RUINED!

Caeden fell down in the snow on the way in from the car and got covered with snow. Once we got inside to take off coats and boots, he said, "Oh NO! Now my pants are RUINED!!!"

It's SNOWing!!!!

100 Day!

Today was Annah's 100th day of kindergarten! Her class celebrated their 100th day of school in many different ways:
-Each student took 100 of something small for show & tell. Annah took 100 crayons!
-They played games with 100 balloons!
-Everyone got a [xeroxed copy on construction paper] $100 bill! ;)
-They sang a song about 100 day!
-The principal came to tell them when it was the 100th minute of the 100th day of school!

Just thought that was cool and 100% fun!

prayers this week for...

Barkers
Moores
Willetts
Darci
Miss Albee
Reynolds'
Kings
warmer weather--spring soon!
financial discipline
a bed for Sylvia

Super Bowl XLI

Of course we watched the Super Bowl last night! Even I was excited about it, and I am not a football fan--to say the least! But, the only 2 teams I've ever really had any interest in--2 midwestern teams--oh yeah! Jeremy was for the Bears (His employees got him the cool sweathshirt for Christmas!), and I decided to go for the Colts. I wanted it to be a close game though. ;)
Loved how the two coaches were so NICE and praised the Lord for it all.
The girls weren't sure what to think of Prince at the halftime show. They liked his music, but thought he looked like a girl...confusing.
We decided to stay at home to watch even though several people from church invited us to their parties. We wanted to see the whole game and also get the kids to bed at a decent time, and didn't want to venture out into the winter cold advisory either!
Oh man, we ate so much junk food! The kids were loving it! Chips and brats and twizzlers and Cheetos and carmel corn and ugh...
Such fun!

Mmmm! Caramel Corn!

Usually one evening each weekend we have popcorn in place of dinner if we had a large lunch. Tonight I was hankering for caramel corn, so I found this recipe and made a couple batches. It turned out awesome! I did one batch of the plain caramel corn (which was the BEST!), and one with cruncy peanut butter and some chopped peanuts thrown in too (which tasted like Cracker Jack!). Thought I'd share since we're enjoying it so much! Even Jeremy likes it, and he is not a fan of popcorn.

Microwave Caramel Popcorn
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick margarine
¼ cup light corn syrup
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
3 quarts popped popcorn

Place sugar, margarine, corn syrup, and salt in a large microwave-safe glass measuring cup. Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
Add baking soda and stir well; microwave syrup on high for 20 more seconds.
Place popped popcorn in brown paper bag (I just used my huge Tupperware bowl), and pour syrup mixture over popcorn.
Fold bag top, and shake/mix to evenly coat the popcorn.
Microwave bag/bowl of popcorn on high for 1½ minutes.
Remove and spread popcorn on a cookie sheet to cool.
Break into bite-size pieces and enjoy!
Store in an airtight container.

Variations:

For Peanut Butter Caramel Corn, substitute ½ cup of Peanut Butter for a half of the margarine.

For Caramel Corn with Peanuts, add 1 cup of salted peanuts to the popcorn, before adding syrup.

Blown away--literally!

Hmmppphhh. We had a great morning. I got around everyone around and ready early; drove Annah to school as a little treat; got to Wal-Mart by 8:30; somehow managed to get a heaping cartful of groceries with two kids in tow without feeling like I was going to rip my hair out (Thank you Lord!); got home by 11:00; and was taking the groceries into the house in the 12 degree, 60 mph winds when...the back door literally flew off its hinges.

Yeah. For real. It's a new door too. I was even trying really hard not to let the wind catch it and bash it into the deck post, but noooooooo... I finished dragging the groceries into the house, got the kids in too, all while crying. I called Jeremy bawling and told him what happened, and he was pretty nonchalant. He wasn't upset, but he would have been if it had happened to him. The door has to be installed backwards because of the ridiculous slant of our goofy back porch, so he wasn't surprised it happened, really. The wind always catches the door.

The annoying thing was that it was wedged open in the doorway all day and letting in extra cold air. Jeremy was able to un-wedge it when he got home and put it back in the doorway space until it gets warmer. I guess I was just so upset because it seems like there is one thing after another with our house, and I get overwhelmed about it all. I need to remember to put things in perspective and thank the Lord for all that He has provided for us. SOMEday we may have all the projects finished too! Ain't it grand to be a homeowner?!

Wommin Akeen

Caeden and I had a chat about his favorite movie character, 

"Wommin Akeen!"  (a.k.a. Lightning McQueen)

a little about the boy as he is these days

-loves his trains
-knows the names of many of the Thomas the Tank Engine characters
-is fascinated by "Wommin Akeen" (Lightning McQueen) from the movie Cars..."Ka-chow!"
-constantly asks, "Can I watch a moobie?"
-still makes a huge mess when he eats
-is a much better shopper when he can walk or help push the cart, rather than ride in it
-has about a 10-second attention span with any one give thing at a time
-constantly carries around at least 1 or 2 books
-in order to go to sleep, in his bed, he must have: 2 or more trains or cars (at least one in each hand), stuffed Cookie Monster, fuzzy blue teddy bear, huge Thomas pillow, and at least 1 book
-wakes up waaaaaaaay too early for the rest of us
-cracks us up with all the funny stuff he says
-is starting to snuggle more
-gives the sweetest kisses and hugs
-still bangs his head on his pillow to get to sleep

Annah Reading

I've been meaning to write about this for a while, because it's very exciting [to us]...

Annah is doing a great job with reading!! Her teacher started sending "Ready Reader" books home a couple months ago, so that was really when she finally agreed to try reading for us. Until that point, she (the girl who knew all her letters at 18 months) was not interested in reading for/with us. But, she has taken off quickly. Annah easily read through the kindergarten books each night and now is reading a few stories out of 1st grade readers each night.

It's so exciting to watch and hear her forming the words and enjoying the stories all on her own! Such thrilling steps!!