing football. I asked him which one he wanted to do, and he said both. So, 6 days a week, we had Cayge in either football or wrestling (Monday: wrestling practice, Tuesday: Football game, Wednesday: Wrestling practice, Thursday: football game & wrestling practice, Friday: football practice, Saturday: Wrestling Tournament) Needless to say, life was a little crazy, plus adding the fact that Rayce had football every day of the week to boot! Back to the matter at hand that Cayge LOVES the sport of wrestling, and now that the Idaho league is over, he is ready for Washington league to start in the middle of January. (Seeing that we are 3 miles away from the Idaho/Washington border, these kids can wrestle for both states.)
Cayge, we are so proud of you, and I hope that you always keep the love for wrestling!
(Pictures kind of seem repedative, but they are just a few of his wins)
Second order of business...
The girls cut their own hair. Yes, I almost cried. Icelynn's was okay, she cut to her shoulders, just in the front; an easy fix. Shylee on the other hand AAAHHHHH!!!!!! I'm not sure what I am going to do with this girl. As you recall, I just cut her hair not to long ago, but aparently, that wasn't good enough for her, and she decided she wanted some spots around her ears, and at the crown of her head to only be about 1/2 inch long (sobs from me!). I guess all I can say is, at least we had our family pictures done during Thanksgiving break!
Cayge had his 2nd year of wrestling that started in October. What a guy! It is amazing to me the difference that 1 year of a sport can make. Last year he did pretty good. He would win one or two matches at each tourny. This year on the other hand, he went 25-5. He pinned 7 guys, and didn't get pinned once this season. He is such a good sport. Cayge even went undefeated at one tournament taking 1st in his weight class. He is a very emotional wrestler, if ya notice in the picture, his face is red. That is a mix of being hot from wrestling, and crying; even though he got the win. His dad and I are so proud of him. He works so hard, and has a true love for the sport. We do not want to push our kids into any sport that they don't want to do. At the first of the season, Cayge was also doing football. I asked him which one he wanted to do, and he said both. So, 6 days a week, we had Cayge in either football or wrestling (Monday: wrestling practice, Tuesday: Football game, Wednesday: Wrestling practice, Thursday: football game & wrestling practice, Friday: football practice, Saturday: Wrestling Tournament) Needless to say, life was a little crazy, plus adding the fact that Rayce had football every day of the week to boot! Back to the matter at hand that Cayge LOVES the sport of wrestling, and now that the Idaho league is over, he is ready for Washington league to start in the middle of January. (Seeing that we are 3 miles away from the Idaho/Washington border, these kids can wrestle for both states.)
Cayge, we are so proud of you, and I hope that you always keep the love for wrestling!
(Pictures kind of seem repedative, but they are just a few of his wins)
Second order of business...
The girls cut their own hair. Yes, I almost cried. Icelynn's was okay, she cut to her shoulders, just in the front; an easy fix. Shylee on the other hand AAAHHHHH!!!!!! I'm not sure what I am going to do with this girl. As you recall, I just cut her hair not to long ago, but aparently, that wasn't good enough for her, and she decided she wanted some spots around her ears, and at the crown of her head to only be about 1/2 inch long (sobs from me!). I guess all I can say is, at least we had our family pictures done during Thanksgiving break!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Crazy Week.. with a good ending
FYI This is VERY long! :) Happy reading!
I don't even know where to begin... I guess I will start with Saturday...
Last Saturday, I took Cayge to the Little Guys Idaho State Wrestling Tournament. But because I am such a nice person, I brought this one guy along with me that drives me CRAZY!!! Within the first 15 minutes, I was ready to jump out of the car as I was driving down the road. I know I sound like jerk, but lets just say it was a LONG 1 1/2!! The tournament was so poorly organized. There was well over 1,000 kids there, and only enough bleachers to seat about 450 people. Cayge got beat his very first round, then pinned his next one, then a bye, then got beat again on the fourth round. Double elimination tournament, so it was time to go. But, the guy that I took, said he wasn't ready to go. GGGRRRR! (to say the least!) Then the same repeat on the way home with this guy. I was about to cry.
I was just about back to Moscow, when Rayce calls me saying that he crushed his finger and was on the way to the hospital. I din't even know what to think. But I did have a babysitter to releive, so I went home so she could leave. But this dang guy WOULDN'T leave my house. We got home around 5:30 and he didn't leave till 7ish. I thought I was going to loose my mind! I finally said that I was going to go see Rayce at the hospital, so he needed to leave, but I actually knew he was on his way home. (Now I really sound like a jerk, but this guy is REALLY creepy, and I think he is in love with Rayce! Serously!!!)
