Peppermint Hot Chocolate

I promise you will thank me for this one! Every time I make this, I really can't believe how yummy this actually is. It is really that yummy. I got this recipe from someone on the Enrichment Committee in the Pittsburgh 1st ward and I don't know who it is, but bless her and this delish drink. I made it tonight for Bunco and what a perfect night for it. It was 22* on the way home and tomorrow the high is going to be 14*. Yep, the good ole arctic Midwest. Well, at least I have this hot chocolate to drown my sorrows in.

1/2 pint chilled whip cream
6 hard peppermint candies, crushed
4 cups milk
8 ounces white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Add crushed mints to whip cream and beat until stiff peaks form. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

In a small saucepan, heat milk to a simmer and mix in chocolate. Whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Add peppermint extract.

Pour hot chocolate into mugs and top with mint whipped cream.

Serves 4.

Thank me later.

Procrastination

Why do today, what I can put off until tomorrow, right?? I am the world's worst procrastinator. In college, my professors would tell us about a paper at the beginning of the semester, but then there I would be, the last week of the semester, pulling all nighters to finish it. I'd had three months to work on it, but what's the fun in being responsible? My previous post is about my father. He would die if he knew how much I procrastinate. I don't think he's procrastinated a day in his life. Organized, organized is he. How come that's the second trait I can now think of that I'm not going to inherit from him (the first being the aforementioned beautifully white hair).

In order to tell you what I've procrastinated doing, I need to back up. Do you do anything crafty? I love to spend my time crafting. And of course, once I'm done with said craft, I need someone to admire it. Jeff is my someone. So, as I emerge from the basement with the craft of the week, I expect him to ohh and ahh over it. And then, inevitably the last thing he will always say, is, "You know, you should make more and sell them."

Now, I love him for thinking my creations are worthy of another's hard earned buck. However, the reality of it is - that's just not gonna happen. For several reasons. The first three reasons start with J, D and A. It's not like I have tons of extra time. Fourth, I'm intimidated. Worried that I'd fail and no one would like me (or, I mean, my crafts). Then, fifth, I think it would stop being a hobby, and more of a "have to do" type of thing. So, for all these reasons, I've never attempted to sell anything I craft together.

I do have a friend who I met in Pittsburgh, and her name is Vicki. She is super, super talented. She's an artist, where as I am a crafter. More specifically, she's a painter. And she's one of those moms who are so talented, their craft is worth selling. Vicki came up with a really great idea for something called, Puzzlekins. She actually had a toy manufacturer buy her idea, so now it is sold nationally! This is something she's been working on since I met her in 2002. Isn't that amazing?

Well, now to the part where I've procrastinated. She was hoping that her blogging friends would help spread the word about her cute puzzles for the Christmas season. Moms helping moms, you know? She'd asked us to get the word out by today and if we did, we'd be entered into a give away for her Puzzlekins. Now, would I like to have won a puzzle? Of course. But more importantly, I procrastinated getting it up in the timeline she'd wanted. Because what did I sit down to do just a minute ago? I was going to show my blog readers these really great puzzles a fellow stay-at-home mom made. And then, I went to her blog, only to realize, she'd asked us to do it by noon today. See, she asked on December 1st, so I've had 9 days to do it, but of course I put it off, and now I missed it.

So to Vicki, I am so sorry I didn't do this earlier. I am so happy for you and your Puzzlekins. I love that you are a mom and an artist and that you're making both work. Unfortunately, I put this off, and I would hate for you to think I did it because I didn't care about it. Procrastination just happens to be one of my many bad habits!!

So, here they are folks! They're so great. I haven't gotten my hands on the house or pirate ship, yet, but I have seen a nativity one and they're so fun for little imaginations.

If you are interested, you can buy them here at:
smallworldoftoys.com
Pocket Full of Therapy
Target.com (note: not in Target stores -- only online, and it looks like they may have sold out of the pirate ship... so for that one go to Smallworldtoys.com)


Vicki also does many more amazing things in addition to puzzles. She does beautiful portraits and did a Russian nesting doll of my whole family that we all love! If you are interested in her blog, look over there to the right and she is the Vicki of Vicki and Jake on my blog roll.

Our White Grandpa

A few years ago, a neighbor asked me if Jeff was adopted. I was surprised that she'd ask, and she was a little surprised when I told her he was. Then she asked,

"What nationality are his parents? Are they black?"

What??? Probably ranks up there as one of the strangest questions I ever been asked. And that's sayin' something considering this "peculiar" religion I belong to.

"No, they're your average, white, born-and-raised-in-Utah type of people. Why would you think they were black?"

"Well, Delaney was talking about her white grandpa and her brown grandpa today. I've met your dad, so I know he's white. I just assumed his dad must be another nationality, or maybe black."

Then it dawned on me.

She was talking about their hair! From the earliest age possible that I can recall to memory, I've always looked for the gray crayon to color my dad's hair. Or, just ended up using the #2 pencil. However, by now, it is definitely white. A gorgeous shade of white that I can only aspire to, but know I will indeed never attain. And so, that's how he became our White Grandpa, and Grandpa Clark became our Brown Grandpa.

