It's a good thing Santa already came . . .

. . .because this is the mood that William was in by noon today! Not enough sleep!

Bad penmanship

Yesterday afternoon, Dylan and I were in the bedroom wrapping presents. I had already wrapped a few when Nathan came walking in. Thankfully we weren't wrapping any of the kids presents at that time. As I was working on a present, Nathan asked, "Who's Farto?" I said, "What?!?" He replied, "This present says to Dylan Sr. from Farto." I looked at the gift, and it was one that I had made from "Santa", not Farto. But, it did kinda look like it said Farto. I've never had great penmanship.

A New Goal

As I was going through my china cabinet looking for all of my favorite Christmas recipes, I realized that I had a lot of unused cookbooks. Most of them are just those small booklets that you see in line at the grocery store, and some are just blank books with collections of recipes on cards. So I've set a new goal for myself. I would like to pick a new recipe from one cookbook each week to try. I'll share them if they are good ones, like this Snickerdoodle recipe:
The Easiest Snickerdoodles Ever

2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°. In a bowl combine vanilla, cake mix, oil and eggs. Stir until well blended. Combine sugar and cinnamon in shallow bowl. Form cookie dough into 1” balls. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place cookies on baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies are set and lightly browned. Remove to cooling rack.

This was from a long time ago, when I shopped at Albertsons. Every week they had a couple of new recipes in a card dispenser, and no matter what the recipe, I'd pick it up. Some of them look kind of questionable, but some looked really yummy. These cookies are good, and very quick to make if you don't have time for the real thing.

We caved!

Well, we finally did it. We caved and got the boys a puppy. He is a Bassett Hound, (if you couldn't tell by his ears). His name is Blooregard Q. Kazoo, for those who don't watch Cartoon Network that is the name of a character from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. We call him Bloo for short. We almost named him Mort, after the little lemur from Penguins of Madagascar. Why? Because he loves feet. I was in the garage this morning with one shoe on and one shoe off, and he kept nipping at my foot in the sock! It was making me insane! It is fun to watch him trip over his own ears as he romps after the boys. We have had several, "Why did we do this?" moments, but the boys seem to love him.

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

I just wanted to wish my hubby of almost 15 years a Happy 36th Birthday! I'm so blessed to have him as my husband. He is such a wonderful father, a great husband, and the best friend I could ever have (not to mention the most entertaining friend I've ever had). Happy Birthday! Yes, I put a Metallica song on my playlist, just for him. That shows how much I love him.

Why?

I've asked myself that question several times today. Like when I was drinking my diet Dr. Pepper, and William asked Dylan to get a straw so he could drink my drink. And he had his own. I also asked myself "why?" when he started eating my beef stick and crackers, when not two feet away was a plate with his own on it. There was also the time today when I thought I would have a brief moment to myself where every woman should have solitude (on the toilet) and who walks in? Michael, asking me to close a ziplock bag. He literally walked past Dylan, who was in the kitchen at the time, to come and open the door to the toilet room to find me. Why? Why is it that the boys have never once gone to Dylan's side of the bed in the middle of the night when they've had a bad dream? Well, I can probably answer that one. Dylan sleeps through anything, even a television falling on his wife's head didn't wake him up (that's another post for another day). Oh, and there is also the occurance when one of the boys comes to bed with Dylan and I, like William did twice this last week, they always end up crowding me to the edge. It may sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. It's kinda cute when William comes up and says, "I need a straw" or "can I have some?" I like that the boys know to come to me when they need help, just not when I'm in the bathroom. And I like having a cuddly little bundle snuggle up close to me in bed, even though I do not get a wink of sleep. I just wonder, why?

Michael is 6!

I can't believe that Michael is already 6 and in Kindergarten. He's been so excited about his birthday. He has also been very kind about sharing his new toys with his brothers. He'll do anything so they will play with him. He was definitely our chubbiest baby, and he still has little baby cheeks! He and Nathan, (I like to call them my peanut butter and jelly sandwiched in the middle of 4 boys) always stick together, whether happy or fighting. Someday, he'd like to own a huge farm so he can drive big tractors. Happy birthday, our little Michael Boo!

If I had it to do all over again . . .

Have you ever felt like you wished you could re-do your wedding reception all over again? I've felt that way for years. Each year new ideas come out and they are prettier than the year before. Well, my niece is getting married in a year, and I've volunteered to help. It is so hard to try to stay out of the way and not give too much input because it is so fun to think of ways you would decorate things! So, I'm trying to keep myself in check and do only what is asked of me. But I did have so much fun putting together this centerpiece for a test. Luckily, she liked it. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, what I would have done differently is taken the money my parents offered us in lieu of a wedding reception and run! Just kidding. I did have fun at my reception, I just felt stressed.

One more recipe . . .

O.k., this isn't really a recipe, it's more like the combination of two delicious items. Have you ever ordered Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough from any fundraiser? Well, Dylan and I love to get their peanut butter cookie dough (preshaped and ready to go!) and when there is one minute left on the timer when baking, you place one Dove milk chocolate in the middle of each cookie. Let cool for however long you can stand to wait, and then enjoy the chocolatey, gooey happiness! Soooo good. And yes, I drool like Homer Simpson when thinking of them.

Memorable Recipes

Isn't it wonderful when certain recipes bring back memories from the past? I was making some hot sandwiches that my mom used to make this time of year the other night, and it brought back all of these memories. First, there were the Friday's when my mom and grandma would get together to make a bunch of these sandwiches to take to the Friday night Clovis High football game (when my brother used to play). Those were fun, even though I've never been a big football fan. Then I remembered the Halloween parties I used to have! They were so fun! My sister-in-law would help me plan the haunted house for two weeks before they were held. We'd turn the back patio into a haunted parlor by draping black plastic from the patio roof. My parents usually had a lot of corn in their large garden that we'd take the group through, and one year we even had a haunted forest in the Eucalyptus trees where we had the wolfman hanging out. We never had a problem finding help, family members would always volunteer to dress up as Freddy Kruger or Jason wielding a chainsaw to scare my friends. And to think, sandwiches brought back all of these fond memories. They used to be called something like "Hot Crusty sandwiches", but I've renamed them to "Tasty Little Devils." They are really easy to make. Here's the recipe, and yes, I know. Just from the first few ingredients they sound like a gastrointestinal explosion waiting to happen, but those who've tried them really like them;)

2 4.5 oz. cans deviled ham
5 boiled eggs
1lb. Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 can chopped olives
1 can green chili's
Salt and Pepper
1-2 Tbsp mayonnaise to moisten
2 bags of 12 count Sweet French rolls (my favorite is Basque)

All you do is cube the eggs and cheese and combine the first 7 ingredients. Then you open the rolls and scoop out some of the bread to make a nice pocket. Fill each roll with about 2-3 Tbsp. of filling. Wrap each sandwich in foil, then cook at 350 for 20 min. Be careful, because the filling is very hot and rather messy.