With Rayces arrival, I finally got the details of his finger. It really wasn't as bad as it sounded, he did smash it, but not as bad as he made it sound. He shattered his nail bed, and had to have about 10 stitches, but no broken bones. (Day one down!)
Sunday: Okay day, Rayce is grumpy though, and in a lot of pain. He had to go back to the hospital in the neighboring town (Pullman, that is where he went originally)
I is there forever, and finally calls saying that our car won't start. So, I pull my girls out of the bath and hop in our van to go get him and Cayge, only to find out that it is nearly out of gas. Rayce has our only card, and the gas stations don't accept checks... I nearly started bawling on the spot, only to remember that I had an extra 10 in my wallet from the tourny the day before. I get to Pullman to pick up the boys, with no luck in trying to start the car. Now before I go much farther, let me tell you: Rayce and I have absolutely no knowledge about cars. NONE what so ever!
Monday: That evening, we have one of our friends help us tow the car to Rayce's work a few miles away. Easy task you say? Not for us... not this week. The car is parked in this tiny parking lot, and it is packed. We have to push the car up onto the car dolly, after being in the way of many other cars for about 45 minutes. Rayce and his buddy Eli get the car all straped down and we are set. We make the 3 minute drive and go to park the car, only to find out that one of the straps broke that was holding the right tire, and was barely holding on to the left tire. We nearly lost both cars. If the car had came off the dolly, I was driving my van closely behind, and it would have slammed into it, seeing that the drive was all mostly uphill.
Breath a sigh of releif, it starts getting a little better. Rayce's dad decides that he is going to take the 9 hour drive up here to help us fix our car. This is our traveling car, you see. No car, no trip home for Christmas. We convince him not to come, only because there is a huge winter storm warning in all of Northern Idaho and Montana. So in talking out the possiblities on coming home, we cross out our van, it has too many things wrong with it, and probably would never make it. We thought about renting a car, but didn't really have the money to rent a car for 17 days. So then we thought about doing a 1 way trip, and just borrowing someones car while we are there, and then doing the same thing on the way back with a rental. However, not very many rental stores allow that, so it was looking as if we weren't going to make it home for Christmas.
Friday: Icelynn has an appointment at the hospital for some bladder problems, and so the day starts off pretty bad. But by 3 o'clock, it is starting to look better. Rayce get's paid for one of his part time jobs, and to our surprise, he gets a bonus. So I say to him: Go get that deposited so it will be available next week to go Christmas shopping. Now he had another little check from his weekend job, and was trying to find it. He had looked in his wallet, and was starting to look in our files. I decide to pick up his wallet, just to check. Low and behold, I find a check from that company, only to descover it wasn't the one we were looking for. It was on dated in August for $300. (Now, to most of you that doesn't seem like very much, but we are both full time students, and we both work very little + we have 3 kids!!!!!) He had put it in his wallet, and had gotten mixed in with recipts! Long story short, we needed that extra money to make our trip home. So, in the past week, I went from feeling like I had the whole world sitting on my shoulders, thinking that everything was piling up just when it need to be set aside, but couldn't. Now I feel refreshed. But also stressed. We are renting a car, and traveling, so now the stress of packing for Christmas, cold weather, and 17 days all in a tiny compact car. HELP!!!!
Hope your week was better than mine!
I don't even know where to begin... I guess I will start with Saturday...
Last Saturday, I took Cayge to the Little Guys Idaho State Wrestling Tournament. But because I am such a nice person, I brought this one guy along with me that drives me CRAZY!!! Within the first 15 minutes, I was ready to jump out of the car as I was driving down the road. I know I sound like jerk, but lets just say it was a LONG 1 1/2!! The tournament was so poorly organized. There was well over 1,000 kids there, and only enough bleachers to seat about 450 people. Cayge got beat his very first round, then pinned his next one, then a bye, then got beat again on the fourth round. Double elimination tournament, so it was time to go. But, the guy that I took, said he wasn't ready to go. GGGRRRR! (to say the least!) Then the same repeat on the way home with this guy. I was about to cry.
I was just about back to Moscow, when Rayce calls me saying that he crushed his finger and was on the way to the hospital. I din't even know what to think. But I did have a babysitter to releive, so I went home so she could leave. But this dang guy WOULDN'T leave my house. We got home around 5:30 and he didn't leave till 7ish. I thought I was going to loose my mind! I finally said that I was going to go see Rayce at the hospital, so he needed to leave, but I actually knew he was on his way home. (Now I really sound like a jerk, but this guy is REALLY creepy, and I think he is in love with Rayce! Serously!!!)
With Rayces arrival, I finally got the details of his finger. It really wasn't as bad as it sounded, he did smash it, but not as bad as he made it sound. He shattered his nail bed, and had to have about 10 stitches, but no broken bones. (Day one down!)
