We went to see Santa...

...Or Grandpa? Before Christmas, we took a trip to Schaumburg, IL to visit Mike's parents who were there because of Glenn's job. It is a short lived job but rewarding, I believe. Glenn plays Santa at the mall there. This is a HUGE mall (a post on mall traffic in Chicago is a post all on to itself, all I have to say is so much for "good tidings to all men" - insert eye roll here). Glenn, Mike's dad is the pm Santa and is a very good one too. We had a total in with Santa so we did not have to spend the TWO HOURS in line - nice. It is good to have connections - now if only we had relatives at Disneyworld....

Hometown Website

Found this by looking at a blog of an old schoolmate. It is the url to the website of my hometown, Tuttle, ND. The website paints an idealistic portrait of a small town surrounded by hunting and fishing paradises. Now, everyone has a special spot in their hearts for their hometown, I know I do. Everything written on the site is truth by the way. But I do know I am happy not to be living there anymore... Check it out - you can see pictures if nothing else.

Click here for Tuttle's Website

Merry Christmas

This Year's Church Christmas Program

Here's some shots and video from this year's Christmas program. I have to say that everyone's kids clean up nice!

Abby is in the preschool group and they came first. I love this song and the actions but I realize that it looks like they all need to use the bathroom - FAST! They all did such a great job and there are some kids who truly want to be heard and hear them we did!



Luke is not a drama person - yet. Maybe as he grows he'll discover a love to preform. I know he didn't mind going up front but it didn't give him any thrills either. We'll have to see if he wants to do it next year.

Blackmail Material

Eeeshhh - It's been a long time

Hello everyone!

It has been a long time since I've posted to this, my main, blog. I'm sorry about that! Let me catch you up on some of what has been happening.

1. Libby can now say "AaaaaaBBBY" and we hear it quite often.
2. Luke will play Joseph in his class Christmas program.
3. I had the Jr. High girls from our church over to bake cookies on Saturday, Abby thought for sure she was one of them. We had a great time. We even took some of the cookies to our local fire station and did a little caroling for them.
4. I have a nasty cold. I don't normally get colds - maybe one a year. But boy, when I get them...
5. We cut down to basic cable. Yes, we did. No more HGTV, Food Network or Fox News. We'll see when the jitters start. After February, we might cut cable altogether and just go with the new over the air digital.

That's some of what has been going on here. You can check out my other blog: The Pressure Crock, if you are interested in a Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe.

My Glittering Idea

As opposed to a "bright" idea, perhaps?

Anyway, it was a fun little inexpensive project that maybe your family would like to do too. This is what we did.

We went to a park that had pine trees. This was so we could find pine cones. I hope it isn't illegal to take pine cones from a city park. I don't think it is but I've heard of crazier things. Maybe you have pine trees on your property ;). I just couldn't bring myself to buy pine cones at Michael's for 2.50 for a small bag of them. But while at Michael's, I did buy some glitter (on sale with a coupon, booya!).

We took the cones, spray glued them then threw them in a bag with gold glitter. Then the kids shook to their hearts content. I suggest you do this project outside, by the way. It look liked Abby was carrying a bag full of fairy dust.



Then I used some regular thread and tied it around the top of the glittered cone. Made a loop and another knot to make the hanging part. Tada! We hung them from the maple tree that I think I killed this year.

Garlic is Confused

Now, that's a good post title. ;)

Late October, I did my annual spring flowering bulb planting. This year I stuck to mostly daffodils but I decided to go ahead and plant some garlic I had in the pantry. Now, the garlic is from China, I had bought a two pound bag of it at Sam's Club (we use a lot of garlic). I had very little hopes of it growing at all. You see, much of the garlic we buy in the stores has been sprayed with an inhibitor, so that it will not sprout before you use it. But I thought, why not? I've got two pounds of the stuff!

So I finished planting my daffodils (about 80) and then came in and grabbed a head of garlic. I decided to plant them on the west side of the house as I had some gladioli over there that came up even though they are not hardy in our zone. I did this because I believed that the garlic I was planting would not be hardy in our zone.

To my extreme surprise, it has sprouted already! In fact, it is about 8 inches tall. We've had temperatures in the single digits at night and it really doesn't look too bothered by it all. I think it is confused. Maybe something got lost in translation between here and China. ;)

I Heart Huckabee

Not the movie. :)

We got to see Mike Huckabee in person today. He had a book signing at Barnes & Nobel. There was quite a crowd! We were in line for about 45 minutes and Mike got to hand him his newest book to sign. I won't tell you what Mike said but Huck agreed. ;)

This Year's Specialtea Samples

A couple of weeks have passed since this year's Holiday Specialtea at church. As always, it was a great event with a WONDERFUL meal and lots of samples. If you don't know about the event, we provide samples of recipes along with recipe cards for each. The idea is so that the ladies can sample and see what might be a recipe to include in their holiday celebrations. So we always try to include some unique recipes. This year's theme was Cookies & Candy. Here is a list. Just click on the name and it will take you to the recipe link. All got good reviews, however, the Cracker Candy topped the list for ease and taste.

