Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

We had so much fun today. N and I went to a "Noon Year's Eve" party and concert this morning. It started at 10:30 and ended at noon. The woman (Ms J) who used to teach the music classes N and I went to sold her music business about a year ago and went solo as a children's music writer/performer. She put on a concert (of her music) in conjunction with the noon year's eve countdown. She did lots of fun interactive things with her concert to keep the kids engaged. She had the kids yell and do hand motions with a few songs and she threw lots of beach balls during one song. Ms J's helpers handed out bubble paper for each child to play with during the bubble paper song. Thousands of bubbles floated down from the ceiling during one song. We counted down to noon and hundreds of balloons fell from the ceiling.

We had plans to go out for lunch with our friends after the concert, so we headed outside to get in our cars to drive to a restaurant. Half way to the car a monsoon struck. I'm not kidding. It was only slightly sprinkling when we left the building and by the time we were half way from our car the skies opened and the rain just poured. We were soaking wet and cold, so we decided to go home, change our clothes and invite our friends to our house for lunch. We had frozen pizza, peaches and brownies for lunch then the kids played while the Mommies visited. So fun!!

Shortly after our friends went home my mom arrived to watch the boys so D and I could go camera shopping and out for a nice dinner. D and I really enjoyed getting dressed up to go out for a nice meal. We also liked being able to camera shop without our two little monkeys hanging all over us. We are home now....watching reruns of "Pickers" and doing more camera research. When we went into Best Buy to look at their selection we were sure we pretty much knew what camera we were going to buy. We just went to the store to hold the camera to confirm our decision....Well, we are glad we went to the store to test out the camera because we held it, tried to work it and realized that is not at all what we want.. So we're kind of back to square one. Therefore, we are researching cameras, blogging and watching Pickers for New Year's Eve night. We hear Guilianna and Bill are supposed to be the big guests on one of the New Year's shows, but we're not so sure we'll be up to see that. We decided we'd rather start the new year off with as much sleep as possible. Thank goodness for DVR.

I have a few pictures of the concert below. Please excuse the quality. You will see why we are in the market for a new camera. The pictures aren't great and D has been holding one part of his camera together with duct tape for well over six months now. We're due.

Bubbles falling from the ceiling

Bubble paper

Balloons falling at noon

Playin in the Snow

The temperature warmed up and the wind slowed down a bit today, so we headed outside to play in the snow. I'm usually not one to go out and play in the snow. I don't like to get cold and wet and I don't like the hassle of putting on all the snow gear. I also don't like taking off all the snow gear and finding a place to hang it up to dry. Oh, and I like the time inside by myself to get a few things done. With all that said...I decided to stop being a scrooge about playing in the snow...for once. I'm not sayin I'm gonna go outside every time the boys (and I mean all three boys) want to play in the white fluffy stuff, but I will do it occasionally. Because, honestly, I did have a good time today. I was glad I went out. I enjoyed watching L negotiate the rough, deep, slippery terrain. Last time we took him out he could not move. He was like a big marshmallow standing still in the driveway because he could NOT move in the big boots we put on him. This time we (I mean D, our snow enthusiast) decided to try something different. He put socks on N's feet, then plastic sandwich bags on top of the socks. He then put on L's snow pants before putting on an old pair of N's tennis shoes. This method worked quite well. L was ecstatic because he could walk and I was happy because his feet stayed warm and dry.

I mainly walked around and explored with L while D and N built things. I also took L for a little (and very slow) sled ride. He can't quite get the hang of staying balanced and sitting upright while the sled is moving.

N attempted to carve out an igloo in the snow, but decided he needed Daddy's help in doing so. Unfortunately the best place to make an igloo was right next to our garbage cans that were sitting out for garbage day. Despite my best effort to exclude the cans from the pictures, I could not quite get a good shot without them. D built a huge snow man. It's slightly taller than me, so it's pretty tall. We used an old scarf, water bottle lids, an ear of corn and a broken bucket from a loader toy to complete the snow man. Oh, and D used tree branches for arms.

I'm glad I went outside to play with everyone. The fresh air and sunshine (what little of it there was) sure felt good! We already miss being outside and we're at the beginning of winter. Eek!

Christmas 2010

Christmas was great this year. We celebrated with D's family on the 24th. While getting everyone showered, dressed and fed and getting all our Christmas stuff and baby gear thrown in the car is a challenge, it's worth it. I always try to get as much stuff as I possibly can get done the night before. I get clothes laid out, suitcase packed (we can fill a carry on with baby stuff even if we are only taking a day trip), presents in a laundry basket set in a visible, yet untouchable location. We don't to forget them but we don't want the boys to get ahold of them. In the morning when the troops are fed and dressed I throw the last few things in the suitcase and pile things by the back door. When things are by the door that's D's cue to start loading up the big black sleigh, err truck. The moment I check off the last item on the packing list and sit down in the car is the moment I start to enjoy the holiday. I usually make an audible sigh of relief that everything and everyone is on it's way to our destination....Then the kids start to ask for things and I'm reminded that being the driver is an easier job than being the passenger.

N doing some Christmas themed activity pages in the car.

As I was saying...We spent Christmas Eve at D's parents. Maybe the pep talk I gave N in the car on the way to T's house actually stayed with him because he waited his turn to open his gifts like I asked him to. Good job, Buddy! A gorgeous snow fall took place while we opened gifts. It was really neat to look across the room and watch family open presents while the snow fell outside the window in the background. We enjoyed opening presents, eating lunch and playing with all our new toys/presents. The snow fall mentioned above was gorgeous, but we needed to head home before the weather got too bad and the roads impassable, so we headed out. When we got home we had enough time to unload, take naps and get dressed in time to head to church

.

