Well - despite the somewhat crazyness of our morning with Ransom crying more often than not, and Jesse taking a massive tumble down our entire flight of THIRTEEN stairs, the end of our day turned out to be quite nice! I declared this afternoon to be family naptime, and by the time this evening rolled around, the day was looking much brighter!

When Kev got home from work, we had a quick supper and then decorated our tree and our house for Christmas! Very fun. Here's a whack of pictures to document our evening. Jesse only broke two ornaments - I was planning for at least five - so we're golden!

Documentation. He's like a puppy.

We have just a wee little tree this year. She's super cute, and the boys did it ALL! I sat in the chair and fed Ransom the whole time! :0)

Kev put the Nativity set that his Mom gave him in the fireplace.

This is what it looks like up close. This spot also keeps little bull-in-a-china-shop-hands away from touching and holding!

Here's a few other little corners of our home:

Okay. I got this little "roaring fire" C.D. in the Target dollar aisle. People make fun of me - especially on our ginormous t.v. screen, but I tell you what - it is SO cozy! And these are my little Kaden, Jesse, & Ransom snowmen.

This is above my kitchen sink. The plant on the far right is a bog cranberry. A lady from my church gave it to me, and it is rockin'! We own some swampy land to the left of us, and in the spring, I'm going to try to plant it. We shall see......

This is just a little spot above the kid's craft cupboard.

Okay. I always forget to flip my pictures, but it's 10:00p.m., and I'm too lazy. Just turn your head sideways, and you'll get the idea! :0)

And our third child, who is often just as much work for me!

Until the "newness" wears off, she's being relegated to the basement at night, or else I just KNOW the tree will be on its side come morning.

I'll almost bet my life that it won't remain standing for 25 more days, anyway. We shall see..... Anyway. We're decorated. Let the festivities begin!

Thanksgiving

It has been a really nice holiday week-end, despite the yucky weather. We hosted Thanksgiving this year. Kind of last minute, but it was still really really fun to be able to host in MY OWN home! Kev's Mom and Bruce and Grammy came over; I also ran next door and spur of the moment invited our new neighbor who is a widower, but he was hosting a party for six, himself! Kinda cute.

The kids worked really hard on making some fun place cards


and yummy party favors. The favors were supposed to be candy turkeys, but I didn't have the right candy for the job, so we improvised. People were still able to tell that they at least semi resembled turkeys!



Then, yesterday we really spur of the moment decided to go to our most fave place - Piper Mountain and get our tree. We've got a couple of crazy weeks ahead of us - especially the week-ends - so we decided to at least get it and bring it back home. Now it's sitting in a bucket of water in our garage and ready for decorating whenever we are.

The most hilarious thing happend while we were getting our tree. It was cold and drizzly to begin with, so we kind of rushed in choosing our tree so that we could get back inside to the hot apple cider and homemade donuts. We were all standing around watching Daddy chop down the tree, and when the thing toppled over, it konked Jesse square in the head and COMPLETELY took him OUT! It was absolutely hysterical, and Kaden and I died laughing. I couldn't do anything about it, either, because I had Ransom in a Snugli and was holding an umbrella over us so that he wouldn't get wet. Jesse was SO unimpressed, and I really did feel badly, but I just had to document the whole thing. So, I got a snapshot of him crumpled on the ground and then one of him with Daddy comforting him! Priceless.

On our walk back to the barn he said: "I happy now. I cry when dat tree knock me down, but I a little bit happy now." So cute. Nothing that a yummy donut couldn't remedy!

And now today we're just chillaxing. Daddy's going for one last attempt at the big old buck, and I'm cooking up a bunch of food to use up all of our leftover turkey. Baths and a movie tonight before a full day at church tomorrow. And then we enter the next holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, all!

Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats

Thanksgiving Crafting - Day #2

Today's craft is super yummy, super cute, and - if your kid is like my Jesse - quite messy. But, if your kid is like my Kaden - the mess is kept to a delish minimum.

I forgot to say yesterday, that all of these ideas come from family fun magazine. You can get tons of fun ideas at www.familyfun.com. Or, just look on my sidebar and click onto a link that I have there.

Okay. Here goes:

Ingredients:
* 24 chocolate-striped shortbread cookies
* 12-oz. package of chocolate chips
* 24 marshmallows
* tube of yellow decorator's frosting - or just make your own and tint it yellow.

