5 Dollars: December 2005

Christmas Parties!

Keithen's school party was a big hit on Friday. The kids drew snowmen with their eyes closed, made snowmen out of each other with toilet paper and other props and made a sock into a snowman tree ornament. Then they had snacks and watched a slide show of their holiday concert.

Afterwards, we had a short stop at home and then left for Matt's work party.

The kids enjoyed playing in a big bounce house that they had blown up in the shop. Ruby made me get in with her the first time. After that, she became quite brave and decided that, as long as someone boosted her in, she could do it on her own.The bounce house provided us with yet another example of how different the girls are. Kaylee and Ruby apparently bonked heads with each other while bouncing and both came out crying for me. After a hug, Ruby said, "I want back in now!" Kaylee cried, wailed and moaned and shouted, "I'm never going in a bounce house again! I want to go home right now!" (She did eventually change her tune and get back in.)

Ruby and Kaylee were the big winners in the raffle, bringing home a tin of cookies and a tin of popcorn. Let me just tell you exactly how proud Kaylee was of that huge tin of popcorn. The girl carried that thing everywhere for the rest of the night! She sat it on her foot, cried, but insisted on continuing to carry it. She fell down carrying it and put a dent in the lid with her chin. (Hard headed! LOL!) But she was beside herself when someone else tried to carry it...it was HERS and she was going to carry it. She made Daddy carry Magic Bunny to the van after the party so she could carry the popcorn.

After the party I drove the kids around the circle so they could see the lights before we headed home. The soldiers around the circle are all holding Colts flags right now too.

After that, the girls fell asleep but Keithen and I enjoyed looking at the lights on a few houses in a neighborhood close to ours before we finally pulled into our own driveway.

(pictures aren't working for some reason! promise I'll post some!)

On the 23rd day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Magic wash cloths! (The kind where they are tiny until you put them in water the first time and they open up and expand.)

What's inside?!

Keithen brought this home from school on Thursday. It's a gift for me that he made. I can't wait to see what's inside!

Think you're having a bad day at work?

Subject: I love my job
This is even funnier when you realize it's real! The next time youhave a bad day at work...think of this guy.

Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana.He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below isan E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station103.2 FM in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst jobexperience contest. Needless to say, she won!

Hi Sue. Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feelingdown lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with youto make you realize it's not so bad after all.Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you witha few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at thebottom of the sea.I wear a suit to the office. It's a wet suit. This time of the year thewater is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have adiesel powered industrial water heater.This $20 000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. Itheats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diverthrough a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now thissounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with nocomplaints.What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take thehose and stuff it down the back of my wetsuit. This floods my wholesuit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi. Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started toitch.So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse.Within a few seconds my butt started to burn. I pulled the hose outfrom my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what hadhappened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish andpumped it into my suit. Now, since I don't have any hair on my back,the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my butt wasnot as fortunate.When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grindingthe jellyfish into the crack of my but. I informed the dive supervisorof my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were uncleardue to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughinghysterically.Needless to say I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make threeagonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutesbefore I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression.When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brasshelmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughterrunning down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me torub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't poop for two days because my butt was swollen shut.

So the next time you're having a bad day at work, think about howmuch worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt.Now repeat to yourself, "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job"

On the 22nd day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Keithen got a set of brightly colored jacks and the girls each got two "pretty ponies" to play with. (They look like small versions of My Little Pony.) The girls were especially excited with their ponies and have run off to create a whole "pony family" in their room.
(I couldn't resist adding the second picture because they all three look so goofy in it! LOL!)

The things they say.....

I told the girls maybe we could have lunch out today before we go to the grocery store. Kaylee said..."Please...with cheese on top!" LOL!

Send condolences to the Dungy family through All Pro Dads

Fill out the form on the All Pro Dad website and they will pass your sentiments on to the Dungy family.

Teen kicked out of school dance for wearing a kilt

Nathan Warmack wanted to honor his heritage by wearing a Scottish kilt to his high school's dance. Then principal Rick Mclard told him to change into a pair of pants. “Well, this is my dance, and I’m not going to have students coming into it looking like clowns,” Mclard said.

Nice comment Mclard.....way to teach your students respect and tolerence of different cultures.

If you'd like to support Nathan's right to honor his heritage, please click on the link below to sign the petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/kilt05/petition.html

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Coach Dungy and his family.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Colts head coach Tony Dungy and his family. Their 18-year-old son, James A. Dungy, was found dead in his Tampa-area apartment this morning. The cause of death remains under investigation and an autopsy is pending.

