Wild Elf Chase

Meet, our elf elves, Simon & Samantha.  Our elf, Simon (left) has been a part of our Christmas tradition for a few years now.  The big boys love finding where he's hiding each morning.  Well, yesterday morning a fight, whining, pouting, and an overall general bad attitude resulted from one brother (B) finding the elf before the other brother (C).  I decided right then and there at the breakfast table that Simon was leaving early to report to Santa.  I announced that I looked down the hall and Simon was gone!  I said that he must have flown home early to tell Santa about all the arguing and fighting that was going on, and that Santa was going to be really upset.

Wow!  What a reaction that ensued.  There was crying over that one.  Simon stayed away all day and I also decided that Simon needed to get a brother or a sister to add to the "fun" at our house.  It had been on my mind for sometime that I'd like to eventually have one elf per child so that they can continue the tradition with their families when they are older.

Anyways, I set out after the kids were in bed to get another elf to join the family.  Well, Target # 1 was sold out.  They had called Target # 2, and put one on hold for me, so off I went.  Target # 2 did have an elf for me.  Unfortunately it was black.  Derek laughed out loud when I told him that.  The black elf just wasn't working for me, so off I went to toy store # 3.  They were also sold out!  Finally at B&N I found one that would work.  I had also bought at girl's elf skirt at Target # 1, mainly so it would be easier to tell the elves apart, but also it was cute.  Since I bought her, I'm naming her Samantha.  I wanted an "S" name to sound good with Simon.

I'm going to leave a note with the two elves explaining that Santa decided to have Simon bring his sister back to our house to keep an extra eye on C & B and that he would expect them to have better behavior and to show more sharing and kindness to one another.

Hopefully that will work!

New Tree, New Tooth!

Today we finally got our Christmas Tree!  We have decided to get a live tree from now on since we gave our artificial one to a family in need last year.  It was quite the experience.  I haven't had a real tree in probably 20 years, so I really have no memory of what getting a real tree is like.

I learned some important things today, that hopefully I will remember for next year.  First thing is, when you see a tree on the lot that you like, guard it.  If it's a nice one, somebody will like it too and they will end up with "your" tree.  (Note: the one that I picked out was ultimately taken by somebody else, but it would have been on the smaller side)

Next, wear gloves when handling the tree.  That sap (or slap as Brighton calls it) is hard to wash off.

Also, place the "pretty side" of the tree forward when putting it in the stand, since it's hard to adjust after the fact.  We got a Krinner Christmas Genie stand, and it works well.  We've defiantly learned that once it's in there it's going to stay though!

The boys loved the lights so much, Chandler kept turning out the overhead light to see them better.

Other funny things to note:  Brighton helped Daddy get the tree off the car and then ran around the yard looking for the perfect spot for our tree.  When Derek started carrying it inside, Brighton started freaking out yelling, "No, Daddy, No.....You can't bring that inside!  No! NO, Daddy!"  That's definitely something we'll always remember :)

Chandler helps Dad with the star

Both Chandler and Brighton seemed to have no memory from years' past of decorating the tree.  Granted, Brighton is only three, but I would have thought Chandler would remember.  They thought when we said we were going to put lights on the tree that we'd have to take them off the roof and use those!  It's certainly been a funny day today.  I'm grateful for all these memories that we are making with our boys.

In other news, Maverick FINALLY got his first tooth today.  It's the bottom right one.  He's been a little more fussy than normal, so hopefully it will stop bothering him soon.

My Mini Village

Aren't they adorable?  Thanks to my sweetie, I was able to get these done much quicker than I would have alone.  I have been putting this off all week since I knew I could only do it at night once little hands were not "helping".  These will serve two purposes.  They are my "decor" for table I'm hosting at the Christmas Tea on Saturday and they are also my favor.  How cute!

I decorated them in blue, green, white, and silver.  They same colors in my china pattern.  Although the shades of blue and green are much different than my china, it still has the same theme.  I'm pleased with how well they turned out.  If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the one on the farthest left, I think.

Bows for my pretty Girl!

The big boys got haircuts today, and I decided it was about time Katie did too.

Katie has never been professionally groomed before, but I was willing to give it a try.  Her hair has gotten quite unruly these days and I certainly don't have the time to give her the pampering she needs.  Off to the groomers she went.  We decided to go with a "trim-up" and a "furminator" treatment.  The furminator is a grooming brush that reportedly gets rid of the undercoat and thereby reduces shedding.  She came home looking great, smelling like a Christmas cookie, and with pretty green bows on her ears.  Love it!

Derek thought the bows looked silly and wanted to take them out.  I reminded him that she's the only one in this house I can put bows on, so they were staying put!

In other news this is a super busy week for me/us.  I don't know why I do these things to myself, but I practically cram my schedule as full as it can possibly get.  I do like it that way, but I will need to work in more "free days" so I don't get overwhelmed.

There is a Christmas Tea this Saturday at my church where I'm hosting a table.  I could have easily bought favors for it, but no, that would have been too easy!  I'm going to be making them so I better get cracking on that.  I also have a cookie exchange this Thursday where I need 4 dozen cookies.  Luckily I'm half-done with that.  Brighton's 3-year appointment snuck by me somehow, so I squeezed that in on Thursday morning.  I have a research study on Wednesday night and Maverick and I have one Friday morning too.  Yes, it's going to be a busy week.

Oh....and as soon as the Christmas tree stand arrives in the mail, we'll get our Christmas tree picked out and put up (or shortly there after!)

Who says he can't paint?