Instructions:

1. Set the chocolate-striped cookies stripes down on a wax paper-covered tray, spacing them well apart.

2. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or double boiler.

3. One at a time, stick a wooden toothpick into a marshmallow, dip the marshmallow into the melted chocolate, and promptly center it atop a cookie.

4. Using a second toothpick to lightly hold down the marshmallow, carefully pull out the first toothpick.

5. Chill the hats until the chocolate sets, then pipe a yellow decorator's frosting buckle on the front of each hat.

Voila!



And share, share, share! And eat, eat, eat.......

A Week of Crafting

Thanksgiving is by and large one of my MOST favorite holidays. It isn't really commercialized too horribly, there are no gifts involved, and it really focuses on the simple and important things in life: remembering what we are thankful for, spending time with family and loved ones, and the biggy - FOOD! Ha!

But seriously, I really really love Thanksgiving.

So, in honor of this being Thanksgiving week, the kidlets and I are going to (try to) do one type of cooking or crafting project each day that revolves around Thanksgiving. And I'm going to share the ideas here because I think they're super cute - and I can't take any credit for them; they did not come from my own noggin' - and then maybe you can do some with your kidlets too!

The project that we did over the week-end was fingerprint Turkey cards. Very simple, only slightly messy (unless you're Jesse, and then you somehow manage to get the ink from head to toe!), minimal materials, and the craft takes mere minutes.

Here's what you need:

* card stock paper folded in half to make a card (duh)
* preferably a brown ink pad (I only had black, hence we have black turkeys)
* colored pencils or crayons
* fingers and thumbs willing to get inked!

Stamp your thumb for the body, your pointer finger for his head, and your pinky finger to make a fan of big ole tail feathers. Use colored pencils to draw in feet, his beak, eyes, and the gobbly thing that hangs down his neck (what's that called again?).

Easy sneezy, and super cute.

Then, make tons and tons to give to all the people you love!
Here's some pics of our masterpeices:

Kinda fun!

And they only have to remotely resemble turkeys!

These Past Few Days......

Let's see here....

It's been awhile since I've posted. Our little family of five is getting our groove on. We're finding our rhythm more and more, and so far Ransom is still pretty chill. I'm still holding my breath, and I'm giving him until Christmas to become a freak out child. If he's still like "this" by then, I will declare us to have our very first relaxed baby. That would be nice!

He had his five week check-up on Tuesday. He's in the 90% for length at 23 inches, and the 75% for weight - almost 13 1/2 pounds. He's growing fast!

On Monday, my dearest childhood friend, Amber came for a visit with her little ones. Almost every memory I have of my growing up years involves her in some way or another! It was pretty special to watch OUR little kids play together and make some of their own memories! And her little girl can hold her own with my Jesse, so that works out pretty well! :0)

Tonight marked another first for me: I went out for a few hours with a friend COMPLETELY CHILDLESS! Kevy offered to stay home with all three so that I could have a little break, and it was so much fun! We did some antiquing, caught up on life, and just had a really really nice evening together. It was glorious!

And now the week-end awaits......aaaahhhhh....it's all good!

A New Spin on Turkey

I found a funky way to cook a bird online and gave it a whirl the other day. It actually turned out pretty good, and I'm going to tweak it just a bit and try it again soon.

I bought a 20+ pound bird and brined it in one of our coolers for 6-8 hours with tons of ice, 2 cups of kosher salt, and a cup of brown suger.

Then, I rinsed it off; salted it inside and out; put some garlic, onion, and an apple inside the cavity; brushed the top with olive oil; and stuck it in the oven at 500 degrees (500!!!) for two hours.

Easy Sneezy. I guess the whole idea of the brining and super hot temps is to get you a really moist and juicy bird.

Next time I'm going to brine it all night long. But it was really yummy - the outside was brown and crispy, and the inside really was very juicey and flavorful.

The next day I made a honking soup and Kev smoked some in his smoker. And I still have some left over for quesadillas. Delish.

Just thought I'd share......

P.S. Turkey's on sale for 40 cents a pound at Wal-Mart!

One of THOSE Days......

Today has been a somewhat "frazzle-y" day.

