Whew! I am worn out! Oh and by the way...Merry Christmas! It's been a busy 2 weeks since my last post. Audrey is sleeping better now, thank goodness! Easton is doing ok too. The past couple of weeks have been filled with writing several short papers and one 15 pager, finishing up a class (Child Development - I got an A!), shopping for Christmas, working on some craft projects, cleaning and getting ready for our Christmas company.

I wasn't sure if they'd be able to come or not due to the snow we had (TWO FEET!!!) but Jason's sister, Leslie, her husband Terry, their three kids and Jason's cousin came to visit on Monday. We had a really fun time. It was good to see the kids playing together and good visiting with everyone. We did some shopping to help Santa out with a few Christmas presents, went to D.C. to see the sights, played, cleaned, cooked, ate, played, cooked, cleaned some more. I decided that although I LOVE having people come visit us, our house is WAAYY too small for ten people! That and my kids have entirely too many toys. I think in the next month or so we'll be going through all of the toys and getting rid of some of the ones that don't get played with so much. We just simply do not have room for all of this stuff!

Christmas today was really fun. The kids woke up early and we opened presents and had our Christmas breakfast casserole. Then we cleaned up the kitchen just so we could start cooking Christmas dinner. We had apple butter ham, stuffing, green bean casserole, rolls and pumpkin pie. Whew! I'm so tired! Glad that Miss Audrey will be sleeping back in her own bed tonight and not in our room so I can finally get some sleep.

Some pictures of the big snow we got here last weekend:

Easton and Yellow Bear in the snow

Audrey all smiles and bundled up in her warm snow suit.

My hard working hubby taking a break from shoveling snow



I think we used to have a car under there

Is it a table or is it a big snow cone?

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas Eve trip to D.C.:

Riding the Metro

We're seasoned Metro riders by now. Well, OK. Not really. But we should be.

One of the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

The Washington Monument

The White House

I can't take credit for this one. J's sweet cousin McKayla took this one. Great job!

Christmas pictures:

This is a lap full of cute right here. Easton and Alexa waiting for Santa.

Easton reads his new Thomas the Train ABC book.

Audrey loves her doll

Alexa, Mason, Addy, Audrey and Easton.

Audrey and Easton Christmas 2009

We already have our Christmas lights up. Yes. My neighbors are probably REALLY annoyed by the brightness that emanates from our house but I love my lights. I think we might be the only house on our street with lights up this early and turned on this early too. We only have lights on our front porch though because we have way too much stuff do to before our big trip on FRIDAY (!!!) to do the whole house. But even if what we have up now is all we get up, at least we have Christmas lights up this year. And an animatronic reindeer. We got the reindeer as a gift and while I don't have anything at all against people who put fake reindeer in their yards, we probably wouldn't have purchased this reindeer for ourselves. We're much more a simple, lights only family I guess. But I was shopping with the kids in Target and I took them past the Christmas display. (Only a day after Halloween, hello! Aren't we rushing things a bit?) And Easton saw the reindeer on display. You should have heard my boy! The utter joy in his voice when he said "Oh MY! Mama, looka dis!" was enough to make me want to purchase ten of those suckers right there on the spot. But we already had one so I didn't have to. So we have our Christmas lights up on our porch. Just simple (VERY BRIGHT) white lights and a white reindeer. Oh, how my boy loves that light-up reindeer. I'll have to take his picture after dark beside the reindeer. He asks to go see it every night and cries when we come inside, no matter how cold it is outside or how long we've been out looking at the lights. I think my boy needs Christmas lights in his room. Not the reindeer maybe but definitely some kind of Christmas lights as a nightlight. What do you think?

I keep thinking I'll wait until I have time to upload my pics from Christmas before I write this post but it's not looking like that's gonna happen any time soon. :) Our Christmas was GREAT! We had our annual Christmas breakfast casserole with some spiced cider to start out our day. We look forward to this tradition every year and it was nice to be able to share this with E this year. Then we went into the living room and let Easton go after all the presents from Santa. He enjoyed opening his gifts but was a little overwhelmedwith all of the new things. He'd open a gift and then crawl off to play with something we've had for a while. Then he'd come back over and check out a new toy for a minute and then it was off to check out an old favorite. He did say "Wow!" a lot and "ho ho ho" which was pretty cute.

