Once again, I am technologically challenged. Adding a "url" shouldn't be this hard.....................after an hour and a half, I am signing out for the night. Yes Luke, I will post more tomorrow!

December 30, 2008

The following is a picture of my new favorite "tool." I learned a hard lesson a few days ago. First, don't rush when you are trying to do laundry. That means, don't rush around the house trying to find "just a few more things" to add to the washer. In my haste I put a few pairs of the boys jeans in the washer without checking pockets. The washer wasn't bad but the dryer was a different story!

Do you know what happens when you put a full pack of Orbit gum in the dryer? A white dryer becomes green and you almost wonder if they make cotton candy out of similar stuff. Thank goodness for this .05 plastic tool in Ben and Jake's play "tool box". 45 minutes later my dryer was almost white again...........

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December 22, 2008

Today is the day my "middle little man" has been waiting for, for MONTHS. He got to go to Diane's (his old babysitter) for the WHOLE day with Jacob. He wasn't his same inquisitive self this morning but thought he had a cold or sinus infection and was just groggy. Luke and I dropped them off and headed to Wichita!

Luke and I had a good time together today. We got a lot of shopping done without much hassle (of course you won't get the same answer from him). We finished our shopping today and was planning on taking the boys to Diane's tomorrow so I could get things wrapped and they could play with their buddies.

HOWEVER, when I picked up Ben she said had given him motrin at noon and he really didn't get off the couch much this afternoon. I had to run Hutch and Ben came with me. I stopped off at McDonalds to get him a drink and he said he was hungry. I ordered him his favorite "chicken nugget happy meal" and shake because he said his throat hurt. We got our food and away we went back towards Newton. I asked him how his food was and he said it "didn't taste good." WHAT!?! Did that just come out of Ben's mouth? Needless to say I took Ben to Immediate Care tonight and he has step throat......His tonsils are huge and the Dr. also gave us 3 days worth of predisone. The Dr. said to call our Doc's in the AM and get on a prescription as well. How fun is this right before Christmas!!!!

Ben looked nothing like that picture above tonight.

Jacob was happy when I got home at 8:30, that is because he doesn't realize he is sick yet!

Me, I have not had strep throat since I got my tonsils out in 4th grade. However, the way my throat feels and my queezy stomach, I think I am the next victim.......

December 20, 2008

Saturday night festivities at the Schmidt house included making two dozen "angel bodies" for a Sunday school lesson the following day.

I had no idea it would take so long to frost "sugar cones" and attach "pretzels" for the wings......By the way, the maid didn't make it to my house on Saturday or Sunday for that matter!!!

In class, the 4 year old's put the "marshmallow" head on the body and used frosting to attach the "life saver" halo.

It took 3 hours of preparation on Saturday for a 5 minute project on Sunday!
However, the children had a good time hearing about the "angels" that visited the shephards and their flocks when "baby Jesus" was born.
It was all worth it!

December 19, 2008

Last night the boys and I made new Christmas shape crayons out of old plain crayons. I sent these to school with Jake to give to his classmates. It was fun, but yellow is a hard color to reproduce without imperfections.....

Tonight the Schroeder's had us over for supper. They have wanted us to come over for months to celebrate the good news that Luke's cancer had not spread (which was such a nice gesture). They live in the country and their son and his friend had a bonfire. All of the boys got to go outside and roast marshmallows and shoot some fireworks. Ben and Jacob had a great time which meant Luke and I had a great time. It was an evening all of us needed.

December 18, 2008

Thursday night the sun, moon, and stars must have been lined up perfectly because I felt like baking. I attempted to make chocolate covered marshmallows with sprinkles because my friend said they were "easy." I am sure they were easy for most women but for this mom who doesn't bake, well.................. it was a different story.

First, did you know if almond bark gets too hot you can ruin it??? Yes, the sugar clumps together and it becomes "crystalized." No matter how much oil you add, you CAN'T get the lumps out! After frantic phone calls to my sister-in-law, I decided to try another round. Thanks Re!

The following is how it looks when you get almond bark too hot.....

I put some marsmallows in the chocolate too long and the bottom right is a melted glob. The marshmallow on the left side had peppermint sprinkles, which Ben didn't like. When you are 5 if you don't like something you eat, you put it back!

These marshmallows don't look like the pictures from Megan's Blog!!!!

About 10:00 I decided to do some things for Jake's preschool teachers and volunteer grandmas. Ultimately, the entire project started around 6:00 and I got to bed around midnight.

HMMMM.......not as pretty as I wanted, but it is the thought, Right!?!

December 17, 2008

FYI: The pictures are backwards, the next picture should be the last picture........Oh well, at least I figured out how to post pictures!
Ben has been wanting to wrap some papers he drew for his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Kirtley. The wrapping paper was still on the table from this morning. I was cooking dinner and when I looked up Ben had done it all by himself. I think half of the roll of tape was used on the other side, but he did a great job for his first try!

After school and Diane's the boys got bundled up and went outside. They still play on the trampoline when it is 13 degrees outside! Afterwards they came inside for "hot cocoa" that Jake doesn't like "hot."

Jake putting the finishing touches on his present for Simon.........Yes, his tongue was sticking out.

Jake wrapped his first Christmas present this morning. He was very excited that he got to use the scissors and tape.

I would have to say this picture describes the "boys" and the general atmosphere of our home on most days. If they aren't wrestling, they are yelling (at an octive I didn't think boys could reach) or they are crying because the other one was too rough. As my friend Tami said on Sunday, "I know one day my children will be gone and I will miss ALL of this"......She is right!

December 16, 2008

Is it REALLY this easy? Now the test begins................can I get back to this point once I close out? We will see!

Ang

P.S. After 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to post a picture, I have decided to get some sleep.....Will try more tomorrow!