A Few Pics for Fun

Since I was posting, I wanted to give an update on the kids, too. They are currently on Grandma detox, as Grandma left Sunday after being here almost a week. Now they have to adjust to plain old mom, who doesn't spoil them! :) Here's Sophia, loving on her cousin, Noah. She loves to "mother" other babies.

Caleb got to tag along to a homeschool get-together where the kids got to make gingerbread houses. It took him a while to figure out that he wanted to put a lot of candy on his house, but he finally got the idea. In case you didn't hear the most recent funny Caleb story, a couple of weeks ago he was in the van, sneezed, and said, "Mom, I sneezed out a piece of corn!" It was field corn! Then he explained to me that the corn had been in his nose since we went to a "corn pool" (see previous post) at the apple orchard 2 MONTHS ago! He had never once complained, although we had noticed he had been snoring a lot! He said it felt a lot better and now he could breathe through his nose when he ate!

Here is Danny with his gingerbread house. He was very careful and particular in decorating. Danny has also become an avid reader. Yesterday he spent an hour on the couch, just reading. I LOVE IT that he likes having his nose in a book. That way I can have my nose in a book, too!

It snowed about 4 inches this morning and the boys have already been outside playing. Caleb came in complaining that Danny wouldn't pull him around the yard on the sled. It is so cold we have ice on the INSIDE of our windows!

Tonight we are hoping to do our family Christmas shopping outting. We got the idea from my sister, Rachel. We all go to The Dollar Tree and we give the kids $1 for each family member. Then they take off to do their own shopping. It is great for kids the age of ours because the store is small and EVERYTHING is $1. They have a lot of fun personally picking out each item. It's cheap and lets them get involved in the shopping. Then we all go out to eat together. Thanks for the idea, Rachel!

Esmerelda

Eric and I just finished performing in/helping direct Cornerstone's Christmas production, "Esmerelda". Eric played two roles and I played a small company role and assistant directed. It was so much fun. However, it is nice to have some family time again! Our family ate supper together last night for the first time in I don't know how long! Here are a few pictures....

Holly as the flower lady and Eric as the Scottish door keeper.
Eric with his fellow door keepers, Todd (Indian door keeper) and Kevin (French door keeper).

Holly with friends, Kristi, Jenni (director/writer) and Lynn.

Todd (music director and "Bob"), Mike (producer and "Papa"), Jenni (director/writer), Holly (assistant director and "Flower Lady")

Swedish rye bread

Today I learned an important Bodin skill. I almost consider it a rite of passage. Let me start at the beginning....

Two days ago Eric came home and informed me that on Wednesday the guys at work were going to deep fat fry a turkey for lunch....and then he sheepishly told me he was supposed to bring a side dish. (He said it sheepishly because he told me Monday night, knowing Tuesday's are my busy day and hoping I wouldn't be frustrated.) In the Bodin family, Swedish rye bread is a staple at holiday meals. Jim (my father-in-law) is the master baker. Eric loves the bread. So being the good Bodin wife that I am, I asked him if he wanted me to make it. I think his mouth started watering before I got the words out of my mouth. Eric went to a specialty grocery store for me on Monday night and got all of the seeds with weird names that go in the bread and the rye flour. This afternoon, I took the rye bread challenge...and it turned out pretty good! It wasn't quite to Jim's caliper(mine was a little denser), but hey, it was my first time! Eric even did the "punching down" and baking while I was gone teaching tonight. And now, having done the work of making it, I will appreciate it oh so much more when Jim makes it!

And I have to admit, I hope the guys at work don't like it too much. I'd love for Eric to have a couple of pieces left over for me!

Eric and I in New York, "kissing" the Statue of Liberty.

Date Night

Are you married? If you are, you should have a date night. We don't have a regular, specific date night, but last night we got to go out, just the two of us, for the whole evening. Many times when we do this, I still end up cooking supper for the kids/babysitter, but last night our wonderful friends (Dan and Lynn) not only watched the kids all evening, but cooked them supper, too! So the two of us went out to Hickory Park (BY OURSELVES!!!) and then to a movie. Going out with Eric helps me feel like a normal person. It makes me want to shout to the world, "Look, I'm carrying an actual purse, not a diaper bag!" or "Hey, did you notice there aren't any stains on my shirt?" and "Yeah, I'm a stay at home mom, but I own more than sweatpants and I know how to look stylish when I want to!" Okay, maybe that last part isn't true, but I FEEL stylish. :) And it's amazing how one date can make you feel normal enough to last you until...well...the next date! Thanks, Eric, for taking me out for the evening and reminding me that I'm a beautiful, intelligent wife and not just a frumpy, all-I-do-is-wipe-stuff-all-day mom. And for all you husbands out there-do the same for your wives!