I just want to let our White Grandpa know how much we love him. And support him. Life has not been great for him over the past few weeks, and we just want him to know we think he's the greatest.

When I went to college, there would frequently be short messages on my machine that went like this:

"Hi Kel. It's Dad. Have I told you lately that I love you? Well, I do. Love you. Dad."

So Grandpa, we just wanted to tell you lately, that we love you.

The Magic of Christmas

We started a tradition last year with the kids using the Elf on the Shelf. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this, a magical elf comes to live at your house prior to Christmas. His job is to watch how you act during the day and each night he magically returns to the North Pole to give a report to Santa on how you were that day. We named our little visitor Scout since that is basically his job. Each morning, the kids wake up to find Scout magically moved to a new location in the house. One rule about Santa’s elves is that they are not allowed to be touched or else they may lose their magic and can’t return to the North Pole to provide Santa the daily update.
Here’s where the story gets interesting. Yesterday, we had a cleaning service in to do a deep clean on the house. The cleaning lady was working through the family room while Jackson was at school and dusted the shelf that Scout was sitting on. Well, she moved Scout to the other side of the shelf instead of putting him back in the same spot. It wasn’t more than 5 minutes after Jackson came home from school that he realized that Scout had been moved. He started to investigate as to how Scout moved. After talking to Kelli, me and Delaney, he came to the conclusion that the cleaning lady was the culprit. Then the panic settled in as he realized that someone had touched Scout and he may have lost his magic. Kelli and I reassured him that we were sure he was fine because the cleaning lady didn’t know the rules.

Fast forward to prayers that night with Jackson… Kelli was out shopping and the girls were already in bed. Jackson and I did prayers and after the standard blessing on our family and our house and being thankful for the invention of Legos, Jackson then says the following. “Bless Scout that his magic won’t be gone and that he can go back to Santa and tell him that we were good and that he can fly back here and be okay.” As I bit my tongue and giggled a little, he finished his prayer. I smiled at him afterwards and then he said as he measured a small distance between his thumb and pointer finger, “Maybe Jesus will give him a little bit of magic back so he can make it to Santa and back.” I responded “Well, Jesus doesn’t really use magic, but I’m sure Scout will be here in the morning.” I never realized the balance I’d have to deal with between gospel doctrine and Santa Claus. Better to strike the balance than to dash the imagination and hopes of an 8 year old completely wrapped up in the magic of Christmas—it’s too much fun.

Marco Island!

Well, we're back. Last Monday we left for 5 days and met Jeff's parents in Florida. Marco Island, Florida, to be exact. I don't think there was a cloud in the sky for all 5 days. The weather was warm and resort was super family friendly. We can't think of a thing we'd change. Well, maybe one...when they started playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving, and you hear, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" while laying out by the pool, it just doesn't have the same effect.

We stayed at the Marriott resort there and they had endless amounts of fun things for the kids to do. Every night at 7 pm, they did a movie on a big blow-up screen by the pool. We caught Madagascar, Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and Herbie Fully Loaded. Delaney watched all of Herbie from the pool.

The first day there, Grandma took Delaney to get her hair done. Not only did it look super cute, but I can't believe how maintenance free it made her hair for the whole trip.

She is still sportin' the look here at home and is thrilled to pieces when someone mentions it to her.

My older kiddos are pretty low-maintenance when it comes to vacation at the beach. All they want to do is go to the beach or the pool. Every day. All day. They never get bored. Here's Jackson working on one of many sand castles for the week.

And enjoying one of the two pools they had at the resort. I've never been to the Gulf Coast of Florida, but the sand is as white and soft as flour. Plus, there are more sea shells to collect that you can imagine. Delaney loved collecting them and spent most of her days collecting, cleaning and organizing them all. Little bit OCD (we think she gets this from her Grandpa Critt).
This picture of Addie Cate makes me want to nibble on her all day long.

This is the reaction we got when we dipped Addie's pigs into the cold beach water.

We got a much better reaction when she went into the pool. They kept it at bath temperature, because us crazy Northerners come down and come heck or high water...we're swimmin'! I love her bathing suit ($3 on clearance at Carter's) and the big kids couldn't keep their hands off her in the pool. All in all, it was a successful first swim for Miss Addie.

Thanksgiving at the resort was great. That morning they did cider and donuts for the kids in the lobby, while showing the Macy's parade on a big screen. It didn't last long for Jackson and Delaney (too many commercials!), but the food was good. Thanksgiving dinner was perfect. Neither I, nor my mother-in-law, love to cook. So, we didn't feel like we were missing out on getting to prepare a feast. The hotel had a yummy Thanksgiving Buffet that was more food than we could even sample. And the best part, as Barbara reminded us, we didn't have to clean up, either!

All in all, it was a great week. We left wishing for more and we're now home to snow today. I suppose the consolation prize is the fact it's now the Christmas season. Snow is okay with me as long as it's Christmas. Come December 26th, though, I'm going to be ticked at this weather.


Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful week! We love getting to spend time with you!