Our Winter Break Friends...

Over Winter Break we have had two additions to our home. Each of my boys volunteered to bring their classroom pet home. It's the closest they will ever get to owning a fish. Why? I think fish are dumb. They just dirty a bowl, and I hate cleaning them. So there. Sorry fish. It's what I think. The boys have really enjoyed them though...but that doesn't mean we will be getting one:).

This is Bob. He's a beta. He came to us half dead, and I was really afraid we almost did him in. But... I cleaned his cage and moved him into the window seal and he seams to be coming along nicely. Thank heavens.

This is Star. She's a goldfish. She is the most active fish I have ever seen in my life. Swims all day. She sucks up the rocks into her mouth and then spits them back out, making noise all day long.

So here's proof. My boys had a fish... in fact they had two of them... for a whole two weeks. Now they can't ever claim otherwise...

A last minute Snowflake Garland

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas Eve. As for me. I'm sure I'm hard at work making dinner, and wrapping presents. That's what happens when you're pregnant and you've been sick. So it is what it is. Just yesterday I decided that we needed something for outside. We didn't get any lights put up this year. Yep. We are "those" neighbors. Hey, they didn't make it here from the move with a lot of other stuff that conveniently went "missing" off the moving companies truck. And I just haven't felt up to buying more, or hanging them, and my husbands been in the OR constantly, everyone is trying to squeeze in their surgeries before the new deductible kicks in. So we are doing without. But without further ado... My snowflake garland.

First lay out the string on the ground. Make sure it is the width you need it to be. Vary the ends so the snowflakes aren't all hanging straight across even.

Yes, I realize you can't even see what I'm referring too. So here it is again. This time I've poorly traced the strings that I had on the ground.

At the top of the string tie a knot where the string loops and comes back up. I'm pointing to it here. Do this on the top of all the loops hanging down.

Then take your snowflake (I got mine from all a dollar a few years ago) and tie it to the bottom of the loop. Or if you are adding more than one, tie them in place where you want them hanging.

There you have it. All of the snowflakes tied to the strings and ready to go.

I then took it outside and duct taped it to the front of my house.

It's nothing major, but it's something! And I like it!

And my most favorite part is looking at them from my front door.

All sparkling with the light from my porch. So it's not lights, but hey, it's festive!

And for those wondering... Our Elf decided to show back up on Thursday Morning. And the boys woke up to a decorated house again.

They really learned their lesson this go around. Thankfully we didn't have to roll it over and cancel Christmas altogether. I would have felt awful. But if they kept misbehaving I would have done just that. As for our Christmas tree. It looks PATHETIC. But I don't have time to make more Christmas ornaments, or the desire to go out and buy them. So what we have left is what I hadn't put on the tree in the first place because we had too many and what I could salvage from the disaster they created.

It is what it is. Enjoy your Christmas Eve. May your homes be filled with the Christmas Spirit and the story of birth of our Savior ringing through it's walls!

(And just for the record. I DESPISE that painting on my mantel. My husband came across it and brought it with us when we moved. It's going to haunt me for life. I think it's horrendous. He loves it. Straight out of the 50's orange shag carpet era. Gag me now...)

Lemon Chicken and Rice... YUM!

So my pantry was looking pretty empty. But I needed dinner. And that's how this meal came about. And I must say. I'm so proud of myself! It's now a family favorite and will definitely be made again and again and again. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Lemon Chicken And Rice

4-6 chicken breasts cut in pieces. (mine were small, I cut them in half)

1 can lemon concentrate thawed

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can sliced pineapple

rice

Spray your crock pot with cooking oil. Then place in your cut up chicken breasts. Pour the can of lemonade concentrate over the top. Cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 5-6. When that is finished, put your rice on the stove. While the rice is cooking remove the chicken breasts from the crock pot using tongs. Add in the can of cream of mushroom soup. Whisk together with the lemonade using a wire whisk. Drain the pineapple slices and carefully place them in the bottom of the crock pot, in the sauce. Then place the chicken back in. Cover and let warm up until the rice is finished. Serve with rice, we prefer sticky rice at our house, but any rice would work. Using a ladle take the extra sauce from the chicken and pineapple and pour over your rice!

