Tale of a blanket

I made a rag quilt for Kate when she was born. Well, I actually had some help finishing it (thanks Jess and Jodi). Kate has been VERY attached to froggie blankie. A couple weeks ago, froggie blankie went missing. This is very strange, because there really aren't many places it could hide. But I couldn't find it anywhere. I was secretly happy, because the poor blanket was getting really tattered and faded. And I secretly hoped I could find it first, so I could "accidentally" throw it away. Kind of like I'm sure my dad "accidentally" threw away my bikini as a teenager. It took a few days, but Kate eventually stopped asking for her favorite blanket. Bryan and I went to the store tonight, and left the kids instructions to clean up the basement. When we got home, Kate was standing at the door, hugging her favorite froggie blankie. NOOOOO!!!!! The kids had found it in the Christmas Tree box in the basement. I had to act fast, so the previous blankie attachment would not reattach. I showed Kate this picture:



We talked about how nice and bright her blankie used to be. And now it's not looking so good. So we decided to take a picture of her with her blankie one more time:



Then we hung the blankie in her closet "so it won't get more worn out." We'll see how long this arrangement lasts!

Chicken Soup - Christensen Style

The boys spent some quality time sledding...



...and warmed up with some hot chocolate. Even Joey, who doesn't like chocolate (he got that from me, I guess), slurped it down.



While they were sledding, I whipped up a batch of our family favorite: chicken noodle soup. I love two things about this recipe. 1) it's so easy to make, and hard to mess up; and 2) everyone loves it!



The recipe was originally based on the Chicken Vegetable Soup recipe found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Chicken Noodle Soup - Christensen Style
3 1/2 qts chicken broth (or 3 1/2 qts water and 5 chicken bullion cubes)
1/2 cup onion
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp dried crushed oregano (I use whatever spices I have on hand, and I'm not exact with the measurements)
1/2 tsp dried crushed basil
1/2 lb fresh or frozen sliced carrots
1 bay leaf
salt
pepper
1 lb chicken
5-6 handfuls dry noodles

In a large pot: combine water, bullion cubes, onion, garlic, spices, carrots. Add a few shakes of salt and pepper. Add bay leaf. Bring to boil.

In a medium pot: fill 2/3 full with water, add some salt and pepper, add the chicken, and bring to boil. Let the chicken boil while the soup is cooking.

Be sure to watch both pots, or they will boil over.

Fast method: Once the large pot is boiling, add the dry noodles. Cook according to the noodle package directions.

Longer method: If you have extra time, let the large pot boil for 15 minutes or so before adding the noodles. Then add the dry noodles. Cook according to the noodle package directions.

Once noodles are cooked, remove chicken from medium pot, chop up, and add to the soup. Salt and pepper to taste, and you're done!

Additional note: The water the chicken cooked in is a good chicken broth now. I usually strain some of it and add it to the soup at the end.

The noodles I use are the Country Pasta Homemade Style Egg Pasta. You can find them at Walmart or Costco.

Nativities

Kate has inherited my love of nativities. She has a plastic Precious Moments one (gma Jodi gave it to us when Josh was little) that she plays with all of the time. My Willow Tree nativity is on the entry table. Kate can't help herself. She is constantly moving the pieces around. Here's a picture of her playing with the Willow Tree nativity. She added some black chess pieces, because I guess they needed to be part of the nativity too. And the little white sheep are from her Precious Moments nativity.



I just started busting up. I realized that Kate looks so cute and well-behaved in this picture. On the Sunday this picture was taken, I wasn't feeling well, so I was going to stay home from church. A few minutes after this picture was taken, it was time for everyone to go to church. Kate threw a major, monumental tantrum about something and had to stay home from church with me. She was not happy about that. But it's still a cute picture.

Halloween Report

Here's our Halloween report:


Josh was a nerd.


Joey was a soldier, Matt was Einstein, Kate was a pink princess.


Kate played the part well.


Matt's pumpkin is barfing. Kate's is pretty. Josh's has stitches and his brains coming out. Joey's is happy. How typical is that!


Now this may look like the typical eat-your-Halloween-candy picture. But look closely. Yes, the 2-yr-old ORGANIZED HER CANDY! I was speechless.

