Monday, December 31, 2012

A post about nothing...

...except Lily Kate's "ADOWABLE" face.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Bright Spirits

We began with Christmas tears,
Instead of Christmas wishes.
When Daddy fibbed to Ace,
That Santa'd brought him switches!
 Christmas morning found us smilin'.
A merry change in mood
As we opened tons of presents
and gorged ourselves on food.
 But the best gift of all
wasn't bought by money...
 It was just sharing Christmas
 with our Sashi and our Honey.
 So now begins the cleanup
Ugh, to take down our decors,
 So here is one last Christmas smile
from our fam'ly to YOURS!
(So thankful for a safe holiday filled with smiles and snuggles.  Here's hoping we can teach the kids to be a little less-spoiled next year cus they sure didn't learn that lesson this year.)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Lily Kate's Christmas Program

Christmastime is full of cheer
& jolly bells a-ringing.
Of all the sounds I hear around
my fave is Lily's singing!
 Nothing's better that I know
than to hear her voice
Sing of how the whole world should
at Jesus' birth rejoice.
 My heart is warm, I'm wrapped real tight
around her little finger.
No sweeter sound, I've ever heard
than my precious singer! 
(Thanks Aunt Hilary for Lily Kate's beautiful dress!)

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Squeeze!

These two are just the sweetest,
Indulge me, if you please.
Loving, snuggly, thoughtful, kind
and always ready for a SQUEEZE!
They def'nitely have their moments.
A liar I won't be.
But it's ones like in the pic above,
I'll store in my memory.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Our Christmas is ALL ENGINES blow,
so, to Houston, the Evans did go.
 Saw Pops and Gabby,
ate so much, we're flabby,
 Had the best time we ever did know.
 Saw cousins, got presents galore,
had naps then opened some more,
 Loved on Great Granny Red
til our eyelids were dead
 and our unwrapping fingers were SORE!

I learned my lesson this year,
'cus our Hobby Lobby ain't near,
Overbuy in and out
Or your sure to run out
Which will suck out your Christmas-ey cheer!
(One trip to Hobby Lobby is fun...ten trips are not.)
 After all the weekend traveling, my imagination and rhyming stop here...
 Jonathan kind of thinks I've lost my mind with the leopard but I love it.
 Saw photo stocking hangers and improvised to copy them.
 Love Christmas cards more than anything! Thank you if you sent us one!!! I look at them everyday and love them all.
We love you Aunt Hilary, Uncle Nathan, Aubrey, Brynley, Uncle Patrick, Gabby, Pops, B, Uncle James, Honey, Sashi, Granny, Jerry, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Steve, Cindy, Aunt Debbie, David, Tracey, Hunter, Katie, Dustin, Eunice, Quinten, Sloan, Dale, Patty, Jennifer, Justin, Jackson, Cason, Ella, Joey and Brandy.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Polar Express

Our Trip on the Polar Express!
'Round Christmas I'm us'ly a mess
A gift-buying ball full of stress
But this year I've changed
And a treat I arranged:
A ride on the Polar Express!
Not quite sure what was in store
If it'd turn out a hit or a bore
The train docked and tooted
"All Aboard" was loud hooted
It was all we had hoped for and more.
We drank choc'late and ate cookies whole
As the train's wheels started to roll
They loved it and waited
All patient, breath baited
Til we finally reached the North Pole.
After such great build and suspense
I have to say that forth/ hence
Though we've gone and been
We will do it again
The ride was well worth the expense.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Pizza Wheels

My kids are "normal" kids, not too picky 'bout what they eat.
But coming up with new ideas they like can be a feat!

For your little eaters who are tired of your meals.
Here's a recipe we love, some Mini-Pizza-Wheels.

(This has evolved over time but I'm pretty sure this is the link to the original recipe I tweaked).
Ingredients:
1 can of crescent rolls
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/4 cup grated parmesan (I've used the powdered and shredded and both are good)
1/2 cup shredded mozarella
1/2 chopped pepperoni (or ground beef would be good too)
If you like veggies, you can sneak them in too

Mix everything together and spread onto the crescent rolls like below.
Roll them up and cut them into little wheels.
(Yes, in my letter to Santa I asked for new baking sheets although my grandpa always said food tasted better when cooked or baked on a "seasoned" pan.)
Bake at 350 until nicely browned (anywhere from 8 - 15 minutes...my oven is nuts).
If it weren't so cold, I would have stripped the kids naked and served these with spaghetti sauce for dipping but I didn't feel like doing tomato-sauce-drip laundry.

Did I mention this is also FAST?

Monday, November 19, 2012

My Lovely Lily Kate

Was going through our photos
Saw these and had to share.
I love every part of her,
Those eyes, that smile, that hair!
Yes, yes, I know, she's mine,
So I'm biased as her mother...
But I'm convinced, as cuteness goes,
Her only equal is her brother!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Breaking Dawn: Part 2

I can be quite immature,
I need more common sense,
 There are days I should be locked alone,
When my hygiene's on the fence.
 Everyone knows things about themselves,
They really shouldn't share.
 I love the most those in my life,
Who know those and don't care.
 My husband thinks I've lost it,
Understand it, well, he can't.
 He thinks that Twilight's silly,
So good thing I have my AUNT!
 We've planned this time for MONTHS,
Made plans all neat and nice,
 Figured we'd do it right all round,
And so we saw it TWICE!
(A superlative weekend: the BEST movie ever, the best AUNT ever and the best mother who babysat while we spent the entire day at the movie theater. Yes my aunt made us custom Twilight pillows and we stayed up Friday night watching Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and hung posters all around.)
So sad it's over.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Proud

Yeah for Jonathan!!!

I want to happy-cry,
I want to shout aloud,
Our daddy ran his marathon!
Of him we are SO PROUD!!!
 He had some cute support,
Some signs and bells a-ringing.
 We can't stop giving him our hugs
And his praises singing.
 He was so fun to watch,
And cheer along the way.
 So thankful to all who shared with us,
This very special day.
We are thrilled he came thru healthy,
He's pretty sore on the whole.
But he smiled through the whole darn race
And even met his goal!
(Finished in 4 hours 31 minutes and 864 out of 3096 marathon runners.)
(If you want to see more photos, you can click the link below to see the professional ones.)
http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?action=site.login

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happiest Halloween

Pinterest is like crack, with crafty things galore,
I can look at it for hours, left only wanting more.
 I saw these witches legs and thought, "those look super cute,"
So I went on the hunt to find the perfect witches boot. (Found at Michael's.)
Oh how these two do, set my heart to beating!
We had the mostest fun last night, while they were trick-or-treating. 
 My dragon and my knight, oh the fun they had,
Sashi came along dressed up, Here is Acey with my DAD!
Ace and Lily kept us laughing, as they went door to door,
Every time she got some candy, LK said, "I need one more!"
When she got her treats, my little dragon roared.
Ace said "Happy Halloween!" as he swung around his sword.

Before my kids, Halloween was never, a day I much adored,
I mean, who knew such joy could come from plastic shield and sword?
If you have angels in your house, you'll know just what I mean,
My favorite times are like last night, the Happiest Halloween.