The girls' Christmas dance program:
Last night, the Christmas parade.
Part 2 of the Christmas photos coming soon! (You know, after we actually do the rest of our activities!)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wordless Wednesday
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The first half of our Christmas adventures and December programs!
The girls' Christmas dance program:
(Should be obvious which one is mine in the little kids; in the bigger kids, mine is on the left. Most of the pics of her were blurry. I was able to take pics during her sister's dress rehearsal so the lights were all on which made for much better pics.)
Last night, the Christmas parade.
My poor oldest was sitting right directly behind me, so again, no good pics of her. Sigh. I'll have to dedicate a photo post to her very soon!
Part 2 of the Christmas photos coming soon! (You know, after we actually do the rest of our activities!)
The girls' Christmas dance program:
Last night, the Christmas parade.
Part 2 of the Christmas photos coming soon! (You know, after we actually do the rest of our activities!)
Monday, December 13, 2010
I have a feeling ...
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... that it's going to be one of THOSE weeks.
You know the ones. The ones where there is too much to do and too little time to squeeze it all in? The ones where you need to make a list to make sure important details are not forgotten? And then you need to make a list to remind you where you put the original list? Yeah, that kind of week.
And the funny thing?
I put all the stuff we have to do on the calendar. THAT calendar. The schedule calendar. Play practices, recital, parade, preschool Christmas program, play performance, end of year parties, etc. Yes, that is all this week.
Oh, and I planned school this week too.
Pardon me for a moment while I ROLL ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING at the absurdity of that. Granted - we don't have anything going on during the day Tuesday and Wednesday, and will likely do some school on those days, but the rest of the days? No way. And truth be told, I will probably be too exhausted on Tuesday to do much of anything other than recover from all the running around we're doing today.
In case you're wondering, this is how you know when your schedule is running you rather than you running your schedule:
If you are a list maker and the words "revise schedule" appear in your to-do list, perhaps your schedule is running you.
Oh well, live and learn, right?
You'll be happy to know that on my to-do list, next to "revise schedule" is the word TUESDAY, because I simply have not had time to do it yet, and don't expect to really have time to work on it today.
My "word" of 2010 was content. (Expect a big blog post on that sometime in the next week or so ... um, maybe next week ... LOL) Perhaps my word of 2011 should be FLEXIBLE.
Everyone will be happy to know that I made a dessert last night and no ER visits were required. ;)
I hope you all have a fabulous day. I hope everyone can squeeze out a few moments during the crazy busyness to reflect on the reason for the season, and just rest and ponder the silent night ... God with us ... revealed to us ... His Name is called Immanuel.
You know the ones. The ones where there is too much to do and too little time to squeeze it all in? The ones where you need to make a list to make sure important details are not forgotten? And then you need to make a list to remind you where you put the original list? Yeah, that kind of week.
And the funny thing?
I put all the stuff we have to do on the calendar. THAT calendar. The schedule calendar. Play practices, recital, parade, preschool Christmas program, play performance, end of year parties, etc. Yes, that is all this week.
Oh, and I planned school this week too.
Pardon me for a moment while I ROLL ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING at the absurdity of that. Granted - we don't have anything going on during the day Tuesday and Wednesday, and will likely do some school on those days, but the rest of the days? No way. And truth be told, I will probably be too exhausted on Tuesday to do much of anything other than recover from all the running around we're doing today.
In case you're wondering, this is how you know when your schedule is running you rather than you running your schedule:
If you are a list maker and the words "revise schedule" appear in your to-do list, perhaps your schedule is running you.
Oh well, live and learn, right?
You'll be happy to know that on my to-do list, next to "revise schedule" is the word TUESDAY, because I simply have not had time to do it yet, and don't expect to really have time to work on it today.
My "word" of 2010 was content. (Expect a big blog post on that sometime in the next week or so ... um, maybe next week ... LOL) Perhaps my word of 2011 should be FLEXIBLE.