The weather cooperated with us this year. It was in the 70's during the day. The kids did get rained on a bit while they trick-or-treated, but it wasn't very cold. They all had a great time. Yea, Halloween is over! Now it's time to get ready for Thanksgiving!

Picture Time!

This year I decided not to get school pictures. I did buy the class picture, just not the individual ones. Instead, I wanted to get some individual and family pictures taken outside with the fall colors. Well, that didn't happen. By the time I got around to taking the pictures, the fall colors were almost gone. But the field grass was still really pretty. Julie and crew met up with us, and we took a bunch of pictures. Some even turned out decent! :)

Yea, it's over!

Good Attitude

I am definitely a summer person! As the weather gets colder, I'm really doing my best to keep a good attitude. So I decided to share some of my favorite things about autumn:

1. Pumpkin Bars. My friend Carrie got me hooked on pumpkin bars many many years ago. In turn, I've gotten a lot of people hooked on them too! The recipe is super-easy and highly addictive.


Pumpkin Bars:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
1 cup oil (can subst. applesauce)
15 oz can pumpkin
4 eggs

Mix everything together. Pour into greased jelly roll pan (a deep cookie sheet).
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.

Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup margarine
3 oz cream cheese
1 Tbs milk
1 Tbs vanilla

Spread frosting on cooled pumpking bars.

2. Scentsy Wickless Candles. My friend Julie got me hooked on Scentsy. I love the fact that it's wickless, and it's really easy to change out scents. I enjoy my Scentsy candle warmer (the Zensy) all year long. Havana Cabana is my favorite summer scent. I've just switched to more fall-type scents like Pumpkin Roll and Clove & Cinnamon.

****

OK, I'm in trouble. Those are the only 2 things I could come up with! I'll keep thinking.

(2 days later) I thought of one more:

3. All of the grasses that were causing my allergies are dying, so after 3 weeks my ears are finally unplugged! I'm very grateful for that.

See what a great attitude I have?

This Morning's Outing

Julie and I took the kids to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens this morning. The gardens really are unbelievably pretty all times of year!

Here's a slideshow of the adventure:



To view my comments on each picture (and to view larger versions of the pictures), go to the web album.

Talk about a fun group of kids.

The Surgery Song

Grandma Jodi had her appendix out a couple days ago. Josh wrote this note to her:

Get well soon, Grandma Jodi!

SNOW!

The snow has officially arrived. I am NOT ready for this! Good thing it's supposed to be 70 degrees by next weekend.

Football in the rain

Saturday morning, Matt had a football game, and it was mid 50's and POURING RAIN! We were soaked, but we could still feel our fingers and toes.


The other team's awnings were tilted to shelter them against the driving rain.



Matt at half time.



Joey, Kate and Josh trying to stay dry and warm. I LOVE the double jogging stroller. It comes in handy when I have a ton of stuff to haul to the games.

Murphy's Law

Thursday, I finally took Matt and Joey to the doctor to get their cough's checked. Sure enough, seasonal allergies are the cause. Matt also had an ear infection. Friday, Kate's week-old bee sting on her toe started swelling up again. By the end of the day, her foot was swollen so bad that we couldn't get shoes on.

Murphy's law: Part A. If you take the kids to the Dr, the one you didn't take will need to be taken in the next day for something. Part B. Usually it is 4:30 on a Friday when you decide you HAVE to take your child in to the Dr. Thank goodness for doctors who have After Hours clinics!

P.S. Kate's bee sting got infected. Weird, huh?

Trip to California

Yes, we are delinquent parents and took our kids out of school to go on vacation. I'm sure they'll recover. We went to California for a week. It was THE BEST vacation. Here is some proof:

We went to Legoland with Ben and Amanda and their kids. The cousins always have fun together, and this was my first time meeting baby William in person. What a cutie.

We went to a Dodger game. Loved it!

But most of all, we loved the beach.

Darn it, I could have sworn I took numerous pictures of me in a bathingsuit.
They must have been deleted on accident.

BTW, if you click on the picture collages, you can view them up-close-and-personal!

Hello out there!

So this is it. The day has arrived. I have officially caved to the INTENSE peer pressure and have started a blog. I'm not really sure the point of a blog, but I guess I'll just see where it goes. Primarily, this will be a place to show off my very cool husband and kids. Sounds like a blast, right? Thought so.