Ice Princess...er, and Princes?

We had such a good time visiting family that came in over Christmas break.  One such family was Tim's aunt, uncle and cousins from sunny Florida.  They wanted to experience cold (why, I don't know, I think I would take Florida sun right about now).  So we obliged and took them ice skating.  Keep in mind that we don't really have an ice skating rink here.  I live in a small town and we just get a temporary rink once a year at Christmas when the racetrack puts up their Christmas lights.  So our rink is in a tent.  It has a few little heaters, but pretty much, it's the same temperature as the outside just without the wind.

The day we decided to skate, it was a high of 32 F.  In other words, VERY COLD!!

But we bundled up and went and had a blast!  (Well, most of us, Tim would have been happier not putting those skates on :).  I do have to say that it had probably been about 10 years since I've ice skated, but I didn't fall down a single time.  I'm very proud of me.

Unlike me, David didn't stay upright for very long.  But, as a new skater and a 4 year old, I think he did pretty good.  And he had fun.

Julie had someone on either side of her at all times.  So she didn't fall quite as much as David did.

Now Tim, that's another story.  Poor guy was attached to the rail and still had trouble staying up.  He even took David down with him one time.  (David will be happy to tell you all about it, if you ask :).  Tim figures it was because he was so tall and had more to balance.  Hmm, don't know if I'm buying that one.  Whatever the reason, I'm very happy that he tried skating and looked so handsome while doing it! (Hey, it's my personal privilege to think my hubby is hot!)

This is how David has fun even off of the ice.

And there's me.  Trying to avoid being taken down by little kids (not mine) who liked to skate right in front of me and fall. 

Hope you enjoyed our, new to us, skating experience.  Have any fun winter activities you'd like to share?

March in Review

I have been happily digi-cropping away.  My goal is to finish 2009 pictures by the end of January (but, hey, I wanted to do it by the end of December and that didn't happen, so we'll see).  If you are squeamish, don't look at the 5th page.  It shows my foot with stitches right after surgery.  I'm kind of morbid taking pictures of that, huh?  Anyway, here's March:

 

 

 

 

 

Here Comes Santa

In our family, we celebrate 4 Christmases (kind of like the movie, huh?). Christmas Eve is spent with my husband's extended family. 

Where we all get spoiled greatly.

Then Christmas morning, we open gifts here.  Santa brings one big present to each child and it's unwrapped so they see it first when they come out to the living room.

Meet Natalie, Julie's new best friend.  She's sporting her new High School Musical PJ's that Santa brought along with her.

In case you are not up on Preschool boy toys, this is the Handy Manny Toolbench for my little handy man.  Seriously, I decided the other day to take the babyproofing off of the kitchen cabinets.  I started unscrewing the first one and David said, "I wanna do that, Mommy."  So like any good mom, I handed my screwdriver to my 4 year old and he took off all the rest of the babyproofing for me.  Just yesterday, I bought new hardware for our bathroom cabinets and he installed it all for me last night.  It's good to have a handyman around :).

After our Christmas here, we went to Tim's sister's house for Christmas with his immediate family.  And, as expected, we got lots more presents (including a gift card to Home Depot - Woohoo!).

Notice Julie has Natalie with her.  She didn't leave her side for at least a week.

Then all we had left was our 4th Christmas - Christmas with my side of the family.  So it was off to my parent's house...

My adorable nephew, I couldn't resist showing you this picture.

All the grandkids actually staying still for a picture.

I also couldn't resist adding this picture of me with my sister and brother.  Especially, since they both read my blog :).

We had a wonderful Christmas and couldn't have asked for more.  I hope you did too! 

Let it Snow!

Well, I have no excuse.

For my lack of blogging that is.

Except for the family that came to visit from Christmas Eve through De. 27, then more family who came to visit from Dec. 27 to Dec. 30.  And, oh yeah, the wonderful friends who came to visit from Dec. 30 to Jan. 4.  So saying we've been busy is an understatement.  But it's been a great busy.  We have loved having extended family and friends in town.  And somewhere in there, my cutie pie had to get tubes in his ears...for the fourth time.  But, hey, now he can actually hear us when we talk to him.

So I'm going to try to catch you up on what's been going on here in the South.  We had snow the weekend before Christmas - lots of snow for us.  But we lost power and went to stay with my parents for a few days.  While we were there, we did what any family with a 4 yr old and a 6 yr old would do - we played in the snow.

Joining us in that last picture is my niece and my father.  It was fun to let the kids play in the snow since we don't get to experience that a lot.  Of course, that fact is the main reason I love the South :).

The easiest, yummiest dessert ever!!