Honestly, we are not regular church goers. Every weekend we talk about going to church, but have a hard time doing so with L's current nap schedule. Since we don't get to church too often we weren't sure how the boys would act at service on Christmas Eve. We decided to attend the"Family" service. This option did not offer child care, but it worked out well because the majority of the people attending had children with them, so they were understanding of any "kid activity" that took place throughout the service. N went down to the front of the sanctuary for children's time. I was very, very proud of the way he conducted himself up there. He kept his hands to himself and sat still during the whole thing. He did not stand up and attempt to pull over the advent candle as he did last year. He's come a long way! After church we came home, ate supper and got ready for Santa. N sat out a cookie bar and a couple carrots for Mr. Claus and the reindeer. We forgot to sprinkle reindeer dust outside, but the Big Guy and his crew managed to find their way to our house anyway. ;)

N was super excited for Santa to come to our house. He asked me a couple times if our chimney was clean so Santa could come down it without getting dirty on the way down. I assured him it was clean. N was very interested in hearing Santa's sleigh bells. We have a video monitor set up in both boys' rooms, so I watched N all evening to see what he doing. Every time he heard a sound he'd jump out of bed and run to his doorway. He'd stand there a few seconds, then run back to his bed. He did this for about an hour before laying in bed. When he'd hear a sound he'd sit up in bed, then lay back down after a minute or two. When that got tiring he finally fell asleep.

Christmas morning was wonderful. The boys actually slept in until a decent time. I do think L was up in the night, so we didn't get a full, uninterrupted night of sleep like we'd asked for on our Christmas lists, but we woke up fairly rested anyway. I popped an egg casserole and some cinnamon rolls into the oven while we opened Santa's gifts. We ate then we opened our gifts from Mommy and Daddy to the boys.

N is in LOVE with the huge combine Santa brought him. I pleaded with Santa not to bring this. I told Mr Claus that we need to broaden our kids' horizons and get them toys related to things other than farming machinery. Good thing Santa did not listen 'cause N says "it's the one thing he's always wanted and the best thing he's ever gotten."

I got a "kitchen helper" from the boys. I've always wanted one of these. I've been wanting one for a few years but could never justify the cost. I get the One Step Ahead magazine in the mail all the time. I flip it open to the page with the kitchen helper (or their version of it) on it. I guess I must have left it open to that page enough times for D to pick up on my desire to have one!

If I had to guess I'd say D's favorite gift is the Wii we got for the boys. I had no idea how quickly he'd get sucked into those games!

L hasn't latched onto any one toy yet. He's still at the age where he just wants to do whatever N is doing.

Even though we all have our favorite new toys, we've been playing with everything we received. We are very fortunate that we had all day Christmas day to play and get ready for the company that came to our house on Sunday. It was a relaxing, yet productive day.

Sunday was fun. My family came to our house for the morning and early afternoon. We Skyped my sister who lives over seas (as you can see in a previous post). We opened gifts after enjoying a nice thirty minute conversation with my sis and her hubby. Gift unwrapping went really well. The kids did a great job of taking turns! N loved the first gift he opened (Magniformers from Grammy and Grandpa) so much that I had to keep asking him to please put down that toy and open another gift! We enjoyed a nice meal and some play time before my sister and her family had to shove off. My mom hung around for a little while after everyone else left to chat and help clean up.

I think we have most of the Christmas dishes cleaned up and put away by now. All our new toys are still out, but all the wrapping paper and packaging is thrown away (or recycled if possible). The tree and decorations will stay up a little bit longer before being tucked away again. Even though all of our celebrations are over, I'm still not ready to put the tree away. We are lucky enough that D gets a nice long break over the holidays. Usually when we put the tree away that marks the end of D's break and means we have to get back to reality. I'm not ready for that just yet. I say, "Let's enjoy Daddy's winter break and ease back into reality as gradually as possible."

Cookie Dough Truffles

I saw this cookie dough truffle recipe online and my mouth instantly started watering. I didn't have all the ingredients the recipe calls for, but I did have a bag of chocolate chip cookie mix in the pantry. So I improvised. I combined the cookie mix and one stick of butter as the recipe on the back of the bag calls for. I omitted the egg. I scooped the dough using my cookie scoop and placed them in the freezer. I ended up leaving them in the freezer longer than I originally intended, so before rolling them in chocolate I let them thaw for a bit in the fridge. I slowly melted dark chocolate chips in the microwave and rolled the dough balls in the chocolate. I let them sit for a while to dry. I served them at my family Christmas and they were a hit. They were sooo delicious! Rich but delish! To recap, this is what I used:

One bag cookie mix

One stick butter

Dark chocolate chips (Ghiradelli 60% are the best!!)

Photo of the Day

Trying to Skype with my sister. We could see her and hear her. She could see us, but she could not hear us.

We eventually got it to work.

School Program

Today was N's school Christmas program. Grammy came over for it. We had lunch at our house first then took some pictures in front of the Christmas tree before heading to N's school. The program took place at a time of the day when L usually naps, so D stayed home with him...however, the little booger changed up his own schedule today and was awake. D still stayed home with him and that was just as well. I doubt L would have lasted through that much sitting.

N did a good job. He sat very nicely with his classmates. He got up and sang when it was his turn. He knew all the words to the songs and sang every one. He knew all the actions to the songs and did them really well. I'm so proud. There was one point in the show where an adult read a book to the children. That part got long in my opinion, but N was really good and sat still and listened. Everyone stayed after the show to eat cookies and see Santa. N was more interested in the cookies than Santa, so we didn't wait in line for the big guy. After playing in the all purpose room with some other kids for a while N said he was ready to go home.

When we got home we decorated gingerbread cupcake houses with Grammy. N decorated one house and one tree. Then I think he got tired and lost interest. So we packed things up and played trains downstairs. You just never know how much interest he's going to have a in craft or baking project. It was fun, though. I think I'll freeze the other houses and decorate those some other time. Maybe on a day when we don't have so many other things going on.

After burning off some steam in the basement and eating some dinner, we headed out to a local Christmas light display. We listened to Christmas music as we rolled through the lights.

There was a line of cars steadily moving through the display, but there was not a huge line to get in. It was a perfect night for doing this. There's snow on the ground, but the roads are safe to drive on. We are supposed to get a deluge of snow later this week, so I'm glad we were able to do this before that hits. It was fun. Both boys were mesmerized by the whole thing. We're lucky to have such a neat activity so close to our house.

Friday Funnies

Some of these "Friday funnies" are really old, but I thought I'd share them any way.

Conversation with N

Me: I said "oh man" for some reason.

N: "Why do you say ah-men, Mama? We say "ah-men" at school.

He thought I said Amen instead of Oh man.

We purchased pumpkins a couple weeks ago with plans of carving them. Then the weather got really warm and it just didn't seem right to carve pumpkins in warm weather. That's something you do on a cool fall day, right? We never got around to carving them, but we did paint a couple. Nick keeps asking me, "when are we going to jack-o-latern our pumpkins, Mom?"