Cracker Candy

Mounds Candy

Whipped Shortbread Cookies

Spring Lime Cookies

Buckeyes

Panocha Fudge

Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies

Peppermint Snowball Cookies

We had two others: Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies & Chocolate Coconut Log but alas, those don't have web links. If you'd like me to type them out, then please leave a comment.

My Fickle Daughter

Ahhh, Abby. She is a girl full of contradiction, that's for sure.

The wonderful couple we had watch the children while we were away for our anniversary trip asked a favor of us. You see, Chris is one of the pastors at our church. They were promoting some new children's books and asked if they could "borrow" Abby for a skit during announcements. Abby was to say "This one is my favorite!" as she picked a book out of a basket and hand it to Rachel and she would start reading it to Abby. Chris would then come up and talk about the books.

So, Chris & Rachel came over Saturday night to practice a little with Abby. Well, Abby turned out to be in a very uncooperative mood. First, she was too tired. Then, she was scared. Rachel explained that she had bought a little surprise for Abby for after the skit and she would get it then. Abby perked up but still said she wouldn't say the lines and that was fine. All she'd need to do was get the book and nod her head when asked a question.

The next morning we hustle out the door. I drop Abby off with Rachel and go to the nursery with Libby. (Mike took care of Luke and ran the video slides for the music that morning so we didn't sit together during service). Everything is going as planned and the time comes for the little skit. And I see a microphone is involved.....

Abby happily goes up on stage with Rachel, gets the book as requested. Rachel then asks her if this book was her favorite. (This is when the nod was supposed to take place). But the microphone is now in play. I see Abby's eyes light up and twinkle with excitement and anticipation. She then, to my surprise, bends down to the microphone and says in a breathless voice..

"I like this book. It is my favorite. Because my Mom told me to say so.."

Needless to say, the congregation laughed. I was slightly mortified. But, hey, at least the girl was obedient! With salesmanship like that, the books sold out.

Abby had done so well and was very excited to get her "surprise." With sheer anticipation she opened the gift bag and then she saw it. "It" was a very cute grey, stuffed hippo. Abby was completely let down. Crestfallen. I'm sure she expected a crown or some other beauty pageant worthy reward. But she didn't say anything. I was very proud of her because I remember getting a rag doll for Christmas one year and having the same excitement. And I threw it down in disgust after opening the present and said "I DON'T LIKE IT!" to the absolute horror of my mother as everyone watched on (yes, I grew up in a sit-in-a-circle-and-open-one-by-one family).

But, as this post is titled. My daughter can be fickle. After church, she decided she loved the new hippo and named her Adeline and slept with her that following night. Adeline is a very nice new addition to the family as she is very quite (according to Abby) and sleeps very well (again, according to Abby).

These happenings give me encouragement that one day, she will start liking all those veggies that she currently detests. After all, a girl can change her mind, right?

Halloween 2008

We had absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather on Halloween this year. At most houses, the people just sat outside with their bowls of candy. We had a good time seeing our neighbors and other kids in the neighborhood. Here is a picture of the kiddos dressed up. It was the first time Libby got to go (although she didn't get any candy) :)

Carving Pumpkins

Luke has been begging me for about a month to carve a pumpkin. We haven't done one in years, I don't really like jack-o-lanterns or I should say, the history of them. But we decided we would do one this year. We decided that since Luke was so interested in them that he should help with the process. Here is a picture of what he thought of that....



Here is the finished concept.



You can find this and other patterns on-line. Just google: pumpkin carving patterns or something like that.

Fireproof the Movie

I wanted to encourage all of you married people to go see the movie Fireproof. It is well worth the effort!! Gotta love Kirk Cameron. It is a great movie for understanding your spouse and some of the workings of successful marriages. GO SEE IT!!!!!

Click here to find out where it is playing near you.

My Absence

Sorry for my absence this last week! Mike and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary by going to Galena without the kids. This required an inordinate amount of preparation that left less time for blogging. But hey, the trip is going to make a great post! ;)

We left our kids in the capable hands of a young couple we know. They don't have any children (yet). Mike and I did a similar thing before we had children and it was one of the best experiences for us as a couple. They stayed here at our house and from all reports, the kids and them had a great time.

So we left on Wednesday, the 8th. It was a great little drive of about 2 hours to get to the city. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and picked up all the brochures that we could carry. Then we made reservations for dinner at Vinny Vanuchi's. After that we took the six mile jaunt to our lodgings The Goldmoor Inn. We were pretty swanked out at the site of our room. They had romantic music playing and the lights were all dim. We went ahead and sprung for the anniversary package (which included dinner the next evening) so there was a fancy meat and cheese tray waiting for us. The bed was a four poster with a canopy, very swank as you can see from Mike relaxing.



