Day 170 (12/25): Merry Christmas

I have been begging Colton to get his picture taken with Santa but he is getting to that age that he...well...refuses.  Why can't they be a kid forever?  I even told him that is what he could get me for Christmas was a picture with Santa and I would be a happy mom.

So I had a plan. They advertised Bowling with Santa over at Ft. Riley.  For $25 you and 7 of your friends could share a lane of bowling with 2 pitchers of pop and a large pizza for 2 hours.  They also take your picture with Santa, develop it and bring it to you while you bowl.   That was a great deal and another mother was taking her kids so we teamed together and got a lane. 

I was starting to sweat it when I started my trek over to Ft. Riley and my tire light came on as I was driving over there.  I raced back to Bob, the neighbor who always fixes everything for me, and said "Fix It" so we can go bowling!  He, of course, did and we were on our way.  I got pics of him bowling and even in the dark with glow bowling.  And the piece d'resistance....the picture of him and Santa!

It may be the last year for it so you better enjoy it!

Day 169: (12/24) Christmas Cooking

Couldn't figure out what to name this one...Christmas cooking or Finger-licking good. 

Every year right after Thanksgiving we start making candies and cookies to give away at Christmas.

We had done our Black Friday shopping as you can tell by the new computer in the background. Mark was stripping wallpaper and Colton and I were dipping pretzels and baking.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My baking included date snowballs and 7-layer bars.  I took the snowballs to Marks family and noone would eat them because they heard the word date in the name.  His dad finally tried one and said they were yummy.  They are yummy and they don't really taste like dates.

Now check out some of the cutest things in the world - santas and snowmen made out of nutter butters.  These puppies were pretty messy to make and there was a whole lot of lickin' going on here. You can tell by Colton's mouth in this one that he had just got done licking some of his fingers off. No one would fess up but there was plenty of white lips on the boys!

I was busy making peppernuts which are always delicious.  They take forever but are so worth it when the cinnamon crunchy-ness is melting in your mouth.

Each year I try to make something new to see if I like it enough to make it the next year.  I tried something from Tasty Kitchen - which is a great site if you are looking for recipes.  These were gingerbread cookies with the peppermint hershey kisses on them. The gingerbread was a little hard but the hershey kisses were great!  :) They won't make the round of baking next year but I will find a use for the peppermint crunch kisses!

You can never go wrong with white chocolate covered party mix.  So Yummy and so easy!  Just take your favorite chex mix items (cheerios, chex, pretzels) and cover it with white chocolate. Then as we call it you sprinkle it with love with some red and green m&m's.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

See - Finger Lickin' Good!

Day 168 (12/21): Total Eclipse...Solstice

The last time a lunar eclipse has occured on the winter solstice was 372 years ago.  I probably won't see another one on solstice day so I decided I'd better try to stay awake for this one.   Well they are predicting the next one will occur in 2094. I'll be 120 years old if I live that long.  It's possible but statistically speaking...not likely. 

I didn't keep Colton up since it was his last school night.  Plus I could barely keep my eyes open for it!  2:15AM is flipping early in the morning!  I haven't seen that hour since I was in college!

Chomp...chomp...chomp as the earth takes a bite of the moon.

I had to look up what exactly the Winter Solstice is since I had heard the term but not really knew what it was.  For inquiring minds, it is when the Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun. So my day was extremely short yesterday and the night was the longest.  The actual origin of the word solstice comes from Latin meaning sun stoppage.

I took what seemed like a billion pictures trying to figure out if it is best to use the flash or night photo or what.  Not really sure which ones are which but felt like I got some good cool pics.

I loved the orange-y color that it got as it was almost all blocked. It blocks the sun's rays and casts a shadow on the moon. NASA says that our atmosphere filters out most of the blue colored light, leaving just the red and orange hues.

I'm glad I stayed up that late but this weathergirl is forecasting a nap in her future!

Day 165 (11/25): Happy Thanksgiving ~ 2010

First off, let me start by saying: I am so thankful for all of my family and friends!  This year is a quiet year for us as we are staying in Manhattan and just having a feast and Wii game filled day.  We started by cooking biscuits and gravy and watching the Macy's Day parade. The turkey is in the roaster, Mark has the noodles started and the rolls that I finally got to bake like moms are ready to be warmed.  It is nice and quiet but different than having all the family around.

Colton has been busy in school creating some Thanksgiving art and writing.  I thought they were worth sharing.