N and Daddy's conversation a few days ago.

Daddy: "N, Daddy's going to a farm toy show tomorrow. What should I buy?"

N: "A toy, Dad!" (Like dah, Dad. What else would you buy?)

N rarely eats pop tarts. The other day he had one at home that was (dye free) cherry pomegranate. It had white frosting and pink sprinkles on the top. N pointed to the pink sprinkles and said "This is rosemary, Mom. Can't you tell? It's pink like a rose. That's why they call it rosemary."

Yesterday out of the blue N says to me, " Mom, I have a band of tiny little people playing music in my head." He holds up his fingers to show me that they are "this big" so they can fit inside of his head.

Today while eating french fries N says, "Mom, I like sea salt on my fries."

The Real Santa

So, if you've been keeping up with the blog, you would remember me mentioning that N is not so sure he believes in Santa. Well, he believes in Santa, but he's not so sure every Santa he sees is THE Santa. He's seen several Santas pictured in the newspaper and on television. He even stood by Santa (didn't want to sit on his lap. I can't blame him) at the Polar Express event D took him to. Each time he's seen these Santas he says, "That's not the real Santa. That's just a guy dressed up like Santa." Well, today N saw the real Santa! There was a heavier set man with a long white and gray beard at N's school/church today. The man was sitting in the common area sorting through recycle bins. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, jeans and boots. As we rounded the corner and got within eye site of the man, N slowed down his walking pace and stared at him. I noticed the man's beard and looked at him wondering what he was doing, but N was thinking something else. When we got home N said, "Mom, that was the real Santa at school today! Did you see him? He wasn't wearing his red coat and pants, but that was him. He was working, so he didn't have his Santa clothes on, but that was him, that was him!"

Gingerbread House and Polar Express

We've had a lot of fun celebrating the holidays the last couple weeks. Last Saturday I took N to a gingerbread decorating "workshop" at our local library. This activity is very popular in our town, so it books up really quickly. I am glad my friend, J caught me at the library back in October and told me I better sign up for it. It was so much fun and it was only $5!! The kids arrive at the library and the gingerbread houses are already assembled. Each house is "glued" (with icing) to a piece of foil covered cardboard. Each child receives a baggie of icing and is told to go ahead and decorate. There were several tables set up with four seats at each table. Every table had several bowls and plates of candies, cookies, pretzels and cereals for the kids to decorate with. Towards the middle of the workshop the head librarian gave each child one Peep brand marshmallow in the shape of a Christmas tree to put on his/her house. N was very interested in creating his house. We found two Nilla wafers that were stuck together and attached them to the house because they looked like a snow man. He was very meticulous about putting gum drops around the house in a pattern to serve as a fence. He was also interested in tasting nearly every candy, cookie, cereal. He'd say, " I will just try ONE of these, Mom. Just one." Christmas music was playing in the back ground and a nice blanket of snow had fallen on the ground outside earlier that day. It was such a great day! I loved it and N did too.

Tonight D took N to a nearby park for their "Polar Express" night while L and I stayed home. N and D had to leave before dinner to get to the event on time, so the two of them drove through McD's to get supper on the way there. N was super excited about that. The Polar Express event had lots of activities. I wasn't there, but I hear a conductor read part of the "Polar Express" book to everyone while they waited their turn to board the train. Then they got on the train and the rest of the story was read to everyone over the speaker system during the ride. The train ride was an open air train, so everyone had to bundle up for the ride. D and N were prepared with their hats and gloves, but D said N wouldn't wear his gloves because he didn't want to drop his ticket. If you've seen the Polar Express movie you know there's a part in the movie when one of the passengers drops her ticket and gets in big trouble. N remembered that from the movie and took that very seriously on his ride! The train ride ended at the train depot that was decorated as the North Pole. From there everyone got a ride to the main lodge where they got to talk to Santa.

As N and D approached Santa N told D, "That's not the real Santa. That's just a guy dressed up like Santa." N wore his "Santa Rocks" shirt and Santa noticed it. He said, "That's right. Santa rocks!" N thought that was cool. Santa asked N if he's a good boy. He asked if N puts away his toys, his clothes and helps with the cooking at home. N said "I do" to all of them. D said N warmed up to Santa and started to believe he might be the real deal. The thing that Santa said that won Nick over was when Santa said, "Wow! You've grown a lot since last year!" Then Santa asked N what he wants for Christmas and N said, "A John Deere tractor and a red hay bailer that makes circle hay." After talking to Santa and getting a picture with him, N and D had hot cocoa and cookies while they watched Rudolf on a big screen TV and sat in bean bags. Then N made his way through an inflatable maze before heading outside for pony rides. When D and N got to the pony rides, they realized there was a line and N said he was tired and would rather go home. He came home with a picture of he and Santa, a jingle bell and a Polar Express ticket. Apparently there were also ten crafts and a couple animal shows, but D and N did not participate in those because they didn't have time. They had a fun, busy night!

Peppermint Popcorn

I actually made this recipe several weeks ago, but because I gave it to a friend as her Secret Santa, I haven't been able to post it. Here it is. It's yummy. I think if I did it over again I'd use the seedless popcorn that comes already popped in the bag. I say that because, for some reason, my popcorn had lots of seeds in it which made it a little hard to enjoy this yummy treat.

Peppermint Popcorn

2 Bags popcorn (or about 16 cups already popped popcorn)

1 box candy canes

2 cups white chocolate chips

Smash candy canes. I put the candy canes in a small bag and put that small bag into a larger bag to reduce the candy cane mess. Pop the popcorn. Melt chocolate chips. Mix crushed candy canes into melted chocolate. Pour over popcorn. Stir popcorn and chocolate to evenly coat. Lay out on wax paper to cool.

Merry Medical Moment: Gross!

Now that it's December and Christmas is approaching I shall place my tongue firmly in my cheek and call these "Merry Medical Moments" instead of Medical Moments. 'Cause why have a medical moment when you can have a merry medical moment?

So, the most recent of our medical moments is absolutely gross. Totally, completely gross. So if you're eating or if you have a weak stomach, then this is your warning. Stop eating. Stop reading.