Everyone will be happy to know that I made a dessert last night and no ER visits were required. ;)
I hope you all have a fabulous day. I hope everyone can squeeze out a few moments during the crazy busyness to reflect on the reason for the season, and just rest and ponder the silent night ... God with us ... revealed to us ... His Name is called Immanuel.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Giveaway! Gazelles, Baby Steps, and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt
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Long title, great book! If you've read here for any length of time, you know that I absolutely LOVE the Stuff Christians Like blog. It's written by Jon Acuff, who now works for Dave Ramsey. I read Jon's original book, Stuff Christians Like on the way to Disney World this spring and giggled all the way through it because it's SO true. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes not so much. I know I've linked posts of his many times because I can't think of a one that I read that I didn't like. (btw - that book is still on my nightstand. I don't think I can part with it yet. I should probably just buy it for my Nook, but haven't done it yet.)
So, this new book was coming out, and if you pre-ordered it, you could get both a digital copy and a paperback copy for one low price. Awesome! Digital for me, and paperback for you! So ... I am giving away a new copy of Gazelles, Baby Steps, and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt by Jon Acuff. I have read it and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I know you will too!
Just leave me a comment and you're entered! If you're local, I'll deliver and if you're not, I'll ship to you. Make sure I have your email address so I can let you know if you are the winner!
I'll leave this up today and tomorrow and will draw the winner on Friday. :)
So, this new book was coming out, and if you pre-ordered it, you could get both a digital copy and a paperback copy for one low price. Awesome! Digital for me, and paperback for you! So ... I am giving away a new copy of Gazelles, Baby Steps, and 37 Other Things Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Debt by Jon Acuff. I have read it and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I know you will too!
Just leave me a comment and you're entered! If you're local, I'll deliver and if you're not, I'll ship to you. Make sure I have your email address so I can let you know if you are the winner!
I'll leave this up today and tomorrow and will draw the winner on Friday. :)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Really Expensive Elcair
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Alternate title: Burner = 1, Hand = 0
So, in my effort to be like my Aunt Nancy, when my nephew needed a dessert for a party he was having, I agreed to make him one.
(As an aside ... college students ... living in dorms ... is it really reasonable to have a party for them where they are expected to bring food? Seriously? I am giggling imagining the number of oreos and bags of chips that will be brought to that party. But I digress.)
Nephew wanted an eclair cake. I'll put the recipe at the end, it really is fabulous and looks even more fabulous, but it's pretty easy so it's a great dessert to take to a function.
Monday is a super busy day, so I needed to make this dessert Sunday night. No problem. The crust has to boil on the stove then go into the mixer, then cook, so I got to work on the boiling part. After that, it sits and cools off for a few minutes. I was rocking right along, had the dough in the mixer cooling and decided to move the block of cream cheese that I had sitting on the stove to another part of the stove so it would soften evenly rather than cold on the top and runny on the bottom.
And then.
Left hand on cream cheese ... right hand ... ON THE BURNER. We have a ceramic flat top stove so occasionally it becomes additional cabinet space. It has a little red light that comes on that says basically "HEY, this surface is way too hot for delicate things ... LIKE HANDS ... so if you see that red light? Don't put your hand up there." I completely missed the red light.
Okay, so I could avoid screaming as long as there was cold water running gently over my hand. Stop the water, start the screaming. Seriously. Two of my children are probably traumatized from this. The third child wasn't home so I will leave that off of her counseling list. (What? Y'all don't have lists of things to make it easier for your child when they're in counseling in the future? That's just me?) Eventually I found that I could move to cold water in a bowl and would just start howling when the water started becoming warmer. Then the little one brought me his "throat ice" which is the ice gel thing we used after his tonsillectomy.
