Me, Binky & Freddy

Today was a very big day in our family. We traded "Me" (a binky for most people, but commonly called the me in this family) for Binky and Freddy. We've been trying to convince Seffers that he was too big for his me for quite sometime, but he just wasn't in agreement. So, I got a brilliant idea from a lady at church, and we made a little trade. We took the boys down to the Build a Bear Workshop and Seffers adopted "Binky" the little brown pony and lovingly placed his "me" inside. So now when he feels sad and lonely at night, he can squeeze Binky and feel his little me inside. We'll just see how well this works out. Samuel traded in 15 very close to perfect school papers in for "Freddy" the frog. Both boys were so excited to finally be able to build their own pet. They enjoyed being a part of the process - filling, picking out the heart, and bringing them alive. It was really fun!!!

Here are some photos of Aaron's big day last week. Adam took him down to the Surgery Center and he got tubes put in his ears. After a straight 5 months of ear infections, we decided it was time to do something about it. He was a little worried at first but was soon happy as can be... thanks to Versed! The actual procedure was over with in just a few minutes, and they were home soon after. Easy as can be!

Another Day

We spent the day doing just normal things... We got a lot of new snow yesterday so we had to go out and try it out, of course. The boys had a great time filling up the nicely shoveled walkway with their new snow shovels... so much for getting any help! It was fun to watch Seth try to swing on a swing that was only an inch above the snow. Walking thru it was also a pretty big chore for his little legs. They had a great time out there. I, however, am very sore....This shoveling stuff is hard work!!!

Aaron and I watched most of the fun from inside the warm and cozy kitchen. He loves to sit next to the window and bang on it the whole time... can't let his big brothers forget about him. We found a new favorite food - these honeycomb shaped noodles. He absolutely loves them. He figured out right away the easy way to eat them... just poke them! So while we all eat spaghetti, Aaron gets honeycombs. Try them, they're awesome and so much easier for little fingers.

We ended the day with some yummy nachos and a movie - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was, ummmmm..... interesting. I don't think I would rush out in a blizzard to rent it, that's for sure :) So, just another ordinary day around here... we keep pretty busy doing boring things not really worth writing about... but I thought I would anyways :)

Leftover Ham

We had lots of leftover ham after the holidays so this is what we turned it into.... well, some of it that is. We've still got a bunch so if you have any good ideas for using up the rest, let me know.

I just used this recipe for dinner rolls to wrap the chopped ham and shredded cheese and it turned out perfectly. Baked them at 400 for about 15 minutes. It made about 8 pretty big pockets. YUMMY! This will be a regular around our house from now on. I bet you can make them with just about anything too... taco pockets, pizza pockets, I'm sure I can come up with a ton of good stuff to fill them. : )

2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 - 115 degrees)
1 cup warm milk (same)
3 Tbsp shortening
1 egg
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 1/2 cup flour

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth and elastic. Dough will be sticky. Place in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and rise in warm place about an hour.

Divide into 8 chunks and roll them into 6-8 inch circles. Fill it with your ham and cheese and fold it in half. Seal the edges and bake on greased sheet.

ENJOY!

Christmas Festivities

We had a very laid back Christmas Eve. We had little smokies and popcorn for dinner and then watched Miracle on 34th Street, such a cute movie. We had to take a quick break in the middle for some peppermint ice cream, and then we let the boys open their one Christmas Eve gift... Christmas Jammies! They were thrilled at being able to open a present before Santa even came. Then it was off to bed for three little boys. I have never seen Sam so excited to go to bed. We could hear him upstairs demanding Seth to go to sleep as quickly as he could.


The next morning, the boys learned a little about Santa's messy side. Santa brought the boys lots of little balls, but he must have dropped the majority of them on his way to check on them, not bothering to pick them up on his way out. There were balls all over the tree, under the tree, going up the stairs, and even in their bedroom. We could hear several whispers of "Holy cow!" and "What on earth!" as they tiptoed their way down the stairs and into the living room. It was very cute!

The morning was really fun! The boys were thrilled with their new transformers and games. Aaron wasn't quite sure what to do with it all, but I think he figured it out somewhat by the end. We made a very tasty honey ham with mashed potatoes, carrots, and green bean casserole. It was delicious! Overall, it was a wonderful day, and we really enjoyed talking with so many of our family members that we missed getting to share the day with.

The boys received a bounce house for their big gift this year. We got it all set up down in the basement, and the boys are having a blast with it... even Aaron! It will be nice for them to have something to expend some of their boundless energy this winter.

Christmas Cookies

We made our Christmas cookies today... I did the dumping, Sam did the mixing, and Seffers joined in for the decorating (and eating :-). We've spaced our Christmas goodie making out over several days/weeks this year. Two weeks ago we made Peanut Brittle, last week it was Caramel Corn, and finally today was our Sugar Cookies. I just don't seem to have the energy this year to tackle too many projects at once. For some reason, neither item has lasted more than a couple days around this crowd.

As I write, the wind is howling at the window next to me, and the snow is really coming down. Adam went out and shoveled a couple hours ago, but you can't even tell. It's gonna be a white Christmas here! Love it!

Frosty the Snowman

We finally had the chance to go out and build our own Frosty the Snowman!!! Or, Frosting the Snowman as Seffers calls him. We've discovered that around here if you want to play in the snow, you have to do it while it's fresh - otherwise, it turns hard as stone soon after. So, today we had a couple inches fall so the boys and I headed out for a couple hours to shovel snow and just have some fun. Thankfully, I am all finished with my Christmas shopping and can now just sit back and enjoy the snow (and freezing rain... uggh!) that is supposed to be scattered throughout the next several days.

The boys are really looking forward to Christmas this year. Sam has written several lists for Santa and is really trying to figure out how he's going to get into our house without a chimney. He's decided that he'll have to stay up and unlock the door for him. Seffers just spends most of his day rearranging the ornaments on the tree. So far all the candy canes are still hanging there, in different spots of course. Aaron is just busy growing. He is finally gaining some weight and getting little rolls on his legs and arms... so cute! And, he got his 2 front teeth just in time for Christmas - the second came in this past weekend. Yay!

Merry Christmas!

That's pretty tall alright!

Here is my contribution, last week they gave us a paid day off to attend one of the worlds largest radiology conferences held in Chicago every December. While the conference was truly awe inspiring (literally - I have never seen a gathering of people even remotely approaching the size of this conference) I thought this was rather incredible as well - and more appealing to the masses than a bunch of CT,MRI,Plain film,PACS,ultrasound machines, etc.

Since I was a little kid I heard about this building as the tallest building in the world (having since been surpassed) and thought wow that's pretty tall, but then to stand at the base of it and look up was truly an amazing experience....

A couple more shots: