French Bread

So, I've been trying lots of new recipes lately... here's another of my favorites. (btw... I am a HUGE fan of allrecipes.) I am not really a fan of making dough... the mixing, the kneading, the waiting... just not really my thing. I am so impatient! I love the bread maker because I can just stick everything in there and walk away. Anyway, I have made this recipe with white flour and it was yummy... and I've made it substituting 1 cup of flour with whole wheat flour and it was yummy!

P.S. speaking of the bread machine... lol! I have this problem of forgetting to put the paddle in before starting the cycle. I have come in countless times to get started on my pizza only to find it still completely un-mixed. You'd think I'd learn after once... but nope... not me! Soooo... make sure you stick you paddle in the pan before loading your ingredients!

Sam Stuff

Last week was spirit week at school... Sam had several fun dress up/show-n-tell days. For tie day, he asked me to make him a giant bow tie so I stayed up late the night before making him this fun tie. His reaction: "I thought it should be a lot bigger than that." Hmm... where on earth does he get this desire to attract attention?!? He is such a goofball. Anyway, I think he looks pretty cute in bow ties... and they are so easy to make.

We had another family project... January's project was a creating a snowman. His teacher sends home the sheet of paper with the outline and we can decorate in any way we'd like. Well, Daddy got a little carried away this time around.... not sure we can technically call this a family project. Sam did do quite a bit on it though... and isn't it so cool?

Next is Sam's recent story for English class (due tomorrow). I am posting this because I thought Grandma Patty might enjoy reading it. I love his drawing of the scorpion... such talent! The frog on the other hand just cracks me up :)

Calzone Rolls

I came across the best ever not actually pizza recipe. You can find it here. I was searching for a way to use up some leftover hamburger that we had grilled the night before (hamburgers stuffed with Ranch seasoning, crumbled fried onions, and bacon bits... they were YUMMY!). They turned out so good that I made them again (yes, twice in a row :) using pepperoni, olives, cheese and alfredo sauce.... so much better. Loved them! The dough is the best ever!

And, don't you just love my cutie little helper?!? She loves to keep an eye on dinner for me.

Interesting

I came across one of these on someone else's blog and thought it was super neat! It just shows what I tend to speak (or type) about most. I guess Christmas is a pretty big thing for me in blog world... probably because I actually have something to write about :) I also find it interesting that I talk most about Sam... this kid keeps me busy!

To make your own... go to Wordle.net.

New Years Eve

We thought we should do something fun to celebrate the ending of 2011... so we packed up and headed downtown. I can probably count the times we've been in downtown Milwaukee this year on 1 hand. Really! It's such a busy place and I am such a non-busy person that I tend to stay as far away as possible. It is neat to see the cool buildings (I love the architecture of all the old churches), the lights, and the lake occasionally though.

Anyway... we went downtown to visit the Betty Brinn Children's Museum. It was really fun! The kids, especially Adalie, really enjoyed it. There are so many different exhibits to learn about different things... plumbing, brick laying, and mechanics to name a few. Aaron was especially thrilled with the costumes. They have a preschool playground with a fruit and vegetable stand and fruit trees that can be picked. It even had a working water pump... Addie was so thrilled with it that she decided to climb into the well and soak herself :)

There was plenty to keep us occupied for several hours. It was a very busy day and hard to really enjoy all the exhibits because of the crowds, but I am sure we'll be back at a less busy time. We recently found out that the employees of Children's Hospital (Adam works there for 1 month of the year) receive a free family membership for a max of 4 people, so we took advantage of that and only had to pay for 2. This means I can take Seth, Aaron, and Addie for free anytime during the week when Sam is at school. I think it may have been a little young for Sam... but the other 3 thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

We ended the evening with pizza and were in bed by midnight... a rare occasion for us.

P.S. Notice the rather poor quality and blurriness of my photos lately??? My little Sony camera is dying :(. It has been the best camera ever. We've had it for almost 8 years now and it's been through amazingly harsh conditions (4 children... lol!). They have dropped it, slobbered on it, poked their little grubby fingers into lens numerous times, etc. It has faithfully recorded thousands of special moments. I have loved it! But it's time for another... soon!

A Simple Christmas

Samuel recently had a family project that we had to complete for school. It was to make a Christmas Poster with different traditions that your family celebrates. It was tough coming up with traditions... we have a very simple Christmas around here, nothing huge or fancy... just laid back and SIMPLE.

We always have powdered doughnuts and egg nog for breakfast... that's one breakfast of the year that I get absolutely no complaints about. We always read the Christmas story from Luke during breakfast... this year, however, Sam did the reading from his Bible. And, of course, I have to always take a family photo (to the chagrin of all my children). I guess those can be called traditions...

Presents are definitely the big thing of the day. Adam and I try and take it slow and let the kiddos enjoy each gift and be thankful for everything... even the clothes! We have been so blessed and receive way more than we need. I really want our kids to appreciate those things and the hard work it took to receive them. We had to pause and remind them several times throughout the day that Christmas was not just about them and the presents they receive... such a hard thing for them to remember in the midst of all the excitement.

All-in-all it was a really good day!

A Christmas Eve Tradition

I remember Lisa telling me a long time ago about a tradition in her family growing up... Christmas Eve jammies. I always thought that was such a neat idea, so I've been doing the same for my kids from the very beginning. I believe that Lisa's mom always made her jammies... I don't go that far.

I especially loved that Sam remembered our tradition this year... a few days before Christmas I overheard him telling Seth that he was glad Christmas Eve was coming soon because his jammies were getting too small. As a kid, I didn't really have much stability and Christmas's were often very low-key (if we had a Christmas at all) so I am really thankful that my kids are able to count on just simple things like a new pair of jammies.

I love the excitement of Christmas Eve! They were all thrilled enough to even let me take lots of pictures... enough that I got several that actually turned out nice (such a rare thing with 4 kids) :). Sam did request that I keep the picture-taking to a minimum on Christmas morning though.