Air conditioning in December??

The temperature is dropping and the wind is howling outside as I write this (becoming a very familiar sound around here), but this morning and afternoon were a totally different story. Not only did we not need coats to go run our errands today, but the boys kept complaining that they were hot! We even had to turn on the air in the van to keep the whining to a minimum.

The poor boys were forced to run errands with me ALL DAY today, so their treat was getting to eat out at Chick-fil-A (or Chick-ta-lay, as they call it), play at the play place and trade their toys in for ice cream (which we ate outside!). Gotta love Chick-fil-A and the fact that one of the only freestanding ones in the metro area is only about 10-15 minutes from our house and on the way to the mall.

(excuse the food in Ethan's mouth - he was very excited about the Chick-ta-lay)

Let the Games Begin

We love playing board games and so do Barry and Vicki so we jumped at the chance last night when they came over and all the boys decided to play upstairs after dinner. We're so glad they are here so close to us. I met Vicki the first day of grad school in Tennessee of all places! Now we live in the same county, and they've been such a blessing in our lives since that day. Their two boys are adorable (you've seen them in some other posts), and our boys love them! We definitely need to get together more often.

And the game....the boys won this one (it came to an abrupt end when the boys tired of playing upstairs). There will be many games in our future this season - I'm can guarantee a game of Cranium will be played at my parents' house and probably Catch Phrase on New Year's Eve. Yes!

Christmas Eve

Well, the kids are tucked into bed (on the air mattress in Elliott's room as they preferred tonight) and we've finished with our Christmas Eve festivities. Beautiful candlelight service at church, pizza, decorating Santa's cookies for his snack tonight, hot chocolate by the fire and opening the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th boxes of the interactive nativity set we bought this week. Now it's time for these elves to get to bed. Merry Christmas!!!

Pay it forward

Today the boys and I had to do a Walmart run, so we stopped in at Subway before we started our shopping. While we were eating, I noticed a lady smiling at me. Almost kind of laughing with that "I can remember those days" look that I get sometimes when we're out. I didn't think much about it, but then after she got her sandwich she came by our table and asked if the boys could have cookies. She had bought them (us) chocolate chip cookies. We thanked her and told her she didn't have to do that. "I just wanted to. They're cute boys" she said. The boys were kind of bewildered as to why someone would do that. After a few moments Elliott said "We should do something nice like that for someone shouldn't we Mom? Like that lady gave us cookies. We should do something nice for someone else." Aaahhh...a teachable moment! I was so excited and we talked about how that is called "paying it forward". When someone does something nice and unexpected and then that person does something for someone else, etc. Of course, they're both confined to their rooms at the moment for assaulting each other one too many times today, but I think they really learned something from that sweet lady today. Thank you, whoever you are!

Dancing Lights

One of our Christmas traditions is going out one night with hot chocolate and cookies in hand, driving around some of the neighborhoods to look at all the Christmas lights. This year one of the moms in Elliott's class was telling me about a house that has lights that dance to the music near the theater by our house. She promised that it was a must-see, and she was right. It was really cool (and a lot of work for someone). I noticed that besides the lights, it looked like the only other decoration in the yard was a manger scene front and center, which I thought was really neat.

I debated which video to upload (we caught two of the songs), because the second one was a version of the First Noel and you can hear Elliott singing in the background - love that. But I chose this one because I thought the light choreography was neater.





And the funniest thing, I thought, was that as we were driving by I looked into the upstairs window and saw this:


If you've ever seen A Christmas Story, you're laughing your head off right now.

Brrr...

I just want to say that we just got home from a fun evening at our friends' house (thanks Skip and Janji!) and the temperature is 6 degrees outside. But it feels like -13 degrees (which I guess is mild compared to the -80 wind chill I experienced my freshman year at U of I - did I really go to class in that weather? Yes, I am a rule follower!). Did I mention how much I love this weather? Actually it hasn't bothered me that much as long as it isn't icy and I am blessed with a warm car or house to shelter me.

Took this picture this morning before church. They both insisted on spiking their own hair today. And Elliott was not amused with my attempt at cuteness with their matching outfits (thanks for the sweaters, Aunt Meemer). They were both totally fine with the pants and sweaters, but that was the end of the line for Elliott. He was not wearing the cute argyle matching socks I had gotten a deal on this fall. And he was not wearing the nice brown shoes we had purchased for church and other "dress-up" occasions. Okay. You win this time. White socks and tennis shoes for you - and you let everyone know when they would make nice comments about how you and Ethan matched "Not my socks. Or my shoes - see?"
And they were not excited about having to get a picture either. They tried to be as silly as possible, but I actually think it worked out well cause I love this picture of them.

Tuscan Chicken

I made this a couple of days ago and was reminded of how much we like this, so I thought I'd share the recipe:

Tuscan Chicken Breasts

1 c. chopped onion

1 c. each chopped sweet yellow and red peppers

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. minced garlic

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4-6 oz each) flattened to 1/2-inch thickness

1 can (14.5 oz) Italian diced tomatoes (plain diced tomatoes work fine, too)

2/3 c. chicken broth or white cooking wine

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1/8 tsp. pepper

hot cooked pasta

1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, saute onion and peppers in oil for 4-5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in garlic; cook 1-2 min. longer or until vegetables are tender. Place chicken over vegetables. Add the tomatoes, broth, vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper flakes and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until chicken juices run clear and sauce is thickened. Serve with pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings.

(From Simple and Delicious Magazine)

We made it with gnocchi this time - yummy! Enjoy.