FYI: Those of you who know me will laugh that I want to post this. I am sometimes cheap to a fault, so I have to tell you that our entire date, thanks to gift cards/coupons, cost $8 and I also picked up a free tube of mascara when we were buying dessert at Walgreens. And do I feel less valuable because Eric spent less money on me? NO! I feel more valuable because not only did we have a great night out, we spent almost nothing!

Trick-or-Treat

Okay, seriously. Would you not just give your whole bowl of candy to trick-or-treaters like these? Davey Crockett, Spiderman, and little Sophie-Mouse. They started strong. Sophie baled after completing our street. She would not, however, let go of her candy bucket. The boys pushed on to the next street and came back with stories of a "haunted house" giving out FULL SIZE CANDY BARS! Sophie might have to be a mouse tomorrow, too, because that "washable marker" I used to draw on her nose/whiskers isn't very washable. Sophie downed an entire Kit-Kat before I confiscated her candy. The boys...well, let's just say they had to brush their teeth really well and both went to bed with stomach aches. Ahhhh, you gotta love free candy!

Pumpkin Snatchers

I live in a nice town. We have nice neighbors. There are no wild parties on our street. It is one of the best neighborhoods in town. So then why, WHY, would someone steal our pumpkins!? Yep, sometime on Sunday or Monday, four of our pumpkins were stolen off our front porch. The fifth one was safe-it had been placed on the back porch. We discovered this when Eric and the boys went to carve their pumpkins last night and .... no pumkins! What kind of person steals a pumpkin? Especially a kid's pumpkin? Well, at least they are on sale for $2 at Walmart. The funny thing is, this is the fourth fall season we've lived here and the second time our pumpkins have been stolen. Hmmm...someone must know we have good taste in pumpkins. But I've learned my lesson. From now on, pumpkins at our house get to spend the night INSIDE.

Thank you to Jess, my friend and neighbor, who "tagged" me to answer the following questions. I have to use one word answers.

1.Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your significant other? hot!
3. Your hair? there
4. Your mother? amazing
5. Your favorite thing? alone-time
6. Your dream last night? none
7. Your favorite drink? milkshake
8. Your dream/goal? house
9. What room are you in? dining
10. Your fear? loneliness
11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? wiser
12. Where were you last night? teaching
13. Something that you aren’t? unopinionated
14. Muffins? blueberry
15. Wish list item? ipod
16. Last thing you did? email
17. What are you wearing? all black (for a skit at D6 tonight - I got ready early)
18. Your TV? basement
19. Your pets? no way (who needs pets when you've got kids!?)
20. Friends? love 'em
21. Your life? good
22. Your mood? tired
23. Missing someone? sisters
24. Your car? minivan-megafun
25. Something you’re not wearing? make-up
26. Your favorite store? Walmart (Save Money, Live Better - Walmart) :)
27. Your favorite color? blue
28. When is the last time you laughed? Monday night (at my husband's INCREDIBLE acting)
29. Last time you cried? hmmmm.....

And that's a wrap. Yeah, I cheated on the one word thing a little. That okay. It was more fun. Hey, if you can't cheat on your own blog, when can you? I'm supposed to tag other people, but since I just started this blog, I'm not sure anyone is reading it. However, I tag Marcy to post on our family page. (Heee-heee)

We have a new form of entertainment at our house. No, it's not a new dvd, computer game, video game, or even a toy or board game. Our new form of entertainment is a squirrel feeder I attached to our front tree last weekend. It was given to us by our neighbor, Chip. (Do I need to mention we have the best neighbors in the world!?) The squirrels discovered the corn this morning. It kept the kids busy while I cleaned up breakfast dishes, made soup for supper, and made a few phone calls. Who knew? You should have heard them squeal when the squirrel took a piece of corn and buried it in our front yard. They bolted for their jackets and tried to find the buried corn, but no luck. So don't worry, Mr. Squirrel, your corn is still safe---for now. No guarantees. So here's to cheap, fun entertainment. (Thanks, Chip.)

Loving Life in Iowa

Today was a great day. Perfect weather. Sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. Highs in the upper 70's. Danny's homeschooling group took a fieldtrip to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch and the whole family was invited to tag along. So we packed our lunch and made the 20min drive to the middle of Nowhere, IA. Four hours later (the organized tour ended after 1.5 hours, but we were having so much fun, we stayed), I packed up three tired kids, bags of apples and gourds, and the remainders of our lunch. During the day we took a hayrack ride, conquered the hay bale maze, picked our own gourds and apples, fed the goats and elk, visited the 3 little pigs' homes, watched how apples are sorted, swam in the "corn pool" (only in Iowa), jumped on the giant pillow, and raced pedal tractors. The boys favorite part was the corn pool. And my favorite part was having a great day with my kids.