So off we went to dinner a Vinny V's. Now, I am going to truly ruffle some feathers here. I ordered the chicken marsala and Mike got the veal parmesean and frankly we were both TOTALLY disappointed. We had heard it was one of the best restaurants there. I would not recommend it. Everything kind of lacked flavor. But the service was pretty good and the garlic bread was VERY good. Maybe it is just our taste buds?

After dinner we decided to go to the Mark Twain show. Jim West was the performer and he is quite the talented guy. There was some mess up with the person who was supposed to open the theater so he ended up opening it up for us. So we got to meet and chat with him before the show. Everyone's normal til you get to know them is all I have to say. ;) He started the show and we paid at the intermission.



The breakfast the next morning was awesome. I'm going to have to learn how to make eggs benedict is all I have to say. Here we are in front of the hotel before we left the hotel.







We went a couple miles south to the skiing area where there is a lookout point onto the Mississippi. There was the really cool looking swing set in a play ground that we decided to give a try. But we found out you don't really swing on it, instead you spin and bounce, a little. Mike said it was one of his favorite things of the whole trip.



Mike being goofy:


Us with the grand ole river behind us:


So off to town we went to go into all the little shops. Here is a picture of part of the street. It is amazing that all these old buildings are still standing!



We found lots of neat little things, went into a candy store (for the kids, you know) and had a great lunch at Durty Gurt's - a burger joint. I think I gained 5 pounds on the trip even with all the walking we did!

Then we left the tourist trap, I mean, shops and went to Grant's Home. Yep, President Grant. Several townspeople gave him the house when he returned home from the Civil War. Pays to be on the winning side.



View from Grant's home:




We were tired and went back to our room to change and rest before our seven course gourmet meal. Here's what the menu was and the view from our table:

Amuse Bouche
Duck Confit with maple syrup gastrique and red cabbage micros
Cheese Plate
Artisanal cheeses withapple-cinnamon chutney and crostinis
Soup
Roasted butternut squash with smoked paprika oil and smoked sea salt
Sorbet
French mimosa
Entree
(My choice) Grilled boar strip loin with roasted mushrooms bordelaise sauce and red Russian kale micros
(Mike's choice) Roasted quail with black truffle risotto and pepper cress micros
Salad
Rasted pumpkin, cranberries and pecans with micro mix and pumpkin seed vinaigrette
Sweetness
Baked bittersweet chocolate mousse with mocha meringue

It was all very good and different. About the third course, I laughed and called us "foodies" and made a "foodie" symbol (an F in front of the mouth). We're such dorks.



The next morning we headed back home on our actual anniversary, the 10th. We went to the Crystal Cave in Dubuque and that was pretty cool. Literally cool.







We had lunch at a total dive, I mean total dive. But the people were super nice. We took one last little jog over to the Spanish Mine's park and went home.



And that was about it! Mike had a cold the whole time but he pushed through. He's such a good husband. I feel so blessed to have him and to be able to take a little vacation away with him. It was well worth all the preparation. :)

Spoon Learning

An eighteen-month-old can learn to use a spoon very quickly if you give them a bowl of ice cream (read: before any of it melts). *sigh*

First Pony Tail

This pony has one short tail but I thought I'd share anyway!

Handwriting

So, here's a question for you all. Are your children learning "printing," like you learned to print? Luke's school's method of teaching handwriting is much different than what I learned and frankly, it drives me crazy. Mike informed me that even my printing is not "printing" but a lot like cursive. But, it is how I learned. I can VERY clearly remember those letter examples lined up near the ceiling on these big cards. The biggest differences are between a's and k's.

I figured this called for a little research and I discovered that there are different handwriting plans for teachers.

Check it out here:
Free Handwriting Fonts for Teachers

It looks to me as though I was taught the Jardotty font. Luke, I believe, is learning the Print Clearly font. It reminds me very much of the way all the foreign exchange students printed in high school. Maybe our small rural school was behind the times (20 odd years ago....).

A New Blog

Hello all!

Just wanted to let you know about my newest blog: The Pressure Crock. It focuses on cooking and such. Take a look if you'd like!

Missing Money

The good kind! Woo Hoo!

So, I heard about this website called missingmoney.org and one evening I thought I'd check it out. It searches 39 states for unclaimed property. Every state has one of these unclaimed property divisions, it's just a process of finding your state's. I went through and checked every state that I've lived in for unclaimed property in my name. Nothing. Nada. Zip. But then, I search for Mike's name.

Tada!

We find that in North Dakota he has an amount over 100 dollars in unclaimed property. Nice!