I have had several Christmas parties this year that I needed to bring a potluck dish to.  Be ready to be shocked - I am allergic to chocolate.  That's right - no chocolate for me.  Because of that I ALWAYS volunteer to take a dessert.  That way I know there will be something I can eat there.  So I just whipped up this super easy, super yummy dessert and decided to share it with you guys.

PEANUT BUTTER RICE KRISPY TREATS
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups rice krispies

Melt honey and sugar together in a saucepan on low. 

Cook until just before it starts to boil.  Then take it off the heat.

 

 

 Quickly add the peanut butter and stir it in until it melts.

Add the rice krispies and quickly stir them in as well.

Spread out wax paper on your counter and dip the cookies onto wax paper.

Congratulations!!  You are all done.  Now wasn't that easy!  Now eat and enjoy!

All Aboard the Gingerbread Train

I am a little behind on my posts due to the whole no electricity thing.  So I hope to give you guys several posts to read over the next few days.

Last weekend, our good friends came over with their two kids and we made gingerbread trains (and houses) together, then went to go see Christmas lights at the racetrack.  Our kids had a great time making a mess, but I think it would have been smarter to put the train together before calling the kids over to decorate it :).  We'll have to remember that for next year.

The Process:

The Final Product:

As you can see, we made some wonderfully fun gingerbread creations and (mostly) had fun doing it.

Going to watch the Christmas lights was another story.  The racetrack near us puts up miles of Christmas lights every year.  We got to the racetrack at 6:15 - it opened at 6.  So we were there only 15 minutes after it opened, yet we had to wait an hour and a half to get to the lights.  And the way they do it, you are stuck in this line of cars and can't even chose to leave if you wanted to.  We had all 8 of us piled into one minivan, so there were kids bouncing all over the van (we were going about 1 mile an hour, so we had let them out of their seats).  Getting. very. hyper!  Once again, things I would change next year - I would bring a DVD player for the waiting time!!!!  By the time we got to the lights, we moms, had almost had enough!  But watching the kids watch the lights was worth it (as was driving on an official NASCAR racetrack, even if it was in a minivan).  At the end of the whole deal, we had been in the car for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Everyone was tired, thirsty and a little cranky.  Thankfully our kids fell asleep very quickly on the drive home.

In all, it was a very fun afternoon/evening - something we'd love to do again next year.

Christmas Decorations from my house to yours

Well, my original plan was to get this post up on Friday night before all the McLinky parties ended, but guess what...it snowed.

Now for some of you out in blog land that's no big deal, but down here in 'ole Tennessee, that's a big deal.  It snowed about 6 inches - more snow than we've had in 13 years.

Once again, I know you are asking, what does that have to do with me writing a new post?  Well, with all that snow, we lost power at 6:30 Friday night...and we still don't have power as of noon on Sunday!  Luckily, I have great parents close-by with a nice warm house that we can stay at.  So, they have been hosting us for 2 days now.  My fingers are crossed that our power will come back on before Christmas.

Back to the original reason for the new post - our Christmas decorations.  Now, I've seen several of you out in blog land that claim to just decorate "a little" for Christmas, but really go all out (in my opinion).  It looks awesome!!  Don't get me wrong.  But I REALLY do just decorate a little.  I usually add a little more each year, so one day I'll get to the whole house.

OK, so I do have a wreath on the door, but the day I took these pictures, it was just way too cold outside to open the door.  You'll just have to imagine a cute little wreath with bells on it :).

Come on in the front door.  This is what greets you.

Close-up of my bows.  Come on up the stairs and see our tree.  Last year I bought a stocking tree since we don't have a mantel.  (David wanted to pose by his stocking.)

And, to remind our kids what the real meaning of Christmas is, we have this under our tree.  They love to play with it all the time.

On the windows next to the tree I made a wreath.  I have plans to make another one for the other side, but it's not done yet.  And unless I get power soon, it may not get done before Christmas.

 

Next turn around and look at my display on the piano (once again, because we don't have a mantle).

Our piano is 112 years old and I love it!  It has candlestick holders because it was made before electricity was around.  So those get decorated as well.  Did I say that I really love my piano?  Because I do.

Follow me in to see our cards, displayed, oh so creatively by taping them onto the doorway.

Remember my advent calendar?  Here it is in the hallway.

After this, the only thing left is the kid's rooms.  I found little 4' trees at Hobby Lobby 2 years ago for $2.50 (yes, that's right - less than $3!)!  So I bought one for each of the kid's rooms.  They are allowed to decorate it any way they want. 

First is Julie's room.

And now, David's tree.

Thanks for coming to visit my home.  I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas!!