Really, we loved it! But you give it a try and let me know what you think!

My Three Naughty Boys

I should write a book about boys. Seriously. It wouldn't be too hard for me to fill the pages with stories like this. And my readers wouldn't be able to stop laughing.

The Year My Three Boys Got Put On The TOP Of The Naughty List.

Do you see this picture below? Does anything look strange?

Take note of the lack of presents under the tree. Or the fact the tree has NO ornaments hanging from it's branches. Or take note that the fireplace no longer has stockings hanging. Or the fact the nativity that was once on the ground in front of the fireplace is taking up the space on the mantel.

Why? Good question. It's because my three boys are on the naughty list.

And they know it.

I should have taken pictures. But it just wasn't my first thought when I encountered the situation. My husband and I put on a movie on Sunday afternoon after church. The boys didn't want to watch it, so instead they went upstairs to play. This is pretty normal for a Sunday afternoon around here. I end up falling asleep while my husband watches the movie and the boys play.

But, they didn't really go upstairs.  Not this time. They went in to the front room. If I didn't fall asleep I'm sure I would have heard them. Not quite sure how the husband didn't. But hey, it happened.

Well the boys. They decided to take their sticky hands. (You know those slimy shaped things that look like hands that you hold on to one end and whip it so it sticks to the walls?) And although we have told them multiple times this year not to touch the tree. They decided to whip their hands at the ornaments and see how many they could break or knock off the tree.

Such a fabulous idea right? Yeah. One that follows the rules. One that respects our house. One that won't get us in trouble. Yeah, Let's do it.

So right as the movie was ending my youngest comes running in yelling. "Mom, the boys knocked the Elf down and they touched him."

He didn't mind destroying that tree. But the elf to him is so important. He looks for it every morning. He makes sure no one touches it. He believes it in his heart. And it's adorable. And that was the deciding point for him, to tell.

And that's how it proceeded. The boys first destroyed the tree. There is literally maybe five ornaments not broken. All of my snowman ornaments, all of the ornaments with their hand prints, all the glass bulbs, all their personalized ones they made at school... I mean all of them... Then The Elf On The Shelf was up on a ledge this morning in the Living Room when they woke up. So they decided to use their sticky hands and knock him off. And they did. And then they touched him. Which is a BIG NO NO in the story. It takes away his magic. Not only did they just touch him, they ripped his hat off.

So my husband and I took one look at each other. He calmly walked into the garage and got the Christmas buckets and brought them in. We then, with the boys help of course, undecorated the tree, put all the broken ornaments back in the buckets. Took the stocking and the stocking hangers down. And all the Christmas decorations and countdowns and put them away. All as calmly and quietly as could be. Which for us is a HUGE deal. Usually we yell, we were beyond that point this time.

We left the tree up with the angel. You know, as a little sore spot. (We really didn't want to put the effort into taking it down, or we would have.) The boys were in tears the entire time.

We then sent them to bed.

When they woke up the next morning they found no presents under the tree  and the remaining Christmas decor spread around the house put away and a little note from The Elf On The Shelf next to his hat.

It said:

"Dear Brizden, Rylek, and Ledger.

I watched in disbelief and sadness yesterday while you continued to misbehave and disrespect those precious and important things that your parents have worked hard to provide you with. You are all more fortunate than many other boys and girls that I have seen. Although I have seen you do many good things and know you are good boys I am sad to see some of the behaviour that you are capable of.

I was injured in my fall yesterday and because of being mishandled I had to call my fellow elves to leave their post to come and help me back to the North Pole. I will be gone until I see goodness and Christmas Spirit return. I hope that it will not be too long.

I must report to Santa, however, he is a good and kind man and it is my hope's you do not end up on the naughty list. Please watch my hat, but do not touch it until I return.

Your Friend,

The Elf On The Shelf"

Extreme? Maybe. But if you know my boys. You have to be extreme or they just don't get it. We wanted them to know that we were serious. And we meant business. We don't spend our money on things for them to disrespect them, or ruin them. We don't try to fill our home with the spirit of Christmas for them to destroy. We do not allow our children to be like that. It's not okay.

