The Absence of Solitude

Valentine Celebrations

We had a fun Valentine's Day. The children were all so excited to see if they would get heart-attacked and receive a few little surprises. Of course they did and we celebrated in other ways too, including:

• A pink breakfast of strawberry milk, apple slices, and pink heart shaped pancakes
• I packed Ethan and Lauren a red lunch...it was not the most healthful lunch with all the Red40 dye.
• Simon, Jillian and I made treats to deliver to friends and people I visit teach.
• We made sugar cookies for FHE treats on Monday night. They were a new recipe and one I will be making again because they were SO easy!
• We exchanged Valentine cards with classmates and friends.
• The mailbox was stuffed with Valentine cards from family. Thank you! They loved opening them all!
• We all had our fair share of sweet treats and the sugar crash was not fun with a 2 and 4 year old!
• And finally we had heart shaped pizza for dinner with fruit and a special Love Potion drink. Ethan told me I was the only one who should be drinking love potion and he would pass on it. :) He did end up drinking a bit of it because it was super yummy...pink lemonade, raspberry sherbet, and Sprite.

It was a good day for everyone and I love all the fun things we were able to do to celebrate this lovely holiday! The kids always love to have that extra special attention and I love doing these silly little things for them once in a while.

I will post some of the yummy recipes we made tomorrow...

The Elf

We put up the Christmas tree the weekend of Thanksgiving but the kids were more excited about the arrival of December 1st because that was sure to bring a visit from the Elf. Not only did he come to spend the month with us but he brought them all a Christmas t-shirt.

So far he has been under the tree, caught hanging from the ceiling fan, sitting in a bowl of candy, and gotten stuck in this decoration on the piano.

In the new Christmas shirts.

Last Sunday we had the missionaries over for dinner and Simon and Lauren were telling them all about the elf. Here's a snippet of the conversation between Lauren and one of the Elders:

Lauren: Yeah, he comes every year and then tells Santa if we are being good.

Elder: Wow! I never had an elf come visit me. That's not very fair. Why do you get an elf and I didn't?

Lauren: Well, probably 'cause we are like the naughtiest kids around.

There was not one single person at the table that was not laughing. And I hate to admit that I thought, "Sometimes, truer words have not been spoken."

The Nutcracker

Lauren and I went to see The Nutcracker again last Friday. As always we really love going to see this production. I learned three things this year though--One, go to the matinee like years past instead of the evening show. Lauren was nearly asleep during the last two dances. Two, don't pay for the good seats in the orchestra section. It was hard for Lauren to see and we ended up finding her a little booster seat and she told me she liked sitting in the balcony because she could easily see ALL the dancers on stage. And three, now that Lauren knows more about dance and about The Nutcracker ballet, she is a chatterbox! I had to keep telling her to quiet down because she was so eager to tell me what was coming next or what move the dancers were doing. :)

 

This year Lauren picked out a Snow Queen ornament to add to her collection. She proudly hangs her ballet ornaments front and center on the Christmas tree. I really do enjoy this tradition with Lauren and hope to continue it year after year. 

Pumpkin Patch

A couple of weeks ago we went to the same pumpkin farm that we found last year. The kids LOVE it and wear themselves out doing all the activities. They are asleep before we hit the freeway on the way home. I think that is a sure sign of a fun, exhausting day! Jillian was especially enjoyable to watch do everything this year since she was able to fully participate in all the fun.

 

They played in the corn pit. The girls are making "corn angels."

 

We climbed the mountain of hay bales.

 

We rode on the train.

 

We went down slides over and over and over again! Jillian was brave and liked to go down on her belly.

 

We rode on the zip line.

 

They each hunted in the giant field of pumpkins for just the right one.

 

Jillian found this one and carried it for a while before deciding it was too "heaby".

 

Simon checked out the tractors.

 

Ethan took a spin on the pedal go carts on the track.

We did a few other things while there but I think that might be a picture overload. We love this tradition and look forward to it every October. The kids are anxiously waiting to carve the pumpkins the picked out and go trick-or-treating next week. We have a busy week ahead!

Back to School Breakfast

The kids start school in the morning and we have been trying to get a routine down a little bit before the busyness of the mornings actually start. But today was little different...we hosted a "Back to School Breakfast" for their friends. It was so fun and we had SO MANY people (like 40!) come celebrate the new school year with us. It was also a little crazy around my house for a couple hours this morning but I think it was well worth it.

I didn't get many pictures because I was so busy during the breakfast but here are a few:

 

Shannon gave me the idea to do a 'pancake bar' and it turned out to be a lot less work than what I had originally planned, which was awesome. (Thanks, Shan!) We had pancakes with lots of different toppings, an egg casserole, fruit and juice.

 

 
I wish I could have recorded Simon's reaction this morning when he saw the poms. It was hysterical...he thought they were the most amazing thing and just could not figure out how they were floating in the air. 
 

 
The party favor and the wreath on the door.

 

(I just noticed when I posted this picture that someone pulled one of the crayons off.)
 

