Christmas Recap:

Once again, I think the pictures speak for themselves... lots of excitement and happy memories, followed by some much needed beauty sleep!
Happy Christmas, indeed!

New Traditions...

Last night before we put the youngins to bed, I made some dough...

Right before I went to bed, I jazzed it up with some butter, cinnamon and brown sugar....

While we slept, the dough just chilled.... literally.

Then I woke up while everyone else was cozied up in Slumberville.

Threw them in the oven and relished in the scrumptious smells coming from the kitchen....

Then I hear someone.

Someone's nose sniffing.

Then I saw my little guy stretching sleepily with a grin from ear to ear.

He was happy with the results. We had a great chat about Christmas presents and what we're doing today.
The excitement on his face is so contagious!
A few minutes later, Meg joined us.


She decided to lick the icing off of the rolls... whatever, it's Christmas Eve!

I think we may have established a new Christmas Eve tradition!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

All Meg wanted to do was eat the snow!

All Isaac wanted to do was pelt people with snowballs.

They love their snowman though!Best part is warming up with hot cocoa!

Somewhat succesful holiday baking

There are the classics....

now with more icing and sprinkles than usual.

Notice the icing & sprinkle to cookie ratio.

Mmmmm....

And of course Brenda's Peanut Butter fudge,
The first batch never seems to turn out for me.Look how crumbly and unsmooth... tasted good, but not gift worthy.

Definitely did not turn out well for the stove... there were actual flames... followed by me screaming, and lots of smoke. Totally worth it.

Megan's favorite? Buckeyes, she calls them Ohio State cookies. The brainwashing starts early, doesn't it?

Can you keep a secret?

This morning over breakfast, Isaac said to Mark, "Dad, you're going to love your new shirt."

"What shirt?" Mark asks.

"The one that we got you for a surprise."

"You aren't supposed to tell people what the surprise is, then it's not a secret anymore "

"I guess I'm not good at surprises"



I got this story second hand, so I may have gotten some of the dialogue wrong, but it is getting me through a rough parenting day... lots of misbehaving and not listening happening in our house today!
As rotten as they can be, kids sure say some cute things!

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful....

What an odd week of weather! Monday morning we woke up to a dusting of snow, which was no big deal, but apparently the sun was making the snow melt a bit and with temperatures in the mid 20's it was refreezing into black ice... fun. It took Mark over an hour to get to work! And now today it feels and sounds like you might just blow away out there!!
Anyhow, I didn't look outside and see the snow until after Isaac and I were ready for him to go to school, and once he saw the snow, he insisted on putting on his snow boots.... remember it was only a dusting. That's when I figured I better turn the t.v. on to see if his school was canceled or not and of course it was. I sent him outside anyway to play for a bit.

I always idealize snow days... warm fire, we have no fireplace, hot cocoa... we do have that, warm snuggly blankets with good movies... if you include Dora then, check!
The reality however was two days in the house and you get a mama, little boy and girl who were going a bit mad.

To try and fend off the cabin fever we wrote down some fun things to do and folded them and put them in a stocking and took turns drawing them out. --- the time allotments were all Isaac's doing.

It turned out to be pretty fun, and Isaac is asking if we can do it again!

During a quiet spell, I went to check on them and found this...

It's official, we have a reader! Isaac is blowing through the emergent reader books from the library as fast as we get them!
Look how proud!

Best Ever Banana Bread

I love when we have over ripe bananas. It isn't very often, so when I see a bunch turning dark brown, I know exactly what I am going to do with them!

I have tried many versions of many recipes but once I find an unbelievably good one, I will make it repeatedly. This recipe for banana bread is one of those recipes, it's from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros, it is a gorgeous book.
I think the reason they are so tasty has to do with the warm milk mixed with baking soda before adding it to the rest of the ingredients. They are so light and fluffy! I'm no chemistry buff, but that's the only thing I can think of that is different from other recipes I've tried. I do add flax seed and walnuts or a few mini chocolate chips, but for the most part I follow her instructions!

Can you tell I have made this bread a few times?

I can't bake alone!

Nothing goes better with Banana "cupcakes" than ice cold milk... especially out of mommy's glass!
I think the first time I ever tried cream cheese was on banana bread... mmmmm.

After cleaning up... I spotted this bitten into apple, placed just so, back into the fruit bowl! Nice.

A Tale of Two Gloves...

Here I am trying to come up with something clever and witty to say... because in my head all of my posts are clever and witty... and really the pictures I believe speak for themselves!

Thanksgiving week - in retrospect

Beautiful fall flowers...

A girl discovering her love for basketball and Rowdy...

The joys of baking

Making a wishbone wish...

Putting as many ornaments as possible in a 3"x3" spot on the tree and loving the way it looks!

It was a wonderful week and I my heart is full of thanks!

Weekend Happenings...

If you live in Ohio, chances are you are or at least know a Buckeye fan. And you also probably know that Michigan is their biggest rivalry. Well, Saturday, those two met for "the big game" in Michigan and sorry, Jason, but the Buckeyes won... again... for the 7th time in a row.

We just hung out here with our friends, Ryan and Christy and their ridiculously adorable baby, Graham.

Isaac was in heaven, and Megan was ready for Dora by half time, but we had a great time!





Afterward, we went to the local historical Christmas festival where the kids rode a camel and looked at pretty lights and decorations! All in all a great Saturday!

Adventures with pomegranates ...

Well... I finally cut into the pomegranate that has been in the fruit bowl for about a week and taunting me.

I have mixed feeling about it.
Love the juice,

not so much the little seed thingy.


Isaac not surprisingly wouldn't even try it, and Meg tried it, but she agrees with me, and wasn't too sure she liked it. We'll try it again!!

It never turns out like you think...

I saw this adorable wreath and thought I could duplicate it. So while Isaac was at school, Meg and I headed to Goodwill and the Salvation Army in search of old ornaments. We didn't find the cool jewel colored ones, but there was an abundance of red and gold, some were glass and old and some are new and plastic, but I figured it didn't matter too much.
So without further ado, this is what I did during nap time today....



It's not nearly as cute as the jewel colored one, and in hind sight I wish I would have arranged them more instead of just grab and glue, but I think it is ok! It got kid approval... what more do I need?!?!?

ETA
This post has been up for roughly, oh I don't know 7 minutes and Isaac and I are sitting on the couch and BANG! CRASH! SHATTER! My lovely wreath is no more... I knew I should have waited until our normal decorating day... I knew it was too early... I just knew it!


This stinks... really bad. Sorry Honey, I just wasted 15 bucks.