I am thankful for...

• heat in every room of the house (we used to dress in winter coats every time we went out of the playroom)
• a hot shower (which was WAY overdue!)
• clean laundry
• no extension cords running through the house
• family and friends who open their house and hearts to help
• all the conveniences i normally take for granted

We got our power back on at 11PM last night - it is HEAVEN! The two little kids are now going around the house turning all the lamps and lights on and off / enjoying the novelty of electricity again ;-)

games, games, games

It's the day to entertain kids in our small playroom; the rest of the house is FRIGID! The kids don't even want to come up to eat because it's so cold in the kitchen - i'm thinking we might start picnicing in the basement ;-)
Today we have played cars with the old fisher price garage, we have played trains with our thomas the tank engine. With the older munchkins, we played two different math games i had gotten from scholastic. We've played War and Ol' Korihor (Old Maid) with our new Book of Mormon playing cards. And we're getting ready to play Labyrinth and our Tumble tower (generic Jenga.) It's been fun to actually PLAY games with the kids, and offers me a nice excuse to avoid cleaning in the rest of the house seeing as how there isn't any electric. We might have to head out soon though,... i'm getting pretty desperate for a shower and some clean clothes (laundry is WAY behind! ;-)

Ice Storm and Electric out

So, we had an ice storm move through the area - The roads were vicious yesterday morning, and M's boss called him and told him not to come in. We were SO excited to have him home, and the kids were rarin' to go for an awesome day with dad. However,... the power went out in the late morning, and they haven't gotten it back up yet - a day and ahalf later. M went and drove up to Winchester to buy a generator (Berea and Richmond were out of them.) I was SO glad he did! Normally the electric is off for only a couple of hours at the most, but it looks like it'll be much longer than that! We set the kids up in the basement playroom with the space heater run off the generator - and got it set up so we wouldn't lose any of our venison in the deepfreeze. Today I requisitioned the extension cord from the fridge so i could check e-mail and update on the blog. It's so cold in the house that the burger i got out to defrost is still frozen solid just sitting on the counter-top; so i'm not concerned about pulling it off the generator for a half hour or so. You know, in hind sight,... maybe i should have let marke get the wood burning stove this past holiday season rather than encouraging him to wait a year ;-)

C - my budding artist

C was drawing just this morning,... and she brings me a picture, saying, "it's my girl picture." At first i didn't believe that SHE had drawn it! But i went around to all the older kids, and they were all doing something else and hadn't helped her at all! I thought it was an incredible job for a just-turned 3 year old!

D's secret hideout

D just LONGS for his own 'space.' He gets frustrated with having to share with E and having the little munchkins get into his things while he's at school. He has asked me to build him a tree house or shed that he can live in out in the back yard so he can have his alone time and privacy. I told him we'd look at that possibility this spring. Well,... he got a little tired of waiting,... went ahead and made his own secret hideout in the closet. I was quite impressed with his imagination and ingenuity.



On side wall:

• 1 hanging folder for comics, complete with transformer-man protector.

Randomly Hanging:

• Battery-run emergency lamp in case of loss of electricity or bulb-burnout.
• Wrist utility hanging bar - complete with 3 ben 10 watches, 1 bakugan shooter, 1 case - full of bakugans , 2 mini-staples (you never know when they might come in handy;-), and electric tape for fixing random wires.
  
• 1 insulated hanging battery case (has: AA, AAA, and D)

On back wall:

• Pockets for secret notes.
• 1 combination calculator/alarm clock, conveniently located hanging from the hole D had kicked in the wall last year. With mini-emergency water bottle rested on top, and rest of hole taped over with napkins
  
• 1 picture of tree - a gift of fine art from A ;-)
  
• 1 guitar hanging on the wall, located above the wrist utility hanging bar.

On ground:

• 1 electric lamp, with energy saving bulb
• Book of Mormon, and set of scriptures.
• 1 portable DVD player
• Massive DVD collection to play on the player.
• 1 mp3 player to jam out to music when the urge hits
  
• 1 Blanket to lay on and snuggle in.

All the comforts of home,... and privacy too!

Monkey Bread

I happened to get a package in the mail. It was too big for the mailbox, and i'd requested them NOT to leave packages on the porch - so i went to pick it up at the post office yesterday. It happened to be a belated birthday present from my dear hubby's dad & his wife. Now, knowing me for the sugar-freak that i am, they picked the perfect gift! It was a pottery mold for making monkey bread. So,... of course we HAD to try it out the minute that the kids got home from school. I used one of the recipes off the box - similar to what i normally make, but with egg and milk (i used soy) in the dough, and pecans added in with the sugar and cinnamon. It was absolutely delectable! I LOVE the way that stoneware cooks. AND,... there are actually some non-sweet recipes on the box for Garlic-parmesan Monkey Bread and Sesame-Herb Monkey Bread. Although i'm sure the favorite for the kids will remain standard sugar & cinnamon monkey bread, M and I will LOVE to try out the others!

A GOOD breakfast!

Every once in a while, i will take time for just ME! And i tend to do this with food as well; there are mornings that the latest breakfast cereal with cold milk does not cut it for me. Today was one of those mornings! And,... seeing as how i had to get up early to switch around cars with my dear hubby ( last night he pulled all the way up our hill - skidding and sliding the whole way; i chose to park at the bottom and WALK up!) - it was a perfect morning for it!

I chose to make myself an open-face veggie omelet. Outside of a nicely spiced veggie-full soup or stew,... and omelet is my FAVORITE way to get my veggies! I used one small onion, 1/2 green pepper, 1 carrot, 2 mushrooms, a generous handful of green onions, spiced it up with salt, pepper, cayenne, and a pinch of curry powder. And then topped it all with a light sprinkling of pepper-jack cheese. It was delish!!

Oh,... by the way,... just ignore the playdoh that looks like it's been on the table for 3 days. This was the morning for a GOOD breakfast,... not the morning to stress about how badly my kitchen needs a cleaning. ;-)