With that said... Sunday night. Yes, another Sunday night. When sickness strikes at our house, it strikes on Sunday nights. Not sure why, but it does. Sunday evening D and I returned from a wonderful date afternoon. (We saw the movie Morning Glory. It's cute and entertaining.) We thanked D's parents for rescuing relieving us of our parental duties for a few hours and we stepped, no leaped back into reality. Shortly after D's parents left L made a stinky diaper. When D asked me to come over and look at it I knew something was wrong. It was half "normal," half red. "Did he eat play-doh? Geesh, that's red!" A quick call to D's parent's and they confirmed L did not eat play-doh nor did he eat any red food. Then what is it? I called peds after-hours and they said several things, but the main thing was to give it some time and three red diaps before taking him in to the ER. Time went on, another diaper came. It was all red. We worried, we contemplated our options and decided to take L to the ER. D's Mom returned to our house to stay with N while we took L to the hospital. We took the two diapers to the hospital with us. Sounds gross, I know, but we are soooo glad we did! If your child ever has an odd looking diaper, I strongly encourage you to wrap it up in a plastic bag and bring it with you to be examined because this is what saved us from having to endure a myriad of blood tests and sonograms. We talked to the doctors about several things, but one of them was the medicine L is currently taking for an ear infection, Cefdinir (or Omnisef as they call it at the hospital). Apparently this medicine has strange effects on a child's pee and poo. It can turn pee orange and poo red. Luckily the resident assigned to us talked this over with the on shift doctor and the doctor informed her of this fact before tests and sonograms were performed. The doctor had the resident do a litmus test of sorts using a small smudge of L's poo and it confirmed that there was no blood in the stool. The litmus test showed all the red stuff was the Omnisef! Thank goodness! I was sure we had internal bleeding on or hands, but we didn't. One thing the doctor noted was that the poo was "brick red" instead of bright red. He said the color of red is a big sign in what could be going on. SO, if you have kids remember Omnisef/Cefdinir can make your child's poo turn brick red. (But, if you have any concerns I'd certainly advise you to make a trip to the ER to rule out anything more serious!)

Christmas Decorating

We put our tree up last weekend. We usually go to a local Christmas parade on Thanksgiving weekend, but decided to skip it this year since the boys have been sick. We figured standing outside in 30 degree weather might just set us two steps back in our efforts to get them over their bronchitis and ear infections... Little did we know "The flu of 2010" would strike anyway... So we put our tree up rather than going to the parade. N was a really good helper this year. He likes to find things that match and our tree is color coded, so he had fun matching the color on the core of the tree to the colors on each branch. Does this photo remind you of the Griswold Family Christmas too?

I've enjoyed decorating for Christmas since I was a little girl. I remember pulling out whatever odds and ends Mom had on hand and arranging them all over the house. I certainly do not claim to be a pro by any means, but I still enjoy it. Over the last few days I've been putting out decorations when I get a few minutes. I am challenging myself to use the decorations we have without buying too many new things. One thing I have lots of are plain white candles. I wanted to incorporate them some how but I wanted to jazz them up a bit, so I decided to try to find some ribbon to wrap around them. I didn't find any ribbon, but I did find some pretty leftover wrapping paper from last year. The light bulb went on. I decided to partially wrap the candles with wrapping paper. I obviously know this would pose a fire hazard if you placed the paper too close to the wick, so I placed the paper in the middle of the candle. I wrapped the paper around each candle and put tape over the paper so it didn't hurt the candles.

Here's the tree and the mantel together. I might try to find something to hang over the tv if I can figure out how to hang it without damaging the wall.

I'm brainstorming ideas for what to put in our half bath (now painted blue), our "shelf" above the closet in the entry way and in the stairwall going to our upstairs. I'm kinda in the mood to make something, we'll see. And if I don't get around to it, so be it. Maybe I'll do it next year.

Medical Moment

As I look back through the blog, and as D and I recall from memory, Thanksgiving is the time of year we're almost always sick. Well, this year is no exception. In fact, one of the four of us has been sick in some way at some point since October 22nd! That's five weeks straight! I was the one who started this yucky, sick mess. I got a nasty infection on my scalp. I won't go into too many gory details, but I will say I was misdiagnosed with Shingles. I freaked out! The treatment for that made the rash worse, so I was put on another treatment, to which I had a horrific allergic reaction to. All of that took place over the first two weeks of the last five weeks. Then the boys started getting little coughs and runny noses that were simple colds at first. What was a simple cold turned into Bronchitis for N, when N and his classmates were allowed to play outside in mid thirty degree weather for gym time two days in a row at school. N's cold turned into a nasty cough over night. It hit him like a ton of bricks. L had had a cough/cold, too and he took a turn for the worse, so I took both boys to the doctor. That's when I found out N had bronchitis and L had a double ear infection. We got the boys on antibiotics, a liquid steroid and breathing treatments. The liquid steroid the boys were on made N insanely hyper. Hyper active, hyper sensitive, you name it. It was awful. I mean awful. He was literally bouncing off the walls. He could not control himself he was hyper! So, after a full day of talking it over with N's doctor, I took him off of it. And, amazingly, N returned to himself after about twelve hours of being off the med. It was incredible. The boys were healthy for two and a half days, Thanksgiving Eve, Thanksgiving and half of Black Friday. Then, out of nowhere, L started holding his tummy and throwing up about every two hours. He was sick for a little over twenty four hours then I got it. And wow, did I get it! Man, did I feel awful all night Sunday night. I guess it's the flu. Towards the middle of the night Sunday night N got it. By morning we were all down for the count! L wasn't, be he'd already had it, but D, N and I all had it. I knew D and N weren't feeling well because both of them laid on the couch together for several hours. N even took a long nap. I stationed myself in the basement with L and did the best I could to play with him. That little booger almost wore me out! I was so glad when his nap time rolled around so I could get some rest on the couch. One way I knew I didn't feel well? The food commercials on TV grossed me out. Even Olive Garden. I love OG, but watching OG commercials when you're sick is not appealing! Even chocolate commercials got to me. It's almost ten at night now and I think we're out of the woods....knock on wood! D and I still feel a little weak, but I think the worst is over. Now maybe we'll all get healthy enough so we can go get our flu shots! Ha!

