Games/Crafts

Ethan was invited to go sled riding with his friend Aiden so that left the rest of us to fend for ourselves.  When Matt got home from work we decided a game of HeadBandz was in order.  Have you played?  It's fun, except playing with Drew is a little tricky.  For example, Matt was a hammer so when it's Drew's turn to guess what he is he will say, am I a hammer while looking right at Matt.  Or if you are asking questions like am I an animal he will say yes and you bark, lol.  It says 7+ on the box, maybe next year=) Brady didn't want to be left out either.

Ethan received art supplies from Grandpa John & Holly so the boys were super excited to pull those out and start painting.  I love the creations they make and they were so proud of them and happy to give them to Uncle Aaron to take home after he came for a visit.

Matt's been working on the bathroom quite a bit, should be done soon and I can't wait, its looking so good.  I am working on some crafts from Pinterest to add in there to liven it up a little, I mean, there is only so much you can do to make a bathroom look nice.  The boys were having a great time playing this morning while I cleaned up the rest of the Christmas decorations.

They seriously love these plasma cars.  They ride them all the time and I love that they let Brady tag along with them.  Drew asked again today for another baby brother.  It isn't going to happen but I love how much they love him!  At night he started giving everyone hugs and kisses which is just the sweetest thing ever.  And he has to be even so he goes around pointing to whose turn it is and says again, you get a hug and a kiss and than he moves on the next person.  But don't worry, this goes on and on to prolong bedtime and its worth every minute of it! 

Brady got a table and chairs for Christmas but I felt sad watching him eat alone so the boys joined him for lunch today.  I mean really, could my kids be any sweeter?

Last night was romantic dinner night so I made a knock off of Red Lobsters Crab Alfredo for Matt & I, yum! http://www.redrocksunrise.com/recipes/Red%20Lobster%20Crab%20Alfredo.htm - it really did taste like Red Lobsters too.  I also made a warm crab dip that was quite delicious.  Top that off with a bottle of our favorite wine, Apothic Red and it made for a lovely evening.  Matt said he was telling a coworker our plans yesterday and her response was AGAIN?!?!?  Yes again!  We don't get out much and this is just as fun.  Put the kids to bed, have a nice dinner and don't have to worry about having a drink since we are already at home.  It was the perfect way to end the week for us since Matt has FOUR days off of work!  That's right, 4 whole days we get to spend together, so excited!

Snow

This morning I took the Christmas Tree down, yeah me!  I need to take all the decorations down still but its a start and I feel better having that done at least. After that I organized the kids games/art supplies/books in the basement.

 
Isn't it pretty?  I filled a bag with books to donate. There was just too much, more than 3 little boys need for sure and we feel good about donating to kids who aren't as fortunate as we are. We also filled bags with toys to donate before the holidays.  We do it every year and I really feel its such a great thing to teach them.  I would like for all of us to go work in a soup kitchen one day but I think they might still be a little young for that so for now this is how we do our part. 

Finally, we have snow!!! This is the 3rd time it has snowed so far but the first time it has stuck around longer than a few hours so the boys were ecstatic. After organizing those two little shelves (notice I didn't take a picture of the rest of the basement?) and we ate lunch and put Brady down for a nap they were ready to go outside.  So I bundled them up and sent them out.  Of course I sat in the window watching them, Mommy doesn't like being cold, and they had a blast.  We can't seem to find Ethan's boots, must have left them at school before break so don't mind that he is wearing mine, it was that or Drew's and those were way too small.

Gift Cards

Monday we didn't get nearly as much done as we had hoped but such is life.  The boys got gift cards to GameStop, Target and Toys R Us.  Let me tell you, when all else fails, buy gift cards!  They love them!  They love picking out their own things and its fun watching them carefully make a selection.  So of course we had to go to GameStop to spend them.  They each picked out a game for their new X-Box and have been happily playing them ever since. 