When they woke up not a word was said about what they found. They knew we weren't kidding. They read the note, and after accusing us of writing it, they realized it was real, after all it wasn't our hand writting. The Elf wasn't hiding anywhere. They had made a wrong choice. A really wrong choice. They had taken it way too far this time.

And so today, is three days later. And The Elf On The Shelf has still not returned. Here is to hoping he returns tonight. And here is to hoping my boys remember this Christmas Forever. And start making right choices.

.................................................................

My husband has told multiple people at his work about our night. He gets two responses. One from the "older ladies" that we took this way too far. That they are going to be scarred for life, and we were way to hard on them. The second is a room of laughter. Because boys are boys... and are boys are well, BOYS.

As for me I giggle every time I walk past the living room to see an empty tree... and any time someone asks us when we are going to decorate it. Because my boys are such a handful. Unless your are with them, and see it first hand,  you don't understand just how naughty they can be. I'm scared for their teenage years. Really I am...

Please pray this little one in my tummy is really a girl... Can I handle one more of these very strong, very opinionated boys? I suppose, but I'd rather not. I've got my hands full with the three I have. I'm convinced the Lord has sent them to me and they have a greater purpose in his army that I can't see. That someday these strong-willed, energy filled, defiant little boys are going to recall what I have taught them, and use it to glorify God in his fight. I can hope, right?

Our Last Few Weeks... In Review...

Even though I've been sick, we've managed to sneak in a few moments of fun... One night my boys received money in the mail from their Grandma and they immediately new what the wanted to spend their Christmas Money on. We tried to convince them to save it. We tried to convince them to wait until after Christmas and if there was something they didn't get but they wanted they could go get it. But nothing worked. So they each took half of their money, we did convince them to save half, and went to Chucky Cheese. Easy enough. It only requires me to sit, I can manage that being sick. They had a lot of fun, thanks Grandma!!!

And thankfully it wasn't too crowded. In case you are wondering, I do NOT enjoy going to Chucky Cheese. There are way to many kids just running around doing whatever for my liking. It's just not my thing. But I suppose twice a year won't kill me. And it didn't.

Then I started getting worse, rather than better. I have hit twelve weeks so I've been really hoping I'm on the upswing... But then it strikes again. This time with a vengeance. For about two weeks I couldn't keep anything down. I mean anything. I lost 6 pounds. Granted I needed too, but I'm also expecting... and that probably isn't such a great thing... So I got a new prescription to help me keep my food down. And it has finally started working. And I'm feeling good, once again. Like my other pregnancies. However there was a three day spell that nearly killed me... (I hate throwing up. HATE it. I'm such a baby about it.) It lasted so long my eyes were blood shot.

And it caused reddish purple rosy marks under my eyes. My husband told me the medical name... I can't remember. But they are broken blood vessels he said, from the pressure. Nice. It's hard to see, I know... There mixed in nicely with all those freckles that plague my face. But they are all the purple ones... If you can even tell...

And while I was on my three day death trap, my youngest son Ledger, must have got his little hands on my camera... Because I found about 20 of these small clips. And it made me smile and laugh... I picked out the best of them to share with you!

Then just Saturday we decided to drive up to Tacoma and see the zoo lights. Little did we know so was everyone else. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to make a 30 minute drive. It was terrible. But it was worth it. The boys had a blast. And the lights were amazing! Our house will be decorated like this one day. I swear on it. I love it. So bright and cheery!

The boys LOVED the shark tanks. Can you tell? We were there for about an hour. They were just mesmerized. I was thankful for that piece of glass.

And then we headed back outside to view the rest of the lights. There were millions of them. Everywhere.

Then we stopped by the kid zone and let the kids get their energy out. Boys and energy, It's never ending.

Thank goodness we were able to have a normal drive home of only 30 minutes, or I may have screamed. I am not a good person that sits calmly in traffic. I hate traffic.

So on top of our fun, we now have three boys who are on the naughty list. And they know it. And to top it off. I've got a sick husband, and two sick kids! Hopefully it goes away fast! I'm tired of all the sickness around here!

I'll fill you in on the reason my boys are on the naughty list... It's a whole post in itself. They up and above did themselves in this time... let's just say it involved the Christmas Tree... broken ornaments... and sticky hands.