Mommy and Me Day

N and I had a fun "Mommy and Me" day today. I do these special days with N every once in a while. When L is old enough I will do them with him, too. Today N and I went to Micheal's (or the craft store as N calls it) and we went to the movie Tangled. At Micheal's we caught some good deals and stocked up on fun Christmas crafts. We went to the movies after the craft store. Going to the movies is something we rarely do, mostly because, until now, N hasn't been able to sit in his seat through an entire movie. I made several attempts to take him to the movies and he didn't make it through them. Luckily I learned this through the $1 or free movies offered during the winter months, so I didn't have a lot to lose for that price. This time around, N did very well. We each got a "munchie tray" which consists of a small drink, popcorn and a big tootsie roll. N looked so cute sitting in his seat with his. I tried to get a picture of him with his goodies using my phone, but it just couldn't take a decent pic in the theatre. For the first time ever, I had N sit in a booster seat so he could see the screen better. This worked out really well for two reason. For one, the obvious, he could see better and because it was more difficult to get out of. Ha.

Tangled was a good movie. N was captivated for the whole thing. I will say one thing, though. The movie was a little more dramatic than I thought it needed to be. One minute your overjoyed and happy, the next you were sad. Then there were some parts that were more scary than they should be. I thought the woman Rapunzel lived with was played out as too mean for a movie meant for kids. Then the part where the....oops. If you haven't seen the movie I won't spoil it, but there was a part towards the end that I thought was too sad for a kid's movie. I looked over and N was actually crying. He crawled into my lap to be comforted. They did end the show on a jubilant note, though. I'm glad they did that so we left feeling good. But, with that said, it was a good movie. I think it's better suited for the six and older crowd.

On the way out of the theatre N noticed the arcade games and asked if we could play them. I told him no, not this time. I told him today was movie day and next time we can have a arcade day...Do I see Chuck E Cheese in our future??

Peppermint Mocha

I'm in love with mint and chocolate right now. This happens to me every winter. Last year I was introduced to Starbuck's Peppermint mocha. Yummmmm! For whatever reason I usually don't crave warm coffee drinks during the day. It's night time when I'm in the mood for one. And, wouldn't you know it, that's the time of day when it's the least convenient for me to swing through my local coffee place to get one. So, I'm experi-minting (har, har. I had to) with making mine own at home. Now, keep in mind, I do not have an espresso machine, so this doesn't taste quite as good as a nice, fluffy latte, but it'll do in a pinch. I've been making mine with decaf. If I drink caffeine after, say 2pm, I'd be up all night. But, if you want to make yours caffienated, go for it! I have a tiny coffee pot (makes 4 cups), so these measurements are created with my coffee pot in mind.

Decaf coffee

1 packet your fav hot cocoa (Coldstone creamery's 70 cal packs are yummy)

1-2 peppermint patties or one miniature candy cane (I suppose you could use mint extract too)

1 packet Splenda

Brew your coffee. Pour cocoa into cup. Mix coffee and cocoa. Drop in your peppermint. Stir and enjoy.

Breakfast Casserole (8x8)

I took this egg casserole to a (morning) Halloween party this year and have been asked several times for the recipe. Here it is folks. Enjoy! I tried Jimmy Dean's already cooked crumbled turkey sausage for this recipe the other night. It tasted good and made this recipe that much easier to make!

8x8 Breakfast Casserole

4 Hash brown patties, frozen

1-lb sausage or bacon, crumbled (I used turkey sausage)

6 oz. cheddar cheese, grated

6 eggs (3 egg whites, 3 whole eggs)

1 cup milk (skim)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1. Line an 8x8 baking dish with frozen hash browns.

2. Sprinkle hash browns with crumbled sausage or bacon.

3. Top with grated cheddar cheese.

4. Mix together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and dry mustard

5. Pour over meat and hash browns.

6. Refrigerate over night.

7. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I found this recipe at the following website, but have tweaked it a tiny bit to make it healthier. http://www.mountain-breeze.com/kitchen/breakfast/44.html

Thank you Shutterfly!

My Christmas cards are ordered. Yay! Thank you Shutterfly for fifty free cards. Although all three of the options I blogged about below are super cute, I was not able to use any of them because my pictures did not fit into them as well as I wanted them to. That's not to say they won't work for you. It just depends on what photos you have that you'd like to use. I opted for a folded card with multiple pictures on the front and pictures of each boy on the inside of the card. The design I chose allowed space for text about each boy next to the interior pictures. So cute. I can't wait to get the cards. The next thing on my Shutterfly "wish list" is a photo book from a vacation we took earlier this year to an indoor water park.

Slow Cooked Pork Chops

The other night I made a yummy recipe that I hadn't made in a while. Mmmmm. It tasted good!

6-8 pork chops

1/2 c flour

1 TBSP salt

1 1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 TBSP oil

1 can chicken barley mushroom soup (you can also use chicken noodle soup)

Mix flour, salt, mustard, garlic powder. Dredge chops in flour mixture and brown in oil on stove top. When browned, place in the crock pot. Top with soup. Cook on low 6-8 hour, on high 3-4 hours.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

A friend of mine blogged about a deal for 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly the other day. I followed the links she posted to the Shutterfly site to get more information and, in the end, will receive 50 free Christmas cards for myself. Yay! I like the quality of Shutterfly's greeting cards. I've had cards made using pictures I've taken and pictures I've had professionally taken and the cards have turned out great in both instances. I like Shutterfly's card, but I especially like the share site feature they offer. I like to post pictures on the share site for friends and family to see. I also feel like Shutterfly is a good place to use as somewhat of a back up. If I'd ever lose the pictures on my computer I'd have some favorites saved at Shutterfly. Anyway..Back to the Christmas card. This year there are several super cute designs offered. Depending on how our family photos look, I'll choose one of these four designs. (Click each picture to see the full design. I'm having a hard time getting the horizontal images to fit on my page.)

Confetti Flowers Christmas Card

Holly Frame Christmas Card

Perfect Present Christmas Card

Pictures In Cocoa Christmas Card

If you are a blogger, you could get 50 free Shutterfly cards too. Follow this link for more information.

Oobleck

N is really into Dr Seuss stuff right now. We went to the library and checked out five Dr. Seuss books and a Dr. Seuss movie. I found a fun science related activity online so we did tried it. We read Dr. Seuss's "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" book. Then we made Oobleck. I had no idea how much N would love making and playing with this gooey stuff. It only took a couple minutes to stir together and it was very inexpensive, but it was very messy. It was worth it, though. N and I played with it for about forty five minutes and N keeps asking when we can make more. The recipe is below. I don't know what the actual science is behind it, but somehow when you mix corn starch and water together in these amounts, it makes a material that is both semi-solid and semi-liquid. You can punch it in the bowl and it doesn't splash, but when you break through it with your fingers and scoop it up it turns back into a liquid. So cool. Try it. It's fun!