A little research shows that it is from an energy company in Texas. The best explanation is that it was a deposit for an apartment that Mike was in when he co-oped down there. Often, the next batch of co-op students would take over the previous season's co-op students' residences; to save on down-payments and such and to make life easier. Mike had given the energy company his North Dakota address but there was a type-o in it. Thus, it never got delivered to him.

Until now!

Mike got a check for 120.16 dollars in the mail today. Nice!

So go check the websites for your names - just in case.

I didn't forget...

Abby's birthday! It was last Sunday and she felt so special! She kept telling everyone "Happy Birthday!" We explained that it wasn't their birthday. She replied, "but it's MY birthday!"

Here are some pics of my lovely four-year-old daughter on her day.

Rallying The Politicals

Yesterday was a first for me. I think it is good to experience "firsts" even if you are in your 30's *wink* *wink* Mike and I went to a political rally. We both grew up in North Dakota and for some reason (maybe it's the 3 electoral votes it has or the harsh winters), very few, if any Presidential candidates did any campaigning there. On a side note, my dad said that if they did come thousands and thousands would show up and I believe him!

So, who did we go see? Nobama! But the "mavericks" themselves, McCain and Palin! I can't take credit for the "Nobama" because we saw it on some buttons you could purchase there. Anyway, we went, loved to hear them speak in person. Well, Mike got to see them speak. If I ever hear him complain about being tall again, I'm going to remind him of this experience. They spoke about the economy, about American workers, about the flood here in Cedar Rapids and what needs to happen with Federal government. Pretty much the same thing you here every night on the evening news. There were some protesters, that was pretty cool. We saw them on the news at 10 and apparently they just wanted the "peacefully" make there position known. Yeah, if I wanted to be peaceful protester, for some reason I don't think I would start screaming anti-Republican ideals in a Republican rally. Call me crazy for saying that. No arrests were made. ;)

My last note, McCain and Palin are much shorter in person!

Enjoy the pictures. I uploaded them through blogger so you should be able to click on them to see them larger.

The Darndest Things

That's what kids say anyway.

Last week we were all eating lunch. It was one of Luke's days off of school, so he was there with us too. Luke speaks up and says, "I just can't believe it, I JUST can't believe it! I'm a person, a REAL person." Now, call me weird but I've had those same thoughts too. Although, I believe they came to me much later, like high school. So I said to Luke, "Yes, you are. And isn't cool that God made you to be a real person?" I know the philosopher Descartes said "I think therefore I am." But along the lines of C.S. Lewis and others - the only reason we think is because God gave us that capability.

I also took Abby to the doctor. She was having quite a few potty accidents and it just did not seem right which led to me suspecting an UTI or bladder infection. At the doctor's office, the doctor asked Abby if it hurt to go potty. Abby replied, "Well, sometimes it feels like I'm trying to push a baby out of my tummy." I think the doctor was slightly shocked/amused that she said this. I simply shrugged my shoulders and said that she must have heard me mention it. Thankfully, Abby is just fine and she hasn't had an accident since we went to the doctor.

Cowboy Luke

Luke had a great birthday last Saturday. I'm sorry that it has taken me this long to post! We had a very busy day: opening presents, baking, decorating, and eating a cake, playing with the neighbors, going to the Playstation and then ending the night over at a neighbor's house at a bonfire. Whew! And the next day was about the same, including us finally dedicating Libby at church.

Luke received a gun and rifle for his birthday. He told me that it was the best present EVER. He was "dead" serious about them and spent the day shooting the "bad" guys and deer. Here are some pictures. And yes, if you are wondering, the cake was commissioned by Luke - he made a drawing instructing me on how he wanted it. His words when he saw it: "oh, cool!"

Tomorrow's Snacks

Since Luke's birthday is Saturday, I am in charge of bringing snacks for the first week of school. Tomorrow they will celebrate Luke's birthday so that means I get to bring cup cakes. I haven't made these before but Luke picked them out. They are called Cream Filled Cupcakes and I got the recipe from (where else?) Allrecipes.com. I made up the chocolate icing but the "hostess" decorating idea came from the website.





I think they are adorable!

First Day of Kindergarten

It is official. Luke is truly a Kindergartner now. Yesterday was his first day back at Holloway House where he also attended preschool. We chose for him to go there instead of public school because we really loved the program. He will most likely attend public school next year but I'm leaving room for God to move in my heart in regards to homeschooling. Anyway, I digress, here are are some pictures from that morning.





After I picked him up, he got interrogated, er, questioned by me in regards to what he did the whole day. He apparently really liked lunchtime and rest time, oh, and snack time. Typical boy, thinking with his stomach! He also was upset that it wasn't supper time. Apparently, when he heard the term "all day" he thought that meant he'd come home right at supper time. After all, that's what Daddy does!