Merry Christmas and Monster Cookies

Merry Christmas to your family!!

Thursday night Nathan and I got to go to our faculty Christmas party. It was nice to have a babysitter and a night out.

Blogger really dislikes me right now. I have been trying for quite some time to rotate the above picture. It just doesn't want to rotate. Even though it is showing up on my photo software vertically. So, just turn your head to the left and pretend this photo is showing up in a vertical way!!



Kaylee and I baking some delicious Paula Deen Monster Christmas cookies!


Putting the Monster Cookies in the oven.


Cookies galore! The recipe says that it makes about 6 dozen, but they would have to be huge cookies to make that many. It made more like 10 dozen. We had cookies coming out of our ears, but they were really yummy!!

Paula Deen Monster Cookies

6 eggs
One 1 pound package light brown sugar (2 1/2 cups, packed)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
One 24-ounce jar of creamy peanut butter
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
8 ounces of M&M's (we like the red and green Christmas ones for this time of year!)
8 ounces chocolate chips
4 teaspoons baking soda
9 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a very large mixing bowl (I had to half the recipe and do it in two bowls!), combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the M&M's, chocolate chips, baking soda, and oatmeal.
3. Drop by tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

ENJOY!!

12 Christmas Things

Okay, I am finally getting around to doing this!

Stacey has tagged me for this fun idea wherein I have to share 12 random things about myself that are Christmas related. Here are the rules:

1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas
2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word
3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.
4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.

12 Random Christmas Things About Jennifer:

1. I went through a phase in high school and college where I just despised Christmas. I was quite the Scrooge. The music and hustle and bustle just annoyed me. But, that's changed now!

2. I pretended to believe in S a lot longer than I really did. I knew the truth (because I was smart that way ;-) ), but I didn't want to disappoint my Mom. She lives for Christmas. Sorry, Mom!

3. I used to love to help my Grandma make Christmas cookies. They were always the same sugar cookies with icing and multi-colored balls on them. I try to keep up the tradition whenever I can.

4. Stockings are my favorite part of Christmas! We always had the best stockings!

5. I would spend a lot more money on people for Christmas if I could. I love to buy gifts for people. I would probably spend the most on Mom. I always find lots of things she would like, so I really have to limit myself with her gifts.

6. I loved leaving cookies out for Santa and wearing Christmas pajamas. We have lots of pics with my brother and I in front of the tree in cute pjs.

7. I used to love to look at Christmas lights. Every year we would get bundled up and drive around town looking at lights. I think my Mom loved it and my Dad just drove. I am sure he would have much rather been at home!

8. I think my favorite gift was when I was 15 and I got contacts for Christmas. I was excited because I knew I was about to get my license and I did not want to wear glasses to drive. My mom took a piece of posterboard and drew a face on it. Then she took two clear bowls and glued them over the eyeballs. It was so funny!

9. We alternate every Christmas between my family and Nathan's. We already did Christmas with my family last weekend. I got some great gifts last weekend. New digital camera, Seiko clock that plays music every hour (Christmas music during season!), Electric pressure-cooker, stockpot (from B and Kellie), money . . .


10. I will really miss my Mom's Christmas dinner this year. I am so glad I got to have her dressing at Thanksgiving. And I got to share some Borden's eggnog out of a can with Dad this weekend (it's the only good eggnog!)

11. Nathan's family has done a Turducken for Christmas dinner the last few years. Hmmm . . . that's a whole different story!

12. Nathan's grandpa owned a Christmas tree farm that Nathan worked at for years, so he has a love/hate relationship with real trees. He is really sad we don't have a real tree, but he sometimes cringes when he sees them because he remembers all of the hardwork!

I tag Mom, Laura, Kellie, and Mandy!

Christmas Card pics

Just in case anybody missed Mom's blog. Here is one of the pics we used on our Christmas card. Mom took pics for us over the Thanksgiving holidays. She did a great job!! Thanks, Mom!!

What we've been up to . . .

Here are some things that have been going on in our life!


Nolan is now standing, and he does not want to sit down . . . at all!


He is into everything.


Who me?


N loves eating Zweiback toast.


The co-op kids eating pizza.


Yummy!


Popcorn and a movie.


Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus . . .

