Snow!

It was the first snow of the season!!! There's nothing quite like snow to get us in the mood for the Christmas season and sure enough, as we were loading the van on Friday morning, we started to see flurries. Much to the boy's excitement, the further west we drove the higher the snow on the ground was. When we got out in Hays, there was probably 1-2 inches on the ground and Logan was estatic about getting to actually use his Thomas boots, which he did indeed wear on our trip. And, since we were heading to western Kansas to celebrate Christmas with our family, even though it was Thanksgiving, it seemed very appropriate to have a little snow on the ground. Of course, it did dry out by the time we got going further west and was non-existent by the time we arrived at the grandparents. But, nevertheless, there was snow! We did see it and I did get a few pictures as we drove along the interstate (Shawn was driving).

We drove past a large wind farm (not the one my brother works at).

It was so hazy and foggy that we couldn't see the tops of them!
Today, it was snowing a bit as well, here in Riley as the boys headed off to Sunday School and church without me. I hated to miss yet another Sunday, but I have a HUGE paper to get done with finals this week and a full week of school ahead of me, so I was overwhelmed with things-to-do, not to mention getting my house in some sort of organized manner with more company. So, Shawn so sweetly offered to take the older boys to church while Malachi took his nap and I got some research done for my paper. Tonight, I'm 3 pages out of 10 done and still wondering what to write!!! I love writing and talking, but when it comes to research and citing sources in APA format, then I get a little stressed and unmotivated.

So, my blog tonight is short as I need to get onto my laptop that does NOT have internet connection here at home for the pure sake that I need to disconnect sometimes and really focus on work! I've got my MS Word documents transferred over and all the information I need is stored in files on my laptop, just waiting for me to decipher them and pick out the information that I'll use to fill the rest of my 7 pages or so! Those days of finals and cramming for tests are coming back to my memory and I'm not liking it a bit. We headed home from the holidays early yesterday in hopes that the 4+ hour drive in the van would be eventful in helping me get some work done. Well, after changing the boys into their pajamas, feeding one a bottle every now and then, and changing the DVD a few times, my thought process was just NOT quite where I needed it to be to get some good work done. So, I have spent most of today writing, researching, and getting a bit tired of some of the same information over and over again! :)

(Zachary quickly fell asleep on the way home, but Logan lasted all night long!)

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving and the break that followed it and are enjoying this festive and wonderful holiday season that we're in as Christmas approaches.

One thing we did get done before our trip was to switch out our seasonal books- Thanksgiving books were replaced with winter and Christmas selections.
Thanksgiving books & November (election):

Winter/Snow:

Christian Christmas story:

Christmas Books:

Christmas Memories

In the countdown to Christmas, I'll be posting some of my cherished Christmas memories. The picture below is a real evergreen tree from my parents pasture.

As the second of 5 kids, I've really enjoyed my Christmas mornings. Growing up, we didn't really have much, and most of us still don't really have a lot, but we still manage to find something special for our ever-growing family. It is by far my favorite part of the Christmas season- getting together in family one-ness and bonding over funny moments or cherished memories. The tree is always piled high with presents and more than anything it truly is the thought that counts. This year, we have 3 new members of our family to shop for- Malachi, my new nephew Tarin, and my sister's fiancee Brendan. Those are the true blessings as having a large and growing family shows how blessed God has made us and how thankful we should be to share such moments together as we do on Christmas!

Painting

Malachi finally learned how to hold his own bottle! YEAH! He also still really loves the blanket that Shawn's grandma made him. I think it's the definite shapes that he enjoys rather than the "soft" shapes that are on most of his baby blankets. He is about to bust out of Logan's hand-me-down Ronald McDonald house shirt. We bought that for Logan when we went to the Mayo clinic and he was a little over 2 years old! Funny how different the kids are in sizes!
Malachi is starting to try standing up, but only when he's holding on to things. We've caught him pulling himself up in the crib and hollering. He's also starting to say "ma, ma, ma" repeatedly, which means, he's probably not talking about me. Oh, well, I can still think that he is. The older two boys said "da, da" first, so this is a nice change! ;)

We finished the handprint calendars so will get them bound together whenever I can make it into Staples and buy the binders. Logan and Zachary painted some craft wooden cut-outs while they were waiting in line for me to help them with their part of the calendar. It really went rather smoothly for the amount of chaos that could have occured. It kinda amazes me how calm I can stay because I'm not usually the type of person to just let loose and let the kids make messes all over. But, they're boys and they need to and I just keep telling myself that someday, I'll miss these moments and messes won't matter.