After sending out a facebook plea for silvadene - which it turns out I am actually allergic to! - and not getting a response and still wanting to scream an hour later, I told Jim I had to go to the ER. The oldest had finished the crust for the dessert and it was out of the oven, and I was babysitting kids when I was her age so we went to the ER. Because what's really fun on a Sunday night is spending time in the ER. Apparently a couple of my dear friends actually think so though, because they came and sat with me. :) The Lord did not skimp at all when He gave me friends. :) :) :)
btw - if you go to the ER and a gel pack is the only thing that is keeping you from screaming, and you're going to be waiting for over an hour, that gel pack is not going to retain it's coldness for long enough, and the receptionist will tell you that she can't get you an icepack until you're triaged. Fabulous. Just hope that you have enough change to buy a drink because it will be cool enough to wrap your hand around it so you don't have to scream in the lobby. I understand that the other sick people really frown on that.
Finally they got me in and OHMYHEAVENS blessed pain relief. They told me that silvadene is a sulfa based drug and I wouldn't be getting any, plus it wasn't used so much now anyway. I remember from a previous burn how fabulous that stuff was so I was really sad about not leaving with some, but after the pain shot, it didn't seem to matter so much. I kept talking to my friends and wondering if I was making any sense at all, and I hope I didn't give them really good blackmail material. ;)
Nearly two days later and I have use of my fingers again! I can type!
The crazy thing? My hand did not - and does not - look that awful. In proportion to how badly it was hurting, I was expecting a ground beef experience. Nope. Two days later, there is one big blister, seven or eight smaller blisters, and a bunch of red skin. Red skin that hurt when I tried to take a warm shower this morning. Because really, what's more fun than a cool shower when it's 50 degrees out? My daughter looked at it earlier and wanted me to point out the burned places to her.
We can conclude here that:
1. I have a pretty low pain tolerance.
2. My daughter is half blind.
and
3. Whether or not this warranted an ER visit, neither me nor anyone else in my house was going to sleep unless I got some pain relief. Period. Whether the neighbors would be similarly affected was a consideration as well.
That, and I should get some fabulous aunt points because I still made the dessert. And apparently it was really good. Cost of dessert: ingredients $12-ish. ER visit $75, although there was a discount, and the lady was trying to tell me about it post pain shot. Thankfully my friends understood her, I think. I really don't think the lady made much sense though, even if I hadn't had a mind altering substance in my body. Total cost? Would have been cheaper to go to Rao's and get a beautiful fabulous bakery dessert. Oh well.
Here's the recipe:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
one container chocolate frosting
2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cups milk
8 oz package of cream cheese
container of cool whip
chocolate syrup
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Boil water and butter. When it's boiling, add flour and stir until a dough forms while still leaving it over the heat. When the dough is in a big ball, move it to a mixing bowl and cool for five minutes. (It would be really good to NOT put your hand on the burner at this time.)
Add one egg to the dough and beat mixture. Add the second egg and beat. Repeat with the third and fourth eggs.
Spread dough in greased 9x13 dish and bake for 35 minutes. The dough will "climb" up the edges and corners and will look very light and pretty.
Let the crust sit until completely cooled, then spread the chocolate frosting on the bottom.
Beat cream cheese, add milk and pudding mixes and beat all together until it's well blended. (I have yet to ever get this completely smooth, I just go with it as it is.) Pour that on top, then top with cool whip. Drizzle some chocolate syrup over the top and refrigerate until it's ready to be served.
So, in my effort to be like my Aunt Nancy, when my nephew needed a dessert for a party he was having, I agreed to make him one.
(As an aside ... college students ... living in dorms ... is it really reasonable to have a party for them where they are expected to bring food? Seriously? I am giggling imagining the number of oreos and bags of chips that will be brought to that party. But I digress.)
Nephew wanted an eclair cake. I'll put the recipe at the end, it really is fabulous and looks even more fabulous, but it's pretty easy so it's a great dessert to take to a function.
