Christopher's Happenings

Christopher is one busy kid these days. I feel like he's never around much. He's either working with his dad or at some athletic event. He finished up basketball and is now wrestling. After his first meet was postponed twice due to snow, he finally got to wrestle for the very first time on Thursday. I wish I could have been there!! Thankfully, Kara texted me after each of his matches. Oggie and I were thrilled to hear that he won his first match! We were both nervous for him since he has never wrestled before. Then his next two matches were really tough and he wasn't able to win those. Kara said that he wrestled really good and fought hard, but he was up against 2 tough kids. He was sore the next day! One of the kids put him in an illegal head lock and twisted his neck pretty good. All in all, he is really liking wrestling. Next is track, and I'm super excited for that! He's quite the jumper! He was able to touch the basketball rim this year. It's hard to believe that the year is getting away from us so fast. He is really growing up! Christopher has also been playing the quads in band, and is pretty darn good at those. He has also been getting a little bit of quality time in with papa Jerry and guitar playing. Whenever he's home, he is always working on his guitar and he's getting really good at that also. I sure love him!! What an awesome son he is!

Here are a few pictures from back in October. He didn't want a whole big party, so we just did cake, ice cream, and presents with family. He didn't even really want a big cake. He got a Bronco cake. It kind of flopped. I tried using homemade fondant to cover the cake and it just didn't work as well. I couldn't get the colors dark enough this time and the fondant Bronco logos dried out fast and cracked. Oh well, he didn't seem to mind. We did have Matthew over to spend the night. We laughed when they both exchanged birthday presents--great minds think alike, right? The pictures of Christopher and Connor were at Connor's parent night at preschool. We decorated pumpkins and pumpkin cookies. After that, Christopher had his first JH dance.

Once There Was A Snowman

Yesterday we went out to play in the snow. Since it has started to melt, the top of the snow was actually wet enough to make a snowman. It was only 32 degrees out, but it felt much warmer than that. I guess compared to how cold it has been lately, it was pretty warm. It hasn't been unusual for us to be heading to school at -12 or -14 this past week. Crazy cold weather!

Snow Day

Today was our 3rd snow day, but our first actual snow day. The first day was from subzero temps and wind, the second was a power outage in Holly (no heat), and today was actual snow. We had a good day together with lots of playing, homemade chocolate chip cookies, movies, coloring, phone calls to family, and a nice warm fire.

Look at that sweetness!

My Food Addiction

Hi, my name is Kelli and I'm addicted to food. Truthfully, I am! One of my addictions is Flamin' Hot Cheetos with Lime. Oh they are sooooo yummy! I can eat them any time of day, doesn't matter when. I actually panicked because Reyman's didn't have any for a couple of weeks. Not good, I know! They are my downfall, ok--one of my downfalls. I don't even want to look at the nutrition label because I know they are contributing to my weight gain---curse those hot, yummy crunchies!

Caylee's New Room

From Ladybugs to Princesses, here's Caylee's new room.

Before

(I absolutely loved the ladybug set!)

In Between

(while we were waiting for a replacement mattress since our old one got ruined)

Finally, a big girl princess room!

Of course we had to put the ladybug tent back in--besides being awesome, it's brand new!

Everybody was super excited and oh so helpful!

Hungry for Gumbo

Evidently the night before last I had been dreaming about Gumbo, because when I woke up, it sounded so good (leave it to me to dream--literally--about food). So, I went to Reyman's yesterday, got the ingredients, and went to work. Totally worth it! (Sorry, I didn't think to take pictures of it before we ate--I just had Gumbo on the brain!)

It makes a big pot, so we shared with Jan & Les, and Mom & Dad.

It's not the prettiest thing to look at, I suppose---but, ooooohhh so good!

This is the recipe I got from Jan:

Gumbo

1. Cook one whole chicken. (I season with salt, pepper, and butter)

2. Save broth, peel chicken from bones and put back in the broth.

3. Saute 2 green peppers, 2 onions, and 6 stalks of celery in butter and fresh garlic (I used about 5 cloves)

4. Add veggies to the broth

5. Cut up a smoked sausage and put in the broth (I can't think of what kind they are--I think they are smoked Hillshire Farm--the ones that are in the "U" shape in the package)

6. Make a roux by heating 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1 cup of flour in a pan. Stirring it until it is dark chocolate brown.

7. Carefully add the roux to the broth

8. Add 1 cup of uncooked regular white rice (not instant)

9. Add 1 can chopped tomatoes

10. Add Salt, Pepper, Seasoned Salt, 3 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tsp. Parsley, 1tsp. Basil, 1 tsp. Thyme

11. Cook for 2-3 hours and serve over white rice (It's even better as leftovers and freezes well)

One of Caylee's new birthday outfits

We were getting ready to run to Holly, and I had to snap a couple of pictures of Caylee in one of her new outfits that she got for her birthday. Then, of course I had to get a picture of her little braid. By that time, Connor and Cade had to pose as well. Too bad Christopher wasn't here, or I would have sneaked one of him in here as well.

Frigid Weather!

This week has been soooo cold! We had a "snow day" on Tuesday, but really it was a cold day. According to the news, it was -32, yes minus 32, with the wind chill factor. It was crazy cold! In fact, we let all of the kids sleep in the living room this week b/c the fire was much warmer there. It was pretty cute to see the 3 little ones sleeping in a row on their sleeping bags. I remember when Christopher used to love to do that! This time, he took to the couch. We ended up having school on Wednesday even though the high for the day was the same as Tuesday. However, the wind wasn't blowing so +6 was cold but much more comfortable than a frigid -32. It was still so cold that they bused the kids from Shanner and PreSchool to the lunch room. Connor and Cade got to ride a big yellow bus to lunch and then a small white bus to Shanner after school. They loved it, of course!

That frost that you see, is actually on the inside of our window. This is our back door on the north side of our house, which was the direction that the arctic wind was out of.

This is a close up of the crystallized coldness.

These are the good times!!