Shawn took the pictures. I asked him to leave me out of them, but it looks like he listens about as well as Zachary & Logan! :)

The countdown for Christmas is on! Today is Black Friday, but for the 2nd year in a row, I've skipped it in the decision that sometimes the full price IS worth the price to avoid the grumpy, early-morning, sometimes rude, people that you encounter while trying to get into the holiday spirit. Hopefully if you're one of the people that like to get up while the sun is still sleeping and hit the streets when they are still fresh in dew, than maybe you found some good bargains. As for me, I enjoy sleep now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, now that Thanksgiving is practically over, I'm wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving! Yeah, it's been one of those days! I meant to get this done first thing this morning, but we had 3 extra people running around our house trying to get out the door for their Thanksgiving lunches. And, when they left, we also had to help my brother bring another van load of furniture and clothing to our house, so our Thanksgiving lunch consisted of hot dogs & brats with homemade macaroni and cheese!


Tomorrow we'll get on the road for a 4 hour drive to western Kansas that usually takes about 5 and a half with the kids! I've worked on cleaning, loading the van, and stocking all the bags full of EVERYTHING under the sun because in western Kansas, there is NOTHING should we forget something! I love going with Shawn to be with his family, don't get me wrong, but the drive and the boredom that come with entering the territory that few choose to live is something that I tolerate once a year. I love nature and it's beauty but about 6 hours (3 there and 3 back) is about enough for me! I prefer to live around civilization where there is a Wal-Mart less than 1/2 hour away, hotels are numerous, and there are established "name-brand" eating establishments rather than trying our luck at the local mom & pop shop.


I am taking my lap top with me and will pray to get my research and paper done on Vygotsky's theories! WOW I'm learning a lot about child development, maybe too much as it's really made me ponder a lot deeper about how it applies in my life as a mom and a teacher. As if I wasn't analytical enough!


Well, I'm off to schedule a few blog posts for the next few days so you don't think I dropped off the earth like I did a couple weeks ago! :) We're hitting the road at 7am tomorrow morning, which will more than likely turn into 8am or 8:30am. Then, we'll have a fun-filled 2 days jam-packed with cramped quarters, family togetherness, and yummy food- all in the middle of nowhere! There will be the annual Chance football game which I'm sure my boys will try to take part in and then the BINGO game that we play each year for the silliest of prizes. I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about when we return. We'll leave LATE Saturday night and drive through the night as the kids sleep and should return very early Sunday morning. I'm a little exhausted even thinking about the whirlwind of events!


Happy Thanksgiving from the Chances!

A day to get things done

This morning I had a million things to get done. Thankfully, the babysitter agreed to keep my boys (even Zachary!) while I came home and got some things done. Originally, I thought about heading to town, but my plans have changed so often, so I'm home trying to get some things done. I have a LONG to-do list! And, we have pictures this afternoon in town, so I will have a to-do list for when I'm in town as well. I promised Zachary this morning that we would go to the library in Manhattan. He LOVES the big library and always wants to check out way more books than we should.

Logan found some Thomas boots that I bought last year on clearance. He LOVES them! This is how he dressed for church last Sunday. Of course, I helped him make better choices for dressing, but here is the inital outfit:


And, of course, we had no idea how much he LOVED those boots until he came upstairs the morning after he got them- STILL WEARING HIS BOOTS! Yes, he even sleeps in them! Of course, that means more washing of his sheets, vacuuming his bedroom, etc. but I'm hoping soon we can talk him out of having to wear them ALL THE TIME! And, by that time it will snow and we'll want him to wear them!

Here's a picture after church of Brendan reading to his soon-to-be nephews:

And, he's trying to teach Zachary how to change diapers!!!

Malachi goes everywhere! He's also starting to pull himself up to things. Won't be long before we're walking!!!

