Manic Monday

This is a homemade demotivator that someone created just for those of us who live in the Land of Lincoln. Enjoy!

The Nativity According to Kinley

Kinley has always called her brothers "Guys".

She does this because that is the way Brian and I refer to them. We say things like, "Come on guys, let's go." or "You guys need to cut that out!"

For a while there I think she thought their names were "Guys"...at least that is how she addressed them. Even if she was only talking to one of them she would say, "Hi, guys!"

She now calls them "Gykie" and "Kayga" when she is addressing them individually, but she still calls them "guys" when she is talking to both of them. To her "guys" is a synonym for "brothers".

Anyway...I say all that to say this....we shouldn't be surprised then when Kinley describes the characters of the Nativity like this....

Baby Cheesis (Baby Jesus)

Daddy Cheesis (Jesus' Daddy, Joseph)

Mama Cheesis (Jesus' Mama, Mary)

Guys Cheesis (Shepherds and Wisemen....Jesus' own personal "guys")

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas from the Grove Family!!

Christmas Eve

At Grandma and Grandpa's Place....

We always got together on Christmas Eve.

We did NOT open presents. Christmas Eve was a time for two things:

Singing Christmas carols around Grandma's old upright piano and listening to Grandpa read the Christmas story from the Bible.

Aunt Susan would play the piano and we would all call out the songs we wanted to sing. We would stand around sharing old church hymnals and signing every carol we could think of. As always, those of us who knew how to play were asked to do a couple of special numbers after the sing-along.

We also drank eggnog...the real stuff with raw eggs and pounds of sugar in it...and had some Christmas goodies like cookies and fudge.

The funny thing is my Grandma made awful cookies. They were always burnt. She was a wonderful cook, and almost everything I know about cooking I learned from her, but she couldn't make a decent cookie. I think it was her oven. I think the temperature just wasn't regulated properly.

She did make some really good fudge though. She had a fudge recipe that called for coffee. Not a single soul in the family (except a couple of in-laws, including my mom) drank coffee, so Grandma just brewed up some instant in a sauce pan on the stove. One year (I think it was actually on Christmas Day) we were all in the kitchen preparing the meal. In the midst of making the stuffing, apple-banana salad and mashed potatoes we were also making the fudge. My Aunt Susan (a notoriously bad cook, but a funny one) got the coffee and poured it into the fudge mixture. It wasn't long before we realized that she had actually grabbed the pan of drippings and onions and stuff that was supposed to go into the stuffing. Needless to say no one ate that fudge.

But anyway, back to Christmas Eve....At the end of the evening we would all crowd into the living room and sit down to listen to Grandpa read. He would read from Luke 2 and then skip over to Matthew to read the story of the Magi's journey. It was quiet and simple and sweet.

This year we are going to do it again. Grandpa passed away last year just before Christmas and Grandma had to move out of the house and in with my uncle. But tonight we are going to open the house up again and meet there (maybe for the last time) to carry on the old traditions.

I'd better start practicing my piano solo.

I think I'll bring the cookies.

Nuptials in Narnia

Brian's cousin Rachael got married this weekend. We made the 6 hour trip to Ohio for the wedding. When we arrived we discovered that the whole area had experienced a major ice storm the night before. Luckily all of the roads were clear but everything else was covered in ice.


It was actually really beautiful and it made a fairy tale-like setting for a wedding. Cainan looked out on all of the sparkling trees and said, "It looks like Narnia!" He was right. Every inch of every tree, blade of grass, and sign post was encased in ice.




After the wedding we all went to the reception site and awaited the arrival of the bride and groom. They had plans to arrive in a horse and carriage so the bride had a white fur stole wrapped around her arms. She looked beautiful getting out of that carriage in her gown and fur, surrounded by a world of white.


When we saw her Cainan said, rather loudly, "It's the White Witch!!"


I hope she didn't hear.

F is for........

We are constantly reminding our kids to have good manners.

Ryker is often too shy or too spacey to remember to be polite but Cainan is catching on quickly to situations in which he needs to respond with "thank you", "please"or "your welcome".

Yesterday at school one of Cainan's little friends kindly gave him the graham cracker gingerbread house that he had made. Cainan was so excited to receive the gift. He immediately ran up to Brian and showed him the milk carton creation.

C: Look what Logan gave me!

B: Wow! That was nice of him.

C: Yeah, and don't even say it.

B: Say what?

C: (proudly) I already did it.

B: Did what?

C: I said the "F" word.

B: Which "F" word?

C: You know which one.

B: (with fear creeping into his voice) Ummmm....why don't you tell me which "F" word you said.

C: (exasperated) Fank You!

Christmas Goodies Galore

This week's theme for the Holiday Expo is Christmas Goodies.

Well, they came to the right place.

I love Christmas goodies....actually any kind of goodies...which is why I have to work out like a maniac....but I digress.

I already shared my new favorite holiday cheesecake recipe with you all, so I'm going to give you the recipes for three other great Christmas desserts.

By the way, have you ever seen anything but a dessert recipe on this blog Oh yeah, there was the soup made with HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM. Anyway, eat up and work out. That's my motto.

Recipe #1: Oreo Truffles

One of Brian's co-workers gave him some of these and I fell in love with them. They are super delicious and super easy.

