Taking a break from blogging...

Enjoying the Holiday Vacation !  We will be taking a break from blogging so we can soak up every minute with each other... will be back soon! (Hey!  I'm a multi-tasker, but to blog, cook meals, clean, wash clothes, take naps, making "elf videos" and trying to catch up on the others things that I've got to do... too much!!)   Hope YOU and your family are having a great break also!  It's been a great year in '08!  Happy New Year!  Ready for another in '09!

P.S. Need a good laugh?  Watch our "Family Elf Video" - want a better laugh??  Make one of your own - we have never laughed so hard... it's highly recommended!

Here is a link to Aric's Elf Video:  http://acemanvannoy.blogspot.com

Alex's Elf Video

http://ajvupdate.blogspot.com

Another Elf Video

keep scrolling down to the bottom of the page!

A Miracle - AH gets a haircut!

Yes, miracles do happen... Andy Hayes got a HAIRCUT!  I'll punch in before and after pics ... it was much needed.  His long-time hairdresser, Connie, was able to fit him in before AH flies out tomorrow!  Andy just didn't want any "random" person cutting his locks??  Anyways, Andy owes me greatly... and he conceded for a haircut for a "make up" gift.  Andy told me "OF COURSE  I know how to caulk..."  and he tried caulking the boys shower and toilet... ARGH!  Yeah - he owes me still; but the haircut is nice.  Does anyone know a good way of REMOVING silicone caulking? 

3 Christmas Amigos

Check out this pic for a Christmas Card Classic - LOVE IT!  Target had them on sale, just had too.  Andy was the first to agree to wear them Christmas Eve, even if his face doesn't show the excitement  that they all three felt!  (PJs even glow in the dark... heard thru the "grapevine" that John H likes to model footy pjs at parties?? COC joke!)

Christmas Eve Party

Christmas Eve is FINALLY here!  

We've been cooking, cleaning and wrapping up the last of the Christmas presents.  We're hosting KV's family over for their traditional "Christmas Eve" snacks and gift gathering.  Can't wait to visit with everyone!  We're missing the Williams Family from Richland Hills... wish they were here! Will post pics asap... 

Here's the promised pics ~

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Gift

Both KV and my family play the annual  “Christmas Eve Gift”.  This is a quirky tradition that both of our family have played.  Our kids have now joined this tradition.  

What is "Christmas Eve Gift"? 

 For as long as I remember, one family member would call another on Christmas Eve to be the first to say the words, “Christmas Eve Gift”.  Whoever says it to the other first is due a gift for Christmas Eve ( in my family - the gift is a KISS!)  

 I remember getting out of bed to make a phone call at 12:01 AM to my mom to say “Christmas Eve Gift”.   Also I can remember not answering the phone on Christmas Eve Day (long before caller ID) to prevent from being “got”.  

Alex was the one this year to call both grandmothers... he got one, but due to caller ID... he owes another!! hahaha!    While always funny and a competition of sorts, I truly appreciate the legacy behind this tradition, and have very fond memories of Christmas Eves of long ago when the sport of “Christmas Eve Gift” was enjoyed in our family.  It’s not the gift, but the thought and the competition and the family bond that continues throughout this tradition.

New "FAVE" Christmas Candy

Hold on - we've got a new favorite 

Christmas candy at our house!  

Ging was raving about this new fudge that she had made and Andy Hayes just had to make us a batch!!  He is our " Andy-Candy Chef " during the holidays...  OMG!  It is wonderful!  Its a perfect, rich "Dreamsicle Fudge" - ya know - orange & vanilla - we used to eat an ice cream push-up called a "Dreamsicle".  This fudge recipe makes a 9x13 pan full!  Andy converted this recipe found at  Allrecipes.com  over to a "microwavable" recipe - very easy and very good!  He used all the same ingredients, in a microwave-safe bowl - and just microwaved the mixture at 2 minute intervals stirring between times (up to 6 minutes) until the mixture gets to the soft-ball stage (234 degrees) instead of cooking on the stove-top; the rest of recipe is the same... Try this fudge when you need a sweet treat or something to soothe your sweet tooth!  Hope you are having a great holiday.  We "trying" to get ready... good luck!

Traditional "Rapid" Shopping

KV and I do a traditional RAPID SHOPPING for Christmas... why?  Good question...  

Mission Impossible?

12 hours - Huge Christmas List

Can it be done?

With Andy in tow... 

(Andy has became indispensable to us during Christmas... we have made him swear to ALWAYS be there during this time... or his brothers will not have a good Christmas and they will suffer trauma and be in therapy and ... Guilt trip!) 

   We literally "Shopped until We Dropped" Monday for Christmas.  We did it, exhausted to the root, but we bought it all, except for some minor things!  Thank goodness for grandmothers...Nana took the two boys until 6 and Ging held them captive until 1 AM!  Actually she had them asleep and in their own beds... THANK YOU BOTH!  