Monday is a super busy day, so I needed to make this dessert Sunday night. No problem. The crust has to boil on the stove then go into the mixer, then cook, so I got to work on the boiling part. After that, it sits and cools off for a few minutes. I was rocking right along, had the dough in the mixer cooling and decided to move the block of cream cheese that I had sitting on the stove to another part of the stove so it would soften evenly rather than cold on the top and runny on the bottom.
And then.
Left hand on cream cheese ... right hand ... ON THE BURNER. We have a ceramic flat top stove so occasionally it becomes additional cabinet space. It has a little red light that comes on that says basically "HEY, this surface is way too hot for delicate things ... LIKE HANDS ... so if you see that red light? Don't put your hand up there." I completely missed the red light.
Okay, so I could avoid screaming as long as there was cold water running gently over my hand. Stop the water, start the screaming. Seriously. Two of my children are probably traumatized from this. The third child wasn't home so I will leave that off of her counseling list. (What? Y'all don't have lists of things to make it easier for your child when they're in counseling in the future? That's just me?) Eventually I found that I could move to cold water in a bowl and would just start howling when the water started becoming warmer. Then the little one brought me his "throat ice" which is the ice gel thing we used after his tonsillectomy.
After sending out a facebook plea for silvadene - which it turns out I am actually allergic to! - and not getting a response and still wanting to scream an hour later, I told Jim I had to go to the ER. The oldest had finished the crust for the dessert and it was out of the oven, and I was babysitting kids when I was her age so we went to the ER. Because what's really fun on a Sunday night is spending time in the ER. Apparently a couple of my dear friends actually think so though, because they came and sat with me. :) The Lord did not skimp at all when He gave me friends. :) :) :)
btw - if you go to the ER and a gel pack is the only thing that is keeping you from screaming, and you're going to be waiting for over an hour, that gel pack is not going to retain it's coldness for long enough, and the receptionist will tell you that she can't get you an icepack until you're triaged. Fabulous. Just hope that you have enough change to buy a drink because it will be cool enough to wrap your hand around it so you don't have to scream in the lobby. I understand that the other sick people really frown on that.
Finally they got me in and OHMYHEAVENS blessed pain relief. They told me that silvadene is a sulfa based drug and I wouldn't be getting any, plus it wasn't used so much now anyway. I remember from a previous burn how fabulous that stuff was so I was really sad about not leaving with some, but after the pain shot, it didn't seem to matter so much. I kept talking to my friends and wondering if I was making any sense at all, and I hope I didn't give them really good blackmail material. ;)
Nearly two days later and I have use of my fingers again! I can type!
The crazy thing? My hand did not - and does not - look that awful. In proportion to how badly it was hurting, I was expecting a ground beef experience. Nope. Two days later, there is one big blister, seven or eight smaller blisters, and a bunch of red skin. Red skin that hurt when I tried to take a warm shower this morning. Because really, what's more fun than a cool shower when it's 50 degrees out? My daughter looked at it earlier and wanted me to point out the burned places to her.
We can conclude here that:
1. I have a pretty low pain tolerance.
2. My daughter is half blind.
and
3. Whether or not this warranted an ER visit, neither me nor anyone else in my house was going to sleep unless I got some pain relief. Period. Whether the neighbors would be similarly affected was a consideration as well.
That, and I should get some fabulous aunt points because I still made the dessert. And apparently it was really good. Cost of dessert: ingredients $12-ish. ER visit $75, although there was a discount, and the lady was trying to tell me about it post pain shot. Thankfully my friends understood her, I think. I really don't think the lady made much sense though, even if I hadn't had a mind altering substance in my body. Total cost? Would have been cheaper to go to Rao's and get a beautiful fabulous bakery dessert. Oh well.
Here's the recipe:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
one container chocolate frosting
2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cups milk
8 oz package of cream cheese
container of cool whip
chocolate syrup
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Boil water and butter. When it's boiling, add flour and stir until a dough forms while still leaving it over the heat. When the dough is in a big ball, move it to a mixing bowl and cool for five minutes. (It would be really good to NOT put your hand on the burner at this time.)