Santa brought him a Fisher Price kitchen/living room, some toy food, a baby doll (to help learn "be gentle to the baby" and get ready for our new arrival in June), and a big bag of 100 balls for our "ball pit" in the living room. Aunt Leslie and Uncle Terry and cousins sent a Handy Manny toolbox that sings "Let's Get To Work". That kinda freaked him out the first time he pushed the button and the tools started jumping up and down and singing but now he loves to crawl over to it, push the button and sit there and dance to the music. Nanny and Papa Kyle got him a MegaBlock Dump truck and a Bounce and Spin Zebra. He's still not quite sure what to make of that zebra but I'm pretty sure it will be a huge hit once he figures it out.

Easton got so much new stuff that we decided we needed to rearrange the living room to make more room. We boxed up all the Christmas decorations (WOW! Before Valentine's Day! lol) and pulled all the furniture out away from the walls so we could decide where we wanted everything. I looked over at Jason and said "Hey, wouldn't this be a great time to paint?" I thought he'd just look at me like I had lost my mind but he actually agreed. We both decided if we didn't take advantage of this chance to paint now, we probably wouldn't do it until WAY after baby number 2 comes along. So we loaded up into the car, went to Lowes and bought some paint and supplies. We painted the living room "Cake Batter" (a light cream/tan). 3 of our bedroom walls are painted this color and we love it so we decided to carry that color throughout the house. Our living room is almost done. We just have one wall left to do and then Jason will start on the hallway.

I'm really enjoying the new look and Easton is LOVING having more room to play. He actually has one whole corner of the living room as his play area. We cleaned up the swimming pool from this summer and brought it in the house. We filled it with balls and now it's his "ball pit". He LOVES it! He wears himself out climbing in, throwing the balls out, then climbing out and throwing them back in. I love having this corner of the living room as Easton's toy area because now at least everything has a place. Some people would say that the living room isn't the place for kids toys...they should be in their room or outside or stored away. But we spend most of our time in here so we like to have Easton playing where we are and he enjoys it too. So for now, our living room (or at least one corner) is taken over by toys. And I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Baby, it's cold outside! And because of my small but growing baby belly, I need a new winter coat. I thought I wouldn't need a new coat because when I'm pregnant I'm usually about ten degrees warmer than everyone else and I just KNEW I wouldn't need a new coat. BUT...I tried my coat on this week and it will only zip for another couple weeks or so and then it will be too small. Actually, ALL of my coats will be too small. I have so many nice coats but none of them will work because of the belly. Santa, will you bring me a new coat? :)

Ladies, did you buy a maternity coat? Did you just buy a bigger coat in a few sizes bigger but not maternity? Did you get lucky and not have to buy a new coat?

Also, while we're on the subject of Christmas...if your family is anything like mine, we really, truly don't need anything for Christmas. But if someone really feels the need to send gifts to the Crafty household...Head Country barbecue sauce, Ranch Style beans (so we can make Cowboy Beans), and Ralph's beef jerky are all things we can't get here that we really miss. Well and Braum's ice cream, but I don't think that's easily mailed. But really...we don't need a thing. I'll be buying myself a new coat and then we're pretty much set. Really. I promise! :)

What a great Christmas! We woke up at 7:30 and checked out what we got in our stockings.
Jason: Candy (Santa didn't get to go shopping for more. He got an IOU for some CDs he wants. Sorry honey!)
Easton: A birthday scroll (tells what was going on in the world on the day he was born), a shirt that says "Shh...I'm watching the game w/Daddy!", a rattle, a teether
Me: DIAMOND EARRINGS!!!

Then we ate breakfast. Winter Wonderland coffee and Christmas Breakfast Casserole
Next we opened the rest of our gifts.
Jason: 1 jacket, 1 very cool OU coat, 4 shirts, 2 pairs of flannel sleep pants, Tombstone the movie on DVD, 2 pairs of shoes. And his other big present comes in January when he goes to see Virginia Tech play in the Orange Bowl. (Have fun, honey!)
Easton: Fisher Price Slam Dunk Basketball goal, Fisher Price Learning Toolbench, Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Activity Gym, wooden shape sorter, clothes, Roll-A-Rounds texture toys, more clothes, books, stacking rings
Me: DIAMOND HEART NECKLACE!!! Bread machine, Columbia 3 in 1 jacket, 4 shirts, 2 pair of shoes, perfume, Christmas candy (Thank you grandma and pawpaw!)

I am sure I am leaving some things out but that is what I can remember off the top of my head. We are having Christmas dinner tonight. Ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans and homemade cheesecake w/strawberries. YUM! Can't wait to eat! Guess I'll go have some Christmas candy to tide me over. :)

Thank you to everyone who called, emailed or sent a card or gift. We are truly blessed! Merry Christmas!

