Christmas Recap

We did things a little different this year. Usually Chrismas eve looks like this: Go to Dan's grandparents for a few hours, visit, eat then rush off early to have a second, very late Christmas eve dinner with my family, open more gifts with them and then around midnight drive home to put our grumpy, overstimulated kids to bed.

This year Dan took the kids to his grandparent's gathering while I stayed home to clean the house in preparation for my family's Christmas eve dinner. Just about the time Dan got back, dinner was served. We had a spiral cut ham, garlic mashed potatoes, yams and green bean casserole. Our family, like many, has special treats that come out at Christmas time. Ours are Norwegian in origin and are must haves for the Roush Family Christmas. Gjetost (pronunciation: 'yeah-toast') is a type of goat cheese and Oslo Kringla, a Norwegian pastry. The only thing missing this year was Julekake (pronunciation: 'yule-a-cogga), which is a Norwegian Christmas bread. We also love our egg nog with a dash of nutmeg sprinkled on top. Yummers!

After dinner, my sister Toni made everyone Creme Brulee! It was so yummy...I caught Dan sneeking in to the kitchen several times trying to get his hands on some more dessert. Then it was off to bed for the kids. Eveyone stayed over, so we moved furniture around to get settled for sleeping. Then the next morning the kids got up ready to open presents.

I was so tired from cleaning up the night before that I didn't realize everyone else was already awake. Before coming downstairs, we were serenaded by the women in my family who sang us "we wish you a Merry Christmas."

After all the gifts were opened we fixed breakfast and enjoyed a lazy morning together. Soon enough, the guys and kids (one in the same, I know) got out the nerf guns and began to wage war on each other. After most everyone left, Dan brought out his special 3-d version of Settler's of Catan, a game Aaron and Tami like to play too. After Aaron came out from nowhere and won, we called it a day. They left for home and we headed over to Dan's sister Katy's house for a Mexican Christmas dinner.

While dinner was cooking, the kids opened up gifts with Grandma Flutter. Dinner was great! Katy had made tamales from scratch along with homemade refried beans served with tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole. She also gave us something new to try...goat's meat. It was prepared in the traditional Mexican fashion with wonderful seasonings. I couldn't believe how good it tasted. For dessert we had flan and apple pie. Boy, it was all so good, I stuffed myself silly! Then after playing a couple games, I crashed out on the couch. We left and got home around 10 p.m. When we got home, we were too tired to open our gifts to each other, so Dan and I decided to wait until morning. This morning the kids opened their stockings from Santa and spent the rest of the day playing with all their new things. We couldn't ask for a better Christmas...just wish we weren't so tired from all the fun!

Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Here is a cute "letter to Santa" that was sent to me. I thought was worth sharing with you all...

Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes: I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy. If you're hauling big ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone. On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight, and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools. I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container. If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family. Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM...! P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Fabulous Food Friday

Christmas Mice

This is a fun treat I like to make to include with my Christmas goodies. To make the mice you will need:

• maraschino cherries, with the stems, drain and dry on a paper towel, then refrigerate

• Fondant:
1 T butter
1 T light corn syrup
2/3 c. sifted powdered sugar

• Chocolate chips or candy melts
• mini M&Ms or dragees for eyes
• large chocolate chips for the nose
• almond slivers for the ears

To make the fondant, mix all the ingredients together until it forms a ball, like play-dough. You may need to add more powedered sugar if it is too sticky to kneed with your fingers. I would put it in the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes, so it's not too soft.

Wrap about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the fondant around each cherry and place on waxed or parchment paper. Warning, this is messy! Place back in the refrigerator for 15 more minutes. Melt chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Dip cherries until covered with chocolate and return to waxed/parchment paper. Decorate with almond slivers, chocolate chips and whatever you like for eyes. Refrigerate until set.

My favorite Christmas treats, Oslo Kringla and
Ginger Snaps...Here they are ready to be delivered!

Picture of the Day 12-22

Anyone want to help with the dishes?

This is what my kitchen looked like at 1 a.m. this morning after a marathon of baking Christmas treats for our neighbors.

A sad day for Oregon

Like many of you, I have been following the coverage of the three missing climbers on Mt. Hood. For over a week now, I kept hoping for the climbers to be found. (Click on the top photo for a link to rescue photos). Every day, I watch the news and read the updates on-line and today it seems that all hope is lost for these last two climbers to be found alive.

I guess one of the reasons I find this story so compelling is that Dan is also a climber of mountains. He has climbed to the summit of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, some of the Sisters as well as Mt. Hood. Each time I get nervous and he reassures me he will be careful. I tell him don't do anything too crazy and that I love him. I imagine the wives of these 3 climbers must have similar conversations with their husbands before each climb. I bet the climbers didn't think this would be one of their last conversations with their wives. My heart goes out to the wives and family members of the 3 climbers and the loss they must feel. In all of this tragedy, it is comforting to know that the men were Christians.

I thought I would share some photos Dan brought back from his time climbing Mt. Hood... don't think he would ever climb in December though.

Dan's Climb up Mt. Hood:

Here is Dan getting hooked up to the rope.
(I'm sure there is a more manly term for this.)