Oobleck

2 cups of corn starch

3 drops of green food coloring

Enough water to make a thick mixture (1 to 1.5 cups)

Mix all ingredients together. I would suggest using a bowl that you don't mind throwing away.

Mexican Lasagna

I tried a new recipe using Lawyr's "Chimichurri Burrito Casserole" seasoning mix and it was yummy! I made it like a Mexican lasagna.

Chimichurri Burrito Casserole

1 pkg. Lawrys Chimichurri Burrito Carrerole Spices & Seasonings

1-1/2 Cups Water

1 Can (8 oz) Tomato Sauce

1 lb Ground Beef (lean ground beef)
1 Can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
8 flour tortillias (8-inch), Warmed (wheat tortillas)
1-1/2 Cup Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend

Directions:

MIX water, Seasoning Mix and Tomato Sauce until well blended.

BROWN meat in large skillet on medium heat. Drain Fat. Stir in one cup of the sauce mixture and beans. Spoon about 1/2 cup meat mixture into each tortilla and fold over sides. Place seam side down in greased 13x9x2 inch baking dish. Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

BAKE in preheated oven at 350 for 15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

You can make this recipe as burritos as written above or you can layer it in a casserole dish like you'd make a lasagna. This is what I did. The package says to prepare the sauce and meat mixture as directed. Alternately layer tortillas and meat mixture in baking dish, beginning and ending with tortillas. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheese and bake as directed above.

Candy Fairy

The candy fairy came to our house the night of Halloween. Below you will see a picture of N with all the candy he got while trick or treating! As I said in a previous post, we let him keep five....err ten pieces of candy for himself and he gave the rest to the candy fairy. N told me what to write in a note to the candy fairy which went like this, "Dear Candy Fairy. Please take all this candy. Sincerely, The Cat in the Hat." Simple and to the point. N left his candy bag and the note in the kitchen for the fairy to find. I got to thinking, if we left the bag-o-candy outside his bedroom door he'd be able to sit outside his room and eat candy all night! So, in the kitchen it stayed. The Candy Fairy found the bag, emptied it and filled it with other goodies. She also left a clever note that went like this:

Thank you for leaving me your candy.

You really are quite Dandy!

For being such a big boy,

I shall leave you things that bring you joy.

I heard you were the Cat in the Hat for Trick or Treat

I think you’ll find this movie very neat.

Bubble bath is something you want, I’m told.

I brought you some to hold.

There were two more lines, but they included N's name, so I will omit them here..

Sincerely, The Candy Fairy

N was very receptive to this tradition, so I think we'll ask the Candy Fairy to return next year. N's enjoying the Dr Seuss movie that the CF left him. He also loved taking a bath with the bubbles the CF left. I've got cute photos of him in the bath tub making a bubble hat, bubble mohawk and bubble beard "just like Grandpa L's." And the Tinkerbell vitamins are a hit.

Diaper Rash Spray

L is very prone to diaper rashes. I have pinpointed a few things that I know cause them and I avoid them, but I haven't figured out all the causes. Whenever he gets a rash I find it difficult to get him cleaned up w/o making a big mess, until now. I saw a diaper rash spray product at Target the other day. I thought it was such a great idea, but didn't want to drop $8 on the small-ish bottle. I decided I would try to make my own spray and if it didn't work I'd buy what I saw at the store. I found a recipe for homemade baby wipes online. I also found a recipe for diaper rash spray. I looked at both recipes, merged them into one recipe and made something that works for us. It is so handy! I happened to have two spray bottle on hand. I divided the mixture and poured a little into each bottle so I can keep one bottle upstairs and one downstairs.

Diaper Rash Spray

2 cups water

1 TBSP baby oil

2 TBSP baby shampoo/body wash (a 2-in-1 product used on baby's hair & body)

Spray bottle

Paper Towel

Combine liquid ingredients in a measuring cup that has a pouring spout in it. Pour into spray bottle. Spray on baby's bottom and wipe away with paper towel.

Halloween activities and the Candy Fairy

We are doing lots of fun things for Halloween this year. There are so many activities in our areafor Halloween it's hard to choose which ones to do.Last Thursday a friend hosted a painting pumpkins play date at her home. The weather was gorgeous, so the kids painted their pump

kins outside. N wasn't interested in painting his, so I didn't force him to do it. I enjoyed watching the other kids decorate their's with paint, glitter, feathers, foam stickers, etc. N admired their work when they were done, but he still wasn't interested in painting one. (I think it's because we painted pumpkins at home a couple days before.)

We did a "witch's walk" at N's favorite park last weekend. It was our first time to do that. It was so fun! The children dressed up in their costumes. The park was decked with orange lights, witches, pumpkins and wooden Halloween

figures. So cool. Adults dressed up as witches or g

houls were stationed throughout the park for the children to trick or treat to. The barn, bridge, chicken coop (minus the chicken. ha!) were all decorated as not-so-scarey haunted houses. The bridge was my favorite. It was filled with white fab

ric and black lights. We'll definitely do that again next year.

N had his party at school. I wasn't sure I was going to make it to this party because of L's nap time. It's hard making it to preschool stuff with L's nap tim

e the time it's at, but I'm getting more and more creative with ways to make it work out. This time I asked D to work from home that morning so I could go. He was very understanding and started to work from home. L ended up sleeping late

r than usual that morning, so we decided L would be able to stay awake long enough to attend the party and D headed to work earlier than expected. We had fun. L really enjoyed being there. The preschool children wore their costumes to school that day. They paraded from their class room to their snack tables. The parents watched the parade. L liked the parade and tried to join it (see pic below). The kids had snack time then Jesus Time. L wanted to be a part of those activities as well. I enjoyed the party, but I also found it interesting to see how N's doing in a class setting. I am really impressed with how well he walked in line with the other kids during the parade, he sat in his chair during snack and listened during Jesus Time. He's coming a long way! I remember wanting to take him to story time at the library a year ago and deciding not to because I knew he couldn't sit still. Now he can. Good job, kiddo. :)

Thursday night we went trick or treating at the high school. This is such a neat event the high school puts on every year. They always have several games in the gymnasium and the kids get to trick or treat through the hallways of the high school. The foods class makes hundreds of pumpkin shaped sugar cookies and the children get to decorate them with frosting and sprinkles.

