Happy 2009!

Well, it is New Years Eve. The kids are going to go to the in-laws and say the night. And my hubby MADE RESERVATIONS at PF Changs. Mmmmm. We will put our gift certificates to good use. Yummo! And then we are probably going home. No big parties for us tonight! Which it totally fine with me! Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Austin and I in 2004, yeah we are awesome

My Christmas Update!

We had a great Christmas! My parents came down from Wenatchee to join us in the festivities! On Christmas morning we got up and opened our stockings and then waited for my grandparents and Austin's parents to come over. We ate a super yummy brunch and then opened up our presents galore! Holy cow, are my kids spoiled or what!?! Among the favorites were Connor's light saber, Star Wars Lego's, and slinky (which, shocking, is still intact!) Clara's favorites were her kitchen, Elmo Live (ANNOYING, but extremely cute.) and her numerous cell phones and purses. I got a new cell phone and some amazing comfy Simple brand flip flops. I also got a new cell phone number, so if you need it, let me know! My hubby enjoyed all his gifts and we had a geat day! It was a relaxing, fun day! I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

I had to add this photo. Clara has been sick the past week (that is why in some of the pictures her hair is wet. She had to have a bath before we went downstairs. She had thrown up in her bed, poor baby!) So, I have been feeding her the BRAT diet (Bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast). Well, rice didn't go over so well. She thought this was hilarious!

Damn Twilight!

OK, it is 5 p.m. and I have neglected my children 90% of the day. They are safe, I know that, but I am NOT playing with them today. Instead, I have read 350 pages of the fourth (and final!) book in the Twilight saga. Yeah. Half of the flipping book. But can I put it down? No. Can I even talk about it? No. Because I don't want to ruin it for people who haven't read it yet. It really is an obsession now. But I have eased my husbands mind and after I finish this book, there isn't one after it. So, I will be a part of the family again. I promise! And I had to tell him "yes, I realize that I will NEVER be a sexy vampire." Damn. I would have been a great vampire, I already bite! ;)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I made this last night and it was FABULOUS! I used half of the oil and just bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded it, instead of cooking and shredding chicken breasts. I was thinking not only would it have better flavor, but EASY! Woo hoo for ease! When serving it, I topped with shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream. YUM! Anyway, I got the recipe from allrecipes.com which has great recipes on it! It is one of my favorite websites!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS

6 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 (6 inch) corn tortillas, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 onion, chopped
1 (29 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 bay leaves
6 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
5 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked

DIRECTIONS
1.In a large stock pot heat oil. Add tortillas, garlic, cilantro and onion. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
2.Stir in tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves and chicken stock. Return to a boil, reduce heat to medium and add salt and cayenne. Simmer for 30 minutes remove bay leaves and stir in chicken. Heat through and serve.

Finally uploaded some pictures

I am slacking... we have had our tree up for a while! Better late than never!

Clara twirling in the tree "skirt"

Connor using the tree skirt as a cape

Hanging her first Christmas ornament. She LOVED it!

Peeking in through the window

Under the tree

Holy Moly!

It snowed some more last night, and I shoveled my driveway today.

OK, I shoveled my sidewalk and a path so the UPS man doesn't fall and get hurt when he brings me my Christmas packages!

But it IS something, right?

Thank you and Merry Christmas Mr. UPS Man.

Baby It's Cold Outside...

Amy P. (hostess) Amy C. (lunch lady) and Nicole

Today was fun fun fun! We went to the Purvis' house and played, decorated cookies, watched a movie, and made mini pizzas (thanks Amy C!!) Mmmmmm. It was a blast. There were a TON of kids there (I missed the total count. Amy? Did you get it?) It was so much fun and now BOTH of my kids were super happy to lay down and take a nap. Clara didn't make it to the end of the street before passing out! Totally fine by me! It was so nice to spend time with adults and NOT be at work!

Peyton, Ethan, Alec, and Connor

And for the kids to playing with other kids that they don't normally see (except Zoe and Hannah, but we love them!) Clara about had a heart attack when she saw Jess. She started screaming, "ZOE?!?" She was sooo excited to see her. She also had a little jealously when I was holding Hannah and Collin. She instantly wanted me to pick her up. Funny. She has never done that before. She got over it though.

Waiting for cookies

The cookies were so much fun! Clara didn't want to wait to decorate it before she started eating it!

Connor thought the green frosting was the coolest thing ever! I thought it was great that the kids were on one side of the counter decorating and eating cookies and the moms were on the other with their cameras. Too funny! Then Amy put in a Christmas movie and all of the kids sat down and watched it (for a while at least!). It was adorable to see all the kids sitting there in front of the tv. Cute. Well, our kids are ALWAYS cute. Then we made English muffin pizzas. Yummo. And a super yummy salad for the mommies. The kids sat in a circle and ate. Amy and Jess joined in. It was too funny. Then, since it was way past nap time, we decided it was time to pack up and go home. What a great time! Thanks for the fun Amy!

I thought was a super sweet picture, so I had to add it!

It started snowing again, not very hard, but it made me anxious to get home. I am ok with driving myself in the snow, but the tension builds up if my kids are in the car. I don't want other cars ANYWHERE near my car when my kids are with me and it is snowing. Grrr, the protective mama bear comes out in me! And I bite! Drive safe out there!

I am off the read Eclipse (book 3 in the Twilgiht series! Woo Hoo!)