Almost there. Look how high up they are!

When I saw this, I could have passed out. A few years later,
just weeks before Dan was going to hike Mt. Hood again,
climbers got stuck in a deep crevasse just like this one. After
hearing this on the news, he decided not to climb...thank God!

Here is Dan with our good friend Chris at the summit of Mt. Hood. (Oops...I stand corrected. This is the summit of Mt. St. Helens. I was wondering why the change of clothes!)
(BTW, nice hair! This was during his long hair phase)

Majestic Mt. Hood: A stunning view from 11,239 feet up;
the highest point in Oregon.

Picture of the Day 12-19

My sister just emailed me a bunch of photos she has taken of my kids.
I thought this one was so cute of Natalie and Harley...green glowy eyes and all!

Picture of the Day 12-18

Unfortunate Fortune:

Last night my family all met up at Chang's Mongolian Grill to celebrate my brother's birthday (which is actually tomorrow). We all had a good time and good food. On our way out, as is customary, we all took a fortune cookie. Here is the one my brother got. This has got to be the worst fortune ever. I thought it was funny. Right now I am so tired, my judgement is off...this should have been my fortune!

Natalie's Christmas Program

Yesterday we got to church early to get good seats to hear Natalie sing. She did a great job until she got distracted. She spent a lot of time checking out the big screen behind her. Then she decided that this would be a good time to get that food out that was stuck in her teeth. So for one whole song she had her fingers in her mouth. I was just glad they weren't in her nose!

Here is Natalie, looking so sweet in her Christmas dress. In this photo she is in the middle with a white bow in her hair.

Most of the time Natalie looked behind her to see if she could find herself on the big screen.

Look! There she is on the screen.

Ernst Corral: Setting the scene

What cowboy party would be complete without a wanted poster?

Here is the saloon entrance.

Woody and Bullseye are the center of attention around here, so the centerpiece for this table was easy.

The Dining room was transformed once again into a cowboy room complete with old blue tin plates, lanterns, and burlap sack chair covers. I draped a faux barbed wire around the light fixture for another rustic touch. The kiddos all got cowboy boot cups to drink out of and later they would be washed out and taken home as a favor.

Lunch is served. I like to use containers that fit the theme, like putting my "happy trail" mix inside a cowboy hat with a bandana to protect the hat. I also used various pails and old tin camping dishes for serving containers. Zander wanted "pupcakes" so I found this cupcake stand that worked perfectly. I baked the cupcakes in those new star shaped muffin tins by Reynolds Wrap. Each of the cupcakes was topped with a small plastic horse. Some of the other snacks included chocolate candy that look just like rocks, peanuts, homemade cowboy crackers and rattlesnake eggs (spotted jelly beans).

When I was looking for food for the party, I came acrossed these. I called them Wagon wheels for the party, but I don't have any idea what they are really called. I think they are a hispanic food. They were in the bulk food section at WINCO near the pasta and rice and they were orange in color and about 1/4 this size. I fried them in oil for about a minute and then drained them and coated with a sugar/cinnamon mix. They were tasty whatever they are.

Zander's Cowboy Party

The party was a success! We had 12 little crazy cowpokes at "Ernst Corral" this afternoon. Zander had a great time, but now I am pooped! I thought I better post some party photos before I collapse.


When guests first arrived we gave them a cowboy hat and made sure to get a photo of each of them sitting with Zander. (Here are just a few of them.)

Then we mosied on into the kitchen for a cowboy craft. Even cowboys can be crafty ya know! These cowboys made picture frames to put the photo in that was taken earlier.

Here's how some of the crafts turned out.

For lunch we had beans and "little doggies," cowboy crackers, wagon wheels, snacks and chocolate milk served in cowboy boot cups.

Zander received so many nice gifts. Here he is unwrapping his Woody doll.

It took a few tries, but Zander finally got all 4 candles blewn out.

Cowboy Camp: Party Games

I don't normally plan for a lot of party games, but I came across some good ideas that I thought would be good to keep these cowboys and cowgirls busy.

"There's a Snake in my Boot"

This is like the old party game where you try to drop clothespins into a jar (only with a cowboy twist). Instead of clothes pins we used toy snakes and instead of a jar we used a black cowboy boot.

Look...No Hands
The object of this game is to get the doughnut off the string without using your hands. This made for some great laughs as well as some powdery faces.

Rodeo Ropin'

Just toss the lasso over the horse to show your true cowboy skills.

Fabulous Food Friday

Cowboy Cheese Crackers
I just made these for Zander's party

1 Cup flour
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter
1 cup shredded cheddar or parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons water
dash of paprika
sesame seeds

Combine first 6 ingredients using a pastry blender to cut in butter. Roll 1/4" thick, sprinkle with sesame seeds and roll again to press seeds in. Cut out with cookie cutters and place on baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes until they just turn brown and crisp.

Winter "Storm" 2006: Surveying the Damage

It was no Hurricane Katrina, but last night's wind storm did cause significant damage around here. From about dinner time on, strong wind gusts blew through and knocked out power all over the state. Our lights flickered and we actually lost power for about 15 minutes, just enough to mess up our clocks and short circuit our microwave. Fortunately, we turned off the computers before we lost power.

