I've been away

Gosh, it's been a while since I have posted anything or even checked my favorite blogs. I have had so much going on and have been sick with a cold for about 4 days now. With the kids being out of school it seems we have been so much busier. Oh yeah and my computer crashed. I am not happy about that but gladly I backed up most everything that was important so I am grateful for that. For all my friends that celebrate the holiday season I wish you all the happiest of holidays and I will not be absent like this come the end of the week! Have a great day :)

Where is the "physical" in Physical Education?

Before anyone gets all huffy thinking I am about to bash the school system you can chill. I stand by my Public School System 100% by staying involved and encouraging my children to take full advantage of their education. I do however have a bit of an issue with the area of physical education. Remember years ago when we had to go to P.E. we had to dress out and be prepared to do physical activity for a good solid hour? Remember playing kickball, football, basketball, rope climbing, tumbling and all the other great stuff you did? Okay, I admit I have never been the top PE student but I do know that we had to participate in different physical activities.

This school year my high schooler has been telling me how PE has been a joke. I am thinking she is exaggerating and is going off of what all the other students who previously took that class were saying. It turns out that there are several days in the week that they are given free-play time (with lots of limitations), computer time or TV time. This really shocked me! I know that there are bad weather days but come on there are always alternatives of things that can be done. I feel like video games and TV have encouraged our youth to be lazy and physically unproductive. I'm really not sure if it is a high school thing or not. It seems like the girls did so much more in the elementary and middle school years in PE class. I would love to see the physical part of physical education to come back!

Vent Day Wednesday

Welcome to this very special holiday edition of Vent day Wednesday! We really hope you enjoy this wacky video and look forward to reading your comments. HO HO HO!

Terrible Two's so soon?

Someone please tell me that the toddler/terrible two's stage does not last forever. Seriously, we have never been through this before because the girls were complete angels. This little boy can really try your patience. If something is in his way he will pick it up and throw it, no matter what the item is. I can't get the boy to sit still except maybe for a meal, but know that he will be back up and running the second he swallows the last morsel. Temper tantrums with back arching and all?? really?? Please tell me he will get some kind of an attention span. Please!!

He is still not quite talking as yet. The doctor tells us it's normal and not to worry since he is doing so well in every other way. That's really not good enough for us. William shows that he knows what's going on and can follow commands but still won't speak. It is really frustrating but we continue to do our best working with him. He will occasionally say something out of the blue and we all get so excited. All of my friends and family tell me that before long I will be begging him to shut up and I should enjoy the peaceful quietness while I can. Has anyone had a late talker in the family? Please tell me I am not alone.

*Sorry for all my whining. Now I will go back to my usual cheery happy self :)

Christmas cookie craziness!

The girls and I decided to make Christmas cookies this year. At first we were going to make the cookies from scratch but changed our minds since we had a dozen cakes to bake as well. I found some pre-cut sugar cookie dough at the store that was ready to bake. We also got a bunch of cookie icing and decorations. We sat for hours decorating some of the stupidest looking cookies ever but had such a blast doing it! We ate at least 6-8 as we decorated. We shared a lot of laughs and made a lot of mess. It was so much fun! I think we will make it a yearly tradition (not only during the holidays).

They look so pitiful!! hahaha!!!

Holiday teacher gifts

My last post was about baking mini pound cakes for the girls' teachers and here they are! I did not go with the lemon ones because I did not like how they turned out. I went with the one I made last year and whenever the name Paula Deen is mentioned you know it's going to be perfect!

They look a little rough but trust me they are so moist and rich. Dwayne was drooling over the little taste he got.

We wrapped them up in plastic wrap and then in decorative tissue paper along with a copy of the recipe inside.

I think they came out cute :) Here is the recipe I used....

Grandmother Paula's Sour Cream Pound Cake *Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

Ingredients:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
3 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the sour cream and mix until incorporated. Sift the baking soda and flour together. Add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.

*NOTE: I used 7 mini loaf pans and baked for an hour instead.