What are they up to now?!

I walked outside yesterday to see this:


Our neighbor's son holding up a sign to passing cars...
and JT playing with his Diabolo on the driveway next to him.
Here is the sign:

HEY
WATCH THIS
YO-YO THINGY
1:00-3:15

Fireworks, Geek Style

Santa left this in one of the kids' stockings:

Install Mentos candy
Pull the "trigger," letting the Mentos fall into the Diet Coke
Watch it go!
Luci got into the spray of the last one, running into it "sprinkler style" and Mama wasn't happy. Bath time afterwards.

Luci-Speak

Bryan: Luci, you're just tiny.

Luci: I'm not tiny! I'm the same size as me!

The Best Christmas Present!

Besides John being here, I mean...and of course I love the Black-n-Decker Electric Broom that JT got for me.

Bryan and Luci made this for me.

Grandpa and Gran-Je

We had a big time on weekend, going to Jemison to see John's folks. Jeanne's son, Frank, and his wife, Cindy, were there. It was a good visit. Everybody looked good and the kids all behaved. John and JT spent the night, while I brought Bryan and Luci home with me. Asthma, and Divide and Conquer. That's all I have to say about that.

Merry Christmas!

Did Santa come?
Tossing paper out of the way.

Some favorite presents
.
John got a rototiller. Making the garden plot last year was so difficult with our rocky soil. This should help.

Luci makes a pretty bride!

JT likes his gloves and Chuck Norris shirt.
Bryan got some movie-making equipment.


My favorite: SNOW. The flurries only lasted about 45 minutes, but it was enough to give everyone a big smile.

And, since we never know when it will snow again, Luci begged to make a snow angel. Notice that she's barefoot! She was only out there for about one minute, so don't fret too much about it.



We really need a good snow! :)

He's Home!

It was hard to be still last night, waiting for Daddy. Luci ran right out of her shoes!
Looking down the hallway...
All ready!
Tim and his son, Britt, came out, too. That was so nice. Tim and his family go to church with us at CrossPoint. We live an hour and a half away from the airport, so this was a big deal.
First to get to Daddy!
JT keeps singing, "Reunited and it feels so good..."
John got home just in time to help Luci put the very last ornament on our Christmas countdown calendar first thing this morning.

Memories

Presents are wrapped, Daddy's home, Christmas is almost here.

Today I am traveling down Memory Lane. I had this come to mind this morning, as I sat in a fog at breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My mother was about my age (not telling what that is!) when this happened. I can so relate to this! I was in college, and the youngest in our family was about 16. I remember very well late that Christmas Eve, my mother telling all of us:

Anyone gets up before 8 am, it all goes back!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John is home! Homecoming photos later today. Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Odd Things

Okay, these party horns for New Year's Eve aren't odd...

Until you read the warning: For ages 14 years and over.
Hmm. That leaves out two-fifths of our family on New Year's Eve! JT missed it by just one year.

Turns out it doesn't matter anyway: the horns do not work! Luci nearly passed out trying to make some sound.
Here's the other Odd Thing:
Fruitcake Cookies! John likes them. He's the only one in our house who likes them. I think they'd taste a lot better if you took out the candied fruit and added chocolate chips instead.

For those of you who do like fruitcake (Mom? Anyone else out there? No?), here is the recipe I used.

Fruitcake Cookies

Makes 3 1/2 dozen (that's 42, for those of you who aren't up on your twelve-times tables)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
3/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
12 oz candied fruit for fruitcake (the chopped-up, colorful mix that comes in those huge tubs. I used 1/3 of my big 32 oz tub)

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add egg, mix well. Put candied fruit and pecans in a separate bowl. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add 1/4 cup of this to the fruit and nuts, stir. (I can't remember why you should do this, but it seems to help. Maybe so they won't all stick together in one big, fruity lump.) Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325* for 13-15 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

Now, Time for Something a Little More Light-Hearted

John made it to the USA. With a story to tell on the way, that I will share later. But for now, here's a song that is decidedly more light-hearted than the last few. John gets home tomorrow night after signing out with the Corps of Engineers tomorrow morning.

This is Jingle Bells, the Punjabi version, from Nickelodeon TV in India. One of John's colleagues while in DjiBouti emailed it to us. Enjoy!

Mary, Did You Know?

This is the song with "Power Kisses."

How Many Kings?

Do you believe, is this who we've waited for?

How many kings stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?

How many greats have become the least for me?

How many gods have poured out their hearts to romance a world that has torn all apart?

How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only one did that for me.

All for me.

All for you.



This is one of the songs that was sung at the church Christmas party last night. I have never heard it before last night. It's my new favorite song.

Christmas Parties

We've been to several Christmas parties this month--Families with Children from China (the pictures from that are on my other computer, and I don't have access to them right now), JT's Tang Soo Do party (no photos of that), the boys' teen church party, our church party tonight, and the homeschool party last Friday. Whew! I was just thinking tonight that I sure don't get out much. I don't, but my children do. So that means I do get out quite a bit. Just as a chauffeur.

