What to do during Christmas vacation, if you are 13

So 2Cool came in and said to me. "Mom, Look how manly I am"
I just laughed and took a picture to put on my blog.
Then I went up to the bathroom and found little hairs all over the counter, and sink in the bathroom and mentioned the mess, and he said to me.
"Yeah, I know, that is what you get when you have a manly man in the house". "Uncle Zeke will be so jealous."
Apparently he made it out of electrical tape and his sisters doll hair. I am sure she will be thrilled when she sees the condition of her doll.

The other thing you can do, is break your arm like his cousin Duckslayer.

I am so glad I am not 13 anymore!

Christmas, Busy?

Does anyone else feel totally overwhelmed by this time of year?

I have over 200 posts on my google reader and I don't see me getting to them anytime soon. Nothing has been wrapped yet.

Brief synopsis of craziness.....

Last week I made treats and locked them in my car to keep the kids out of them. sheesh!

I have been trying to teach him the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" we aren't quite there yet.

Little man was having a bad night that night so I let him climb in bed with me. He chatted on for a couple of hours. One of the cute things I need to record for posterity, he turned to me and said. " Mom, me and BigD are BFF's" I asked him if he knew what that was, he knew.

I hope they are always BFF's. (Grandma, that means best friends forever)

Sunday night I had the privilege of having my parents over for dinner. We had Tomato Pie and Bacon Wrapped Chicken, BTW Queen Goob, it was great!! Thanks for coming, it was really fun to have you.
That just takes us to Sunday I need to get some projects finished, so I will be back later.
The Tomato Pie recipe is from my great aunt. She is a amazing cook, I highly recommend trying it even though it sounds weird. Yummy!!!

TOMATO PIE

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake one 9-inch pie shell about 7 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees.

8 large Roma tomatoes (or enough to fill the crust), chopped
¼ cup onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup (plus) Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise

Sprinkle 1 cup Mozzarella cheese in bottom of partially baked crust. Mix tomatoes with onion and garlic and pout into crust. Mix Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise together and spread on top. Sprinkle with additional Mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is browned (about 25 minutes)

My love/hate relationship.

Last week my two cousins and I went shopping and it was lots of fun, thanks Amy and Tracy. Anyway we were looking at Christmas music and got into a discussion about certain songs, Christmas Shoes is a horrible song!!!! It should be banned from the radio waves. But that is just my opinion and, we all know what opinions are like.

Amy mentioned that I don't like the song "Mary did you know?" Now technically it is a pretty song and the message is a great one. I just have issues with some of the lines. These ones in particular.

~Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy Would save our sons and daughters?
~Did you know that your Baby Boy Has come to make you new;
~This Child that you delivered Will soon deliver you.
~Did you know that your Baby Boy Has walked where Angels trod?
~When you kiss your Little Baby, You kiss the Face of God!
~Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy Is Lord of all creation?
~Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy Will one day rule the nations?
~Did you know that your Baby Boy Is Heaven's Perfect Lamb?
~This sleeping Child you're holding Is the Great I Am! "

Here is the whole song for your listening enjoyment.

(Tracy, I was going to use the Kenny/Wynonna one but the videos were stupid and lame. Sorry)
Now, I know I am being anal, it is a doctrine issue for me.

Mary knew who her Son was. She knew He was the Savior, that He was God's son. She knew of his divinity!
Really that is my only issue. I find myself yelling at the radio, while crying, (It touches me, regardless of my doctrinal issues) saying "Yes, yes, you stupid people she knew"!

Please don't send me hate mail, it is a beautiful song and a heck of a lot more appropriate than other Christmas songs.

This on the other hand, this is one of my Favorites. I have no doctrinal issues with this one.

Turn it up, it really is a beautiful song!

Joseph (I Was Not His Father, He Was Mine) - Michael McLean

What are your favorites?
For some stupid reason the comment part isn't coming up, I don't know why.
Leave your comments on the next post down please, pretty please with sugar on top.

Question????

So I have a question for everyone. What age do you think children could go up skiing without adult supervision for the day?
Needless to say my hubby and I have different opinions, but I am not going to tell you which feels which way. Those who know me, I am sure you know.

Ornaments

Last night we finally found a night when we all would be home to put the ornaments on the tree. The kids had a great time! Except for 2Cool, he decided this year he is too old to do such silly things like putting the ornaments up. Am I the only mom having this issue? I have to admit I was a bit peeved.

Yes, my hubby is colorblind, hence the two colors of green he is wearing. We love him anyway, we just avoid being seen in public with him

It does look like Christmas threw-up on it but I am okay with that. In years past I would have moved them all to make them more evenly distributed, alas no ESO (Evenly Distributed Ornaments) this year.

Big D has put so many ornaments in this one spot you can't even tell how many. I thought it was hilarious!

Christmas Crafty?

Many of the blogs I visit have been sharing their favorite Christmas decor and projects I wanted to do the same. So here is a few.