A couple of my friends are doing their Christmas wish lists on their blogs, so I thought I'd do mine too. Here it is in random order:

1. Perfume - My favorites are Very Sexy from Victoria's Secret, Pure Grace by Philosophy and Navy...an oldie and a cheap one but still one of my favorites.

2. A new bread machine. Don't know if I can actually wait until Christmas to get this one. I miss mine so much!

3. New baking/cookie sheets. Preferably a set of 2 or 3 of them. Mine are looking really awful these days.

4. A Border's gift card. They have a cute tote bag and about a million books I'd like to buy.

5. New knives. The ones we have are great but are getting very dull and some have broken.

6. A bar board. (Small cutting board) We have one but it is all scratched up and looking terrible. Plus, I warped it in the dishwasher so it's not flat anymore. Oops!

7. A vaccuum food sealer and bags.

8. Tupperware bowls. They have a set that's all different bright colors and has the lids like I like but the set costs like $70. YIKES! But they are just like the ones my grandma has and I think she's had them for a really long time so it might be a good investment. (Remember grandma? The little orange bowl w/the lid and I think there's a green one too if I remember right. Probably more but those are the only 2 I can think of. Love you!)

Notice how most of this stuff is for the kitchen? What I'd also really love is for some kitchen designer to come organize my kitchen...it's a disorganized mess!

I took advantage of the after Christmas sales today and bought myself some Christmas dishes. Dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, a cake plate and a pitcher all for 70% off. Yay! They're a pretty blue and white snowflake pattern so I can use them all winter long, not just at Christmas. And after I got home, I decided to give fudge-making one last try. I've got a pan of my Pawpaw's peanut butter fudge in the fridge and also a pan of Amaretto fudge. The peanut butter fudge still didn't seem to get up to the temperature it was supposed to get to (232 degrees) no matter how long we cooked it. It even boiled over the side of the pan even though I had it on medium! I have never been so frustrated. We'll see whether or not they turn out.
Other than than shopping and making fudge, I didn't do anything else exciting. I had a nice day off today. I'm glad we only have to work 2 days and maybe 1/2 a day on Friday, so it shouldn't be too bad, but I would really enjoy sleeping late tomorrow! :)

One of my new wine glasses before and after. :) And see all of those wine bottles in the background? Purely for decoration, I assure you. Haha


















We had a good Christmas dinner made from some recipes I found at my favorite recipe websites. Overall, I'm very pleased with all of these recipes. The rolls were SO delicious! The sweet potatoes and carrots were good, but I wouldn't want them all the time. I was looking for something different and boy did I get it with those recipes! They were pretty good though. And of course, the snickerdoodles are always a big hit when I make them. (Shawn, this is the recipe you need Jessica to make for you! But don't grab one hot from the pan when you've been drinking. Ha!ha!)

Herbed Roasted Turkey Breast
Recipe by Juan-Carlos Cruz from the Food Network

2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried sage
2 tablespoons dried poultry seasoning
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 (7-pound) turkey breast, bone in
1 medium onion, chopped
4 medium carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix thyme, sage, poultry seasoning, and garlic with canola oil. Rub seasoning mixture all over the turkey breast. Place onion, carrots, and celery on bottom of a roasting pan and top with turkey breast. Pour chicken broth over turkey and vegetables. Roast for 3 hours, or until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 160 degrees F.

Dinner Roll Wreath
Recipe courtesy Sandra Lee from the Food Network

1 bag yeast rolls, frozen dough
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons ranch-style dressing mix
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley)
Fresh herbs, for garnish

Remove 12 frozen roll dough balls from bag. Use a nonstick spray on a baking sheet and arrange the yeast rolls; approximately 1/4-inch apart, to form a ring Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and set in a warm spot in the kitchen to thaw and rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine melted butter and ranch dressing mix. Brush tops and sides of rolls with butter mixture. Sprinkle rolls with finely chopped herbs. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Day Before Mashed Potatoes
Recipe found at www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
9 potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black
pepper
2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in potatoes, and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes.
2. Transfer potatoes to a large bowl, and mash until smooth. Mix in the cream cheese, sour cream, onion powder, salt, pepper and butter. Cover, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
4. Spread potato mixture into the prepared baking dish, and bake in the preheated oven about 30 minutes.