Every year our little volunteer fire department drives Santa around the neighborhood so the kids can come out and talk to him. He brings candy canes for the kids and we get to take pictures. Kaylee has started looking forward to Santa's visit to our street every year.


The kids telling Santa what they want for Christmas.


Merry Christmas!!

Just for fun!

We are currently doing a "cutest baby" contest among the teachers at school. So, I had Mom email me some pics of me as a baby. Please ignore all ugly shoes! Mom assures me that they were told during this time period that these shoes were so important in the development of feet, but now I wonder if these ugly shoes are the reason for my bad feet! I was inspired to post these after my friend, Stacey, posted pics of her hubby as a little boy. Enjoy! And notice how much my 9 month picture looks like Nolan, who turned 9 months on Sunday!



18 months


1 year


9 months


6 months

AND . . .HE'S OFF!

Nolan is now crawling and he is into everything. I have discovered that we have way too many entrances into our family room. I feel like everytime I turn around I am dragging him back into the room. But, he is so much fun. He has quite the charming personality!





Here is Kaylee in the cheerleading uniform I had made for her for the football and baseball games. She wore it to the playoff game Thursday night so that she could look like the big cheerleaders. She can't wait to rub it in to her Granna that she got to stand on the big blue star in the middle of "Texas Stan-dee-um." In fact, she is sitting on the floor with her Daddy right now, eating popcorn and just saw the "big blue star" and said, "I stood on that!"



A rare picture of Kaylee being sweet to her brother. Aren't they sweet?

What I love right now . . .

I decided I should share some of my favorite things right now . . .

Fuze

I drink one of these everyday. My favorite flavor is Cran Raspberry. And they only have 10-20 calories! Check out this website for more info.

Curly Girl

This is a great book if you have naturally curly hair. I learned about it if from another blog and ordered it. I have had so much fun learning to love my curly hair and learning to fix Kaylee's hair.

Lavender Oil

I found this wonderful lavendar company at Christmas Carousel when I was in Abilene. It is located near Abilene. I needed some lavender after reading the Curly Girl book and I have learned so many great things to do with lavender. It is now our "Night Night" juice and we put some on Kaylee's wrist each night to calm her down. It is one of the only essential oils you can apply directly to the skin. And it supposedly takes the sting out of mosquito bites with one drop on the bite!

Organic Disney Winnie the Pooh Animal Crackers

These are found at Costco in a huge container. We really love them. I first had them this summer when we were in Alaska at Mandy and Darren's house. Kaylee loves them. I couldn't find a pic of them, though.

These are a few of my favorite things . . .
(Make sure you sing the song when you read the above line!)
What do you love right now?

More pumpkin patch

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some pictures from the Pumpkin Patch and a few other pictures. Blogger is not letting me post all that I want, so I will try to post those in another post.







This is how I found Nathan and the kids the other day. They were crashed.


Nolan as a penguin, More pics of this after Halloween!

New Pictures

Okay, most of these pictures are not "new." They have been "stuck" in my camera for awhile now! And they are not in the order that I intended, but I don't have time to try and rearrange them. So, enjoy!


Bike from Granna and Grandpa for K's birthdady


Barbie from Uncle B and Aunt Kellie


Kaylee with gift from Luke and Anysa


Kaylee and her birthday cake


Kaylee thought Nolan needed a band-aid. Doesn't he seem excited?


Cupcakes that Kaylee took to school for her birthday. I am sure her teacher loved me after cleaning up all of that hot pink icing!


Nolan sitting up


Nolan sittting up, "I'm a big boy!"


Kaylee feeding Nolan


Nolan: "I'm ready to GO!!"

I've been tagged by Laura . . . My Man!

My Hot Man!

1. Who is your man? Nathan

2. How long have you been married? 7 years

3. How long did you date? 2 years and 7 months

4. How old is your man? 33

5. Who eats more? Nathan, by far! He has an appetite that you would not believe. And he still stays slim. Grrrr!!!

6. Who said "I love you" first? I honestly don't remember.

7. Who is taller? Nathan

8. Who sings better? Not me! I'm really not sure either of us are great singers.

9. Who is smarter? I think Nathan would agree that I am. That makes me feel rather conceited, though.

10. Whose temper is worse? I think Nathan might win this won, but I am close behind.

11. Who does the laundry? We both do.

12. Who takes out the trash? Nathan

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Nathan.

