Little reminders that the world is not as perfect as I need/want/would like:

Reminder #1:  Church Christmas programs.  If you were at "the Creek", you totally understand (Mr. Miles, for example).  In his first Oscar-award-winning perfomance:  Ryan sat on the stage like a champ.  No one can sit and glare better than my little guy.  Yes, there were children younger than him singing and doing the motions all perfectly.  Not Ryan...he stuck by his guns, no singing, no motions, just pure disgust.  He looked like he WISHED he had a gun.  Not a big surprise as my Mom reminded me that I was not exactly a Christmas angel myself: (a few years older than Ryan) I had a solo part and a few yahoos in my Sunday School class had the AUDACITY to sing along with me during my moment to shine!!! Can you believe it?  Apparently I sang my heart out while giving them death glares, barely looking at the audience....and pronounced to all who could hear:  "it was SUPPOSED to be a solo."  Wow, real cool. 

Silver lining:  He looked ridiculously cute....if I may say so myself

Reminder #2:  My kids eating habits.  I slave over a hot stove (such a pathetic phrase) for 45 minutes making beef stroganoff.  Do the kids eat it?  Nope.  Do they try it?  Nope.  Ryan chooses punishment over even taking one bite.  Seth throws his on the floor.  And then what happened?  Glad you asked!  I find them eating playdough.  Yep, Seth demolished at LEAST a few bites of orange playdough and was begging for more.  Lesson learned:  my  cooking is less tasty than playdough.

Silver lining:  Pending.....still researching playdough ingredients - there's got to be SOMETHING nutritious in there, right?  I bet all the Vitamin C is what gives it the bright orange coloring.  Yes, that's it.

Reminder #3:  Art projects are not very artful at all (to be read: full of anxiety, mess, lacking in logic, order, pattern, this is NOT okay with me).  To ward off boredom, I decided to have some art time tonight.  Ryan was put on earth to challenge my need for perfection.  Thanks.  Say it with me now:  dip the brush in water, dip the brush in paint, place brush on paper, swipe, repeat.  Ahh, peaceful, logical, beautiful.  But nooooooooo, we have to dip the brush in ALL the paint colors in one by one: starting with black, ending in (gasp!) Yellow!  Colors mixing, dripping, panic setting in.  THEN we dip the brush in water, removing all paint from brush. Then spill water and drag sopping paintbrush across paper, resulting in a wet not-very colorful  soggy "art project".  It was actually painful seeing the purple end up in the yellow, the black in the green, it hurts me to even type it.  I caught myself following behind the runaway paintbrush with a papertowel to clean up the missplaced colors.  (I'm SICK, I know).  Did he follow directions?  Nope.  Was he interested in my loving suggestions?  Nope.  Was my idea for a PERFECTLY peaceful and creative moment appreciated?  Nope.  He even asked me to "excuse me please Mommy".  His kind way of telling me to go away and leave him alone.

Silver lining:  despite my ulcer, I'm left with a (dirty, messy, sticky, wet) SMILING BOY and a BEAUTIFUL creation by his little hands.

TORTURE to even look at: (I know, I need professional help...this is after cleaning it up)

Gotta have Paninis

I'm sorry - I hate winter.  I don't know if that's wrong to say, but I do.  Ok, it could snow a bunch on Christmas day just for novelty's sake...but I'm over it.  I don't like snow, I don't like cold, I don't like windchills, I don't like warming up the car, scraping ice, dirty cars, sand and salt tracked in the house, the heat bill, the closed windows, the "cooped up" feeling, the hassle of parking in a lot full of snow, pushing carts through snow, coats, scarves, boots, schlepping children in and out with all their coats, blankets, hats and puffiness, short days and long nights, dry skin....get my point?
Winter is cool (pun intended) for about a week around Christmas, but other than that - I have no need for a Winter Wonderland.  Sorry, Iowa.