Tuesday Matt had to go back to work (BOO!) so it was off to Target to spend THOSE gift cards for the rest of us.  I am telling you, they burn a hole in their pocket, can't spend them fast enough!  There they bought a remote and chargers for the X-Box.  We are also redoing our bathroom (still) so we picked out the new paint color and a rug.  We went to Lowe's to look at mirrors but no purchases have been made.  I will post pictures when its all done, it shall be lovely!  We also ran to the bank and library to pick up Back to the Future 2 and 3.

At night we had planned on going to Olive Garden for dinner since we had gift cards there (don't know where the boys learn to spend theirs so quickly?) but the line was literally out the door so we went to Perkins instead.  Made a quick trip to Old Time Pottery (Ethan's favorite store) after where we picked up some new rugs for the hallways and kitchen and also some new decorations for next year, can't beat the sales.  We had a nice evening with the boys watching Back to the Future 2.

Ahhh, Christmas is over!

I finally dug my computer out of the madness that my house has become.  Seriously, it looks like a toy factory exploded in here, and my trunk is still full!  We had such a nice holiday weekend celebrating with family.  Friday night we hosted my Dads side, Saturday we hosted my Moms side and Sunday we went over to my BIL Johnny's house.  We ate entirely too much food, shared lots of laughs, played lots of games and the kids made out like bandits as usual.  Let's see if I can remember some highlights..

Brady - a slide, new clothes and jammies, lots of books, a vacuum, bowling set, toy laptop, shape sorter, new ride on car, tools, personalized ornament, keyboard, and plenty more! 

 How cute is this shirt???

 


Andrew - clothes, jammies, Star Wars Operation, Connect 4 Flip, Headbands Game, Green Lantern DVD, plasma car, Angry Birds blanket, tools, personalized ornament, Kirby DS & Wii Game, Kung Fu Panda 2 and much more.

Ethan - clothes, jammies, Uno Roboto, Bop It, The Smurfs DVD, plasma car, Angry Birds blanket, personalized ornament, tools, Spy Kids 4 DVD, ear phones, crafts and much more.

The boys received an X-Box 360, Kinect and 4 games from Santa this year.  Wow - they must have been really good!!!  They were so super excited and so were we. 

The couldn't wait to get on those plasma cars my Mom bought.  They were racing inside the house Saturday night but needed the driveway to really get it done.  Matt and Mom were also racing them in the house, pretty sure Matt won that one! 

Ethan always takes Grandma Munchies cane and walks around like an old person, cracks us up.  Well he was certainly happy to have Grandma Flowers walker to use around the house as well.

Look at that face!

Not to be outdone by his brother!





For Christmas morning breakfast I tried out a new recipe, Creme Brulee French Toast, yum!

 

Yum!

 

And yes, that came from Pinterest.  If you still haven't checked it out now would be the time to do so.  So now it's Monday, we are home relaxing while the boys are playing with pretty much everything. The plan is to get everything put away, Christmas decorations taken down and more relaxing.  I can assure you at least one of those things will happen and I am pretty sure we all know which one that is! 

 



Ritz Chicken and Snowmen

Monday night turned crazy, but the good kind!  Ethan asked if his best friend Aiden could come over and than my best friend Elizabeth and her kids Joey and Ella came over too.  I had planned on making Ritz Chicken for the first time and thankfully I had enough for everyone.  It was soooo yummy!  Of course it came from Pinterest, my go to place for everything now a days - recipes, crafts, home decor ideas, you name it, it's there!  Seriously, Google it! Here is the recipe - you must try this.

Ritz Cracker Chicken

3 or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 sleeve Ritz Crackers
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
Crush crackers in a ziploc bag. Add cheese and shake to mix it up. In a bowl, beat egg then add milk. Dip chicken in egg mixture then in crackers. Put in greased baking dish. Repeat for each breast. Place a dollup of butter on top of each chicken breast. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until done.

