You Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man

We took on a new task this Christmas with a gingerbread house. It sounded like a fun activity for me and Abigail... That's right. It "sounded" like a fun activity. 

It was Christmas Day when we finally had the time to get to the house. I know, there's nothing like waiting until the last minute. But, it's the thought that counts, right? Well, I was regretting that thought when we finally got to it. 

I actually assembled the house on Christmas Eve because it had to set for a few hours before decorating it. Fortunately, Daniel and my mother came behind me and assembled it again after my assembly did not last more than five minutes. I was so "pleased" with the endeavor that I was ready to throw it away, but my more patient mother and husband nicely salvaged the project. Thanks, guys! 

Still in our pajamas late on Christmas Day, Abigail and I finally got around to decorating it. That part was actually fun. 

I was impressed with Abigail's decorating skills as she continually explained the "patterns" she was creating. 

Not too shabby, for first time architects. But, I think it may be the last time unless next year I'm able to find a kit that includes an already constructed house that just needs to be decorated. I don't mind being Martha Stewart, but I'm not a contractor.

Tuesday Treats - Cooking Ahead

We started a terrible habit earlier this year when our house (in South Carolina) was on the market. It seemed almost all showings on the house were done around 5-6 p.m. weekdays, meaning we were kicked out of the house around dinnertime many evenings. We did what any fiscally irresponsible and non-health conscious family would do.  We kicked our eating out habit into overdrive. 

Once the house sold, we were in transit for a few months, which continued to fuel our eating out. 

I could rattle off many more excuses, but the story is that we've been frequenting restaurants way too often for the past six to seven months. It doesn't help that my long workdays usually culminate just in time to eat or even after dinnertime many days. Thus, the option of me cooking dinner every night just isn't realistic. But, we have been faced with the challenge of ending this horrible habit, for budgetary and health reasons.

About six to eight weeks ago, I decided that we needed to find a way to eat at home on a nightly basis. A friend in my weekly Bible study mentioned that she spends every Sunday afternoon cooking their meals for that week, which made me think that the cooking ahead/freezing method seemed to be our best route. We are certainly a leftovers-friendly family, but I've never frozen meals in advance and knew nothing of the ins and outs of this practice. But, I dove right in and took it upon myself to spend New Year's Day grocery shopping and cooking meals for our family that would last us a month. 

I used quite a few Pampered Chef recipes and tips that were sent my way from my friend Emily. And, I also included a few Weight Watchers and Pampered Chef recipes that I cook regularly. I wanted to make sure I didn't go to this effort and end up with meals we didn't enjoy. In the end, it was a messy endeavor...

 

...but, it was very simple and seems to be paying off well. We've only had two of the meals so far, but we have 10 other entrees to choose from that we'll split up into leftovers and ration out over January. 

If you want any of the recipes, just let me know and I'd be happy to share them with you. I made...

Dijon Chicken Noodle Toss

Chicken Stir Fry

Smoky Black Bean Chicken Wraps

Tortilla Soup

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Skillet Lasagna (very tasty and made with Italian turkey sausage)

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Chili

Cheddar Chicken & Rice

Taco Soup

Lean N Green Chili

Tex Mex Chicken & Rice

Beef Enchilada Casserole

As you can see, my freezer isn't even full thanks to the handy (and cheap) Reynolds vacuum bags. Hopefully, this will help keep the frostbite at bay while leaving room in the freezer for cold mugs, a few of the kids' treats and some veggies.

Mexican Chicken Casserole

10 corn tortillas (soft)

2 cups cubed chicken (cooked)

12 oz. shredded fat-free cheddar

1 can Healthy Request cream of chicken soup

1 can fat-free cheddar cheese soup

1 can Rotel

1 1/4 cup skim milk

1 cup chopped onion

Tear tortillas in 1" strips.  In baking dish, alternate layers tortillas, meat and cheese, reserving 1/2 cup cheese. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over layers. Top with 1/2 cup cheese and freeze in dish. To serve: thaw; bake covered at 350 for 20 minutes, uncover and bake 10 more minutes. Servings: 8. WW points: 6.