"Mission Not Impossible"  in fact, get this - "Mission completed"  with also the complication of (stupid blonde moment) one check and $500!  OMG!  Hey!  We did have credit cards - but only used 2...

Tomorrow is wrapping day... 

again, Andy does all the wrapping, but he is teaching the boys his famous methods!  They get to help!  Poor Andy, he's the first born of mine, 8 years older of his brothers, so Andy's jobs were to keep him busy and feel complete during the Christmas season?! Now, he's became the Christmas Nazi and keeps all the  $$ totals, want and need listings!

How do YOU shop for Christmas?  This way, "Rapid Shopping", just became our traditionally procedure to complete our Christmas list - we've done it for 13 years.  We wait until after school is out and then run in and buy.  We've found some GREAT deals doing

 this... losing just a little of our sanity along the way!  Hope you are done with all of your shopping.  It's getting close!  Merry Christmas!

Teaching 2 & 3 year olds... a tradition

     Here's some pics of our little "sweethearts" in Bible Class, this last Sunday morning, putting on their Santa hats that they received as a gift for the holiday celebrations! Teaching these sweet faces each week is a true blessing!

  
The Ging has taught the 2 & 3 year old class at our church since 1967!  Think of all the little kids that she has touched - literally - heart and soul!  Who can resist a hug or "slapping five" with a little kid? I can't!  Each child has such a pure and sweet heart to offer - we always learn something new or laugh about something said or did!  

After Andy and I moved back to Texas in 1993 - I started assisting with the 2 & 3 yr. class. "Mother/daughter duo teaching" - my mom is an awesome Bible teacher - I enjoy the behind the scenes the best -  making the bulletin boards, coloring flip charts - thats my job ... imagine that, huh!    So I've been teaching for 16 years (- two years ago I had my first Bible class kid graduate from high school - wow!)  Ging has actually had taught 3 generations - super special, huh!  Teaching Sunday morning Bible Class has truly blessed my life.  

The Ging is 65

Happy

 Birthday to GING~  

We celebrated

 Ging's turning 65 with a trip to our favorite Thai restaurant & presents.  We absolutely love this woman who

 plays many roles in our lives.  Ging is a Christian 

Grandma, Mom, Baby sitter, Piano nazi,

 Party navigator, Video taking specialist,  4-H leader, Elvis lover, "Scrabble" genius 

-- instead of using "google" - we use "ging"!!  

We love you - Happy Birthday!

Cadillac Ranch

Route 66's "Cadillac Ranch" was on our stop last week after getting our Andy to Texas safe and sound!  During our quick visit to the whimsical "planted car garden" - it was SO windy and a raincloud was definitely right over us, but we didn't let it stop us!  With all four boys (we vowed that we would bring Andy here the last time we made a "Ranch" stop...) spray paint and a camera - we made our own family history at the infamous Cadillac Ranch.  

Best Hamburger Ever!

KV "swears" that these are the best hamburgers ever!  

Picking up Andy in Amarillo, allowed us the chance to get a BLUE SKY burger!  

Where do you go for your favorite grilled burger?  These were awesome (greasy...) but really, really good.  That's KV's burger in the pic, along with his grilled jalapeno peppers...  he's going to be 

working out "DOUBLE" tonight!! hahaha!  If you like burgers... ya gotta try these!

Andy's Home!

Andy is home!  We picked him up from the Amarillo airport yesterday!  He was a sight for sore eyes - its been almost 6 months!  Now I have all my boys here!  It's a beautiful thing to go to bed at night and have all my "peeps in the nest" safe!  It's a great day!  (Yes, he has long, crunchy hair - but its blonde! hahaha - yeah!)

Snowman Soup

This weekend we made "Snowman Soup" treat bags for our church's Christmas Cheer Boxes. The annual boxes are made to be delivered to our elderly members to "CHEER" them up. Our family always tries to add a homemade treat or something. This year we assembled the treat bag that I cased from Angie's blog here. It's called "Snowman's Soup". Angie Juda has a wonderful video tutorial that will make it a snap to assemble several for quick Winter gifts!

The bags contain a package of Cocoa, "Freeze Dried Snowballs" (marshmallows!), a chocolate KISS candy for added sweetness and a mini Candy Cane for a stir stick. We made embossed, colored with markers stamped headers attached to the top of the bag that had the Snowman Soup poem on the bag.
Was told you've been real good this year, Always glad to hear it!
With freezing weather drawing near, You'll need to warm the spirit.
So, here's a little Snowman Soup, Complete with stirring stick.
Just add hot water & sip it slow. It's sure to do the trick!
The ladies of the church will assemble all the boxes today and deliver them - hope all enjoy the goodies that everyone made.