14. Who pays the bills? I do. Nathan doesn't touch them. And that is a good thing!

15. Who is better on the computer? Nathan.

16. Who mows the lawn? Nathan

17. Who cooks dinner? I do, but Nathan will on rare occassions.

18. Who drives when you are together? Nathan does.

19. Who pays when you go out? Him

20. Who is more stubborn? It's a tie.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I do.

22. Whose families do you see most? That's hard. I would say his even though mine is closer. We usually see his for long periods of time and mine for a day.

23. Who kissed who first? Nathan kissed me at my house on Bruce Way. Even asked me if he could kiss me first. What a gentleman! Although, I did give him a hard time for asking me!

24. Who asked who out first? I think he just asked me if I wanted to go to a party with him.

25. Who proposed? Nathan did.

26. Who is more sensitive? I am.

27. Who has more friends? I do, and Nathan would agree. He is not very good about keeping up with his friends.

28. Who has more siblings? He does. He has two brothers and I have one.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Nathan, but we share most of the responsibilities.

30. Who is the biggest pushover with the kids? Hmm. That's hard. I would say Nathan.

I love you, Nathan! I am so blessed to have someone who is so helpful and keeps me balanced! He is a very hands-on Daddy!!

I tag . . . Stacey and Mandy!

I'm still here!

Well, it appears that for the first time in 3 weeks I have a few moments to sit down and write a blog post. Unfortunately, since I have been so encompassed in school and work, I really do not have anything interesting to report. As busy as I am, I am loving most of my internship duties (not lunch duty or bus duty!). I cannot wait to become an Assistant Principal. In fact, now that I have had a touch of what is to come, it is very hard to continue teaching. I love my students, but I am really looking forward to a different position. I must be patient, though. I cannot begin applying until I graduate in December of 2008.

Nolan is now 7 months. He is loving sweet potatoes, bananas, applesauce, pears, and peaches. Luckily, the only problems he has had were with the squash (see cute pictures below) and carrots. He showed an allergy to the squash (supposed to be least allergenic!) and he just did not like the taste of the carrots. I think he will be crawling very soon. He is trying to take off, but he is going backwards right now.

Kaylee is still loving school and her teacher. She gets so excited to go to school. She cracks me up! She tends to get things confused a lot. She keeps telling everyone that she is going the be the flower girl in her Uncle Dustin's wedding and that Ely is going to be the "dinglebear." She means "ringbearer." The other day she came home from school to report to me that "Garrett got his brains out today, so he wasn't at school." To which I replied, "WHAT!?!" She replied, "You know, Mom, he had to have his brains taken out." "Brains?" I asked. "Yep, you know, like when I had mine out," and she points to her open mouth. Hmmmmm . . . "Do you mean your adenoids?" "YES!!, that's what they are called!", she replies. I am very glad to report that no one in her class has had their brains out.

I hope to get to post again soon! I will try to check some blogs real quick!

Apology

I just want to say, "I'm sorry," to all of my dear friends and family who read this blog. It may be awhile until I make posts, make comments on your blog, return phone calls . . . I am just swamped. And oh-so-tired. Between work, kids, grad school, internship, and the numerous other things I have volunteered myself for, I barely have time to sit and relax once I get home. I have not had a conference period in three days at work. I have not eaten lunch the last three days at work. I am actually feeling guilty right now that I am taking the time to make this post. My sweet daughter is turning 4 this weekend and I didn't even plan her a party. (Not that she knows the difference! She is just happy she got to take cupcakes to school today!)

I know this will all pass. I know that when I graduate in December 2008 I will be so happy. I will not know what to do with the time I will gain. But for now, I miss my family and friends . . . Thanks for letting me vent, and explain why I am not making comments or posts.

Starting Veggies!

Nolan got to start veggies this week. We are starting with the least allergenic (squash) and working our way through the list towards the most allergenic. Let's hope there are no more food allergies! Here is his first experience with squash.


First bite of squash . . .


Well, maybe I will try more . . .


Mom, just let me have the spoon!


I wonder if my finger tastes as good . . .


I think I like it, but I am not sure . . .


I'm a messy eater just like my sister!


Maybe I should add the foot . . .


Yes!!! Feet + squash = great fun and a bath for me!!