Good Bye Christmas Break!

After two and a half weeks my kids are finally going back to school tomorrow!  School was canceled on Tuesday because of the horrible cold weather we had and then they canceled it today because of maintenance issues, and I at first I wasn't too sad about it.  I thought one more day to hang around with the kids will be fun!  I should know better by now.  Usually by about 9 Caroline is asking to have friends over to play and since I really don't feel like having more people over to mess up the house I say no, so I get to hear about that injustice all day long.  Then Devin, all he wants to do is watch TV all day, I know he's totally me as a child, and every time I say no (which isn't too often to be honest) he yells at me and it makes me want to scream!  So after two and half weeks I'm VERY, VERY ready for them to go back.  Caroline is too, in fact when I told her school was canceled today she was mad.  I really think we'll all be happier once we get back into a routine and aren't spending every waking second next to each other.

New Year's Revolutions

Yes I know I put revolution instead of resolution, that's what Devin keeps calling them and I thought it was funny.  Caroline was so cute and wrote down her goals for this year, and I thought I would write them down here because they were pretty funny.
1. Don't yell at my brothers so much,
2. Be better at math.
3. Be nicer to my brothers.
4. Stop getting mad at my brothers. (good luck)
Devin's
1. Stop yelling at Graham and Caroline.
2. Stop fighting with Graham.
3. Be better at building legos.
4. Try to be good this year. (this is as general as you can get)
Graham's
1. Stop yelling at Devin and Caroline.
2. Stop making annoying sounds. (he does this A LOT and it really is annoying)
3. Stop taking things from Devin and Caroline without asking.
4. Stop hurting Devin and Caroline. (he likes to just jump and hit people randomly)
As you can see there is plenty of yelling that goes on in our house.  Really I think they were copying each other a little by the looks of these lists we are constantly at each other's throats but that's only about half true.  I thought it was so funny to hear these, I love these crazy kids.

New Years

I have never been a huge fan of New Years Eve, its really just not that exciting to me.  I've had a handful of good ones but we usually end up going to bed before midnight.  Last night was no exception.  I wasn't even sure if Shawn would be home before 9 so our grand plans for the evening were to rent Wolverine, laugh at how ridiculous it is and then go to bed.  We were both pretty excited about our plans, so I cleaned up and got the house nice and clean so we could relax when Shawn got home.  Everything was going great until Shawn got home and we put the movie in.  It didn't work, we spent about 15 minutes trying to get the dumb thing to play and nothing was happening.  I was so mad, so I went to return the movie only to find out it was sold out everywhere. And here's where the evening just gets embarrassing.  I went home and cried.  Yes I cried because my lame plans didn't even work.  I'm really good at keeping my expectations VERY low so when even those didn't work out I couldn't take it anymore.  Shawn came to the rescue and we just rented it from VUDU and we laughed and had a good time making fun of the movie.  We were in bed by 11 which is actually really late for us so the night turned out pretty well after all. Maybe in the future we will have more exciting New Years Eve plans but don't count on it.

Christmas 2013

We had a very low key christmas this year.  Last year we had a party and went all out.  This year we didn't do much but wow I loved it!  We of course went caroling and I made WAY too many treats, we still have about half left.  Oops.  Then on Christmas we woke up opened presents, ate breakfast, took naps, went to  movie, and had one of our friends over.  It was very relaxing and enjoyable.  Now Shawn is back at work and we're all sad its over.  I'm ready for spring now!  We managed to take pictures and Shawn took a slow motion video of the kids coming down the stairs that is hilarious because he sounds so weird.  We didn't send out christmas cards this year, so I'll try and post something here on the blog.  It was our lazy Christmas, sorry guys.  We hope everyone had a great Christmas and we miss our family!

Devin was really cold for some reason. 

He perked up when he opened his present though.

Caroline so excited to have an American Girl doll, even if it is tiny.

Building legos.

And even more legos, it took about 4 hours to build it. 

He was so proud.

Graham even got in on the lego action.  He's definitely still learning though.

Pre Christmas

Christmas kind of snuck up on me this year.  I felt totally unprepared, but it really wasn't a big deal.  We kept a few of our traditions alive this year, or really just making a gingerbread house.  In the past I've made gingerbread and we would build a nice big house.  This year we opted for graham crackers and a few premade kits with some friends.  It was so low key and fun.  I also made some gingerbread men for Devin's christmas party at school, so I'll throw in a few pictures of those as well.

I forgot we went to a christmas party at Vanderbilt.  The kids made lots of crafts that got thrown away the next day but they had a good time so it was a success.

Devin making a snowman.

And telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

Devin at his class party, its fun getting to see him in his classroom.

One of the MANY lego sets built in the past month.

And Graham's "gingerbread" house.  Shawn may have helped him a bit.  

And Devin putting his together.

And Graham eating his.

Quick Update and a Recipe

As much as I'd love to leave that last post up for forever so I can constantly be reminded of our trip, its time for a new post.  It hasn't really felt like Christmas yet.  I think that week we were gone threw me off ,and its 60 degrees outside, we're not done Christmas shopping, I haven't done any thing in the form of a Christmas card, and I have done zero baking for Christmas Eve caroling.  Well I lie I did make a really yummy gingerbread cookie yesterday for Devin's class party.  I love this recipe so much its a shame I only make it once a year.  I'll post it at the bottom because I told my friend that I'd put it up here.

Now for an update.
Caroline is great besides the fact she has gotten to be a little too sassy for my taste sometimes but I can't complain much because she is a great kid.
Devin needs constant work and by work I feel like he's way behind Caroline when she was in kindergarten.  We do a reading lesson every night but I feel like I still need to teach him about a million things. Kindergarten is not my favorite.
Graham is has a constant stream of words coming out of his mouth.  He loves to talk so much!  When he was asked by his primary teachers what his favorite thing about primary was he said, "talking." He is Shawn's child for sure!
Shawn and I are counting down the days until his next vacation.  Well I am anyways.  He is on a very busy service and I can't wait to have more family time come Saturday.  He starts his Christmas vacation then and I"m sure it'll be a lot cheerier around here when he's home.

Ok so here's the gingerbread recipe
3 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 t cinnamon
3/4 t ginger
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t cloves
1/2 salt
1/4 t freshly ground pepper
8 T butter at room temp
1/4 c vegetable shortening, at room temp
1/2 c light brown sugar
2/3 c unsulfured molasses
1 lg egg

Sift flour, soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt, and pepper into medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl combing butter and shortening until well combined about 1 min.  Add the brown sugar and beat until te mixture is light in texture and color, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the molasses and egg.  Gradually mix in the flour mixture to make a stiff dough.  Divide dough into two thick disks ane wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate until chill about 3 hours.

Roll out cookies to desired thickness (I like my cookies thick and chewy) on floured surface, cut our shapes and bake at 350 for 8 minutes, for thick cookies.  I don't know how long for thinner cookies, mine are always thick.  If dough gets too soft to work with knead scraps together and chill for about 5 minutes.