TTMT

Join in the Hicktionary fun of Talk To Me Tuesdays which we all have realized is now Thursday!  YIKES!  That's what happens when you're not working :)

Today's question: What are you hopeful for in 2011?


I am always hopeful for the health of my family and friends.  It's something I pray for every night. I think many times we take our health for granted.  Aaron and I are going to work hard to ensure we are setting healthy examples for our children in 2011.

I'm also hopeful for an even deeper relationship and stronger marriage with Aaron.  I bought The Love Dare Day by Day: A Year of Devotions for Couples to encourage us on this journey.  We are definitely happy, but we all know life is not easy.  You just never know when life is going to throw you a curveball! I know that it's important to make your marriage priority #1, and this daily time together will help us to keep our priorities straight!

I'm hopeful that budget cuts will not have quite the impact on my job again this year.  I love all aspects of what I'm doing and am thankful for a full time job...I just wish I didn't have to do them all at the same time!  It's definitely been a challenging year trying to balance both 7th and 8th grade Language Arts along with kindergarten talented and gifted.  I've learned SO MUCH throughout this year, but am not sure I can handle another year of juggling so many different responsibilities and stay sane. Unfortunately the budget talks have begun already :(  I'm hopeful I can keep a positive attitude through this entire process!

I'm also hoping to be able to carve out a more regular time to scrapbook this year.  It's something I love to do and is total stress relief for me but always gets put on the back burner.  For some reason grading papers, cleaning, writing lesson plans, running the boys here or there, and everything else seems to be a little higher priority.

Those are my hopes for 2011.

Merry Christmas

From our home to yours...

Merry Christmas!

May you be blessed to spend time with your loved ones today celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Betty Crocker

Hi! My name is Lisa and I'm addicted to baking...

peppermint meltaways (new recipe)

chocolate star cookies (Carter's favorite)

almond bark pretzels (Austin's favorite)

sugar cookies (my favorite)

chocolate dipped peanut butter balls (Aaron's favorite)

add in a seafood lasagna for Christmas Eve (Tim's favorite)

and seven layer jello (a holiday tradition)

and you know what I've been up to for the last day and a half.  I'm not sure I've left the kitchen!  Sheesh!  I've loaded up two huge trays full of goodies to take to the cabin and Ween's house for Christmas and I've still got more than I know what to do with!  If you need a sweet little nibble...stop on over :)  Just don't look at the state of the house...I've been creating sweet masterpieces instead of cleaning!  Oops..I guess you know what I'm headed to do now.

Snow much fun

Here's what the boys have been up to lately...

They have been wishing and waiting for the snow to come.  Their wish finally came true.  For three days straight after school, they spent hour after hour outside creating this snow fort with the help of a couple neighbor kids!  They are quite proud of their creation.

It is now tall enough that only their faces show when they stand up inside!

TTMT

This week's Talk to Me Tuesday:
Fill in the blank with a food item: "It wouldn't be Christmas without _______." (recipes welcome!)

It wouldn't be Christmas without fudgens!

What are fudgens you say?  Good question and one that I asked MANY times the first time I joined Aaron and his family for Christmas.  They are a tradition in his family and the way we end every Christmas gathering.  Basically they are like a mini donut that you roll in sugar.  I can remember Aaron's Grandma Sophie slaving over the stove making batch after batch after batch of fudgens as they would be gobbled up as soon as they hit the table.  It's hard to beat a piping hot fudgen rolled in sugar! It is now Ween who slaves over the stove making batch upon batch.  However, last year I got my first experience attempting to make them.  They insisted I did just fine, but I think they were all being nice to me.  I think it's Kelly's turn to try her hand at carrying on the family tradition this year!

Family Celebrations

We were able to spend Sunday afternoon celebrating Christmas with my Grandpa and Grandma Doering in Webster City.  We had a great lunch together, and they had so much fun hanging out with their great grandkids and watching them play the Wii!  Grandma Janet (or Grandma Poody as she calls herself) even got in on a little Wii action.  Don't let that cane fool you.  She was giving Braden a run for his money!

I am so thankful that my kids have three great grandparents that are still living.  What a blessing they are to have in our lives!  

Choo! Choo!

Grandma Ween and the boys spent a good chunk of time creating this gingerbread masterpiece on Saturday.  This is one of several traditions that the boys look forward to each year during December.  They had decided this year they wanted to make a train rather than a house.  So, Grandma Ween hunted up a train for the boys to make.

Unfortunately, they had a minor setback in the middle of creating.  Grandma Ween was mixing up some more frosting and her mixer burned up!  YIKES!  Off to the store I went to buy a new one so the creating could continue.  This nice batch of frosting was a long time coming!

I am so thankful to my mother-in-law for doing this with the boys.  They truly love doing it and will have fond memories of their time together with her down the road.  Of course, they each have to add their own personal touches to the final product. Austin's addition was quite interesting this year. You'll have to look closely at the first picture.  He added a few yellow blobs of frosting to the snow with a sign that says, "Do not eat yellow snow!"  Yes, that's Aaron's son!  

Thanks so much Grandma Ween for a fun time!  They're already talking about the barn they want to make next year :)

Craftastic

Heidi's TTMT for this week is What's your favorite crafting project?


My favorite crafting project, if you can call it crafting, is scrapbooking.  I can dink preserve memories with a paper cutter, double sided tape, colorful paper, and pictures for hours (sometimes weekends at a time!).  Of course your can't forget the colorful pens for journaling!

The most recent "paper crafting" I did was create 12 days of Christmas wishes for my two college roommates.  They each get one in the mail for twelve days in a row.  I could have stayed snuggled on the couch downstairs for days creating them.  Dawn and Dianna can use them as ornaments for their tree, string them with pretty ribbon to make a holiday garland or just hang them on their fridge to bring a smile to their face!  I sure wish I had been brilliant enough to take pictures of them.

I really could craft all day long if someone would just give me the ideas!  However... I proved at Heidi's that I can't be trusted with super glue :)

Through the eyes of a child

Oh what I wouldn't give to have bottled about 15 minutes of childlike wonder tonight.  We drove Austin, Carter, Drake, and Braden down to see the Jolly Holiday Lights in Des Moines.  We turned on the Christmas music as we drove through the twinkling, festive display of lights. Within minutes of starting our journey, Austin ended up on my lap, Braden was perched in the middle of Aaron and I on the console, and Carter and Drake had their noses up to the side windows.  Little voices were signing Christmas songs, oohing and aahing and soaking it all in.  I could have sat their enjoying their amazement for hours!

Happy 94th Birthday!

Happy 94th Birthday to my sweet Grandpa Herbie!

I feel so blessed to still have three living grandparents.  My boys are so fortunate to have great grandparents in their lives that love and adore them.  We will be celebrating Grandpa's birthday at the care center this Sunday afternoon.  He loves to be the center of attention!  Cake and punch will be served to all of the residents, and we will put up a Christmas tree in his room to make it festive for the Christmas season.  Austin, Carter, Drake and Braden were busy on Thanksgiving Day making ornaments to adorn the tree.  

I'm sure Grandpa will love looking at his tree with homemade ornaments from his great grandchildren!