On the 20th (and 21st!) day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

On Tuesday the kids did Advent presents with Daddy in the evening while Mommy ran out to do some last minute Christmas shopping. The girls each got a book and Keithen got a bookmark.

On Wednesday we did presents before school (even though not everyone was dressed yet!) because Mommy and Daddy are going out to a movie later today. I wanted to make sure they got their gifts before Grandma came to babysit. They all got little pads of brightly colored paper. Keithen's is shaped like a house. Kaylee's looks like a butterfly and Ruby's is an apple.

YES...Kaylee has been a lazy girl, wearing those same pajamas since Monday night. She did wear a pink, fuzzy vest over them for a while on Tuesday, LOL! Today she is dressed again finally!

On the 19th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me....

We didn't do Advent gifts on Monday until after school. We were all too wiped out from being up late for Sunday night's party and were running behind in the a.m. Today isn't much better, so we'll be doing presents after school again today. On Monday, everyone got a new toy car!

Some of Our Favorite Children's Books

Amy's kids recently received $60 in Barnes and Noble gift cards. What a dream gift! I thought I'd list some of our family's favorite children's books because we do a lot of reading around here! (I'm not even going to address chapter books, just story books!)

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - by Mo Williams

Knuffle Bunny - by Mo Williams

Harold and the Purple Crayon - by Crockett Johnson

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Give a Pig a Pancake - by Laura Joffe Numeroff

If You Give a Mouse a Muffin - by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Max Cleans Up - by Rosemary Wells

Max's Dragon Shirt - by Rosemary Wells

Bunny Cakes - by Rosemary Wells

Ruby in Her Own Time - by Jonathan Emmett

The Little Blue Rabbit - by Angela McAllister

The Kissing Hand - by Audrey Penn

All Tutus Should Be Pink - by Sheri Brownrigg

Ballerina Girl - by Kirsten Hall

The Nativity - illustrated by Julie Vivas

Welcome With Love - by Jenni Overend

Kipper's A to Z: An Alphabet Adventure - by Mick Inkpen

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - by Bill Martin, Jr.

Angelina Ballerina - by Katharine Holabird

Go Away, Big Green Monster! - by Ed Emberley

Thanks, Mom - by Ed Emberley

The Wing on a Flea - by Ed Emberley

and of course all the classic Dr. Seuss books!

So, how about the rest of you? Post a list of your favorite children's books - I'm sure we'd all love some new reading material to share with our kiddos!

Christmas Concert & Grandma's Party

We went to Grandma's church for the Christmas Concert on Sunday and then to her house for the annual Christmas party.

The kids were very well behaved in church and mostly paid attention at the concert. Ruby loved the music and was very interested in watching the musicians. It was a lot of fun for me to watch the expressions on her face at some points. And as always, the huge choir singing Silent Night nearly brought me to tears.

There was lots of good food and tons of people to catch up with at Grandma's house afterwards. The kids watched some Christmas movies and enjoyed a game of hide and seek with their cousins while the adults visited.

If only the Colts had pulled out another win, then it would have been a perfect day!

On the 18th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Kaylee and Ruby got necklaces today. I'm betting Grandma did that on purpose so that they can wear them to the Christmas concert tonight! :) Keithen got a new puzzle with horses on it. It's 100 pieces...I don't think he's ever done one that big, but I'm not sure!

Kaylee was being pouty when I took their picture today. She was upset that she didn't get to sit in the middle, which is apparently some kind of huge deal to her and Keithen. Ruby could care less who sits where as long as she gets her present. (Smart girl!) Kaylee did cheer up when she saw her pretty pink necklace though.

On the 17th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Today's presents were big and round! When we opened them, Kaylee found a stuffed Santa, Ruby found a stuffed bear and Keithen found a stuffed reindeer. They're off looking for a sleigh to pull right now, LOL!

YIKES! 9 days left?!

I've still got to get the presents for the gift exchange my kids are doing with their cousins. One of them (Zoe!) still hasn't turned in her list yet. She may be getting underwear and socks if she doesn't hurry up! I may try to do some of this while we're grocery shopping today.

No idea what to do for the rest of the family.

Oh, yeah...and...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO ME!

On the 16th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Tops! I think their was a bit of a spinning competition before school this morning. (Perfect gift for Ruby after the way she was spinning in circles last night in her fancy dress, LOL!)

Dressed Up

Here they are, all dressed up for the school musical.

Keithen's Winter Musical

Last night was the winter musical at Keithen's school. Normally, only the third and fifth grade students perform in the musical. Keithen's class did so well in music this year that they were given the special honor of being the only first graders in the musical.