Movie Monday - Charlotte's Web

I interrupt this Movie Monday blog entry to show you our Texas Longhorn pride. Hook 'Em Horns!

We're cheering our Longhorns on tonight in the National Championship bowl game, err... I mean, the Fiesta Bowl. The kids had to take baths after the pre-game, but they were still wearing their Longhorn gear, thanks to the blankets from Aunt KellyAnn. 

Back to Movie Monday...

Abigail has been asking to see The Tale of Despereaux for weeks. She was convinced she would see it over Christmas with Aunt KellyAnn. Fortunately, the movie showing times never coincided with their free time. I say "fortunately," because I planned to take the kids to the movie yesterday but I checked out a review at the Christian Spotlight on Entertainment and made the decision not to see Despereaux. The comments from parents that said the dark themes and spookiness of much of the movie caused nightmares for their kids made me balk at exposing the kids to it. Abigail and Cooper neither one have nightmares, that I know of, but I don't want to go to a children's animated movie only to see spookiness. We want laughs and smiles!

I explained the situation to Abigail, and we began talking about the other movies. We contemplated seeing Bedtime Stories, but in the end she took the fiscally responsible choice and asked to purchase Charlotte's Web. 

Since it's the only movie she's ever seen in the theater, I thought it was a great choice. And, at just $10, it was a lot cheaper than going to see a flick at the theater. Even better, we got to watch it in our jammies!

The movie is very close to the Newbury Award-winning book by E.B. White that I grew up with, and I love that it is happy and tells a great story. And, we've recently had to discuss the issue of death (another post for another time), so it was good timing for Abigail to see this story again.

If you're looking for a new video to add to your collection, this one's a winner.

Now... Back to our Horns!

Christmas - Part Deux

The last few days of our time in Odessa was spent with the Dunaways, Stephanie's family.  This time included Christmas Day, so we also enjoyed our own Hardy family Christmas traditions at the same time.

I can't believe I didn't get pics of the annual Hardy Christmas Crab Boil.  This Christmas Eve feast, courtesy of Daniel, was an event we were obviously occupied too much with to take photos.  There were crab legs and shrimp and potatoes and corn cobs.  It was so, so, yummy. But, I will admit that the seafood was a bit harder to procure in the desert of West Texas than we've previously experienced in Charleston.

Christmas Day was not a sign of the RecessMas that the media has been fear mongering so viciously. It was truly a blessed Christmas for us, that we enjoyed so much.

The kids had fun climbing into their new sleeping bags with built in air mattresses. Little do they know, it's all part of our plan to make them sleep on the floor when company comes from now on...

It was a bit upsetting for Daniel to see, but Cooper enjoyed being Abigail's first client in her new hair salon chair. He sat there patiently enjoying primping from his sister.

The bouncy ball from Gran was also a big hit, but it's probably more fun for us to watch him fall from it any time someone lets go of him.

The kids got numerous dress-up outfits from ballerinas to race car driver to Cinderella. 

  

Obviously, Daniel was jealous and made his own dress-up outfit from his new life-jacket (to be used with his new kayak) and his helmet (to be used with his new welder) and his new spotlight (to be used to find stray glass in future glasseroles, i.e. Thanksgiving).

 

From all his loot, Cooper was most taken with the set of Caterpillar trucks Grandad gave him. Unfortunately for Grandad, Cooper seemed to think Grandad was a perfect track for his trucks.

Of course, there were diamonds and shoes and clothes and much more more to fill the day. But, really it was such a treat to be with family. It was the first Christmas in quite a few years that Daniel and I were in Odessa over the holidays and able to share the time with both sides of our families. The chance to be together and easily travel to see them was the best part of the holiday season this year. In many ways, the blessings we've been gathering all year came together to create a very blessed time for us. We continue to see how fortunate we are that God made a way for us to live in Texas and raise the kids so close to our families. We truly mean it when we say, "Thank the Lord!"

