Zed

Connor got a leap frog toy that sticks to the fridge. You can put different letters in it and it helps you spell 3 letter words. There is also a button to push that will sing the ABC song to you. Well, in Canada the letter Z is not said "ZEE" it is said "ZED". So the song says "W, X, Y, Zed." It is quite funny. Now Connor is singing it that way too.

Daddy's Little Helper

Merry Christmas from the Great White North!

Well folks! We made it to Canada. It wasn't quite what we expected but we are here. We were supposed to fly from NC to LV on Wed. Well many of you know that LV got snow on Wed. Due to the snow and the lack of equipment to deal with said snow, the LV airport shut down! CRAZY! They took us directly into Burbank, CA. My brother in law Bill was kind enough to drive 1 hour to pick us up at midnight.

We got to spend all day Thursday in CA too b/c the freeway to LV was still closed! Seriously CRAZY! Mike enjoyed a round of golf w/ my dad on Thursday. On Friday, we borrowed my dad's car and drove to LV. Friday night we went to our old ward's Christmas party and saw a lot of our old friends. It was good to see them all.

My sister-in-law Kelly was stranded in LV for a night too. So we got to see her the night before we flew up to Canada to be with her. We decided to surprise Granny McBride and sent baby Zetta with her. Granny McBride was so happy!

On Sat. we visited my friend Maren and then flew out to Canada. That flight was very painless. I was one less child, it was on time and we each had our own TV's with on demand movies and TV shows. It was great!

It is very cold here (-9 degrees F) and there is LOTS of snow. Mike got to remember the good ol' days of Shoveling the walk and driveway. It took him over an hour to do it!
The kids went out to help him and they enjoyed playing in the snow for a bit. Tara was more concerned about fashion and wanted the PINK wind breaker not the Navy puffy parka that I brought for her. But she would just take little breaks here and there in the warm house. She just loved eating the snow.
Connor got a broom and helped daddy move the snow. Zetta went out for a few minutes w/o any jacket or anything and loved it! She was a bit fearful of the monster holding her but she is funny in the cold. She quite likes it.

Visit w/ Santa

So we went to a party last night. We were sitting at tables in a large room full of people. Santa walked in! The kids were so excited. Many kids ran to Santa to give him hugs and say hi. Not my Connor. Connor says "Santa! We are over here!" Like Santa was of course there to see him and not anyone else in that room. It was quite funny. So after waiting in a line to go talk to Santa, Connor walked up to him and said "Santa, what are you going to buy me for Christmas?" Santa said "buy you? I have little elves that make our toys." Then Connor told him he wanted some choo-choos on Christmas. Then he told Santa that he wanted "1-2-3 choo choos!" Santa picked Tara up and sat her on his lap and Tara turned and honked Santa's nose. Then Connor said "Santa, see my trick!" At this point, Connor threw himself on the floor and did what looked like some break-dancing moves. I was dieing!

Connor's Prayer

Connor said the prayer on the food for dinner tonight...
"...please bless this blessing (thank you for our blessings), please bless this food, thank you for it, please bless our Christmas tree that it will get presents under it...

The First Gift of Christmas

A few months ago, I called my Grandpa and asked him if he would make a train for Connor. I was thinking a small wooden thing. Last week we got "the train" in the mail. I was so excited to open it! So I did once he was asleep. Then I was way too excited to give it to him. It is a large train that would have been difficult to take up to Canada with us for Christmas. And it was SO AMAZINGLY cute that I wanted to give it to him right away. I figured that if we weren't giving it on Christmas, then the sooner the better b/c that is just that many more days to play with it. Right? So we put it under the Christmas tree.

Well, my Grandpa really outdid himself on this one! It is amazing! He took wet-wipe containers, painted them, mounted them on wood and then added wheels that are hand sanded. Then he cut a wet-wipe container and shaped it into an engine. Seriously...isn't this the cutest train EVER?!?
Another love of Connors, next to trains, is containers. He loves to transfer things from one container to another. So this train is so perfect for him!

The train has a little loop on the front that connects to a handle for him to pull the train with:
Connor has done EVERYTHING with his train...
Gone to Church,
Eaten breakfast and even slept with it:

It isn't a small train, and when he goes up and down the stairs, he has to have his train with him. So, he brings one car down at a time, adds it to the train and then goes back up for the other ones...one at a time. It is so cute. Oh and the red one always has to go last...because of course it is the caboose.


Thank you so much Great Papa!

The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd

This was an email I got. I don't forward many thing on but this one hit home. I really do remember my dad telling me about walking to school uphill both ways no soles on his shoes....I never did jiffy pop and I always had a remote w/ my TV but I sure loved Atari! I hope those of you over 30 enjoy this and I hope those of you under 30 realize how lucky you are to have such things.

I remember having to wait 3 minutes while I rewound a tape to hear a specific song that was at the beginning of the tape. I remember having to carry change with me so I could call home from the pay phone. So what are some of the things you remember life like when you were young?

Here is the original email:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
With their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning

... Uphill...

BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
There was no way I was going to lay

A bunch of garbage like that on kids about how hard I had it

And how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of
Thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my
Childhood, you live in a Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you
Don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, We had to go to the library and Look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write
Somebody a letter, with a pen!

...Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! If you wanted to
Steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you
Were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, Your mom, your boss, your Bookie, a collections agent, you Just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video
Games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games Like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You Actually had to use your Imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or
Screens, it was just one screen Forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting
Harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that
Was only m-net And there was no on screen menu and no remote Control!

You had to use a Little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it Came to channel surfing! You had to get off Your butt and walk over to the TV to change the Channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons On Saturday Morning. Do you Hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK
For cartoons, you spoiled Little brats

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat
Something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

If we wanted Popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing
And shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids
Today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted
Five minutes back in 1980!

Merry Christmas from all 5 of us!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Soft Ginger Cookies

I went to a cookie exchange where there was over 20 different kinds of cookies. These were my favorite. For those of you that still have an upcoming exchange, these are very festive and yummy. The molasses flavor was not too dead and not too strong. Sorry Tonya...please don't stop reading my blog just because I post recipes. These are more so I have them when I want them. I omitted the photo this time so it wouldn't be so tempting.

Soft Ginger Cookies

You don’t need to sift the flour, use a small cookie scoop (melon scoop) for the dough to get a consistent size, the dough gets soft for scooping, so you should chill between baking. You will probably get more than 35 cookies if you use the scoop. Don’t forget to roll in sugar as indicated.

2 sticks of unsalted butter (1 cup)

1 ½ cups of sugar

½ cup molasses

2 eggs

½ teaspoon of salt

4 cups of unbleached flour

1 ¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 ¾ teaspoon clove

1 ¾ teaspoon ginger

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

In a large bowl, cream butter, softened. Beat in sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in molasses. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time, beat well after each addition. Beat in salt.

In a separate bowl sift, flour, baking soda, cloves, ginger and cinnamon.

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until it is incorporated well. Pinch a portion of the dough off and roll into

1 ½ inch balls. Roll the balls in sugar and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10-12 minutes.

Yield 35 cookies.

Address?

So, If you read this blog, please send me your mailing address to mitzimcb@gmail.com. My husband said that if people read the blog they don't really need a Christmas card b/c they know all about our lives. But I disagree. I think that if you read my blog, you are exactly the people I want to wish a Merry Christmas to! So send me your mailing address NOW!

Thanks!

And Happy December!

My Little Man

Connor wore his first tie two weeks ago to church. He looked so stinkin' cute. He liked being "just like daddy."