-5 degrees

Not kidding. That is what weather.com told me it was when I woke up at 6:30. MINUS FIVE degrees. Ridiculous. It snowed Sunday and yesterday. I hate when it snows. Why? Because the Tri-Cities apparently thinks it is silly to invest in more than ONE snow plow. Or sander. At 10:15 AM yesterday I was driving the kids to daycare and a street in front of a school was not plowed. Really West Richland? In front of a SCHOOL?!? And as of 9:45 last night, my ROUNDABOUT wasn't plowed. There was BARELY sand on it. Wow! Where cars traveled on main roads, it was fine, but if you turn onto ANY side street, it was compact snow. Gross.I love the snow when it is not on the streets. IT is so scary to drive in this crap. I am confident of MY skills while driving in this mess. It is the other people that freak me out. I had a huge truck barrel past me (they ARE indestructible by the way, screw everyone else) only to see him spun out about a mile down. He was fine, but I have to admit I had some satisfaction seeing that! And I am bummed that it is to cold for my kids to go play in the snow. So by the time it warms up to play outside it will be extremely dirty snow. Bummer. By the way, our high temp today is supposed to be 17 degrees. Break out the shorts and flip flops! HA!

How are you all handling this weather?

Mmmm cookies and pickles...

Italian Chocolate Spice cookies, Sm'ookies, and Chocolate Macadamia Nut Macaroons*

So Jess had her Cookie Party last night. Mmmmmm.... what a great calorie filled night. These are my cookies that I made! There are some more pictures of the party at Jessica's site and at Amy's site. Including a GREAT one of me at Jessica's! HA! Wonderful! Also, I wanted to post a picture of my pickle. I told Amy I would! So here you go! If you don't have a pickle for your tree, you need one. It is essential. And grr, I can't take a picture with our little camera tonight and Austin has the other "good" cameras at a wedding he is working at. So deal with this sad blurry picture of my pickle.

Here's the pickle “legend” from one Web site: “A very old Christmas eve tradition in Germany was to hide a pickle [ornament] deep in the branches of the family Christmas Tree. The parents hung the pickle last after all the other ornaments were in place. In the morning they knew the most observant child would receive an extra gift from St. Nicholas. The first adult who finds the pickle traditionally gets good luck for the whole year.”

Thank you Amy for sharing this great tradition with us ! It is a great one! And it is hilarious! I love when people ask, "Is that a pickle on your tree?" "Why YES it is!"

*If you want a recipes for any of these yummy cookies, let me know!

My kid is RAD

Ronald McDonald went to the daycare yesterday. Connor says to him, "Are you Old McDonald?" He relpies, "No, Old McDonald is my father." Nice job Ronnie!

Jessica's Challenge

I was challenged by Jessica to write a story using Christmas songs. Try it! It is harder than you think! Here is mine!!!

It was a silent night when grandma got run over by a reindeer. The cop heard jingle bells up on the roof top. Click, click, click, went his watch. "Sir, who did it?" the assistant asked. "It was Santa Baby," he replied. The frosty cold air nipped at his nose, "Oh come all ye faithful, clues!" Christmas time is here and he had no clues to go on. He knew Santa was coming to town, but there was nothing he could do. But then he yelled, " Do you hear what I hear? It might be Rudolph and Santa!" Suddenly it came upon a midnight clear. He knew where they were hiding. In the winter Wonderland! He smiled, "maybe I'll be home for Christmas after all!"

Is Christmas spirit is still out there?

I have been SOOOOO disappointed in humanity these last few days. I was disgusted on Saturday when I opened the newspaper to find out an employee was TRAMPLED to DEATH during the opening of a Wal-Mart on Black Friday. And then customers complained when told they had to leave when they waited for hours for the store to open. Big fricking deal people. Get over your damn sale, a man has DIED! And shame on Walk-Mart (where I refuse to shop anyway, this is just another reason why) for REOPENING the store THE SAME DAY!!!! They were worried about sales amongst a tragedy? Sick. Those poor people had to work while looking at the same place that their co-worker JUST died! Any mourning time at all? No. Money is that important to people. It makes me sooo sick thinking about it. I waited on purpose to blog about these events, hoping that my anger would die down a little. But no. I am still so upset by the actions of all of these people. Now they are talking about pressing charges against the people who just walked over this poor man. Good. I hope they do! People make me sick.

But, I did witness a wonderful thing yesterday. Something that gives me hope for society. Something that shows not everyone is as greedy and horrible as the people in the above section. I went to our grocery store (Winco, for those of you who know it) and was checking out with the kids. I was bagging my groceries as the cashier rang up the person behind me. (Each cashier has 2 lanes and you bag your groceries yourself) and she told the man, his total ($27 something). The man, who seemed very poor, and probably slightly mentally challenged, look horrified and said, "Oh no, I only have $20!". They man behind him, said, "Don't worry, give me your $20 and I will get the rest." And swiped his debit card. The first guy looked soooo thrilled. He just stammered out a, "thank you very much!" and went to bag his groceries. I was beaming from ear to ear! It was only $7 that he gave him, but it meant SO MUCH to that guy! It was a wonderful thing to witness!

Have you ever witnessed or done a random act of kindness like that before?

Happy December!

Wow! It is hard to believe that December is already here! I suppose it is time to throw away my pumpkins and take down my fall wreath, since my neighbors' houses glitter from their Christmas lights. Maybe we will get our Christmas stuff out next weekend. Although, I have been listening to Christmas music for a couple of weeks. I should change my ringer on my cell phone to the Christmas songs I added last year! Poor Austin is so embarrassed when he is with me and my phone starts ringing "Baby It's Cold Outside." Well, bah humbug to him! Ha! Enjoy your month of December! I hope it is relaxing and fun!

Here is one of my favorite pictures of Connor at Christmas. He was 15 months old.

On a completely different note, I read Twilight this weekend.

And loved it.

A lot.

I can't wait to read the next book!