Sunday: Okay day, Rayce is grumpy though, and in a lot of pain. He had to go back to the hospital in the neighboring town (Pullman, that is where he went originally)
I is there forever, and finally calls saying that our car won't start. So, I pull my girls out of the bath and hop in our van to go get him and Cayge, only to find out that it is nearly out of gas. Rayce has our only card, and the gas stations don't accept checks... I nearly started bawling on the spot, only to remember that I had an extra 10 in my wallet from the tourny the day before. I get to Pullman to pick up the boys, with no luck in trying to start the car. Now before I go much farther, let me tell you: Rayce and I have absolutely no knowledge about cars. NONE what so ever!
Monday: That evening, we have one of our friends help us tow the car to Rayce's work a few miles away. Easy task you say? Not for us... not this week. The car is parked in this tiny parking lot, and it is packed. We have to push the car up onto the car dolly, after being in the way of many other cars for about 45 minutes. Rayce and his buddy Eli get the car all straped down and we are set. We make the 3 minute drive and go to park the car, only to find out that one of the straps broke that was holding the right tire, and was barely holding on to the left tire. We nearly lost both cars. If the car had came off the dolly, I was driving my van closely behind, and it would have slammed into it, seeing that the drive was all mostly uphill.
Breath a sigh of releif, it starts getting a little better. Rayce's dad decides that he is going to take the 9 hour drive up here to help us fix our car. This is our traveling car, you see. No car, no trip home for Christmas. We convince him not to come, only because there is a huge winter storm warning in all of Northern Idaho and Montana. So in talking out the possiblities on coming home, we cross out our van, it has too many things wrong with it, and probably would never make it. We thought about renting a car, but didn't really have the money to rent a car for 17 days. So then we thought about doing a 1 way trip, and just borrowing someones car while we are there, and then doing the same thing on the way back with a rental. However, not very many rental stores allow that, so it was looking as if we weren't going to make it home for Christmas.
Friday: Icelynn has an appointment at the hospital for some bladder problems, and so the day starts off pretty bad. But by 3 o'clock, it is starting to look better. Rayce get's paid for one of his part time jobs, and to our surprise, he gets a bonus. So I say to him: Go get that deposited so it will be available next week to go Christmas shopping. Now he had another little check from his weekend job, and was trying to find it. He had looked in his wallet, and was starting to look in our files. I decide to pick up his wallet, just to check. Low and behold, I find a check from that company, only to descover it wasn't the one we were looking for. It was on dated in August for $300. (Now, to most of you that doesn't seem like very much, but we are both full time students, and we both work very little + we have 3 kids!!!!!) He had put it in his wallet, and had gotten mixed in with recipts! Long story short, we needed that extra money to make our trip home. So, in the past week, I went from feeling like I had the whole world sitting on my shoulders, thinking that everything was piling up just when it need to be set aside, but couldn't. Now I feel refreshed. But also stressed. We are renting a car, and traveling, so now the stress of packing for Christmas, cold weather, and 17 days all in a tiny compact car. HELP!!!!
Hope your week was better than mine!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Birthday, Hair Cuts, Visit to Grandma's
I have a few posts that are a little late. This is Cayge's Birthday Party! We had a ton of fun and lots of crazies!!!
I was completely sick of Shylee having a mullett, so I took a pair of scissors to it and this is what we got!
We got to go back to Shelley for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time visiting family and all the fun with the cousins. This is of my kids and my two nephews Hayden, and Chance.
I was completely sick of Shylee having a mullett, so I took a pair of scissors to it and this is what we got!
We got to go back to Shelley for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time visiting family and all the fun with the cousins. This is of my kids and my two nephews Hayden, and Chance.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Christmas Survey
I got this off my sister Stephanies' blog, so everyone copy!!!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper! I love love to wrapping presents!!!
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial (that way I can keep it from year to year! & it saves on the Moolah!)
3. When do you put up the tree? This year I did it today! But usually the Day after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually a day or two after Christmas
5. Do you like eggnog? I love it!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I can't remember thats been a LONG time ago!
7. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad, he has everything under the sun!
8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids, I typically know what they want.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? No, they are way to expensive on a students income!
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? If i did them, i would mail them
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? One year Rayce gave me the NASTIEST smelling bodywash.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Grinch
13. When do you start shopping? Haven't even started yet! (Yikes, I have a lot to do!)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not a Christmas present, only wedding gifts ;)16. Lights on the tree? My tree came pre-lit, so YES
17. Favorite Christmas song? Breath of Heaven... Amy Grant
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Normally, stay home. But this year we are traveling
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? sure can
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? a star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? That stores are constantly packed with angry customers
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I have 3 favorite ornaments, my kids 1st Christmas Bulbs.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Anything Yummy!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A new watch
Hope to see this on someone else's blog!
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