Fun Times (and a recipe)

Diddle diddle dumpling, my son Jon; one shoe off and one shoe on...
Kayden loves Webkinz

Mom's reading material. We finished "New Kid" and love it!!

Tuesday was organizing day. Not very interesting pictures, but they will remind me that some of my closets were organized, if only for a week. Why does it bug me so much when the closets are a mess and why am I so relieved when they are clean?!?

Hall closet before:

After!

Boys' closet before:

After!

Book and linen closet (good grief!) Every night we take two books out for bedtime, and obviously we just toss them back in when we're done.

After!

It's so hard to find simple recipes that my whole crowd really likes, but this was a hit. It's Kraft Smarter Fettuccine. I've tweaked the recipe below.

Somebody either put his shoes on or take them off :)

I buy the large bags of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and bake them with garlic powder and pepper, then cut up and put in meal-size freezer bags so I can just take them out of the freezer when I want to make a chicken dish. So, that's my chicken for this recipe.

Smarter Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

serves 8

1 package fettuccine noodles

1 lb. or more cooked, cut up chicken breast

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

8 tsp flour

1 brick cream cheese

6 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, mix broth and flour in nonstick skillet. Stir in cream cheese, 3 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese and pepper. Stir constantly and cook until mixture boils and thickens, then stir in chicken. Drain pasta, cover with chicken mixture and top with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Christmas post, post Christmas

Rally the troops. It's Christmas Eve, and we need wrappers ...

...bakers ...
... and candy makers!

It's Christmas morning and Santa DID come!

Even though it's early, he found his truck!

"I dot tanny!"

A toothbrush?

What could it be?

She loves the fluffy backpack.

It's a sub what??? It's for the car anyway.

Ummm, Kayden, do you like your Leapster?

It's a fluffy, purple blanket.

This boy loves trucks!

What do you get when you get up at 5 to see if Santa showed up? Six sacked out kids by 7!

They've got their second wind ...

... so hang on!

(Saturday at Uncle Kirk and Aunt Ashlie's) Presents, bring 'em on!

Horsin' around.

Merry Christmas!

Daddy and Kambry

(Sunday, places to go and people to see) Ready for a long day

Killing time, playing someone else's Wii

Johnson, party of 16!

Kolton and Mia

Three Princesses: Mia, Kayden, Mandy

"Are they all yours?!?" Oh yeah!

At the airport, waiting ...

... and waiting. Our exhausted friends landed at 12:05 a.m. Well worth the wait! (no pictures of them because the camera battery died)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Social Faux Pas

Is this new camera fast enough for these boys?
Practicing their moves - I guess :)

Just a note to say we have survived Christmas and are doing well :) We got a new camera that we don't like and hope to exchange today. We have overeaten, over-chilled and overslept. And it's not over yet! We get to meet a very special family today for lunch and catch up on family happenings. Then tonight we will wait at the airport for another very special family. Hopefully I'll have pictures to share later.

This week I am going to commit a huge faux pas - I'm going to send Christmas cards out ... after Christmas! So if you haven't received yours, it will arrive in 2009, probably after you've packed all your Christmas stuff away for another 11 months. Hey, it will be better than the credit card bills :)

I will share some Christmas pictures this week when I have a minute. I hope you had a blessed Christmas!

Family Christmas service

Sisters
Say cheeeeeese

The whole bunch of blessings!

May you count your blessings as you make final preparations for celebrating Christmas ... and may we all remember the Reason for the season!

Twas the week before Christmas

I love Christmas! But this year I feel like I'm spinning my wheels as far as preparations. Just today I'm mailing half of our Christmas cards. We baked our first batch of traditional sugar cookies, and I'm not nearly finished shopping. No super woman here, that's for sure! Besides that, one small person, who shall remain unnamed (she's absolutely adorable and happens to be 2) dropped the camera so it's history. We found a new camera at Staples and will have it Tuesday! In an effort to keep myself sane I'm trying to keep perspective and remember what's most important as my unproductive days zip by. This is Kaeleb's first Christmas! Though he has been mesmerized by the lights and decorations, for the most part he's left them alone. I can't wait to see his precious little face Christmas morning! This is also my dad's first Christmas with Jesus. I can't stop thinking about his life and how difficult our family gathering is going to be without him, but I always land safely in the hope that I will see him again! We all knew our time with him last year would be precious, but we didn't know it would end so suddenly, yet lingering as he struggled six months with stroke-like symptoms from the brain injury. We still praise God for every coherent moment He gave us and that Dad always recognized his family, right to the very end! Kuyler is home for Christmas break so we are all together, and that's what matters. I pray we will make great memories for our children this year.

Daddy gave goody bags to all the students on his bus route yesterday. Kayden sits right behind him and was talking to herself (which is not unusual), saying, "Candy, candy, candy. Christmas is all about candy. Why is that? I have no idea." When Daddy could keep from laughing no more he explained the candy is a gift, and at Christmastime we give gifts, just like the Magi brought gifts to Jesus, and to celebrate God's gift of love at Christmas, and if she wanted to be reminded of those gifts she could give some of her candy away as a gift. And now she gets it, Christmas is not all about candy :)
And now, back to laundry, baking, menu planning and maybe even beginning to wrap gifts ...

Time out!

We've all had times when life throws us a curve ball, right? It seems no matter how simple we try to keep our life, weeding out activities, trimming events and maintaining routine, there are times when chaos reigns. Saturday I attempted to shop, Clayton took me out to celebrate my birthday, Sunday afternoon I spent time shopping with my mom, Monday my job took me to three different states, and then Tuesday, as I was feeling the crunch, I was reminded how quickly life passes us by. On my way to work Tuesday, I received the most unexpected news and now our church family is mourning the sudden death of a dear brother in Christ. I can't stop thinking about this precious family, especially his wife. They are a radiant, energetic, kind and generous couple whose love for Christ is obvious. We can rejoice that he is celebrating Christmas in a glorious way this year! I have been thinking about my dad a lot, remembering our special Christmas last year, when we knew it could be his last, but I now realize that even knowing doesn't prepare us for the loss. What a reminder that every day is a gift and people are a treasure. While there may be a fine line between toning down Christmas hustle-bustle and simply ignoring our responsibility to return blessings, today it doesn't matter that I haven't finished Christmas shopping, the cookies aren't baked, the house is a mess. Today God has given me the opportunity to comfort another. I pray He will give me the words to say and the ear to listen.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Cor 1:3-4