1 pkg. Oreo cookies (or generic works too)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
almond bark

Scrape filling out of cookies. DO NOT EAT IT! Put it in a bowl with the cream cheese. Mix well.
Crush cookies. (A food processor works well, but I use a Ziploc bag and a rolling pin.) Mix cookie crumbs with cream cheese mixture.

Form into 1 inch balls. Place on a wax paper lined baking sheet and chill until firm. Melt almond bark in a double boiler. Dip Oreo balls in almond bark and place back on baking sheet to dry.

*Variation: I am going to try making these with the new Peppermint Oreos. Yummy!


Recipe #2: Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Everybody (maybe not) knows that St. Louis is famous for it's Gooey Butter Cake, but this dessert combines all the rich goodness of the STL classic with a traditional pumpkin pie. Cut it in to small pieces or none of your guests will have room for any of your other desserts.

Cake:
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 Tbsp. butter, melted

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
3 eggs
8 Tbsp. butter, melted
15 oz. canned pumpkin
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
16 oz. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 X 9 pan. To make filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey, but not runny.

Recipe #3: Cranberry Bars

I received these treats and their recipe at a cookie exchange one time. I've made them every Christmas since. If you like cranberries I think you'll love these bars as much as I do.

2 c. whole cranberries
1 c. chopped walnuts
4 eggs, beaten
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. butter, melted
2 t. almond extract, divided
2 c. confectioner's sugar

Mix eggs, flour, sugar, butter, and 1 t. almond extract. Spread into a greased jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with cranberries and walnuts. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool in pan. Spread with glaze made of confectioner's sugar, 1 t. almond extract and enough water to make the desired glaze consistency.

I hope you enjoy these Christmas Goodies. If you try them come back and let me know what you think.

If you'd like to get dozens of other great recipes head over to Internet Cafe Devotions and follow the links for the Holiday Expo.

Girl Genius

We are in the midst of potty training.

By "we" I mean Kinley and I. No one else seems to be too affected by it. Brian just puts her in a pull up when he is around.

Anyway, she is doing great, but she still has a few accidents. I don't mind the honest to goodness accidents but I must admit I get a little angry when I ask her if she needs to go, she says 'no', and then proceeds to go in her pants 10 seconds later.

When that happens she has to sit on the potty anyway. I make her stay there for 2 or 3 minutes as a punishment. She hates it and wants to get down after just a few seconds, but I don't budge.

Recently I put her on the potty and gave her the lecture about not getting up until I say so, etc, etc, and then I went off to get her some clean clothes. As I'm in the laundry room digging through the only basketful of clean clothes in the house I hear the electric train start running in the toy room. I shot out of there already making threats about getting back on that potty, blah, blah, blah. But as soon as I turned the corner into the toy room I stopped in mid-sentence.

My brilliant daughter had simply taken the potty with her. She was sitting on her little potty chair happily playing with the trains on the train table.

What could I do? She didn't leave the potty, after all.

Hard Rock Candy

In our younger days we gathered with our college friends annually on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for "The Cow Chip Bowl", a rousing flag football extravaganza that took place in, you guessed it, a cow pasture. The wives of the "athletes" tried out new recipes and crafts while the boys were out playing in the freezing cold and mud.

Several years, and knee and ankle surgeries, later our husbands are too old and feeble to play football anymore so we gather on New Year's Eve and play board games in to the wee hours of the morning instead. But I still remember a lot of the recipes and craft ideas I learned during those years. One of my favorites is the recipe for hard rock Christmas Candy.

It really isn't as hard as it sounds and it is a super cheap and easy gift idea for those hard to buy for people on your list. Who doesn't like candy? The only special tool you need is a candy thermometer. Do not attempt to make this candy without one.

Hard Rock Candy

1 cup white corn syrup

1 cup water

3 cups sugar

1/2 bottle flavoring*

1 tsp. food coloring

powdered sugar

Fill the bottom of a large sheet pan at least one inch thick with powdered sugar. In a large saucepan, cook sugar, syrup and water to 300 degrees, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add flavoring and coloring. Pour hot candy into prepared pan making sure that candy touches sugar only and not the bottom or sides of the pan.

At this point you have two options. You can let the candy cool completely and then use a clean hammer to bust it in to bite sized pieces OR you can let it cool until it is barely cool enough to touch but still pliable, and use a pair of kitchen shears to cut it into bite sized pieces. I prefer the second method because you can better the control the size of the pieces and the edges aren't quite as sharp.

You will now have some beautiful hard candy pieces coated in a very thin layer of powdered sugar. Yum Yum!

*The flavoring I use is called a 'highly concentrated flavoring oil' made by Lorann Oils http://www.lorannoils.com/ . Each bottle is 1 fluid dram or .125 fluid ounces. Half of a bottle is just the right amount for this recipe. You can find them at Wal-Mart, but only around Christmas time. Some pharmacies also carry them (don't ask me why). I'm sure you could order them online also.

For more great recipes and tips head over to Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Lana's and Lisa's. They are having a great giveaway today ONLY, so don't miss it.

365 Days

Well, I've officially lived on this planet for one whole year without my Grandpa.

I still miss him every day.

I still have fond memories every day.

I'm still glad he never spent a day in the hospital or nursing home.

I still wish he was here.

I still miss him every day.