We made chocolate covered pretzels at a friends house Friday afternoon. This was so much fun. It was just my friend and I and our children. N does so well in this type of setting. It is much more likely that he will do a craft when the group size is smaller. My friend has a daughter N's age. They did a great job of sharing the pretzels, chocolate and candy molds. They were both creative with their candy color choices. So cute. This turned out to be a good craft because the kids made them easily with a small-ish mess and the craft was edible and ready to eat in about 15 minutes. We even hada few pretzels to take home with us.

This morning was my Mom's group Halloween party. N and I attending this without D and L...err should I say Thing One and Fish?? We were sad they had to miss (due to L's nap time), but it was nice to spend one on one time with N. The party was really nice and well organized. There are several women in my group who were teachers before deciding to stay at home. I think their class room party planning experience was very beneficial for this event! The kids played pin the heart on the skeleton, listened as one Mom read Halloween books, broke open a pinata, ate breakfast and trick or treated. So fun! We are so lucky to be a part of such a great Mom's group!

Tomorrow is our community wide trick or treating. I think we're going to do it, but at this point I'm getting Halloween'd out. I think N really wants to trick or treat, though. He keeps asking when we're going to trick or treat at "the houses."

So, with all of these Halloween activities comes a ton of candy!!! After a hugely hyperactive day of consuming a small amount of gummy candy and skittles, I have determined that N is very sensitive to candies with certain food dyes in them....Anyway..more on that later...But we needed to figure out a way to get the candy out of the house that is fun for N. So, this year the "Candy Fairy"is coming to our house. N gets to keep any snack items such as pretzels, raisins, graham cracker or animal crackers. He gets to keep any trinkets or treasures.

He gets to choose five pieces of candy to keep. All other candy is left outside his bedroom door in his trick or treat bucket at night. The candy fairy comes to our house, takes the candy and replaces it with a gift. I talked to N about it in depth the other day. I told him the Candy Fairy comes to your house. You leave your bag of candy outside your bedroom door with a note on it. You can leave a note that says "Candy Fairy please take my candy in exchange for a

gift" or you can leave a note that says "Candy Fairy, do not take my candy. I want to keep it." At first he told me to tell the Candy Fairy to leave his candy. He said, "Mom. Write the candy

fairy a note that she can NOT take my candy!!" After much thought he changed his mind. So, the candy fairy went shopping and got him an inexpensive Dr Seuss movie, bubble bath (N's been wanting bubble bath for a long time), a glow stick and Tinkerbell vitamins...We needed the vitamins anyway, but the candy fairy thought they were cute enough to put in his treat bag. ;) The Candy Fairy considered purchasing a Tinkerbell doll for N since he loves that movie right now, but that idea got veto-ed very quickly during a phone conversation with Daddy. :) So, we'll see how this goes. Hopefully N will find his decision was worth it...

Halloween Costumes In Progress III

So, here is the final product. I finished L's Cat in the Hat fish costume and I thought I'd share how I did it in case you want to do it. I was telling D that you could do this in different colors and accessories to make it into a variety of costumes such as a yellow chicke

n, green turtle, purple monster, etc. If you can't quite tell this is a fish at first, think of a fish laying on the table. If you looked at it laying on it's side on the table you'd only see one eye at a time. N told me I need to change the costume so both eyes on are on the back. I think that's probably a good suggestion. We'll see if I actually have enough time to make that change.

Things I used.

Red cotton shirt

Red cotton pants (nothing sewn to these)

dark red fabric for scales

light read fabric for scales.

Red felt for tail.

Blue, black and white felt for eyes.

Needle and thread...Then after the needle and thread took a long time I switched to fabric glue. What a dream that stuff is!

Figure out what size of circle looks best on the size of shirt you are usin

g. Then cut out circles.

Lay out circles on top of shirt before you start sewing...errr gluing. :)

I started sewing each row by hand which took forever!! After you've got all the scales attach, cut out the eyes and attach.

Final product.

And here's "The Cat."

First Steps!!

L took his first steps about a week ago. Grammy and I were at home with the boys when L took his first two steps. It was great that Grammy was here to see that! Good memory. :) Crawling is still L's main mode of movement, but every once in a while he will go from sitting to standing. He stands there for a few seconds, gets his bearings, then takes anywhere from 4-12 steps. He takes more steps when he's trying it out on his own without anyone there to encourage him. He gets too excited when we cheer him on and he falls down. Then he gets really frustrated and kind of grunts and growls at us. N is really excited for L to walk. He tells him "You can do...this is how you do it, Buddy" while he walks next to him. Every once in a while N will stop whatever he's doing and say, "Mom is L walkin yet?" I'm trying to get good pictures of it, but every time you bring a camera out L does this funny little thing we're he scrunches up his face and says "cheeeeeese" to the camera. I'm going to have to catch him from far away where he can't see the camera.

School (kinda of random train of thought)

N has been in school for five weeks now. Wow, I can't believe it's already been five weeks. Time flies! He likes school. He likes his teacher. I think he likes his classmates. Ha. He doesn't talk about them that much. He hasn't complained about any of them, so I guess that's a good sign. N's teacher is super sweet. She is very organized and is really good at communicating with us parents. She's good to send out newsletters, calendars and emails as needed. She even texted me the day the kids had a field trip and got back to school early. She gave us a calendar that lists what skills the kids will work on every day this month. I really appreciate that because I can support what she's working on in class by doing similar things at home. Each week the kids learn a new letter. This week is the letter D. She's talking about dinosaurs this week, so she has lots of dinosaur books for the kids to read in their books shelf. The boys and I went to the library and picked up two dinosaur books to read at home. (We also picked up a book about fall since the weather and leaves are changing right now.) Each week the kids bring in a small item from home that begins with that week's letter for "show and share" time. Each child has a job to do at school each day. N can't always remember what job he performed, but the tasks he has remembered are plant waterer (is waterer a word?), fish feeder, door opener, "caboose" (I think this job makes being the last person in line exciting. Ha) and backpack buddy. I still haven't figured out what backpack buddy is. I think that child gets to pull the wheeled back pack to the gym for gym time each day...The backpack contains kleenex and other essentials that the kids might need while at gym class.

