two words I never thought I'd use in a sentence together...

Karen: "Joe, I think your bologna is burning".

As a side note...don't you think there should be a "y" at the end of the word "bologna"--phonetically where does that "e" sound come from?

the winter fruit

The winter of fruit at our house is.....grapefruit! Surprised? That is the one fruit that all my kids like and ask for (well, they all like apples, but they don't exactly crave them). And I can honestly say that I don't even put much sugar on them--just enough to cut the tartness. Here's some pics of them enjoying their afternoon snack.A big thumbs up from Nathan

Good to the last drop!

The must sees of the day

The girls wanted to be sure I took pictures of them today. Here are the things that they thought you must see:

Ashley is celebrating the fact that her hair is long enough to put into pig tails (barely! but they amazingly stayed put all day)

Sara pulled her own tooth at school today so it will be a little bit more difficult for her to eat all those wonderful Christmas cookies although I'm sure she'll manage.

Overheard at the breakfast table this morning...

Cyara (the girl I babysit): I don't like eggs. The chick is still in it. Gross!
Sara: No it's not
Cyara: How do you know?
Sara: The chick is only in there if the rooster salts the egg.
Cyara: Are you sure?
Sara: Yep, I know that is what happens. I learned it in first grade.

Begs the question...kosher salt, sea salt, regular table salt??? Inquiring minds want to know! (I did ask the question, but she didn't know.)

A couple more favorites..

Snow pants

I love snow pants! Actually I've never worn them, but aren't they awesome! I didn't always feel this way about snow pants. When Sara was entering kindergarten I got her school supply list and was excitedly making my list before I did the Walmart run for the first time as a parent of a school-aged child. I think I was more excited then Sara. Anyway, I was writing...markers, 2 packs of crayons, 2 glue sticks, 2 boxes of Kleenexes, snow pants. WAIT! What was that? Snow pants on a school list. My thought...seriously, are they really necessary?? I never wore snow pants. If long underwear and two pairs of jeans were good enough for me, my five year can certainly survive the winter without snow pants. However, I trekked to the store when fall hit and very grudgingly bought my family's first pair of snow pants. Come to find out they ban any children from playing in the snow on the playground if they don't wear snow pants. (wimps I say, wimps!) So when it snowed (which it did quite a bit in Iowa--where we lived at the time) I packed her up in them and sent her off to school. Then came the day that there was a snow day and I sent the kids out to play at home. WOW! They are the greatest invention ever. She was totally dry and stayed completely warm. And no more layer upon layer upon layer of clothing to the point that you can barely move. What a novel idea--actually being able to walk out the door when you go out to play in the winter. So from then on I've been sold on the idea of snow pants to the point that I freak out when they get in the snow without them. I'm afraid I've turned them into wimps, but I still love snow pants.

My guys

Okay, I am just going to start out by apologizing to my girls--I am posting a lot more pictures of the guys then I did of them. This was not intentional. I'm just not around them as much as I am the boys since they are in school all day *sigh*. I will make it a point to snap some of them tomorrow. Here's some recent shots of the guys in my life.... My butcher man

What a better way to spend a snowy afternoon than snuggling on the couch

Nathan said "good-bye" to his blanket when he turned three and then 2 days later he said "hello" to Rosie the bear his new best friend
Aren't they handsome?

Note to self...

the next time your boys are fighting over the spiderman boots when there is no snow outside and you hide them to prevent the fighting--write down where you put them!! Then when it is snowing and one of your boys actually needs to wear them you can find them!

(P.S. I put Nathan on the task and he found them before bed. That child may become one of the world's greatest detectives.)

My mighty hunter

Hunting is my husband's passion. (well, I guess I should say his recreational passion. He is passionate about other things as well.) He's gotten to live out his passion the last couple of weeks. The great thing about my husband's passion is that I benefit. I get food to cook. The other thing he is very skilled at is butchering. Now I'm fairly frugal (some would say cheap) so I appreciate the butchering aspect as well. Meat's a lot cheaper when you don't have to pay a locker. In years past when Joe has gotten a deer, I clear my kitchen counters, get out the food saver for him, label the food saver bags and then disappear to watch the kids. I honestly wasn't trying to get out of work--one year we had four kids ages 4 and under. We still have four kids but my baby is 3 so this year I decided I should be the proper helpmate and at least offer to help butcher the 2 deer that he and a buddy shot. My dear husband graciously said "If you could just keep me company that would be help enough. (Isn't he great!) Well, as I was sitting there drinking my coffee (so I could stay awake into the night hours) I began to feel a little guilty and lazy. And then I decided "hey, I could do some of that." So I decided to offer my actual physical assistance. We decided it would be best if I "cleaned" off the bones for meat to grind. (I don't think I could cut steaks). I did fine until he brought in a shoulder. I don't want to gross you out so let's just say that the shoulder on this deer is where the shot entered and that does certain things to the meat (and creates a lot of blood). I tried my hardest, but after washing my hands every 30 seconds I realized that I truly am a girl. So I took my seat and let my manly husband finish his job. (Now I know why most meat counter personnel are men.) So here's to my husband the provider of food! I would be lost without a grocery store and a meat counter. (I took pictures but you'll probably be thankful that I didn't post them--especially if you are getting ready to eat lunch.)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but our small town had our Christmas parade on Saturday. A bigger town nearby has their the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so as to not try to compete (I'm assuming) we do ours on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Anyway, the girls got to be in their first parade. They walked with their girl scout troupe. I got to walk with them and for some brief moments was exclaiming to them how excited I was to be in my first parade as well. Then my memory of high school kicked in. I've been a lot of parades and I'm sure my parents are thinking "how could you forget that??!! We stood in countless cold (and hot) lines to watch you walk by for thirty seconds!" I played trumpet in the marching band in high school. However, this was the first parade that I was in that I wasn't in the band. It is an entirely different kind of experience. You actually realize that there are people watching you. When you are in band, you are basically clueless that there is anyone watching you (at least I was). You just hope that you stay in step and don't run into the person in front of you. So we took some pictures before we left the house and then, in all the excitement, I completely forgot to take my camera to the actual parade. I felt like the abominable snowman (and look a little like one too!). I was so paranoid that I was going to get cold that I had about 3 or 4 layers on the top and bottom. My girls were complaining when we got there that they were sweating. But my motto is --always better to be too hot then too cold in a Christmas parade!

I had to include this picture. It is such a classic Ashley expression and I think it is the first time I've gotten it on camera. Definitely one of my favorites...