Granddaddy Bob is quite talented if I do say so myself.  Although he has told me on more than one occasion that he doesn't like to paint, he made something that I was very impressed with.  While cleaning out my grandmother's house in Nashville he stumbled upon something that was his as a young boy and he wanted to pass it along to his grandsons.  He only had a daughter of his own, so this was fitting that he now has the boys (he thought) he always wanted!

I don't remember what clues were given about what was inside the mysterious box, but the final guess before the big reveal was "a turtle!"  We all had a good laugh about that one.

It turned out to be an army helmet that my dad played with as a boy.  It's origin was most likely WWII. My dad said that he had painted it over the years every color in the rainbow, but gave it a new camo-paint job before passing it on.  

Brighton the soldier.

I've never attempted to paint anything camouflaged before, but I know who to call if I need it.  I thought it looked great.  Dad said he even cut out a leaf pattern to add to the realism.  

Of course, you can't play "army" without guns too, so those were the next gift to be opened up.  The boys had a blast with their army presents.  Chandler is wearing a cap that was my dad's when he was in the airforce.  I thought he looked real comando-style here.  So funny!

Dad, thanks for the great fun.  We can always count on you to spoil us!

Ho Ho Whole Lotta Shopping!

Yes, Today is Black Friday!  My favorite shopping day of the year.  I couldn't decide whether I wanted to stay up until Midnight for some deals, or just get up early to shop a little before the boys woke up.  Midnight is usually way past my normal bedtime, and I'm not a night person.  Anyways, that's what I decided to do.  Just before midnight I headed down the  street to my local Target.  I expected I could just pull up at 11:45 p.m. and stroll up to the front of the store and wait with a small crowd.  Boy way I wrong!

IT WAS PACKED!  I guess it was worth the wait.  I did find the three items I was looking for and actually scored the very last one of a certain hard-to-find item.  I was happy and back in bed by 12:30 a.m.  (that was the even better part)

Once the rest of the crew woke up and Maverick had his morning nap, I took all the boys to the Christmas Carousel Craft show at the Fairgrounds with the promise of a visit with Santa.  Grandma and Nanny met us there and they watched the boys while I "power shopped" for about 1 hour.

It was worth it and I scored a few more items off my shopping list, so I'm pleased.  This was the best picture of the boys with Santa.  I think it came out good!

Apparently, Maverick was very interested in the long white bearded man.  He wasn't looking at the camera in many of the shots.

Chandler told Santa that he wants a fish for Christmas.  Brighton wants a flashlight, and Maverick wants his two front teeth!  Ha!

Grandmother Cooke's Dressing

I'm definitely in the mood for Thanksgiving now!  Growing up, Thanksgiving was my least favorite holiday.  I associated it with arguing.  There was always arguing about getting ready, who was doing what, cooking what, bringing what.....etc.  Then we'd get to Grandmother and Granddaddy's house and everything would be great.  All the smells coming from the kitchen would be wonderful!  You know what I mean.  

I think that we actually counted up the dishes my grandmother had prepared (solo) one year and it was SEVENTEEN!  She liked to have just a little taste of everything.  My absolute favorite thing she would make would be her dressing.  We would have it for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year.  I'm not sure when I decided that I needed this recipe, but luckily I had her "help" me make it one year and tried my best to write down how to make it.  

This will be the first year I've ever made it since, much less, without her guidance.  I really hope it turns out well.  This has been an all day event for me in between taking care of three little ones....I'm pooped.  Sweetie, I'll be ordering a pizza for dinner FYI.

First, I woke up before 6:30 a.m. so I could hopefully have an hour or so to prep before my "day" began.  I guess I should note that grandmother would already have most of these ingredients on hand as she made things ahead of time and would freeze them.  Maybe I'll try that approach next year.

Here's my first step.  I had to make "cubed loaf bread crumbs".  I cut up bread and baked it at 200 until crispy.  I boiled my six eggs while that was baking.  That's about all I could get done in my hour.  The next step would have to wait until naptime # 1.

This next step was going to be the hardest.  I had to make corn meal bread crumbs from scratch.  My instructions were to combine equal parts corn meal and flour, some shortening, and milk.  Get this to a "dough-like" consistency and cook until it crumbles. 

After getting my "dough" I spread it thin on a cookie sheet, preheated the oven to 450 and baked it.  It came out great for my first try.  While this was cooking I began working on the celery.

I diced up the celery (very explicit instructions on how to cut it) and then diced up the eggs I had boiled earlier.  The rest had to wait until naptime # 2.

Now I decided to finish while I had at least 1.5 hours to myself.  I diced up the onion and began sautéing it.  Now, I did not have chicken stock from scratch on hand, but had to used canned.  Hopefully that will be okay, grandmother.  I also used a small amount of Pepperage Farm stuffing for seasoning.

Since my MIL doesn't eat onion, I split the mixture into 1/3 and 2/3 portions.  I really can't remember what kind of bowl we'd mix this up in, but it certainly would need to be a big one!

Below is the mixed up onion version, and the non-onion before I added the chicken stock and mixed it. You also were supposed to add pepper to taste.  It tasted great to me.  I hope I can cook it right.  I wasn't quite sure about the amount of liquid to add since that was a ballpark figure too.  The onion kind was a little drier and the non-onion was a little wetter.  We'll see which one cooks the best.

The last step was bagging it up.  I froze half of it for Christmas and saved some to try and cook tomorrow.  A little extra incase the first batch burns or something.  The "O" means onion :)

Can't wait to taste the cooked version tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!