Santa in Training

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!
I figure, a mom only gets a certain number of opportunities to embarrass her children by dressing them up in themed clothing. Thus, I should take my chance now. And besides, I think he's pretty dang cute in this outfit. Wouldn't you agree? Even though I could barely squeeze the hat onto his big ol' head... one size fits all, I don't think so.

Friday Favorites: Peanut Butter Balls

I was introduced to these delicious little goodies several years ago by a friend at work. She brought some in to share with the office and I begged her for the recipe. I've included them in our neighbor goodie bags for the last couple of years and they are always a huge hit. She called them Buckeyes (it's an Ohio thing), but I like to call them Peanut Butter Balls, because, well, that's basically what they are.

The recipe is quite simple and doesn't take long, which already makes it a winner in my book.

Buckeyes (or Peanut Butter Balls)

2 lbs. creamy peanut butter

1 lb. butter, soft

2.5 lbs. powdered sugar

2-12 oz. packages chocolate chips

1/2-1 bar paraffin wax (I always use less, like 1/2 bar max for one recipe)

Mix butter, peanut butter, and sugar. Shape into balls and refrigerate one hour or more. They should look like this:

Meanwhile, melt chocolate and wax in double boiler (or just a reguar pan on low heat for those of us who don't have a fancy double boiler) until nice and smooth.

When the balls are hard, dip into chocolate using a toothpick or spoon. Set on wax paper to cool.My dear husband was helping me do the dipping this time. His tray is in the front. I love the man, but speed is not his forte. But his heart is willing, and I appreciate that. When you are done, they should loook like this:Put them in the freezer until hard, then you can store them in a ziploc bag and eat them one by one... or save them to give away. Or intend to save them, but sneak a few each day and then finally realize you need to make another batch so you have enough to give away. Not that anyone would do that. Anyway, there you have it, Peanut Butter Balls. Yummmm!

Has It Really Been That Long?

Hi. I'm Ben. Nine months and one day ago, I was in here:

Since then, I've grown a lot.When I was brand-new...I only weighed 8 1/2 lbs. Now I weigh 22 1/2 lbs. Hmmm, let me think about that for a minute. That's an increase of 264.7%. Or something like that. My mom did the math longhand because my big brother broke our calculator and my mom doesn't know how to use the one on the computer. She doesn't know how to check the messages on her cell phone either. Don't worry, I'll teach her how once I learn to talk.

Yes, I'm pretty smart. And handsome. Now I've finally been out of my Mom's tummy for as long as I was in her tummy. I like it on the outside better. Or maybe that's my Mom talking.
Either way, I'm sure glad to be here. Happy Nine Month Birthday to me!!

Avoidance vs. Panic

It all started when I got sick a week and a half ago. I was bedridden (thanks to the fact that it was Saturday and my husband was home, so I had the option. Midweek, Mommy doesn't get to be sick) with a bad cold. I decided to pull out "Twilight" for a little light reading. Unsurprisingly, I got sucked into the story once again. It had the added bonus of being a nice distraction from the flurry of Christmas preparations.

A week and a half later I've re-read 2 1/2 books from the series and am feeling pretty calm about Christmas. "There's not that much left to do," I tell myself. "There's plenty of time," I agree.

Cut to early this morning, 2:30 to be exact. I get woken up by one of my kids and, after getting them back to bed, I stay awake and my mind starts to wander. I start thinking about Christmas and the various tasks I need to accomplish over the next week.

I need to finish baking treats for the neighbors and take them around, practice for a musical number, clean my house to be ready for out-of-town guests and oh yeah, I need to feed them too. I also need to get ready for a cabin trip which means preparing food for a large group and making sure we all have weather-appropriate attire (which we don't). Oh yeah, and I'm subbing on the organ so I need to practice for that, I haven't even thought about a Christmas card yet, and do I even have any gifts for my husband???

At this point I start to panic. My neck tenses up and my heart starts to pound. I stay awake worrying about it all for the next 3 hours. Will I get it all done? Is there even enough time? Is it humanly possible to be ready for Christmas in just one week when I am so far behind???

I have no answers, just the resolve that I will TRY to pull myself away from Bella, Edward, and Jacob so I can make some headway on my long to-do list. And appease myself with the fact that I am likely not alone in my panic and long to-do list. This time of year, it's inevitable.

I think I liked avoidance better. I'll have to remember that in the future.

How Quickly They Catch On

So this morning, my kids are pretending to take pictures with their toy cell phones. Don't know where they got that from, since my cell phone (that I use very rarely) certainly doesn't have that feature. Anyway, my daughter tells my son "Do you know why I'm taking pictures? I'm gonna put them on my blog."

I've been blogging for a total of 5 WEEKS now! They sure do learn fast. That, or else I sure do get obsessive fast.

Friday Favorites: Nativities

I was inspired by my dear friend Cathy's recent post to blog a bit about my favorite type of Christmas decoration: nativity sets, or creches.

When we lived in Michigan, a woman in our ward was in charge of this huge creche festival at the church every year. Apparently she had started it 30 years prior and over the years it had grown and grown until there were over 1,000 creches on display each year. It was an amazing sight to behold. She inspired me to start my own little creche collection. I have several, and love to find new ones. Here are a few from my collection:

This is our kids set. Yes, that's tape holding the roof together. It's not as indestructible as I thought. But the other pieces are pretty hardy.

This one I got from my parents one year. It goes up high, out of the kids' reach.

My sister Angela cross-stitched this one for me several years ago. I love it.And this one is my very favorite. It is made of carved wood and backed in felt. It is just beautiful. I got it at this enormous Christmas store in Michigan called Bronner's. If we weren't poor students back then I would have bought more because they have every Christmas decoration known to man. It's seriously incredible.

I still dream one day of owning an olivewood nativity set from Jerusalem. My parents have one and I have fond memories of setting it up on the piano each year. It is rustic yet elegant, a fitting combo for representing the birth of our Savior.

Snow!

We visited the snow on Saturday.The kids had a blast making snowballs (or holding asymmetric blobs of snow, as the case may be)... ...and were excited to wear their winter gear that, let's face it, they just don't get to use that often. Don't worry, we didn't have to travel far......we just went to Erik's holiday party at work. Yes, they shipped in snow for the event. That's what they do out here in non-snow country. It makes me chuckle just a little, since with the crowds of people and the constant melting it's really not very close to playing in the real stuff. But then I remember that I'm wearing a t-shirt in 70-degree weather and am back to feeling just fine about the whole thing.

Also at the party were cookies to decorate and sleigh rides to be had (or, at the very least, posed).Santa even paid a visit (even though we didn't get any photographic proof). All in all, a fun day for the whole fam.