My little brother shared some pictures with me of his job. He does something with wind-farms. First, he helped construct them and now he manages or repairs things. He knows almost all the ins and outs of those huge windmills. He gave us a tour awhile back this fall and since then, they have actually erected the windmills and they are operational.


In his off-time, Rylan loves to sky-dive and is a member of the K-State sky-diving club. For many weekends in a row, he would sky-dive and even sometimes a few times a day. He just loves being in the clouds I guess. About a month ago, he was a little upset that the wind speeds were too high for him to go sky-diving on his day off, but we reminded him that if there wasn't wind, he wouldn't have a job! Kinda puts things in perspective a little! :)

Bed Bugs!

Funny- I think a large amount of parents have kissed their children at night and said, "Good night. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite!" I certainly know it was said a time or two to me growing up, without even thinking about what bed bugs might be. I never thought they were real- just another thing parents use in their manipulative tricks to keep kids in bed! Well, this past month, I still have never actually seen a bed bug, but I'm very aware of their "real-ness" in our lives. And, in case you decide not to read any further, please note that as of our knowledge, we do NOT have bed bugs at our house!


A couple months ago, my sister and brother had a few issues with their roommates. The roommates broke the rules and allowed themselves to have a pet bunny, which pottied all over their apartment. While this was really annoying to my siblings, they kinda kept their mouth shut as many people do when they live in awkward situations. Well, after much drama, not just over the pet bunny, but many things that the roommates had done to disrespect my sister and brother and thier belongings, the two girls decided to move out in an abrupt manner. Well, soon after moving out, my sister's fiancee found some bites on his legs. As he was visiting for the evening, he slept on the couch in the front room and the next day noticed many bites all over his legs! Yep- bed bugs!


This was a bit shocking to my sister and brother as they had NO idea where these little pests came from and just like me, they were even in shock that they truly existed!!! :) So, they called the ex-roommates that did confide in them that sure enough, they'd had bed bugs in their belongings and never disclosed that to my sister or brother. And, they also disclosed this to the landlord as well after the apartment had to have a very costly extermination. It seems that the bed bugs had been well fed and contained for the most part in the ex-roommates bedroom but after they moved out, they lost their "habitat" so they transferred into my sister and brother's couch, chair, and other belongings!!!!


So, hoping to ease a bit of the discomfort and shock, and not sure what to do about the situation (bed bugs are very difficult to get rid of I guess), we offered to let my sister and brother bring EVERYTHING out to our house to disinfect. Since Jarin is getting married in February and moving out in December anyway, it's very important that she gets everything disinfected before moving to Kansas City to her finacee's house.


And, the research we did told us that HOT water and the heat from a dryer would definitely kill the little bugs. Funny how they can survive for up to a year with no food. They are invisible until about an hour before dawn when they like to eat. They are attracted by the carbon dioxide and warmth of humans. So, instead of having my siblings spending countless hours (and after you see the pictures of the amount of clothes, you'd understand) in a laundry mat, we offered to let them bring things to our garage and place it there until it could immediately go inside to the washing machine. So, we had about half our garage FULL with garbage bags of clothes, bedding, curtains, blankets, etc. Imagine 2 teenagers (yes, they are in college, but still- the amount of clothing is ridiculous) with an overwhelming amount of clothes! And you will see, we're about 1/2 way done with most of the laundry.

As much as I HATE laundry, it's kinda starting to grow on me just a tad as I am seeing progress.

This "room" is supposed to be getting worked on this winter to be turned into my "study nook" for a built-in library and computer area. Instead, right now, it's piled almost floor to ceiling with laundry.

And, as they always say, "pictures don't do it justice!" These totes are HEAVY & packed full of clothing.

And, tonight, there is word that there are possible leasers for the apartment, which would get my brother out of the lease. So, waiting on official word from the landlord, which is almost certain to be an okay, we are moving MORE belongings in the other part of our basement. Ah! The excitement never ends.