Add one egg to the dough and beat mixture. Add the second egg and beat. Repeat with the third and fourth eggs.
Spread dough in greased 9x13 dish and bake for 35 minutes. The dough will "climb" up the edges and corners and will look very light and pretty.
Let the crust sit until completely cooled, then spread the chocolate frosting on the bottom.
Beat cream cheese, add milk and pudding mixes and beat all together until it's well blended. (I have yet to ever get this completely smooth, I just go with it as it is.) Pour that on top, then top with cool whip. Drizzle some chocolate syrup over the top and refrigerate until it's ready to be served.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Weekly Wrap Up!
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I'm linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers today with our weekly wrap up!
I cannot believe that we have just finished week 14. Wow. Moving right along!
This was a pretty good week. Usually the week after a break isn't all that smooth, so I was delighted to have a good week.
The girls did a mosiac picture with our Heart of Dakota curriculum this week. The picture (because I doubt seriously that you can tell what it is!) is a horse and chariot. I'm trying to have them be as independent as possible with project like this, with sometimes receiving some questionable results. They were pretty proud of these though, and it was a pretty fun project!
Here are their paintings for the week. This week's poem was The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. They did pretty well except for a little minor instruction fail. Can you tell? What is really funny is that one child accidentally stuck her brush in the wrong color and decided to just go with it, and the other followed along. Silly girls!
We are reading God King and are really enjoying it! We will finish this next week.
Separately, they did well this week. The oldest will finish Bob Jones English 7 just before Christmas. I am still a little on the fence as to what we'll do in the spring. I had settled on Bob Jones Literature 7, but we are getting SO much reading in other areas. She does just fine with grammar, so I'm not wanting to do more grammar, but I have been considering IEW to help with writing. It has crossed my mind to just let her relax, but practically that will never work because it just would not do for her to have a shorter school day than her sister!
The middle one also had a good week. Math was less of a challenge this week than it has been, and can I just get a WOOT WOOT about that? The funny thing? She is actually quite ahead on math! We cut the lessons back to three a week and do flash card review the other two days. This seems to be working well, and keeps us from not being too rushed on Mondays and Thursdays when life is so busy. She is breezing well through her reading class. She really enjoys reading, and the short story approach is perfect for her. She is also doing well with English and spelling.
I probably shouldn't compare kids, but I can't help myself. I find it very interesting that the oldest has an easy time with English and grammar but has some spelling struggles. The middle one has to think a fair amount with grammar, but spells very well. It really is interesting to me to watch them and learn the areas they excel and struggle in!
The little one enjoyed his week of preschool. I believe the proper term is "out of his shell". Ahem. And sometimes not necessarily in a good way. ;) I had to laugh at him yesterday telling me the story of two of the kids in his class "breaking up." As one of my friends pointed out, apparently preschool is serious business these days! He is learning so much and having such a fabulous time. I am really amazed at how much he is learning and how well he is doing. I'll be honest, I've been very nervous about having him home for kindergarten next year, but realizing how much fun he is having learning, and how anxious he is to learn more is so encouraging to me!
I cannot believe that we have just finished week 14. Wow. Moving right along!
This was a pretty good week. Usually the week after a break isn't all that smooth, so I was delighted to have a good week.
The girls did a mosiac picture with our Heart of Dakota curriculum this week. The picture (because I doubt seriously that you can tell what it is!) is a horse and chariot. I'm trying to have them be as independent as possible with project like this, with sometimes receiving some questionable results. They were pretty proud of these though, and it was a pretty fun project!
Here are their paintings for the week. This week's poem was The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. They did pretty well except for a little minor instruction fail. Can you tell? What is really funny is that one child accidentally stuck her brush in the wrong color and decided to just go with it, and the other followed along. Silly girls!