Christmas - Part I

We spent a week in Odessa for Christmas this year. It was great to be able to see both sides of our families over the holidays for the first time in many years. The first few days were spent with the Hardy family. And, when I say the Hardy family, I mean a lot of people. When Daniel's family has a get together, they all show up. It's an anomaly in modern-day families, i.e. they all like each other. I know, it's weird. 

We had a great Christmas dinner of fried turkey and all the trimmings. Gammie's broccoli-rice casserole was a special treat we don't have the chance to partake of very often. And, as usual, I baked up a swarm of pies for everyone.

The kids loved having all their cousins to play with, and the noise level was almost as high as the pile of toys they collected. Avery enjoyed prancing in her tutu Aunt Stephanie made for her, and Harrison was pleased with his Stetson Uncle Hardy picked out for him. 

The kids especially enjoyed the endless wagon rides from whomever was suckered into pulling them all around. (Thanks PaBear and Gigi for the wagon! The neighborhood kids have been enjoying it now that we have it at home.)

We capped off our last night at Gigi and PaBear's house with a quick read of the Polar Express, and then the kids all snuggled together to watch the Polar Express movie.

Candy Factory

We have many Christmas traditions in our family, but one of the messiest is candy making. 

We set aside an entire day and turn the kitchen into a candy factory. This year, we were fortunate enough to both take day off work while the kids were in school and get knee-deep in chocolate. We made dark chocolate and white chocolate covered pretzels, haystacks (peanut butter and butterscoth yummy goodness), white-chocolate covered Ritz bits, peppermint bark, spearmint bark and chocolate covered peanut butter balls.

It was about 12-13 hours of baking, which is a bit more than my patience can take. Fortunately, Daniel is the star candy baker and persisted until the end.

In the end, we were happy to share our treats with neighbors, friends and family members  as a way to say "Merry Christmas!"

Sea World

Earlier in December, we spent a Saturday at Sea World in San Antonio. We've been trying to visit the park since we moved to Texas, but just haven't been able to be there when they were open. Finally, I was insistent that we make the time over the holidays. And, it was extremely worth it. The park was beautiful from the moment we stepped in and saw this huge tree, and where there weren't trees, there were mounds of poinsettias.

One of the most interesting events was the beluga whales and dolphins show. It was very Cirque-like in that it had crazy music and acrobats jumping and diving from all parts of the venue while the belugas and dolphins jumped and danced in the water. One of the most unique parts of this show was that one of the belugas had recently given birth and the baby would not leave the mom's side. The baby was practically attached to the beluga, but the beluga continued doing her part of the show as if the baby were never there. It was interesting interaction to see.

Of course, the best show was the Shamu show. There were three orcas and several trainers participating in the show, and they were all impressive. But, what was most impressive, was the story they told. There was accompanying video and musical performers on the side of the pool telling about the miracle of birth and especially the miracle of the birth of Jesus and the true story of Christmas. I think I'm still a bit shocked that the children were able to hear this at Sea World, of all places, but I was most pleased that this was the case.

The show that was not impressive was the sea lion show. We were a bit bored by the show, but sea lions are Abigail's favorite so it was not to be missed. The best part was getting to meet one of the sea lions, having our picture taken with him, and Abigail, Daniel and Cooper all got to pet him. I think that was certainly Abigail's highlight of the day. We also took the chance to feed the sea lions after they performed. Though, it was disappointing that we couldn't get that close to them.

There were other encounters we enjoyed, such as the dolphins. The kids and Daniel enjoyed petting and feeding the dolphins. It was nice that they were able to be so close to them as long as the dolphins were interested in eating.

And, we closed out the day by watching Abigail take a ride on a rollercoaster. She's ridden these a few times, but she was disappointed we didn't let her go on the large, adult, scary coaster. This Shamu coaster was not what she had in mind, but I think she was appeased. (You can see her in the middle cart in a red sweater, seated by herself.)

We had such a blast at Sea World that we upgraded our one-day passes for 2009 season tickets, so we're hoping to have many more days of Sea World fun in the next 12 months!