Here is our church party tonight. The kids (3 year olds through 6th grade) did a little program. Luci's down there on the front row. What? You can't see her?
Is this better? She spotted me and gave me a big grin. But first, she stuck her tongue out at her brothers who were down front taking pictures for me.
What Christmas party would be complete without the crazed mother, trying to get everyone in place on time?? John called halfway through the party, telling me he was just about to leave his compound to start his trip home. So nice to talk to him! Another reason to love cell phones. But it didn't calm me down any--the trip from compound to the airport is the most dangerous part of the trip. Which explains why I am up so late doing the blog...so I can keep checking the news online, like a ghoul, to see if there's any news out of his area. So far, so good. Maybe after Wednesday I won't feel compelled to check the news so often. I sure hope so.
Homeschool party--we went to a place called "Forest Jumps." Luci's in there somewhere.
They have these big climbing things to play on.
Kalyn came, too! It was so nice to visit with Kathy.
JT played some games during the party. . .and Bryan acted like a teenager.
On the way to our house in the country is this home. They have their yard covered with shiny things. It's lots of fun to look at, and this is only about half of what they have! The lights are timed with music, and you can turn your car radio to the right station and listen.

The song that was playing when we were there was "Mary, Did You Know?" One of the lines goes like this:

Mary, did you know
that when you kissed your little baby
You kissed the face of God?

I said, "Wow. Those are some powerful words."

Luci said, "Did she have Power Kisses?"

Another Hanky Alert

Bryan, JT and Luci are tired of being brave. They just want Daddy to get home.

Four more days!

News from the Front

John received the Commander's Award today, presented to him by Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp, the head of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Pretty sharp, John! We are so proud of you.

Guess what we did today?

We got the outside of the house ready for John. Here's how it began:


Even the lawn ornaments got in on the action!

My Favorite Dot on the Map....

...is labeled APO, AE, United States in the "visitors list." You can click on the map to see the list for today's visitors, if you are curious.

I am thankful that the address above will not be showing up in the list after Monday, the day John leaves Kabul.

And I cannot wait until I can scrape this sticker off my van's rear window.
Six days and counting!

Confections

Here is my favorite sugar plum fairy. JT took this photo for me Sunday morning. Doesn't she look yummy enough to eat?

Blowing kisses to JT....
And here's the confection that came from my kitchen this afternoon. Betty Crocker's recipe for brownies, with Glossy Chocolate Frosting. I sprinkled crushed candy canes on top. This is a recipe I remember my mother making when we were growing up, minus the candy canes.
Brownies

2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup shortening (use oil for the best outcome)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional--I usually do not add nuts)

Heat oven to 350*. Heat chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted. Remove from heat. Mix in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until brownies just begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool and then frost with Glossy Chocolate Frosting. (also delicious plain, or dusted with powdered sugar)

Glossy Chocolate Frosting

3 TBS shortening
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
2 cups powdered sugar (I sifted mine after measuring)
1/4 tsp salt (oops, I forgot that today!)
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

(this amount will easily cover a double-recipe of the brownies--as a matter of fact, that's what I did)

Heat shortening and chocolate in saucepan over low heat until melted. Stir in remaining ingredients and beat with a whisk until smooth. Place pan of frosting in a larger bowl of ice and water. Continue beating until frosting is glossy and thicker. Spread over cooled brownies. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped nuts, or 3 crushed candy canes, if desired.

What a wimp!

OK, so I spent most of my life in the Western U.S. and traveling through the square states is nothin'. Well, sometimes I have little people doing push-ups in Wyoming....

Today I was reading this article: Top Five Gifts for Road-Tripping Families. The writer (and I hope he's not a cousin of yours or something) extolls this car seat:

It is a wonder, a car seat that will fit your child forever and turns itself into a stroller so you don't have to wake Precious up when you get where you're going. The Sit 'n Stroll car seat system, retailing for $249.95! I can see that this would be oh-so-handy if you fly and have to lug the car seat and kid-who-can't-walk-yet through airports (been there, done that, don't want to do it again).

Then the guy gets to a hang-man game that, honestly, looks like fun. And it's only $12.99.

If your brood includes a tween or bickering siblings you’ve likely come to accept as I have that at times it’s desirable to let them plug in to portable electronics and leave the rest of the family alone.

Of course! Get the electronics out! My parents wish they had these things when they were traveling with five kids. Lucky us, to have these things now so the whining is kept to a minimum.

Now here's the wimpy part:

A small part of me still resists it, though, because driving through a state like Connecticut takes forever and it’s a good opportunity to interact.

Y'all, I checked Google Maps and, any way you travel through Connecticut, it's at the very most only 2 hours and 48 minutes!

This kid cracks me up

Tonight we had spaghetti with a white sauce. Luci held up two noodles and said,

"These are functional!"

Where she got that, I have no idea. I got the camera and then she got really silly. Here's the last one before the functional noodles got slurped up.