My little Sports Fans

Well, it's the end of an era or so they say around here. Ron Prince is out and Snyder is back in. Hmmm . . . . I'm sure glad my job doesn't depend on winning records, or wait a second- does it? It seems with NCLB, teachers are held to accountabilities that are outrageous in some regards. Okay, that's all I'm saying about that! My "teacher blogs" are sent to only a select few that I trust and that are a part of my professional growth.

Funny how so unlike these two boys are yet how incredibly attracted to each other and how well they get along. Zachary kinda does his own thing and these two really get along well.

Malachi, the Cats lost on Saturday:

Adorable, I know! :)

Caramels

I met to get this posted last evening, but time got away from me and I was up WAY past my bedtime! (Yes, 10pm is too late for this old gal at least right now while I'm still trying to recover from getting wiped out this week from the ick!)


Anyway, it was well worth the wait to stay up and taste the warm, fresh caramels! Below is the process, which has been a learning process for me to learn how to perfect the recipe that my aunt used to make every Christmas. I now know why she only made them once a year! It's well worth the patience and time invested though.


First, we mixed the sugar, butter, and corn syrup. (and please excuse the photography- I really need to work on that a bit more but am waiting on a nicer camera- hint, hint Santa!!!) :)

I mixed the flour and sweetened condensed milk in a separate bowl.

Malachi watched while he ate his snack! :)

Then we had to pour it together while Shawn was continuously stirring (hence the large part of his hand taking up my picture!!!) He is VERY diligent to stir constantly so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan or burn.

Then, I greased a large pan with butter and we poured the mixture in so it could cool off.

Parchment paper was cut into small squares (about 4"x4" or smaller) - we used to use wax paper, but found out that this time parchment paper works a lot better because the caramel doesn't stick to it!

Or large pile of parchment squares:

We plopped the caramel onto the counter to cut it (make sure you are able to cut it where you lay it out). And again, this is obviously a much more 'real-life' picture than you would see in Taste of Home! :)

We use a pizza cutter to cut the caramels- first into strips and then into smaller squares.

One of those strips didn't make it into squares as I decided to taste test and share with my boys! It was YUMMY!!!

Again, Shawn's lovely arm while he's cutting the caramels apart!


Josh took a break to play with Malachi.

After the caramels were cut into small squares (or rectangles in some cases), we wrapped them carefully in the parchment paper. A few did not make it to the wrapping process as they were just too tasty to resist! :)

Let me know if you're trying these and need the recipe! I'd love to hear others' experiences with it! :)

Handprint Calendars

I off and went crazy tonight! Yep- I let my older two boys paint!!!! It was supervised, but chaotic! And, I let them make a bit of a mess, because what fun is painting if you can't really make a mess!? Zachary & Logan had a blast, and of course, we didn't finish- we'll paint again tomorrow night and probably the night afterwards. We are working on a few Christmas presents by making a handprint calendar. I made a bunch of copies and when I got my printer installed again the other night, was finally able to get some ready for us! I made these with my kindergarten students about 4 years ago, and also made it with Zachary when he was 18 months at the time, so I figured I could try it again! :) So far so good.










Tomorrow night, we have plans to make homemade caramels!!! If you've never had homemade caramels, then you might not quite understand it, but after eating those you can never go back to buying even the most expensive of caramels! And it was last Christmas when we made batch after batch of them as they disappeared with the many visitors we had, so the routine will hopefully come back to us and they'll turn out deliciously! :)

And, a slight side note, as I was mentioning last night about my boys not urinating where they need to or should. I went downstairs to wake Zachary up to get ready this morning and saw a HUGE puddle of water in our soon-to-be linen closet when we get our bathroom downstairs done (someday????). I started freaking out, thinking that when I took my shower, there must be a leak in the pipes or something or rather. Who knows with such an old house what will go wrong next!? So, while I'm looking all over to figure out where the leak could come from, Logan comes down and it hit me like a light bulb. I asked him about it and he said he wanted it to be his new bathroom! Really, living with all boys is sometimes like living in a frat house! And, they are only 5 and younger right now!

Well, it's past my bedtime again as I'm still trying to recover from whatever it was that hit this past week. Malachi's still got a terrible cough but hopefully in a couple days with the new medicine, he'll be feeling much better. I'm just exhausted from spinning my wheels to try to make up for lost time at work.