a discussion about a great smile

Mike: What a great smile!

Nate: I'm so glad that God made Caden with such a great smile!!


I sure do love my boys!

Christmas Baking? not so much

*kind of a long read...but stick it out!!*

Since we were supposed to be getting a HUGE snow storm (1-2 inches, haha), I decided that I would spend Saturday making Christmas goodies. On Friday night, I bought out Wal-mart's baking aisle and came home loaded down with all the necessary items needed for a day of baking and candy making with the boys.

Round 1: Saturday morning rolls around and I decided to start with the "made in the microwave, seriously simple and seriously delicious" peanut brittle recipe (quote taken right from the top of the recipe). Well, obviously the microwave used to test this recipe was not the same wattage, voltage, whatever as my microwave. The first step is to mix the sugar and corn syrup and then cook it on high for 5 minutes. Easy enough, no problem. The second step is to add the peanuts and butter and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Thinking I would play it safe, I set the timer for 3 1/2 minutes. When the timer went off and I anxiously opened the door of the microwave, I discovered a SCORCHED and VERY STINKY peanut creation. Oh, it smelled bad. I scooped it all out into the sink onto a piece of foil and then quickly added water to the bowl so the sticky stuff wouldn't stick. BAD IDEA!! The bowl cracked and then cracked some more. Wow. That was bad. When I tried to put it into the trash can after it cooled off, it shattered.

Round 2: I decide to try this "seriously simple" recipe out one more time. I mix the sugar and corn syrup in plastic mixing bowl. VERY BAD IDEA. When the timer went off after 5 minutes, the bottom half of the bowl had melted!!!! I couldn't believe it. Now, I have oozing melted-plastic-caramel-like stuff covering the bottom of the microwave. I didn't even know what to do. My husband told me to let it harden and then we could chip it off. Wow, so much for the chocolate covered peanut brittle.

Round 3: I decide to make this wonderful pretzel-Hershey Kiss-M&M yummy that my friend Sue introduced me to a few years ago. It's really easy (haha) and the kids can help me. This is now our third Christmas to make them. I preheat the oven to 350 because doesn't everything cook at 350? The kids and I lay out all the pretzels on the cookie sheet and then perfectly center an unwrapped Hershey kiss on each pretzel. Then, I put them into the oven so that the chocolate can melt just enough to push a festive red or green M&M into the center of the chocolate. Well, this time the chocolate just wasn't melting. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, so I called Sue in Maine. We decided that I must have old Hershey's Kisses. After a few more minutes of talking, she asked me what the oven temperature was. When I told her, she laughingly told me that it was supposed to me at 200 degrees. DUH!!! I was burning the chocolate instead of melting it. Fun times. I ruined that complete cookie sheet of at least 50 pretzel thingies. Maybe I should make these things more often than one time a year. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Round 4: Kyle, Ian, Nate, and I start on another cookie sheet of pretzels. I lowered the temperature to 200 degrees. Everything worked out just like it was supposed to! I was so excited. To get the chocolate to harden quicker, I put the cookie sheet in the refrigerator. I cleaned up the kitchen because I was FINISHED with my baking adventure for the day. All that just to get one tray of anything edible. Well, a long while later, I went to get Caden some milk from the refrigerator. Well, I am not kidding when I write that the cookie sheet did a somersault out of the refrigerator dumping all edible goodies onto the floor!!!!

I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. I am not a bad cook/baker, seriously.

Christmas tree

Here is our Christmas tree!

Here is our little Red Sox fan in his Red Sox pajamas and ball cap...he's getting so grown up!

Oh the weather...

outside is frightful...



but the fire is so delightful...


And since we've no place to go, let it ice, let it ice, let it ice!!

Well, it doesn't quite sound as good as "let it snow," but we definitely are in the midst of a pretty nasty ice storm. And actually, Mike still has to work, so the song really doesn't fit! We are one of the lucky 35% in the area that have power, so we are keeping warm. We were without power on Sunday for about 8 hours, so we bought an insert for our gas fireplace just in case we need it. I must confess, I am so excited to have a fireplace that actually can have a fire in it! I have never had a fireplace before this house and until yesterday it only had a cool candle thingie in it. I love it!

Our Christmas tree adventure

Although I don't have a fully decorated tree yet, I do have some pictures to show! I am hoping that Mike can get up on the ladder tomorrow and decorate the top 2 feet of the tree so that I will be able to show a completed project!!

First, I also must tell you about our homeschool Christmas party today. The theme was Christmas Around the World and we had 4 countries represented, Holland, Italy, Sweden, and Mexico. I worked with 2 other moms on the Mexico traditions. It was great and so interesting!! Mexicans truly celebrate Christ's birth...complete with a 9 day tradition called Las Posadas. Youngsters go from house to house each afternoon reenacting Mary and Joseph's quest for lodging in Bethlehem. When they are finally told by someone they can stay in the stable, they are let into a house and they have a party celebrating Jesus' birth. They smash pinatas and have a party! Pinatas were originally star-shaped and "symbolize the tricks the devil uses to lure you into sin, when you brake the piñata you triumph over him and you receive all the good things in life represented by the candy and fruit" (taken directly from an answered Yahoo question I found on the internet, hence the misspelled word.) The kids all received "suitcases" and "passports" that got stamped at each country. Anyway, it was fun and educational!

Okay, now for the pictures!

This is the boys on the hayride to get our tree!
A picture of the lot as we are getting closer! Our excitement was growing!
On the hunt for our pre-tagged tree!!!
We found it!!!!!
The boys are watching as the nice guy cuts the 9 1/2 feet tree down for us!
Caden was trying to figure out how to get his hat back on!
Our four sons in front of our tree!!
Nate, Ian, and Kyle waiting on the stairs for the hayride to come back and get us!

Watching as the guy drills a hole in the bottom of the tree...there were 3 guys all around the tree to make sure it was nice and straight...it wasn't, of course, we didn't find that out until later!
There were tons of photo opportunities, that's for sure!


A family photo...just the six of us!
And here is the tree INSIDE our house...Mike is finishing up the lights with Caden's help...
and with Ian's help!
Here is Ian playing with beads!
and Caden playing with beads!
Kyle, hanging an ornament!
Nate, looking ever so handsome in front of the tree!

Well, that's as far as we got! I am hoping that we can finish up decorating the tree tomorrow and get all the boxes out of my living room! Stay tuned!!!

Nate

Before going to get our Christmas tree that we pre-tagged, we went and ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel that just opened in our town. The boys all knew that we were going to get our tree next because I have been SO excited about it...I LOVE real Christmas trees and this is definitely the biggest tree I've ever had. When we were leaving, Nate said, "Is there going to be snow there or just grass?" This made me inside laugh because the tree farm was less than a mile from where we were and it was 50 something degrees today. All these boys know are Christmases in Maine. (Although last year there wasn't snow when we got our tree.) I also got a little sad at the same time. We had a wonderful tradition in Maine of going to get our tree with our good friends, the Nerney family, and it really made me miss them.

Also today, Nate said to me something about the way Christmas is pronounced. He is learning to read and recently learned the "ch" sound...it should make a sound like in church. He wanted to know why Christmas doesn't sound like "ch" at the beginning...oh, the English language is so crazy and inconsistent!! I just pointed out "Christ" is in the word and that it is talking about Jesus...the real reason for the season!!

Christmas tree pictures are to follow...soon!!!