Cream Sauce

1/2 cup Onion and Chive Cream Cheese (1/3 less fat)
1/2 cup chicken broth

Put broth and cream cheese in saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir constantly for 3 minutes. Serve over chicken.

After dinner it was time to make the snowmen snacks for the boys Christmas Parties at school.  It was a group effort with me, Matt and Elizabeth.  Aren't they cute?  And the kids loved them which is even better!  Of course that came from Pinterest too.  Did ya Google it yet, huh huh, did ya?  You really should!

And now it's Christmas Break, finally!  14 days home with my boys, so excited.  I love not having homework to deal with, lunches to pack, book bags to gather, schedules to follow.  The older boys slept in until 9:00 today, that's what I am talking about!  Of course Brady was up at 7:00 but that's ok because I got in my morning snuggles. 

Last night Drew cleaned the basement, say what!  He really is trying around here.  All week he was ready for school a 1/2 hour earlier than he needed to be which is just unheard of.  He is probably tired of me nagging him every morning, did you eat?  Brush your teeth? Drew go get dressed!  Put your shoes on, we have to leave!  Ugh, it's exhausting even typing it.  So maybe this is a new change for him, getting ready without being told, cleaning up the basement, maybe he is growing up?  Although he did ask Matt for $25 after cleaning, he got $2;)

Weekend

Friday, after picking the boys up from school in the new van they insisted we drive around town.  We decided to go out to dinner, Italian Village, yum!  Afterwards we did our annual drive around town looking at Christmas lights (again).  Than we came home and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (you can't just watch it once). 

Saturday we went grocery shopping, the cupboards were bare bare bare.  Than we headed to Target to shop for our white elephant gifts for this weekend.  We got some good (oh boy) stuff this year, can't wait to see who ends up with what.  I crack myself up sometimes, unfortunately I can't say what we bought incase some of you reading this are the ones participating but it should be lots of fun!  After Brady's nap we went and watched our nephew Carson's hockey team play.  It was so fun, but freezing, but who cares because Carson scored a goal!!!  So awesome! The boys had lots of fun because one of Drew's classmates was there so they ran around with him the whole time.  We had family game night after Brady went to bed, Bingo and Trouble.  Than Matt & I had a romantic dinner at home.  We do this a lot since we don't get to go out very much.  

Today (Sunday) Matt let me sleep in until 9:15 while he got up with the boys.  He has been doing this the past couple weekends and its been so nice.  I am having a hard time sleeping lately so am exhausted all day/night long so it's nice to at least have one good nights sleep a week.  We finally put our tree up.  I have been dreading this so much because I am afraid Brady will be chucking the ornaments on the floor and breaking them all day long.  I let the boys do all of the decorating while I kept Brady at bay.  They did a great job!  We were so inspired that we took all our extra ornaments and decorated one of the trees outside. The plan is to wrap the gifts tonight after the little ones are in bed.  I am both dreading and looking forward to it but just want to be done.  This week will be crazy crazy getting ready for our 3 days of celebration but I love it.   

Van

Matt took the day off of work Friday because his travel schedule has been out of control.  I had my CAT Scan for my brain and bloodwork scheduled so he dropped the boys off at school and than took Brady with him to have the 15,000 mile check-up done on my minivan...or so I thought.  As I was waiting for my turn he started texting me - do you like white, black or grey.  Say what?!?!?  Well ya see, this 2012 Toyota Sienna has everything, so many more options than your van AND it's cheaper.  That man is crazy I tell ya! 

Isn't it so pretty though?  And it really is cool.  Bluetooth, my iPhone songs work right thru the speakers, no more plugging it in.  A sunroof, sunshades on all the back windows, that huge screen so the boys could watch 2 different things at once if they want.  Heck, they can even plug their Wii into it.  I mean really, these people think of everything now a days.  8 seats instead of 7.  Leather heated seats.  It's so fun! I remember crying when I first had to get a minivan, boy how times have changed.  I was a little bummed that he didn't put a big bow on it like in the commercials but I got over it;)