I will just mention that I do LOVE Christmas.  I mean LOOOOOVE Christmas - I'm really just talking about the season of winter. I guess that many other people feel this way....but here are a few things that help me cope:

• Paninis....I'm addicted.  Can't live without 'em these days.  So easy, so warm and comforting, so yummy and scrumdiddlyumptious.

So, here's the secret to making the best paninis in the world:  melt a few tablespoons of butter, add parmesan cheese (grated) until a thick paste consistency, sprinkle in some garlic salt.  Spread on one side of bread.  Load your panini with whatever you want.  Grill slowly on a panini maker (we use our Foreman grill) until spread is brownish and crispy.  Sourdough bread is best.

My happy list continued:

• Hot chocolate - every single night.  Yes, with marshmallows.
• Shaklee hand lotion.
• Candles - especially Gold Canyon baking or coffe line - yummy.  I'm normally a candle hoarder, have tons, don't like to burn them...but something about winter makes me BURN BURN BURN
• My new remote start on my van.  I can start it from unbelivable distances.  For example, I was parked at the mall by Scheels and I started my car from the second floor of Barnes & Noble.  Woot woot!  I'm guessing that's 200 yards?
• Paraffin hand wax (got one for free with my haircut) - almost as yummy as the paninis.  That will probably be the only hand wax I ever get.  I have no idea how much this would cost to "buy".  hmmmmm.
• I laugh every time Ryan says "cold".  He says it "tolc"....no matter how hard we try, he cannot say "cold".  I'll even say, "Ryan, are you TOLC" and he'll say "no, mommy, not TOLC,  it's TOLC!" "Ryan, do you mean COLD?" "Yeah Mommy, TOLC".  Just one of those things......

My what a difference a month makes!

Date of these two photos:  November 7, 2009

Date of THESE 2 photos:  December 9, 2009

Notice that in the first snowy picture, Ryan is standing ON the picture window ledge, which is 18 inches off the floor, and the drifts are up to his waist beyond that.  A LOT of snow.  We are officially the ONLY family on our entire block without a snowblower (well, we were given one but it no longer works).  Troy spent a few hours shoveling - in the time it took him to shovel from the street to the sidewalk (approx 8 feet), 2 other neighbors were completely done with their driveways and sidewalks.  Nice.

So how did we spend our snow day?  Well, I got lots of work done. Booooo-ring, I know - but I didn't have the day off - just worked from home.  But for fun, we:

1. made a messy dinner:

2. ate some yummy dessert:

3.  plopped down for movie night - Rudolph (wow, movies have come a loooong way)

4. and shared some popcorn!

When the boys went to sleep, I finished the second coat of paint on the stairs and hallway - darkish brown.  I'd have posted pictures but it's like a dark cave now.  Interesting.  I like it - anything would be better than the beat up white walls we had!

We're baaaaaaaaack! Family Pictures

I took a little vacation from blogland - had a few very busy weeks and I let myself go, well actually, I let my blog go.  I'm so so so excited to share some of my favorites of our family pictures.  Enjoy!

My facts and figures, grab your calculator: The end of an era....

Okay, okay, okay...an "era" might be slightly exaggerating...but it feels like an era...the 2009 football season is now sadly, officially, over.  We made the trip to the UNI Dome to play in the semi-final game last night and in a great battle of 2 undefeated teams, the game was ended by a Marshalltown touchdown with 5 seconds left.  Dowling 25, Marshalltown 28.  For the last few minutes of the game it appeared Dowling was going to be headed on to the state title, then those annoying Bobcats drove and drove and drove...and won.  Sigh.
The boys and I waited about 40 minutes after the game to talk to Troy, then he calls my phone....from the bus...already on his way home.  Sigh. 