This lovely story was created by Colton and it was from the viewpoint of a turkey pleading with the reader, his teacher Farmer Lowman, not to eat him.  It was hilarious! 

Let me rewrite the story:

Dear Farmer Lowman,

How are you doing today?  You do not want to eat me because I have rabies and I smell like a dead bird. If you eat me your face will swell up. I am left out everytime. The reason I got rabies cause a dog bitmeand that's how I got rabies and please don't eat me.

Colton

Not sure if Mrs. Lowman is eating turkey today but I sure as heck hope that my turkey in the roaster did not get bit by a dog and has rabies!

Here's a piece of writing that I will hang onto for a long time because of some of the things that Colton was thankful for.

T: TV

H: Having a mom and dad

A: Athletics

N: Naps - I'm hoping this means that he will be taking them more often..especially when I want to take one too!

K: Kansas

S: Sports

G: Games

I: Ipod

V: Video games

I: I am thankful for football.

N: Napkins - Umm...It's interesting he's thankful for them considering he does not use them! Maybe he's thinking about his pants that he uses for a napkin!

G: Giving

Have a safe and blessed holiday!

Day 164 (11/24): Nothing but Crack

I don't know what my fascination is with butt cracks is but my eyes just seem to gravitate towards them in a crowd.  I chuckle every time I see them and then I have to take a picture of it.  I'm sure there's some kind of name for this disease - crackophelia or buttcrackology.  Who knows but of course now I want to share it with the world.

During halftime at the KSU games there's always games the college kids play to entertain the crowd. This particular game was similar to musical chairs and the players had to make a layup and then go back and stand on a John Deer mat that Willie the Wildcat would take away one by one.  There are so many thoughts that went through my mind when this was going on as this girl had a full 2 inches of crack showing. What did Willie think as she showed him her better half?  I wondered if the tv station that was broadcasting had to go to commercial with all the skin showing or put up a big black out line for that piece of crack.  But most of all I wondered where the heck her underwear was?  I can't imagine going commando with jeans on!  Doesn't she feel the air blowing around back there with so much skin showing?  Are her parents watching and what are they thinking?

Well I doubt we will be seeing any more cracks with this game that is played at halftime because the at the next game, all the contestants wore humongous John Deer t-shirts over their shirts to cover up any possibility of crackage!

Day 162 (11/8): Football's Over Party

You can't see this but I was just doing my happy dance.  My happy dance because football is over!  The season was long and it just about sucked the life out of me and I wasn't the one suiting up in pads!  The kids improved so much.  After the first game which ended in a loss to over 60 points to placing 3rd in the Super Bowl, it was fun to watch each kid have stellar plays at some point in the season. 

The party was out in the country at the Hankins house which was absolutely amazing.  It was dark so the kids weren't able to play outside much but they all had a great time. Coach Munson handed out awards after a lengthy speech which had his own son questioning words that he used.  "Sacrifice" is not a word on the 3rd grade spelling lists so I don't think they had a clue what he was talking about.

The boys all got a trophy and this happened to be the coaches son. His dad did not think that nerdy Erkel should be playing football and kept telling him to put his pants down. He said he got that goofy side from his mother! Thank goodness that my nerdy kiddo didn't hike his shorts up!

The team went together and got the coach a jersey that they all signed and a football which had the team photo on it.  The football with the team photo was a great gift idea if you need a gift for a coach.  A parent googled best gifts for coaches and the store was on one of the links.  He was very appreciative and the boys were glad to get the awards ceremony over so they could get back to playing.

The last huddle of the 2010 season: Go Indians!  It was a fun season but a very long one!

Day 163 (11/9): D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G!

Football is over and I enjoyed last weekend so much.  No more getting up at 5am to make it to an 8:30 am game in Topeka. No more rushing from Colton's football games to the KSU games. Freedom.  Yes that is what I felt - freedom to do whatever I wanted and sleeping in waas at the top of that list!  :) 

We packed up Colton's football things and took them to the football party but before I stuck the helmet in I took off his mouth guard.  I paid $20 for that thing and I thought well maybe he could use it next year.  Umm.....no...not going to happen.  Check it out - so gross and disgusting. All ground up in the back and then it is full of grass.  He has been sticking that thing back in his mouth with grass stuck to it. Yucko!  I feel like I should paint spots on his uniform and have him start moo-ing since he is practically eating grass.  So this will be deposited in the trash asap and we will buy a new one next year with hopes of it staying a little more sanitary.