It was a success in my book and might become an annual event. Or maybe I will host a back to school brunch for the moms on the first day of school. Meaning that after they drop their kids off at school on the first day, they come celebrate the new year at a brunch with no children...it would be a lot quieter than today's breakfast. ;-)

 

Gingerbread Houses

We had our annual gingerbread decorating on Sunday and this year we did two houses; one for the boys and one for the girls. Lauren and Ethan kind of turned it into a little competition. They wanted me and Allen to judge which one was best. We ruled that they were equally good for different reasons. :) Simon and Jillian were both more interested in the candy. I am surprised that neither one had a belly ache that night.

 

Baking Weekend

So we didn't have our normal baking weekend this year. Since we were all together over the summer and again in October we decided not to hold it. However, Mom, Leigh and Marchelle decided to get together and bake up some goodies and so I did the same 2,000 miles away. We talked on the phone and over Skype throughout the weekend giving updates and discussing successes and failures while trying new out new recipes.

I ended up making 14 different treats and my table was FULL. My favorites were the hot cocoa mixes and homemade marshmallows and peanut brittle.

 
We delivered trays to our neighbors on Monday night and planned on delivering the rest Tuesday however we have had some really nasty weather and the roads were terrible that night. Last night I had a church meeting and this morning woke up with a bad cough. So I don't think people would really want to eat something I am giving them as I am hacking up a lung. Anyway, my point is...We (read: I) have been eating it all. Maybe I can just have Allen deliver what's left tonight.  

And this is how I found Jillian yesterday:

 
Jillian had reached up on the table I set up to put everything on and grabbed the bag of chocolate popcorn. I found her laying on the floor near the Christmas tree just having a grand ol' time. She was not happy when I took it away from her.

The Nutcracker

Lauren and I went to see The Nutcracker over the weekend and I think we enjoyed it even more this year. Just like last year, Lauren was excited to get a new dress for the occasion and put it on as soon as she woke up that day. She was ready to go by just after seven in the morning. She had a long wait. ;)

The day before The Nutcracker, she retold me the entire story with pictures included. It was pretty cute. I think she was a lot more interested in it this year because she is in dance. During the ballet, she would lean over and whisper things like, "She just did a plie," or "Did you see that pirouette?" I let her pick out another ornament and this year she chose the Dew Drop fairy, which was our favorite part this year along with the flowers. And included in Lauren's pictures of the ballet was a schedule of what we would do while we were out. So we ended the evening with some ice cream and her nutcracker cookie, even though it was snowing. (I guess it's never too cold for ice cream!) I love this tradition with Lauren. It was a great one on one time that we both needed.

 

gingerbread houses

Yesterday we decorated gingerbread houses with the kids. They love to do this every year and love eating the candy even more. Simon gorged himself on all the different candy, especially the gumdrops. Ethan and Lauren did the same thing at about his age. Ethan completed his all by himself and Allen assisted Lauren.

One day I might get my act together and finish our reusable wooden gingerbread houses and have a decorating party with friends. But until then, the store bought ones will do just fine for a our little tradition.

A few hours later we found Simon doing this:

So a warning to the other kids went out: Don't eat the candy off the houses any more because Simon likely licked them.  
 
 

Baking Weekend

Everyone that attended and has a blog has already posted about this so I should just link to them and be done with it. But I will do a recap, anyway.

Last Thursday I flew into DFW and was picked up at the airport by Mom, Leigh, Jenny, and Marchelle along with two nephews, Alex and Bryant. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Chick-Fil-A since we don't have those here in NY. Oh, how I miss it. It was my go-to fast food. Maybe it's a good thing we don't have it here; it's probably saving me money and an even more expanding waistline.

I totally got off track...

We headed up to OKC to my Aunt Helen's house for the 6th Annual Baking Weekend. We got in late but Aunt Helen and Shannon were up waiting for us and we all had a little piece of cake for my Mom's birthday.

Friday, we didn't get started baking until nearly four o'clock due to shopping trips, babies that needed to be cared for, and just visiting with one another. We stayed up late and got some done though. My sugar cookie that looked so pretty in the recipe pictures was a total flop so I just made Muddy Buddies and Caramel popcorn.

Alex and Jillian

These were the tables holding the goods. We actually didn't make as much as we normally have in years past. You can totally tell by looking at this picture, huh? Others have suggested it was due to the recession and/or the baby boom. (There were three babies under 7 months in attendance.)

And this was my share:

 

Saturday morning, Aunt Helen surprised us with a wonderful breakfast and read us a beautiful Christmas story to start our holiday season off just right. She even gave us cute little utensil ornaments. I got a spatula and others got whisks. She started a great new tradition for our baking weekend.

Saturday afternoon we went to Barnes and Noble to a book signing that my cousin, Brett and his wife, Kate were doing for their new book, The Art of Manliness. It is a book based on their blog of the same name. It was pretty cool to see them signing their own book. I think it would make a great gift for any teen or man on your Christmas list...or just buy it because they really should have it.

 
I had to fly back Sunday so we left and headed back to DFW where I sadly had to say good-bye to everyone. I missed them as soon as I walked away. Sometimes it just stinks to not live close to family. I can't wait to get together with them again soon.