When I was taking Natalie to school this morning I noticed our neighbor's garden gazebo was twisted like a pretzel. You can see some of their planters were knocked over too. These things are heavy!

Here is a small tree that went down on our road.

Our back yard got tossed around a bit. The heavy reel and pool blanket got blown into the pool. Thank goodness the pool cover was on! The wind also tipped over several patio chairs, the market umbrella and the barbecue. It could have been much worse!

My heart goes out to those three climbers who are stuck up on Mt. Hood. If they are still alive, they are miserable! Blizzard like conditions, freezing cold wind and snow. I hope they can be rescued now that the wind has died down.

Ya ever have one of those days...

...Where it seems like you will never be able to catch your breath?

Today was like that for me. This morning was a marathon of busyness. It all started when I woke up and realized I couldn't find the charger for the video recorder which I would need in a matter of hours to record Zander's Christmas program. Meanwhile, I was getting Natalie ready for school, signing Christmas cards for teachers, feeding the boys and then dropping Natalie off at school. I also had to write a note for Natalie's teacher letting her know Natalie would be riding the bus home with her friend Sarah because I would be at Zander's program when she needed to be picked up from school.

When I got back home, I had to change Zander into his Christmas outfit for the program, get Hayden into his clothes, get myself together and scramble around some more looking for that darn charger. I took Zander to school, making sure to remember his teacher's gifts. Once home again I called my parents to see if I could borrow their video recorder, but they didn't have one. So I called the neighbor and she said yes and so I took a deep breath and started to get ready for Zander's program in about 1/2 hour. I scarfed down about a half of a bagel, put Hayden's coat back on, got my digital camera (that is now working again thanks to my parents' camera fixing skills.) Today I was responsible for taking pictures at the preeschool Christmas party, so I had the camera charging all night. I was also in charge of the crafts for the Christmas party, so I grabbed the supplies for that as well.

Before leaving, I went to take the tape out of our video recorder so I could use it in my neighbors video recorder...but guess what? It wouldn't eject because it wasn't charged!!! So now I have about 15 minutes to get to the preschool. I wanted to get there early to get a good seat...now I would need to go to the store and get a tape on the way. So, I stopped off at Safeway, ran in through the pouring rain and headed straight for the camera stuff...they were all out. So I ran back to the car, in the rain and drove to Bi-mart across the street. I didn't have my membership card with, but I just prayed that God would work out that detail. He did, because when I got inside the lady didn't even check for my card (she was busy talking). Luckily they had just what I needed and in record time I got the tape and ran out the door. When I got into the car I took a deep breath and drove to the school. Of course Hayden had fallen asleep on the way, so I had to wake him up and get him inside.

Fortunately when I got there my parents had already found a good seat and so I scrambled to get the cameras all set up. My dad recorded while I proudly took a zillion pictures of Zander. He is so cute singing all those little kid Christmas songs. Here he is singing "Away in a Manger." It was quite a morning, but I was determined. It was all worth it knowing that I was able to capture the footage for Dan who had to miss it. He was giving a final at the college today.

Zander's class party went well, although I was pretty busy trying to help Zander and take pictures too. After the party I was going to meet at McDonald's to pick up Natalie. We had lunch there and I had a great time talking with Sarah's mom. It's funny because I think we both needed the adult interaction, so we gabbed on and on while the kids played.

Now I am pooped and I'm sure you are bored to tears. After posting this, I have to clean up the mess from making the Christmas candles last night (photos on Paper Capers).

As Dan left for work we were joking around saying 'the next time we have kids, let's not have them in December'...Things won't be slowing down anytime soon. Tonight is Natalie's choir practice, Saturday is Zander's cowboy birthday, then Sunday Natalie sings at church in both services, then later that day we will be going out to eat to celebrate my brother's birthday.

I think I will need a serious vacation after the holidays, if I don't commit myself to the mental ward first.

Picture of the Day 12-13

"Um, Miss...if you wouldn't mind lowering the plate, my chances of eating tonight would increase greatly." Here is Hayden trying to sneek a bite of Natalie's gingerbread house that she made at school.

Happy Feet

Yesterday we went to see Happy Feet which is playing at the Omimax Theater at OMSI. This was the first time the kids had experienced a movie at the Omnimax, so it was fun just watching and hearing their reactions. Happy Feet was a great movie to see at the Omnimax. Due to all the 'camera angles' it really gives you the sense that you are there with the penguins. Sometimes it felt like we were flying through the air over the ice and I could hear Zander saying "Whoa"...and Natalie saying "I'm getting dizzy." I thought the movie was well done and all the kids loved the movie too, even Hayden.

Picture of the Day 12-12

Today Zander got to bring special treats for snack to celebrate his upcoming birthday. I found these cute sugar cookies shaped like the cars from the movie "Cars." They came in a kit, so each of the kids got to decorate their own car cookie.

Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree...

Tonight was the night. After dinner the kids finally got to decorate the Christmas tree. They were such good helpers, even Hayden pitched in and gave his decorative touches!

Here are my helpers in front of a masterfully decorated Christmas Tree!