Balsamic Glazed Carrots
Recipe fount at www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups baby carrots
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Saute carrots in oil for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Stir in balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, mix to coat and serve.

Spicy Sweet Potatoes
Recipe found at www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled
and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive or canola
oil 2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large resealable plastic bag, toss sweet potatoes and oil. Add remaining ingredients; toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring every 15 minutes.

Jason’s Favorite Green Beans
Recipe by Amy

2 cans green beans, drained
2 cans beef broth
garlic powder
onion flakes
real bacon bits
black pepper

Heat green beans in broth. Add seasonings to taste. Simmer at least 30 minutes. The longer they simmer in the broth, the better they taste!

Snickerdoodle Mix in a Jar
Recipe found at www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups white sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and sugar. Stir with a whisk, then place into a one quart canning jar.
2. Attach a tag with the following recipe to the jar: Snickerdoodles 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 2. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup of butter and 2 eggs. Pour in the snickerdoodle mix, and stir until a dough forms. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls, roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. 3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should be light brown. Cool on wire racks.
.

Feliz navidad and ho ho ho. :) We had a great Christmas morning here. We woke up early and had some yummy Daily Grind Jingle Bell Java coffee. We put the breakfast casserole in the oven and got busy opening presents. I got a beautiful new watch, some CDs (new Ragweed "Back to Tulsa" cd...Yay!), a DVD Recorder, a pepper mill (which I'd been wanting for a long time) and of course the new stuff for my laptop. Jason got a humongous new stereo system w/5 disc CD changer, some houseshoes, a thermos, and some DVDS and CDs.
Right now, we're both busy playing with our new toys and listening to new cds on the stereo. Man, that thing gets LOUD! We tested it out earlier and both the cats hightailed it under the bed. Poor babies! :)
Now I've got a turkey breast in the oven, some dinner rolls rising and some peanut butter fudge in the fridge. Actually it's more like peanut butter SLUDGE instead of fudge. This is the 2nd batch I've tried to make. The first one didn't set up and it doesn't look like this one will either. I can't figure out what I did wrong. I thought maybe I didn't cook it long enough the first time I tried, so I made sure I cooked the 2nd batch longer. Well this batch is more firm but not by much. I guess we could eat it with a spoon or put it over ice cream. Hmm...or I could put it in some brownies. I'll figure it out. But it sure makes me mad that it didn't turn out. Guess I'll have to keep trying.

Grandma and Pawpaw, I wish I was closer for a million reasons, and one of those is because I wouldn't have to mess with making fudge! I love and miss you!

This is definitely a new Christmas morning tradition at our house! It's also a very easy recipe to make changes to. Change up the spices or add or omit ingredients to suit your taste. (Just make sure you leave the eggs, milk, cheese and bread amounts the same.) Enjoy!

Christmas Breakfast Sausage Casserole

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes Ready In: 9 Hours 50 Minutes
Yields: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound ground pork sausage
1 (4 oz) can mushrooms, drained
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp minced, dried onion flakes
3/4 tsp garlic powder (more or less to taste)
1/2 tsp onion powder (more or less to taste)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
6 slices white bread, toasted and cut into cubes
8 ounces mild Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 pkg shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
Additional garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Crumble sausage into a medium skillet. Cook over medium heat until evenly brown; drain.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, mustard powder, salt, eggs and milk. Add the sausage, bread cubes, and cheese, and stir to coat evenly. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 8 hours, or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Top casserole with hash browns and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cover, and bake 45 to 60 minutes. Uncover, and reduce temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until set.
6. If you like crispy hash browns, broil for 2-3 minutes or until browned.

May substitute hot pork sausage or sage sausage or sharp cheddar cheese.

It's Christmas Eve and I'm blogging from the couch. I'm feeling much better (thanks for all the well-wishes). Today, Jason spent all day trying to get my laptop online. He finally had to call tech support and they had to give us some special IP address. After that, the details escape me, but it has something to do with a router, a wireless card and blah blah blah. All I know is that I can finally use my laptop to do my lesson planning, blog, check my email, etc. Yay! Thanks, honey for working so hard to get my Christmas present working! :) Love you!

Other than that, we've been pretty lazy today. It's been nice. We're just waiting til time to go to bed so we can get up tomorrow and open presents. We each have a large box under the tree that have been driving us crazy trying to figure out what's inside. Hmm...I know what his big gift is from me, but I'm not saying a word until tomorrow. I think tonight we'll just watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and hang out on the couch.