We are reading God King and are really enjoying it! We will finish this next week.
Separately, they did well this week. The oldest will finish Bob Jones English 7 just before Christmas. I am still a little on the fence as to what we'll do in the spring. I had settled on Bob Jones Literature 7, but we are getting SO much reading in other areas. She does just fine with grammar, so I'm not wanting to do more grammar, but I have been considering IEW to help with writing. It has crossed my mind to just let her relax, but practically that will never work because it just would not do for her to have a shorter school day than her sister!
The middle one also had a good week. Math was less of a challenge this week than it has been, and can I just get a WOOT WOOT about that? The funny thing? She is actually quite ahead on math! We cut the lessons back to three a week and do flash card review the other two days. This seems to be working well, and keeps us from not being too rushed on Mondays and Thursdays when life is so busy. She is breezing well through her reading class. She really enjoys reading, and the short story approach is perfect for her. She is also doing well with English and spelling.
I probably shouldn't compare kids, but I can't help myself. I find it very interesting that the oldest has an easy time with English and grammar but has some spelling struggles. The middle one has to think a fair amount with grammar, but spells very well. It really is interesting to me to watch them and learn the areas they excel and struggle in!
The little one enjoyed his week of preschool. I believe the proper term is "out of his shell". Ahem. And sometimes not necessarily in a good way. ;) I had to laugh at him yesterday telling me the story of two of the kids in his class "breaking up." As one of my friends pointed out, apparently preschool is serious business these days! He is learning so much and having such a fabulous time. I am really amazed at how much he is learning and how well he is doing. I'll be honest, I've been very nervous about having him home for kindergarten next year, but realizing how much fun he is having learning, and how anxious he is to learn more is so encouraging to me!
Friday, December 3, 2010
1000 Gifts - 41-50
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41. For advent, and how we are already getting in the habit of doing our nightly devotion. Also for easily obtained advent devotionals and ornaments.
42. For all of the December activity and the joy and excitement that comes with the Christmas season.
43. For A Charlie Brown Christmas, which is my favorite Christmas movie of all time.
44. For the Casting Crowns Christmas CD, which has entered my top three list of Christmas CD's that I can't wait to pull out every year.
45. For Handel's Messiah, particularly the "Young Messiah" version of it. I don't think I have ever listened to it without tears and imagining that heaven will sound something like that.
46. For a very pleasant week of school in which work was done without complaining and arguing.
48. For the piano, even though a lot of times the "music" that comes from it strongly resembles pounding, it is giving my children a further appreciation for music.
49. The fact that the Christmas shopping is mostly done. One more "tough" person to buy for, then a couple of easy ones and that's it.
50. The realization of Emmanuel - GOD WITH US - is becoming real to me this year in a different way than before.
Are you listing your 1000 gifts? For what are you thankful? What gifts has our Father blessed you with?
41. For advent, and how we are already getting in the habit of doing our nightly devotion. Also for easily obtained advent devotionals and ornaments.
42. For all of the December activity and the joy and excitement that comes with the Christmas season.
43. For A Charlie Brown Christmas, which is my favorite Christmas movie of all time.
44. For the Casting Crowns Christmas CD, which has entered my top three list of Christmas CD's that I can't wait to pull out every year.
45. For Handel's Messiah, particularly the "Young Messiah" version of it. I don't think I have ever listened to it without tears and imagining that heaven will sound something like that.
46. For a very pleasant week of school in which work was done without complaining and arguing.
48. For the piano, even though a lot of times the "music" that comes from it strongly resembles pounding, it is giving my children a further appreciation for music.
49. The fact that the Christmas shopping is mostly done. One more "tough" person to buy for, then a couple of easy ones and that's it.
50. The realization of Emmanuel - GOD WITH US - is becoming real to me this year in a different way than before.
Are you listing your 1000 gifts? For what are you thankful? What gifts has our Father blessed you with?
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