What to do with those leftover boxes from Christmas

Make a new home complete with a mailbox! AJ and Eliana played with this for 2 hours straight the other day. After our architect/builder (Daddy) constructed it, they decorated the inside with markers and then went to work making "letters" and dropping them in the mailbox. We were thinking if we can get more we could make a whole cardboard city!

What I learned from Disney on Ice

Men do not pee as much as women. Why at intermission are the lines for the ladies room out the door and the men don't have a line? Anyway, thanks to Auntie Lou for the fun Christmas gift. We had a great time!

From our family to yours...Merry Christmas!

Christmas breakfast Christmas Eve at Grandma's
Someone's getting tired!
The Crew
Spencer was not impressed.
AJ and Eliana

Isaiah 9:6

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."

Happy Birthday Uncle Chris!

We love you!

Sleigh Ride

Are they cute or what?!?!? Especially the biggest one. ;)

Homemade Granola...my favorite Christmas treat

No School Again!

School was cancelled today because of the impending snow storm. I realize we are supposed to get 12 inches but come on people, where is your hearty New England winter spirit? It hasn't even started snowing yet! We could have got in a half day in order to prevent having to make it up in June. And seriously AJ's preschool gets out at noon so I think we would have been just fine driving to and from considering it's NOT SNOWING yet. I remember as a kid how bad it had to be for school to be cancelled. They act like we live in Florida where there are no snowplows and 2 inches sends them into a state of panic. What a bunch of wimps we've become!!!

A continuation of my obsession for fresh food....

Remember on Thanksgiving when I mentioned how I want to try and make everything from scratch? And I'm tired of the cans and boxes? I think the country needs a shift in the way we think about food and how we grow and prepare it. Thus I give you...Michael Pollan! Here's a link to a petition for him to be the new Secretary of Agriculture.
http://www.petitiononline.com/MPoll4Ag/

And if you want to find out more about him before you sign here's his site.

http://www.michaelpollan.com/

I know, not very Christmasy but necessary nonetheless.

HELP!

Where ARE the green Andes mint chips????????????

Heat Update

It's on as of this morning except now it's 65 degrees out and we don't need it today. Go figure! It took them 4 days to get to us and 140 dollars to come out for 30 minutes (really they should have given us a discount what with the economy and letting us and our 2 SMALL CHILDREN freeze while they took there sweet time getting to us but I'm not angry or bitter, not at all). Thanks Becky and Derek for letting us borrow your space heater in the meantime!

Christmas Project

Here's a picture of our craft for the day...all for under 5 dollars. (Gotta love those JoAnn's 50% off coupons!) It was really simple and fun and the only setback was Eliana touching the glue gun after being told repeatedly not to. We're also having a movie night tonight....."Frosty the Snowman" plus hot chocolate and popcorn and cuddling by the fireplace. The kids are so excited because they get to stay up "late". I guess when you're 2 and 4 going to bed at 8:30 instead of 8 is a big deal. Anyway I can't wait cause Frosty is my all time favorite Christmas cartoon!

No School Today and...No heat in our House!

We had a pretty bad wind and rain storm last night and many people don't have power. I got the call this morning that AJ's school was cancelled for that very reason. Also as of last night we have NO HEAT in our house. Jonathan is going to come home a little early today to see if he can figure our what's going on. We're hoping it's just that the pilot light is out and nothing more. If it is it looks like we 'll have to break out the space heaters for the rest of the winter which makes me nervous since 2 of them would have to go in the kid's rooms during the night. So pray we can fix it on our own!!!!!!!!!!

Rainy Day Recipe

I love soup and I love making it when it's raining outside, like today! Well usually I like it to be rainy and cold for soup and it was 60 today but hey that's New England for you (see previous post with snowman from Sunday) so I will take what I can get. Anyway I thought I'd share this recipe with you. It's simple, especially if you do all the cutting ahead of time and ridiculously healthy for you. Oh and I swear it tastes just like the Olive Garden's.

Minestrone Soup

In a soup pot:

Saute for 5 minutes

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 small diced onion

1/2 c. zucchini

1/2 c. cut green beans

1/4 c. celery

4 chopped garlic cloves

then add:

32 oz. vegetable broth

1-2 cans drained kidney beans

1-2 cans white beans

diced tomatoes

1 c. sliced carrots

2 tbsp. fresh parsley

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. basil

1/4 tsp. thyme

2 bay leaves

3 c. hot water

Boil, simmer for 20 minutes and then add:

4 c. fresh spinach

1 c. shell or any small pasta

Simmer 20 minutes and you're done!

First Snowfall

AJ, Eliana and "Mr. Snowman"

AJ Ate a Carrot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know some of you maybe thinking this is strange but this is a HUGE step in the right direction for Mr. I-only-eat-10-things-and-leave-me-alone-about-it-please! Now it was a very, very small piece but it actually went from the spoon, into his mouth, down his throat and into his stomach. A small miracle for my little bear. Great job AJ!

Recent Performance Photos

Fusionworks Dance Company

Let's bring Christmas back!