Christmas Vacation

****NEWS FLASH****

*******Breaking news!!!!!********

this just in! Cara, miss lover of all things chocolate has had a falling out with her former love. It seams she was trying to bake a 3 layer chocolate cake the other day. And from out of no where it starts bubbling and spilling all over the oven, down the sides, all over the racks, just a horrible mess. She immediately turned the oven off to prevent it from burning and making a smoky house. Sources say she was not in the best of moods after that. She has her brother and wife coming in to town and she is making Christmas dinner. For those of you who know her know that she is a planner and likes to have everything planed out and some tings made a head of time. Well not this time! I interviewed some of the children and they said they were running around the house screaming and trashing the place that they didn't know what was going on, they also tried to bug her a lot with wanting snacks and such. As for the husband? I think he was puttering around the garage working on his Jeep. He did mention later that Cara's bad mood carried over to the next day. I talked with her today and she seams to be in a better mood, she got the oven all cleaned out and the house all cleaned. She is not sure exactly what happened with the batter, she thinks of her self as a pretty good baker, "I guess I was trying to do to much, have everything perfect for Christmas". When asked what she learned from this experience? "Don't try bake when your kids are all over you, take your time and make sure you measure everything correctly". She told me later that she still loves chocolate, just not all over her oven!

This is Cara

Reporting on Cara

Oh what fun December is

Lets start out with the boy's eating ice cream for breakfast, when I asked Zander why he got it out and started eating it he said " Cause I wanted some". And I let them have some. After all it is milk and eggs. It was a very cold morning to! I would have preferred some hot chocolate over cold ice cream.

Just a picture of a beautiful stack of chocolate.

Pound cake, I toasted it one morning and put some Nutella on it, fabulous!

This is so cool! It is a crayon holder! I saved some cans and got some cording and bada bing you have a cool crayon holder!

I have a can opener that takes the whole lid off so there are no sharp edges. Then you hot glue the cans together and wrap the cording around, gluing every so often. The colors only stayed neat like this for 5 seconds while I took a picture. Madden is REALLY into coloring right now so this thing and a couple coloring books have been on the table like my center piece.

Went to a friends house to make some gingerbread houses, this was ours before it collapsed, it was so humid outside the roof just slid off and not to much later the walls fell in, and now it is in the trash can(sorry kids!) Thank goodness they don't read this blog!! But not to worry Uncle Simon and Aunt Tierra want to build another one with them when they come to visit.

My friend had her Father in-law dress like Santa for the kids, I was shocked that the boys were not scared! They usually scream and cry when I try to have there picture taken with Santa. But not Madden, my fearless one, he went right up to him and kept saying "hi! hi! hi!"
And then leave it to my son to shoot Santa!

Should have given him the candy after pictures!!!

Much more fun and craziness to come, my baby brother gets here next week for Christmas, can't wait, he hasn't been back to Tx since he left 11 years ago! He probably doesn't like that I'm calling hm my baby brother, but hey! I was 12 when he was born and took care of him, a LOT! Like he was my own. But now he is way bigger then me and married so I am excited to get to know him as an adult and not my little Honey Bunny that he used to be :)

Also getting back into the swing of things after Justin's nose surgery last week. He had a really bad deviated septum and a constant sinus infection that had been there for, the Dr. said like 15 years, so he went in and had his sinus's scraped out and his septum fixed. He says he can breathe through both sides of his nose now, used to only breathe out one side his whole life! I am so happy he will be sleeping better and should help with his constant headaches. Kinda put me behind on holiday stuff but I'm getting caught up, slowly! Need to sew up some things and bake bake bake!

Wish I had some cool pictures of my kids happily playing in snow, but no, we live where winter is dreary over cast sometimes warm sometimes cold, raining off and on, just ugly outside, everything looking dead blah! When we do get sunshine I shove the kids outside to go play!!