So here's the breakdown from Mommy's point of view:

• 1,224 hours of time Troy spent in practice/camps/weights/film over the past 4 months
• 13 games played....approximately 39 hours of time cheering for the Maroons
• 14 hours of driving, waiting to park, waiting in line, schlepping kids and stuff in/out/around the stadium
• 90 explanations to Ryan about where Daddy is, what Daddy is doing, how much longer until the game start/ends, the cheerleaders "jump" again, the band comes back on the field
• 8 bags of popcorn consumed
• 16 hotdogs purchased
• 6 rolls of free LifeSavers from Valley Church parking people
• 36 extra loads of football-related laundry
• 2 jerseys purchased
• 80 dinners saved and warmed up for hungry Daddy
• 9 team handouts proofread and edited
• 1 cofee table ruined by too many Xs and Os
• 51 DVDs added to our collection
• countless pieces of paper, playbooks, playcards, stat sheets, etc.
• 1 more GREAT SEASON for Coach Rider - we are proud of you, Troy!

From Troy's point of view:  very depressing, "put so much time and energy into this season and I don't know that we'll ever have a group of kids like that ever again". 

I did everything I could to make today less miserable for Troy: made his favorite cheesedip (at 8:30 in the morning- blech!), made football-shaped chocolate-and-cream sandwich cookies, ordered pizza and wings for dinner, gave him the remote control all day...but he asked for 2 days of mourning, so I'm counting down the hours.  

Still.....life goes on:
Seth is walking like a champ.
Ryan is full of hugs and "moochies" for Daddy, and has said, "Daddy, are you HOME!?!?" (in wide-eyed-unbelief) about a dozen times today.
The dog doesn't leave Troy's side.
And I am glad to have my husband back, until the next season begins....

The Register's Game Analysis

UNI-Dome, here we come!

Yea Troy, we are proud of you! Dowling won the quarter-final game last night against Urbandale and the Maroons get to play at the UNI Dome on Friday afternoon in the semi-final round!  We're going to try to make the trip...maybe! If they win this Friday, they will play in the state championship the following Saturday. The boys love going to football games and enjoyed seeing their Great-Aunts Debbie and Karen last night :-)

A few pictures from the season:

Ryan loves all aspects of the game...still is convinced that Daddy is playing (aka "wrestling/tackling") instead of coaching. On the other hand, Seth goes for the food, band, and cheerleaders...game? what game?

Thursday night = Family night

So we have one night a week where we try REALLY hard to have some good family time - no interruptions, no other committments, etc.  It's virtually impossible during football since Troy doesn't usually get home until 7....but I'm not complaining (stopping now to pray for a dear friend who's hubby is going to be leaving for Basic Training!).  However, tonight we had some fun - nothing major, just trying to enjoy the small things.  Like trying not to laugh at Ryan's version of telling me off:  "Mom, go buy the farm!" (said in the same tone as "Mom, go take a hike!").  Or Seth tearing open a bag of chocolate chips and helping himself to a snack.  The best part was that after getting all slobbery and chocolatey, Seth grabbed an open bag of powdered sugar and some of it floated down on top of him - it was a sugary version of being tarred and feathered.  Sigh. 
But Troy's highlight of the night was a yummy dinner.  I'm no chef, nothing fancy here in this house...but every once in awhile I find a connoction that is JUUUUUUUST right.  This meal is super easy, can be made in about 5 minutes of prep time, can be left alone in a crockpot, and men LOVE it.  Well, at least I know that Troy does:

"Best-Ever Barbecued Ribs"
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon course salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2-3 pounds well-trimmed pork baby back ribs, cut into 4 rib pieces (with bones - not the boneless kind)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon (or more!) Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon (or more!) soy sauce
1 tablespoon (or more) A-1 sauce

Coat your crock-pot with cooking spray.  Combine paprika, salt, thyme, black pepper and red pepper; rub mixture onto meaty sides of ribs.  Cook ribs on Low 7-8 hours (or on high 3-3 1/2 hours although the low method is better) until ribs are tender.

Combine the remaining ingredients; mix well.  Remove ribs from the crock-pot and discard cooking liquid.  Coat ribs with sauce and return to crock-pot and cook on High for 30 minutes or until ribs are glazed.