It all started when Jesse put the stopper in the bathroom sink and proceeded to fill it to overflowing. Kaden came running to tell us, and by the time we got there it had spilled out onto the floor, it was running into the living room - almost over to the fireplace, and it was leaking into our basement! Jesse looked at us with a sheepish laugh and said: "Dat funny?" Not so much.

I have also had to tell this child multiple times today to not sit on the kitten or his baby brother! Is this normal???

Ransom has hurled mass quantities of guck on me twice today, and he has also been having a rough day of sleep, so much crying has ensued. As I type, he is crying upstairs and Jesse is sitting on his bed for writing all over his body with markers after I specifically told him that markers were ONLY for paper.

Yeesh.

The other thing I'm trying to psych myself up for is Kev and Kaden bringing back a barn full of stuff that friends have stored for us since we sold our house four years ago. I HATE stuff. It stresses me to no end. And seriously, people....if we haven't used it for four years, do we REALLY need it? So, within moments, I am going to be bombarded with a boatload of cr*p.

Happy for you, though, Shannie - that you have your barn back. Sorry it took so long.....and thank you SO much for letting us store stuff up there. Bless you.

Anyhoo, I'm preparing for a super large cull/chuck/give away/heave ho/ prepare-for-the-world's-most-ginormous-yard-sale fest!!! Good times. Good times.

Okay. I'm off to tend to my boys. Thankful that tomorrow is family day. We're kicking it to Porland for a few hours to see what we can see.

Good night from the Funny Farm!

Sunday Firsts

Ransom has been to church for the past three Sundays, and so far - each Sunday has held a pretty big "first" for him. On the very first week we went - he was just a little over two weeks old, and his little belly button scabby fell off. His brothers say, "Now he's a REAL little boy!"

Last week, I pumped and gave him his very first bottle because the mornings were too crazy to get the boys ready and him fed in time to be there at 7:30. I knew it probably wasn't the wisest time to pick for his very first introducation, but after a mild freak out, he took it quite nicely. We have to practice our songs as soon as we get to church, so I can't really feed him on stage - even with a nursing cover. So, this option worked out quite well. I sat on a stool and practiced our songs for the service with him laying across my lap. Both boys thought that this was equally as cool as his belly button falling off and each wanted a turn "milking the baby!"

But by and far - the very best first in this little guy's life happened in church yesterday. We were all alone in the nursery while I was feeding him. After I burped him, I just put him really close to my face and was kissing him and talking to him; and he gave me his very first "no doubt about it" smile just for ME! Oh - melt my heart, I just about ate him right up! We've been wondering if he's been doing it for the past couple of days, but yesterday there was no doubt in my mind.

Mercy. The deliciousness of it all!
I wonder what's in store for next week. A poo explosion all over Mama? That could be exciting......

Baby Names.....

I knew when we named this little guy "Ransom" that there would be some comments. I almost chickened out and went with an ever faithful old standby, but just a couple of days before he was born Kev said: "We're naming him Ransom. We've liked that name for a long time, and we're not going to pick another name just because we're worried about what other people think!" That's the main reason why we've never told people our name choices before the kids are born. Because once our kids are here and we proudly declare the name, people keep their comments to themselves on whether they like it or not!

Anyway, I digress.

The whole point of this post is the nicknames that take place in this house. I have purposely (and hypocritcally so) given all three of my boys names that don't come with easy nicknames. I want my kids to be what I've named them. I'm the world's biggest hypocrite, though, in the fact that I have a nickname for everyone and their dog! (Sometimes several.....)

So, a few people have asked us "what are you going to call him?" To clear up any further questions, the answer is.........wait for it..........RANSOM.

I know. Crazy.
He will NOT be a "Randy" or a "Ran." He will be Ransom.
However.....

Behind the four walls of this house you may hear:
"RANCID" - During poo explosions
"Ransey" - From his big brother
(I wonder where he got those nicknaming skills?)
And occasionally, to get a reaction out of my teasing friends:
"Ransey-Dancey Doo."

Other than that, the rest of the world may call him Ransom.

My New Favorite Funny Guy

Tim Hawkins is our new favorite Christian comedian, and he has SO many funny videos out there on YouTube. He is clean and silly and geeky, and we find him HILARIOUS! This is just one of our fave videos that he has out.

Here's to all you fellow parents:



Sometime when you have a few spare minutes, check out his Delilah spoof, and for you country fans, listen to "Cletus Take the Reel." Good times!