Evidently their music teacher had been telling them over and over to be sure to protect their costumes when they wore them to class for the school performance. Keithen was obsessive yesterday morning about having something to wear over his dress shirt and tie. It's a good thing I was there to do makeup on the three ghosts, because he almost forgot to take the sweatshirt off before the school performance! LOL!

Keithen's class got to sing three Christmas Carols in the middle of the show. All the kids really did great. Here are some of the pictures from yesterday's performance.

On the 15th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me....

Hello Kitty!

Kaylee got a little stuffed Hello Kitty that almost caused her to go into a seizure of joy! She was rolling around in the bean bag yelling, "Hello Kitty! Hello Kitty! I got Hello Kitty!" I think she liked it, LOL!

Ruby got a little stuffed black cat and Keithen got a little dog. I guess they are two of Hello Kitty's friends. Keithen liked his until he saw the Hello Kitty on the tag on the bottom of it. I think he was afraid it was too "girly" when he saw that label. Maybe if I cut it off he'll think it's OK again.

On the 14th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Kaylee and Ruby got little mirrored trays to put their treasures in. Keithen got a small flashlight.

Sears Wishbook - 1979 version!

Check this out - I recognized many toys from my childhood in the pages of this catalogue!

Thank you Nick Jr.!

Thanks to Nick Jr.'s printables, my girls will be busy saving animals for the rest of the morning with the help of their newly-made Diego field journals!

On the 13th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Toys cars! The girls have been racing theirs around the house ever since opening them. Keithen had enough time to take his for a quick spin around the living room before he headed off for the bus.

The 12 Days of a Hoosier Christmas

Click on the link above and check out the little presentation on the Indianapolis Star site.

Holiday Sweets!

We've already made Butterfinger Bars (new recipe this year - love it!) and Oreo Bark. Today the girls helped me make white trash. We still have to make chocolate fudge and sugar cookies. I haven't decided if I will tackle divinity or not this year. It's been a long time since I made it. I'd also love to make a gingerbread house or tree. I love making holiday sweets for our family to share!

Recipes -

White Trash
(I usually actually double the following ingredients as we eat a lot of this.)
1 cup Cheerios cereal
1 cup Crispex cereal
1 cup peanuts
1 cup pretzels
1 cup M&M's (I use the holiday red & green ones.)
12 oz white chocolate
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Mix Cheerios, Crispex, peanuts, pretzels and M&M's together. Melt white chocolate in microwave. Stir the oil into the melted chips. Pour the melted chocolate over the dry mixture. Gently stir it all together. Spread it all out on wax paper for the chocolate to harden. Break into pieces.

Chocolate Fudge
4 cups sugar
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow cream
1 1/2 cups (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1 lbs real butter
4 cups (24 oz pkg) chocolate chips (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
Line a 13x9x2 inch pan with foil extending the foil over the edges of the pan. Butter foil lightly. Set aside. In heavy pan (4 qt pan) combine sugar, marshmallow cream, milk & butter. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture comes to full rolling boil. Boil and stir 5 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately add chips. Stir until smooth, pour into prepared pan. Cool until firm. Use the foil to lift it out of the pan. Store in tightly covered pan in cool place. (We always store it in the fridge and then take it out and let it sit for a bit before we'll want some. It will last forever in the fridge!) Makes about 8 dozen (or more!) squares.

Oreo Cookie Bark
(Very easy for the kids to help with!)
1 (20 ounce) pkg of Oreo cookies
2 (18.5 ounce) packages of white chocolate
Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Coat the paper with non-stick vegetable spray and set aside. In large mixing bowl, break up half of the cookies into coarse pieces with fingers or the back of a spoon. Melt half the chips in the microwave and then quickly fold into the broken cookie pieces. Pour into prepared pan and spread out to cover half of the pan. Repeat process with other half of cookies and chocolate.

Butterfinger Bars
(This was a new one for us this year and it's really good! Tastes just like Butterfinger candy bars, which I don't buy anymore but really like. I think next time I will try forming it into balls instead of bars though as it was difficult to cut.)
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup white corn syrup
1 (16 oz) jar crunchy peanut butter
3 cups cornflakes cereal
2 cups milk chocolate chips
Heat sugar and syrup together in heavy pan until boiling. Add peanut butter. Mix until blended. Pour over corn flake cereal, coating the cereal well. Press into a 9x13 inch pan. Melt the chocolate chips in a small sauce pan or microwave. Spread over batter. Chill for 20-25 minutes. Cut into bars.

On the 12th day of Advent, my Grandma gave to me.....

Gloves! Keithen was sure to use his to roll up a quick snowball to throw at me on his way to the bus this morning, LOL! (The picture of all three of them together isn't the best, but it was the only one I got today!)