Some thing I've been doing at home to support N's preschool curriculum are below. N has really grown an interest in letters and numbers. The second week of school I decided I'd print out a few activity pages from education.com just in case N had an interest in doing them. I wasn't sure if he'd have any interest in them, so I prepared myself for him to tell me no he didn't want to do them. I printed five pages, one for each week day. We did one page, then another, then another and another until we did all five pages in one afternoon...We did them all in about twenty minutes actually. N devoured them! I was shocked! Now I make it a routine to print out several pages for the week and I purchased an activity book to keep on hand. I also make one activity page each week. I make it in a Word document. I choose two letters to focus on and find items who's words begin with those two letters. So, one week I found picture of items that began with "A" and items that begin with"B." I copy and paste images onto one pages for each letter. I then make one page titled "A" and one page titled "B." N and I say the names of the items as he cuts them out. He then determines what letter each word begins with and pastes them on the appropriate page. I'm not an education major, so I don't what all this is teaching him (beside letter recognition and cutting practice), but he seems to be enjoying it. I also try to do a bigger project with him each week.

Week A: we played play-doh using all of our cookie cutters that are shapes that begin with a.

Week of letter B we made a bus out of paper (He got to ride a bus at school and loved it!)

Week of C we made apple "cobbler." N kept calling it cider. That begins with c too, right?

This week we're talking about fall and pumpkins, so we painted pumpkins and made pumpkin muffins. I plan on carving pumpkins sometime this week.

N went on his first field trip to a pumpkin patch last week. I was not able to go because it was during L's nap time. After much deliberation I decided N is a big boy and he could go by himself. I had two friends attending the field trip with their kids who said they'd keep an eye on him as best they could. I prepped him by telling him to stay with his teacher or with our two friends. I told him about the hay wrack ride they were going to go on and told him he had to sit down during the ride to be safe. I read books to him about strangers and how we shouldn't go anywhere with a stranger...I even wrote a note on his permission slip that he kind of tends to wander so the teacher would be aware of that...Really, all of the preparation was good for him, but I think it was more for me than it was for him. Ha! I was nervous about sending him out by himself to a public place but he did a good job. He got to ride the bus with his class and teacher and he got to go somewhere with his class like a big kid. He is so proud and I am too. It turns out (my friend who attended the field trip told me), there were so many parents in attendance that N practically had his teacher to himself. So, I had nothing to worry about in the end.

I hope N's interest in school continues to grow. I can't believe he's going to be in Kindergarten next year! I want to do my best to prepare him for it, but I also want to enjoy this last year I have with him being at home!!

Halloween Costumes In Progress II

L is being the fish from "The Cat in the Hat" for Halloween. Below are two pictures. The picture of the orange fish is my inspiration. The red fish is L's costume in progress. L doesn't like anything on his head, so I opted for a shirt without a hood. I have a few scales to sew down. I need to add the eye(s). This is the back of the shirt. I may put scales on the front of the shirt I may not. We'll see. :)

Halloween Costumes In Progress I

I am working on our Halloween costumes. This is great for me (or us) because D and I usually know what we want to be for Halloween but don't start to put the costumes together until about three days before we need them. So, to be doing this so early is exciting. N wants to be the Cat in the Hat. I have his costume done. D and I are going to be Thing One and Thing Two. L is going to be the fish....if I can figure out how to make him look like a fish that is. So here's N is most of his costume. I have black sweat pants and white gloves to complete the outfit. I bought the black shirt. I tied the red bow out of three inch satin ribbon. I cut white felt into the shape of the tummy. I sewed the red bow to the white felt then attached the white tummy to the black shirt using the adhesive backing that's already on the white felt. I also secured the white tummy/bow to the shirt with a few sections of stitching for good measure. I bought the hat at a local costume store. I'm still debating on attaching a tail to the pants. I think people will know who he is w/o the tail so I may exclude it. We'll see... Now I'm off to work on "Thing One" and "Thing Two." I'm keeping these very simple. I bought two red t-shirts at Micheal's (they are two for $5 right now). I purchased two pieces of white adhesive backed felt and a black fabric pen. I'm going to make to big circles out of the felt. I'll write "Thing One" one one and "Thing Two" on the other using the black fabric marker. I will secure the circles to the shirts using the self adhesive backs and a few sections of stitching the same way I did for N's costume.

Mark Twain Quote

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain

I just found this quote on a neat blog. This blogger is about my age. She has five kids. Eeek! She and her family live in an RV and travel the country without having a permanent place to call home. Double eek!! I have no desire to live in an RV for more than five-ten days and I have no intentions of selling our permanent residents, but this quote does makes me think of myself and how I need to do my best to get out and explore more. I find myself getting stuck in a pretty tight routine. Routine is definitely good for my boys. They seem to do better when they know what to expect next. However, sometimes I need to break us a little free from our daily grind and go somewhere.. See something new and refreshing. As a Mommy (I'm too young to call myself Mom.) of two little ones I am finding that sweet spot where I can push the envelope just enough so that we're all having fun, learning and exploring without pushing too far and causing my kids (okay, the whole family) to be fussy and "out of whack" for three days.

My husband and I get a chance to have date nights every once in a while...okay, we rarely go on a date night. It's usually in the afternoon/evening. We're usually home before 7:00. Some day when the kids are grown we'll revel in the fact that we can return home past 8pm! But I don't want to wish things away. I don't want the boys to grow up too fast....Anyway. I digress. When we go on said dates, I always tease my husband that I'd love get out of the house and go out to eat or see a movie and it'd be great if we left the city limits. If we leave the county it's super exciting! When we do get the chance to leave town to see a movie, go out to eat, see new scenery we return feeling rejuvinated. I wonder if the kids get that feeling after we go some place new.

When the boys get older and can travel more easily I'd like to set out and see as many states as we can. I'm excited to see their faces when they see new landscaping, cultures, etc. Until then we'll have to plan smaller, more practical short trips that everyone in the family can enjoy and tolerate! With winter just around the corner we need to get out and do a few little travel days before the bitter cold winds and snowy weather settle...Ooow. I think I just gave myself a cold shiver after typing that. :)