I made the little tiny presents from scrap lumber and scrap ribbon. The other stuff all came from the second-hand store.


I have found the candle holders second-hand over the past few months and wanted cheap candles to go on them but, couldn't find what I wanted. I found these presents at the $ store. The nutcracker came from Germany, and is one of my favorite things to put up every year. Thanks Amy!

One of my favorite shelves. I want to find something fun to hang off the knobs. I just don't know what yet.

Next, every year I do a few of these nets to go over glass ornaments. It takes me about 6-7 hours to do one. This year the one I did is quite tight but, I don't want to start over. I think it looks like a fancy Barbie skirt before it is put over the bulb. I am going to experiment with some other designs this year, if they turn out, I will try to post pictures.

This is kind of what they look like finished. I still need to pull it tight with some thread.

Next I made a clock for my cousin Amy for her birthday. The pic below is halfway through the process. It started out an army green color. At this point I have Modge Podged some cute Christmas paper on it and added the little Christmas lights but it still needed something. So I emailed a pic to my friend Tausha for ideas to finish it.

Here is the finished product. I like how it turned out, in fact so much I almost didn't give it to her. But I like Amy more, so I decided to be giving. Thanks Taush for the help.

Also note the cute salt and pepper shakers from my Aunt Kathleen, Thanks. I love them.

Poky, hair combing tree.....

Tonight the kids and I put the lights on the tree. Needless to say it was loads of fun! Big D called it a poky, hair combing tree. It is so poky it drew blood on both 2Cool and I. Little man walked under it and said it combed his hair, hence the name.

Red read the story 3 trees to the little kids, and I swore at the tree.

2Cool did a great job with the lights. Hubby was at transformer training, and I think BigD is going to drive us all nuts if we don't get the tree totally up. So we went ahead without hubby.

Oh Christmas Tree

We finally went to get a tree today! As we are traveling up this bumpy dirt road to get to a saw mill to cut our own tree, the kids are all going " ahhhhh" and because it is bumpy it is all wavery sounding. Then 2 Cool pipes up and says, "We sound like a flock of sheep." It was funny because he was so right!


2 Cool had to point out all the snow. If you click on it you might see it.

I really wish it would snow hard!


The picture below is what we have had other years.
I think this might be 2004

Look closely, you can see us all piled in the back because, our van wouldn't make it up the mountain.
That is my brother Zeke standing behind the truck . Good Times!


Here we are just getting started! It was super sunny, almost to the point of annoying. It is just wrong to look for a Christmas tree in this weather.

We looked, and looked and Big D even pointed out a few he thought were perfect!
The tree is a bit Charlie Brownish, but we aren't looking for perfect, we go for the fun!































2Cool and Red cut the tree down, this is 2Cool.



Cutie helped her Dad load it in the trailer.


















Now I just need to get the lights and decor on the thing before Christmas is over.

Hippogriff?

This past weekend 2 Cool has decided he hates feet. He especially hates it if you put your feet on him. (yes, I will be using this as a form of torture motivation)

Anywho, back to the story, so on Monday after FHE he decides to put his feet on someone else (I can't remember which child now, that was Monday for goodness sake. Do you really expect me to remember anything that long?) So at the point where the other child is screaming and telling him to get his feet off him. Red turns to him and says, "2Cool, you are a hippogriff!" at which point 2Cool explains to him that the word he was looking for is, Hypocrite. Snort!

Christmas band concert!

Last night 2 Cool had his Christmas band concert. The really cool thing is he and his cousin who goes to a different school have the same teacher.

2 Cool and Duck Slayer

Now about this teacher, he is awesome!!!! He may not be the most technically correct teacher, (I wouldn't know if he was) but these 2 boys love band, and think it is the most awesome thing in the world. This teacher is cool and has taught them to love music, he has taught them to love playing the hard song, and working at it until it is right.



















I was expressing to my nephew, lets call him "Duck Slayer" that I was going to write a thank-you note to their teacher, and started to tell him why, when he piped in and said " because he is so freakin awesome" then I said, "Well because," and he interrupted and said, " because he is so freakin awesome!" Those are the words from a shy, average student about this teacher.
I love their teacher for teaching these boys to love and cherish music! There is no greater gift a teacher can give, than to teach kids to learn to love learning. Especially music in my opinion, music can move you in ways nothing else can and can get you through life anytime, anywhere.

"Thanks Band Teacher man, you are so freakin' awesome!"

Shopping/Black Friday

I am just going to state now that shopping isn't my thing. I would much rather make gifts, than join the crowds. Especially on Black Friday!

Maybe working Black Friday for 10 years at KB Toys is part of the reason. I lived through the Tickle Me Elmo craze, the XBox Debacle, the Tamagotchi weirdness, and all the other idiocy from 1994 to 2004. I remember people sliding under the gate as it was rising, I remember people having screaming contests over stupid toys! Mental blockage in this instance it is a good thing. I can't remember all the mayhem because, I choose to block it out.