Some holiday letters for ya

Dear Giant Mud puddle on the side of the road,
Why do you tease me so? Every time I pass you, which has been at least twice a day, I just want to throw my truck in 4wheel drive and drive right through you! I want to come at you fast to, so the mud goes flying everywhere! Its even worse when I'm in Justin's big truck, I can see my self fishtailing all the way through, makes me giddy! But I just dream about it cause if I actually did I would make a mess of the side road and someone would probably see me and report me or something. Maybe I should drive by early in the morning when no one is out? No! I will have some self control! So Please dry up or so I will stop having all these bad thoughts.
Thank you,
From a Girl who Loves mudding

Dear Rude Shoppers,
Why do ya'll come out during the holiday season? Are you hiding all year and then decide to unleash your rudeness on everyone during the happiest time of the year? I mean come on, yelling at someone cause they didn't give you a coupon?? Grow up!! This is the time to love everyone and be thankful for everything we have. But I do have to say that it gave the rest of us in line something to talk about while we were waiting to be checked out, so thanks for that. We all thought you were crazy and got out of your way.
Best Regards
Other Shopper in the store

Dear Roshelle,
I thought I was over missing you so much, getting used the fact that you are not here, but I was Christmas shopping and saw some thing I thought you might like and found myself thinking of some other things to go with it and it would be the coolest gift, it was so you. But then I caught myself and remembered that you are not here. I now understand why people who have lost loved ones have a hard time during the holidays, I guess last year I was still in shock and didn't have a problem. But this year I am. I wanted to get you something special to show how much I care about you and let you know that your older sister really loves you. I know buying things for people isn't always the best way to show your affection, but at Christmas time you want to find the perfect gift for everyone to show them you care. So I almost bought you the perfect gift but didn't know if Fed Ex delivers to Heaven so didn't get it. I still think of you everyday and wonder how your doing. Can't wait to see you again.
Love your Guts!
Your loving Sister
Cara

Dear Christmas,
I love you so much! I love the tree, the lights, the movies and of course all the baked goodies! You are such a festive holiday, I get out all of my decorations(and I am getting quit a bit) and decorate my house in your honor, I don't do much for the other holidays so you should feel special about that. You are such a time for reflection as well as celebration. I usually reflect upon the last year and all its ups and downs and special moments with my family. And Celebrate that it is our Dear Saviors Birthday and for all that he did for us and continues to do for us. It is just a special time. Crazy sometimes but wonderful. Don't forget about traditions, you are all about traditions to, I love our old ones and doing new ones. So I just wanted to thank you for being one of my favorite holidays of the year and I look forward to celebrating you all year.
Love
A Huge Fan!

Dear HEB
Thanks for all the coupons yesterday, I saved $10! You usually don't have coupons for the things that I buy, but yesterday there was 4, yes 4 coupons for the things that I needed. So thanks! Thanks a bunch! You saved me some money!
Your faithful patron(and not because you are only 1 of the 2 grocery stores in this town)
Cara
P.S.
Sorry if my children were running up and down the isles and touching everything, they have been cooped up in the house and have not been able to run off ALL there energy.
P.P.S.
Also sorry that we sometimes open food without paying first, the baby gets real hungry and wants a snack. And I give it to him cause I want him to sit in the cart and be good, its so hard to Carry a 25 pound child around the grocery store. And I know we have spilled some of that food all over the floor, and I feel bad about that to. I know you have a lot of people coming in and out and I'm sure we are not the only ones who are crazy in your store. But I will work with my children on that.

Dear Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins,
I am coming to eat you!!! I will post the recipe soon so everyone else can enjoy your yummyness!!
Love a Hungry Cara

Dear Madden,
I am coming to change your dirty diaper, please don't run from me! You are the one who came up to me and said you went poop and wanted me to change you, so why do you run from me when I get the diaper?? You are just as cute as can be though so I cant get upset with you!
Love your Mama xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Cranberry Orange Scones

These are just like the ones you can get at Starbucks for $3 each! I usually make the icing and put that on but today I just felt like putting a tab of pure cultured butter on it!

Cranberry Orange Scones
From Barefoot Contessa(I have all her books)
Ingredients
•4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
•1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
•2 tablespoons baking powder
•2 teaspoons kosher salt
•1 tablespoon grated orange zest
•3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
•4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
•1 cup cold heavy cream
•1 cup dried cranberries
•1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
•1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
•4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.
I do two 9inch circles and then cut into triangles.
Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

Long.busy.yummy.productive.weekend.

Good food. Good company.

Loud games and fun.
Goofy fun.
painting.building.staining.cleaning.organizing.hunting.family.cousins.movies.holiday decorating.
'Tis the Holiday Season!