Beer me a Nog!

Office fans will understand the title! If you're not a fan of The Office... well, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore... anyway...

This weekend we finally made a drink that we love... but always just buy from the store... EGGNOG. I seriously love this stuff. I'm addicted to it, really! While I'm fully aware (because Daddio reminds me every time I make a comment about nog) that it is a drink you sip gently... I would rather enjoy a tall frosty mug (as in my tall frosty beer mug I keep in the freezer) of the stuff!

Last year I wanted to make it from scratch but couldn't find a recipe that was for a small amount. I didn't want to waste all those ingredients to have it turn out terrible. This year, I finally found a recipe that makes one pitcher full (6-7 drinks it claims).

Saturday, after watching Food Network and some really tasty indulgences being prepared... we could hold back no longer... we leaped to the kitchen and bowls started flying...

When all was said and done... FREAKIN' AWESOME NOG!

I'm weird, and I'm fully aware of this fact!

This could be revealing just a little too much about my obsession with the Mavs... after a great game last night (even without Dirk and his elbow injury)... I had a really cool dream where I got to meet all my favorite guys and hang out with them.

Sad, I know...

Oh how time flies...

Nine years ago... right about now, actually, I was arriving at the church to start preparing for one of the greatest days of my life. I had already had my hair and make-up done, and was beginning the process of getting all gussied up for my pictures.

(This shot is actually from this morning... this is only the second time in the nine years I've actually pulled it out of the bag and had a good look at it!)

I can remember being surprisingly calm that morning. There were no jitters or anything of the sort. Mostly I was just annoyed with the wedding coordinator from our church... she was a real pain. Although as the morning progressed, I was slightly concerned about the photographer... he was very ill that day (concerned he might ruin my dress due to his illness), and most of the shots were actually taken by his assistant.

By 11:30 my portion of pictures were done and I went back to the lounge to hang out and wait... and wait... around noon my aunt generously went and grabbed me a burger (I thought they would also check in on Daddio and grab him something too... sadly I found out when we were both kneeing during the ceremony no one got him anything).

Finally it got started! There were a few surprises during the ceremony... like the choir lady singing the Ave Maria when we thought it was going to be instrumental (while grandma's/mom's walking in), and some weird communion song that neither one of remember picking.

Finished up the mass, took more pictures... then off to the reception. That's when things got... WEIRD! The DJ didn't show, the wedding cake wasn't what I had picked out, oh, and neither was the food... the cake was fine, the inside was right... the food wasn't bad, just not the stuff I had picked... the DJ... that was enough to drive a poor bride into a little FRUSTRATION! Thankfully our car was already packed for the following day's drive to Houston... and we had our CD's with us (including the song we had chosen to dance to)... so the club just played our music piped through the house speakers.

We danced, we mingled, we took a few more pictures... and then we blew that popsicle stand!

Nine years ago we walked out young newly weds... nine years later we are livin' the life we had no idea we would be living, and loving every minute of it!

Ink blot testing

This morning at the dentist each boy got to leave with a prize... they each picked a knock off magnadoodle thingy to keep in the car. Now it's been a few years since we had a set of these in the car... so it was big fun that everyone got one today even though only Snookie was there to have any work done!

Okay that's the set up... now for the story...

We're headed to our next destination when this conversation occurs!

Snookie (holding up the drawing tool and showing it to his brothers in the back): Hey guys, what's this look like?
Boys (responding together): I don't know?
Snookie (a little frustrated): No guys, seriously, what does it look like to you?!
Boys (annoyed): We don't know, what is it?
Snookie: That is what I'm asking you, I don't know what it is... I want you to tell me what it looks like.

SERIOUSLY... Snookie drew... something... not sure what it was and wanted someone else to interpret his work. I wish I could say that this is the first time a conversation (including a drawing) has gone like this.

Let's make a deal!

A few weeks ago we were out doin' stuff... oh it was part of Bobcat's birthday adventure... anyway we stopped for dessert at a local ice cream shop. While eating a super tasty bowl of ice cream, Bubba piped up that the next time we get to go out for dessert he would like a banana split.

Could Bubba eat a 3 scoop banana split on his own... abso-freakin-lutely! You've never seen a kid put away food like my dear sweet Hubba Bubba (and he is still super thin... must be nice).

Anyway... while sitting there first Daddio said that when he turns 13 (I think) was when we would order one for him... then Daddio paused... and came up with genius plan! He's really good at this stuff :-).

Read 25 books, and once you reach that... then we will go out for banana splits.

After a little more thought we modified just a little. So here are the rules:

Bobcat: Read 30 books, write out the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be in cursive with tidy handwriting.

Bubba: Ready 25 books, write out the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be in his choice of cursive or print with tidy well spaced handwriting.

Snookie: Read 20 books, write out the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be in print with tidy handwriting.

We won't nag them to do any of these things... we will only keep tally. It is up to them to get it done! Oh, and the books have to be read to us for credit. They can read them to themselves or brothers as much as the want... but the only way to get it marked is if we hear it and it is read well (not with a lot of help from us... this mostly applies to Snookie who would rather ask you what it says than to give it a go on his own).

So far each have read 3 books... this may take longer than our pizza reward from this summer (each only had to ready 20 books).

One more time and they are GONE!

That is the law at the moment for my sweet and very frustrated Snookie.

I'm not a structural engineer and neither is Snookie :-).

One thing our boys are into is MODIFICATION. They produce, write, and perform in their own version of Pimp My Ride... known around here as Pimp My Legos! It doesn't matter what the item is that we've worked on, following all the instructions provided in the books... the moment they stand up from the coffee table and head back to their room with it... they are making slight modifications. Once in their room it becomes a complete overhaul! Personally I think it is sort of frustrating, but it is what they like to do and they are being creative in their own way so who am I to judge!

That brings me back to Snookie and my structural engineer comment. Once Snookie starts making changes to his creations they don't always stay together or work the way they should. Even worse are the times that the image in his head can't be translated into the creation due to his skill level or lacking the right sort of blocks (not to mention the kid won't use WORDS when he is trying to explain what he wants, instead opting for a much less effect set of hand motions that I was not taught in Mommy School, this leaves us both nearing the teary eyed mark).

Fortunately with the other two, even if things aren't working quite right the world doesn't come to an end for them. They either move on to something else or continue to try different things until they are satisfied. Snooker once again goes for the less traveled road (oh but it is traveled by him DAILY) of throwing it across the room (legos will remove paint from a wall), yelling at the poor little plastic pieces, full on crying with the begging of the legos to just do what he wants them to do, and then the earth shattering throw down temper tantrum that two year olds' have perfected at WalMart. Did I mention the part where this happens DAILY!?!

After he finishes school in the morning, I remind him about his temper with the legos... and every day we go through the frustration of the legos, then the doom of having to take some time away from the legos (which, dude if you get so angry with them, you would think a little break may help your situation... but no). So today, I told him... "Honey, what am I going to say about your temper and the legos?"

"Don't get frustrated with them, ask for help if I can't do it, or put them away and play with something else or read!"

CHECK!

"Now my sweet little Snooker (yes I actually call him that... always have), I will have to take the legos away until SATURDAY if you can't control yourself, do you understand?"

"Yes..."

Great!

We've had a few close calls already today... thankfully one of the other brothers stepped in to remind him "about [his] temper"...

For those who know the boys... this was the same type of problem we had with wooden train tracks until he was like 4! Fine motor skills are not his bag!