Indoor football

When I bought the flag football set for Cade for Christmas my goal was for the boys to play OUTSIDE!!! They could gather their neighborhood friends and burn off energy and enjoy the game of football. Little did I know that it would be raining for days on end and the field would be set up in my living room with dad as the opposing team. Let me remind you that dad has deemed this the "no-kids" room not because our couches are free from stains or the carpet is clear of any mysterious spots. He just likes one room in our quaint home to remain clutter free unless, that is, if it is being used as our football field. Before I could even get the dishes cleared from the table the game was set up and on with Aric/Avery vs. Dad. Cade got to view from the sidelines (dinner table) because he refused to eat the lasagna that dad cooked for dinner. Which by the way was fabulous with the Bruschetta that he made from scratch. It didn't last long before we had flags thrown and the word "cheater" thrown around. The kids were no match for dad and I believe his ending words were "I own you!"

2:38am

That was the time that our eldest decided to quietly creep into our room, come to MY side of the bed and gently tap me on the shoulder trying to wake me from a dead sleep to see if we could open Christmas presents. He just as quietly retreated back to his room after being shut down. At 4ish I heard our door squeak again and rolled over to greet his sweet face and remind him that it was not time yet. Six o'clock didn't get by either with out him trying to rouse us from our slumber. Finally at 7:30am he joined forces with his brother and sister and succeeded in getting us out of bed and to the tree. Boxes and wrapping paper everywhere it was over in a flash and everyone was happy (except dad who has the privilege of "some assembly required").

After our lazy morning we headed over to my parents house to celebrate the day with them, my sisters family and my grandparents who were rescued earlier this week from the snow thankfully by Jess. We filled ourselves with our traditional fondue, twice baked potatoes and jello salad. Later we topped it off with Jenelle's homemade pumpkin cheesecake. YUMMY! Due to the severe heat wave, that is my mother's house, the little kids and big kids quickly opted to head outside and take full advantage of the four-wheeler and snow.

Konnichi wa!

For those that may not know Konnichi wa is hello in Japanese and that is where are Christmas Eve began. We spent a great evening at Bush Gardens with Jess' family where we ate and drank until we were merry. Although we were a bit worried about food choices for the kiddo's it turned out to be no problem and the boys couldn't get enough! Shoes were a no no which for my kids is awesome plus we had our own dining room and sat on pillows. Once we were back home the kids could hardly wait to open gifts and among the favorites were legos, electric scooters, drum set and for Avery her new stuffed puppy and a Husker cheerleading outfit. We are very blessed and had a wonderful night.

Twice in one week!

Not even pizza is easy for me.

I bet you didn't believe it could happen but it did. Dinner is ruined again and Papa Murphy comes to the rescue! I am SO glad I have them on speed dial! After my husband took a two hour trip in the snow to pick me up from work today we stopped by the store to pick up a quick and easy lasagna dinner. We made it home and I started preheating the oven only to discover that this quick dinner takes TWO hours to cook when it's frozen. Woops! That was definitely not the easy answer. I dialed up our favorite and cheap stand-by and Jess is out the door to pick it up. Soon after he left I started smelling smoke. I didn't think much of it as I cooked Carmel corn the night before and thought a few kernels must have dropped on the bottom of the oven. No worries. Then I started seeing smoke coming out of the oven door and the air vent. Not to panic I quickly opened the door to find billowing smoke pouring out everywhere. I then found the pan to the Carmel corn with small flames all around it still sitting in the oven. I wish this was a scratch and sniff because my pizza just isn't tasting the same and my quick and easy dinner has now cost me around $30. We should have just gone out in the first place.

Ham

Ever cooked it? That's the beauty of ham it's precooked! At least that's what I thought when I decided to pull out a ham for dinner last night. It's amazing in itself that I actually thought ahead as far as what's for dinner but none the less I still managed to screw it up. We all know I'm no Betty Crocker when it comes to making meals but I did pull out the old cook book to see how exactly I'm supposed to heat up this ham. I easily flipped to the meat section and found the roasting guide, set the oven temp, turned on the timer and waited eagerly for the delicious smell of cooking ham. My first clue that something had gone terribly wrong should have been that there was no delicious smell of ham when the timer beeped. Second clue was that my ham was only slightly warm to the touch after an hour and half in the oven. What happened you asked? Did I throw a fit and rant and rave about hating to cook? Did I threaten that we needed to go out to dinner because I screwed up again? Yes, to all of the above. I'm sure you are wondering what went wrong and thankfully I'm able to laugh at myself and will explain. My first error was that dreaded cookbook. I wasn't aware that the "internal temp" of the ham should be 140 degrees instead of the oven. Second error is that they have the nerve to wrap that stupid ham in plastic which does not cook very well in an oven. Third error is that I thought this was going to be an easy dinner. After my minor melt down and the fact that my sweet husband was dressed and ready to go out if needed WE managed to salvage my ham by quickly slicing it up and throwing it on the BBQ for all to enjoy.

What were they thinking????

Who would do such a thing as put gravel on icy roads??? That is exactly what my kids woke up to this morning. They are obviously upset but have found new ways of sledding down the sidewalks. Anything to keep them from climbing the walls because of being cooped up and home from school.

Oh Christmas Tree.....

Don't let the smiling faces fool you. Our tree hunt wasn't always filled with oh so much merry or joy. It pretty much started off with a melt down on the car ride there (the child's name will be omitted to protect their privacy). That issue was solved by the time we got there however, and for a short while things were going great. We got our saw and tarp and headed off into the trees. The boys had their annual chase/hide-and-go-seek game with dad. Avery and I wondered aimlessly through 100's of trees. It wasn't until it came down to which tree we were going to pick did the arguing start. This one is too tall, too short, too fat, too skinny, why don't you ever pick the tree I like?, the top is not right and so on... After all of that a tree is somehow agreed upon and the boys get to work sawing it down. This is their first year working together to try and cut it down and by no surprise to me it didn't go very well. They started off great but attitudes came quick and then the tears followed. Jess and I stood by giggling to ourselves thinking WOW THIS IS FUN! After what seemed like a lifetime the tree fell over and the three of them carried it to the car. Amazingly the tears dried up at the mention of free candy canes and all was right in the world again. Somehow I think we will definitely remember these tree hunts.