My main hope, doing this project, is that my boys are learning to GIVE. Am I the only one that has children who are "greedy"? Maybe greedy is a too harsh of a word - but it's hard for my kids to think about anyone else but themselves during the holidays. This project was done for helping to give to a worthy cause - the boys can use this on their 4-H record book and on their LTC service challenges, but hopefully they will also have a "seed planted" to GIVE to others!

Awesome Students at CHS

Our students are AWESOME! I tell them often "You're Awesome" - but our students truly deserve it this time! If you are from the big C-town, than you know something about the Willie family and the generosity of our kids. Our town can take care of our own - and I like that!

I have the Willie's oldest daughter in my art class.

She shared with us her story, at the beginning of the school year, of the coming of her

family to our small town. Hurricane Katrina took most of their belongings; so they moved to live with her Uncle here in our town. Last week, a fire took the rest of their belongings - including her brand new puppy. Their house was burnt down to the ground - wire blown down by strong winds started the fire. They had no insurance. Her story is a tragic one, but this gave us an opportunity to give for a GREAT cause.

Our school principal gave the kids an opportunity to donate $$ - giving the students a reward if $500 could be raise. Our kids gave over $1250 and presented it to the family with smiles. In the pic is my sweet art student and me. The next pic is the Sr. class of '09 along with our vice-principal and the Willie family. My thoughts were that our kids deserved AT LEAST a day off - but no can do! They were satisfied with 15 minutes longer at lunch - it was good. Hey! CHS - "You're Awesome!"

The Ukrainian Carol by Aric Vannoy

Here's a 1 minute video of Aric's piano playing of  - "The Ukrainian Christmas Carol" !  He wanted me to video tape it and put it on the blog to say MERRY CHRISTMAS  to everyone!  Aric has been playing the piano for 3 1/2 years.  He has really pushed learning - trying to keep up with Alex, his older brother!  Enjoy this video from Aric!  

Green Christmas Gift

Here is a really cute GREEN Christmas display!  Recycling an old wooden coke box - small ornaments hang whimsically in each square!  This is totally "shabby chic"! Our Media Center Director came with this yesterday - just had to grab a pic of it!  Thanks Faith - isn't she so smart!  Thanks for sharing!

   The objective of a GREEN Christmas is to re-use old things and make them new for 

Christmas!  Christmas is wonderful, but also a  wasteful time of year.   Try not to buy more, but use what you have!  Most everyone have what they want already - true?  Give something that you're not using anymore or try making things like a gourmet meal or free night of babysitting.   Christmas paper is especially wasteful - instead, use newspaper, old grocery paper sacks, bandanas, reusable fabric or something that you can use again or recycle!  Something to think about!                                                                                                                                                          

2008 Make, Bake or Grow Projects

Here are the 2008 "Make, Bake or Grow" gifts! This is a very unique array of items in our "take home" this year! We had every category filled - something made, something baked and something that was grown - very special! We ate a wonderful meal, we always have a feast - everyone brings a dish or two, discussed business and then traded gifts. Here are some great ideas for making "homemade" Christmas gifts. I LOVE home-maded stuff - or could you tell? hehehe! Well, it takes time and effort and never will you be able to dublicate it - it's an original gift!

The gifts included: Homemade apricot jelly (yum!) This will be so good on a hot biscuit in the morning with a cup of coffee. Can't wait to taste this jelly!


A hand-painted ceramic SANTA bell - this can be an ornament for the tree or it is a FUNCTIONAL bell, I can use it to summons my children for Christmas dinner!


All winters have the drawback of bringing ones the awful COLD - but this year I'm set with my new, beautiful Kleenex holder to make me feel better - something pretty seating by my bed - as I sniffle!











Here is a WONDERFUL, "Aromatic" liquid poppurri - it smells up the whole kitchen with natural, citrus & cloves smell - very nice! You simmer it with a quart of water or in a warmer for poppurri and heat it up! When done, you pour it back into the container and keep it in the frig! When the citrus has been used up (lemons & oranges) - throw out the old and add new... this is wonderful stuff.



My mom is the baker of the family and of the club! She makes the best BREAD... promise! Her rolls are famous (okay - just in our family, church, community...) Here is her Cranberry Mini Bread Loaves! Can't wait to eat these with a cup of Hot Cocoa.


The "grow"gift is cuttings from a plant that was HUGE and BEAUTIFUL this summer... it's a succulent type plant - like a portulaca and has huge red flowers when it blooms. I'll let this grow until the spring and then put it into a hanging pot and display it out on our backyard porch!


Also this CD Desk Calendar and decorated paper box holder... all the details for this project is in the last post! The ladies loved it, or pretended too! Really compliemented the paper boxed holder too! Made me smile! (:


Thanks for looking - we had a great time and each lady made very creative projects! Maybe these gave YOU some projects to make! Stay warm today - hug the ones that you love!