Christmas Jammy Dream Come True
There are few material things in this world that I love more than Christmas jammies! I buy them at the first of December and let Samuel & Roo wear them all month long! While at Freddy's tonight I saw Carter's Christmas jammies for 50% off! I bought a 4T and 2T for next year and get out: they are matching!! Adding to my sheer joy, when I got to the counter they were an additional 25% off and and ended up being only $5 each! How flippin' sweet is that? So not only will I get to torture my children with pictures of them in matching Christmas jammies for years and years to come but I even got them for a bargain. I've also learned a new trick: always buy next year's Christmas jammies during this year's after-Christmas sale. Genius. You couldn't beat this with a stick!

I proudly give you: Christmas Jammies '09

Hey Samuel, 1973 called and they would like their bathrobe back...

I'm going to wear this thing all the time, move to Cali, surround myself with some hot babes (besides Mommy) and have my friends call me, "Hef". And once I can see over the steering wheel, I am so getting a convertible.

Grandma Emily's Caramel Corn -- WW points : 5 bazillion
6 quarts popped popcorn (yes, quarts!)
1 c butter or margarine (I even get by using Brummel & Brown whipped yogurt)
2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c corn syrup
1 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 t vanilla

Find something big enough to put your popcorn in; a roasting pan works great

Melt butter, stir in brown sugar, corn syrup & salt. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. As soon as it comes to a rolling boil, stop stirring and let boil for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in baking soda & vanilla.

Pour over popcorn and mix well.

Call Gigi and tell her it's no where near as good as her's...

Roo's First Christmas

Ok, so I'm only 10 months old and this is my first time doing this but I'm pretty sure that Christmas is the best day EVER! Are you kidding me? We wake up, go downstairs and there are presents all over the place? There were the biggest socks I've ever seen and they were loaded with goodies: animal crackers, baby dolls, crayons, play doh...yowza! I've never seen Samuel so excited in my life; he was jumping around going from present to present and Mama and Daddy were letting him eat the candy out of his big sock! He never gets to eat candy before breakfast!

Samuel got a big kitchen (just like Mama's) and I got a choo-choo train that I can walk behind! Samuel is a little confused though and thinks its his; he's very good about sharing my toys but not so much his. Maybe next year Samuel will get some manners for Christmas, jeez.

All week long Mama had been telling us that we were going to be celebrating Baby Jesus' birthday so I was kind of expecting cake... Daddy says we can celebrate Christmas in our hearts all year long and I like that idea. Samuel does too because Christmas is over but he still sings "Happy Birthday" to Jesus all day long.

So like I said earlier, I'm new at this but I'm pretty sure that Christmas, and especially the part about celebrating our Savior's birth is pretty awesome. Can you imagine how happy the whole world would be if they kept the joy of Christmas day in their hearts all year long? And I know I'm little and no one listens to me but maybe you big people could remember baby Jesus' birthday a little better if cake was involved. Just a suggestion.

Baby, Its Cold Inside
At 4:30 on Sunday the lights gave a flicker and by 4:45 they were out. With a few minutes of daylight left we rounded up our candles and lanterns and hunkered down for what we expected could be a long time without power. We knew we were one house of about 28,000!

28 hours after the electricity found its way back to our walls I'm almost a little disappointed. It ended up being this huge blessing in disguise as Hot Jeff and I loved the time to totally decompress. No phones (limited cell usage as we were trying to conserve the battery), no TV, no internet and limited radio (we turned it on for the occasional weather update and some Christmas music). It was a great time to play with the kids, read, visit, (I hemmed some of Roo's pants--so very Little House on the Prairie) and sleep. Thankfully we have a gas stove so we could cook and by remaining bundled up we stayed pretty comfortable.

Samuel did get restless and missed his morning Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but it was so fun to watch his imagination run wild and have him pull us into the scenarios because we weren't doing laundry, on the computer, watching a game or talking on the phone. It was a wonderful lesson to Hot Jeff and me to slow down and play with our kids!

Now I know the June Cleaver-ness of it all would get old (and it was starting to); I'm terribly thankful to have my washer and dryer today and when I turned Mickey on this morning Samuel exclaimed, "Jesus fixed our tv" so don't get me wrong we're thankful to have power again...I'm just saying, those times when we're forced to slow down can be a wonderful blessing and a reminder our lives could use a little re-prioritizing.

Ice!!

Changing a diaper in the dark with a head lamp to light the way (the flash makes it look much lighter than it really was!)

Temporary refrigerator

Samuel asleep with his Beaver stocking cap on

Roo bundled in her bed--so cozy

Sugar Shack