December Part 2: Slow Cooker Chicken Broth, Gingerbread Play Dough, and Playing Around

On the plate: Slow cooker chicken broth

Something to play with:  Gingerbread play dough

Soundtrack to cook to:  Mariah Carey Christmas station on Pandora

Our second part of December was super busy but lots of fun.  The boys learned the important lesson that it's better to give to others than to always receive.  We baked (although a very paired down version of what I normally do) for others, got goodies for the staff at both of the boys' schools, and made some fun things for ourselves as well.  They really enjoyed delivering the treats to the staff and some of our neighbors while emphatically screaming, "Happy Holidays!!!!"  It's something that I did when I was growing up, and I love that I can share this tradition with the boys.

The middle of the night feedings are tough, but when you
see a face like this, it makes it all worthwhile.
But really, I can't complain because she's been a really
good sleeper and after she's done feeding, she goes right
back to sleep.

Joseph and the boys lighting the menorah on December 13

Day 8 of Hanukkah marked the last night of Hanukkah.
William got to light the lights.
Happy Hanukkah 2015!!

The boys with their last present.  I was extremely impressed
with myself for wrapping them so well.  The boxes were
oddly shaped and I am NOT the best wrapper (I'm a huge
fan of gift bags).  However, I felt like the boys should
get at least one wrapped present since I did gift bags for the
other nights.

Oscar likes to help the kids unwrap gifts.

The boys got Furbaccas for the last night of Hanukkah!
They were so thrilled/curious as to what these little creatures
would do.

The boys playing with their beloved Furbaccas.

The Furbaccas were a hit, but boy oh boy, these suckers
were loud!

William took a break from Furbacca so that he could
play with Oscar and his Bobo.  Since the boys got
a present for Hanukkah, we felt that Oscar should get
a present as well.  Oscar loooooves this one type of toy
and doesn't really care for any other dog toys.  It was
really nice to see Oscar in a good mood and playing well
with William, despite not feeling so well.

They played like this for a good 20 minutes.  It was really sweet.

William feeding his Furbacca a plastic banana.

Alex made his Furbacca a special (pretend) meal.

Penelope was a little camera shy, but here's our little
lady sporting her "first Chanukah" bib.  :-)

It was spirit week at Alex's school and I had to throw together something for his favorite super hero or book character outfit.  I quickly stopped by a local craft store and bought a blue t-shirt, some fabric markers, and foam stickers.  Then, after we put the kids down, I made a "Super A" for "Super Alex" shirt that he could wear to school the next day.  He was thrilled!

Super A for our Super Alex

You can't tell, but he's wearing his super hero cape, too.
He loves his little sister so much.

The boys playing with Penelope on December 15.

I try to take Oscar in the car for William's drop off and pick up
most days.  This particular morning I turned on the seat warmers
and Oscar fell asleep in the down position.  He must have been
quite comfortable.  :-)

During William's last week of school (before winter vacation), his school had fun activities planned.  One day a magician visited the school.  William had so much fun!

Look at our little guy squealing with joy!

I love his genuine smile.

He was captivated with the performance.

William got to be part of the magic show.  He said that
the magician, "Tried to disappear me!"  Lol!

Our goofy...

...and sassy lil' girl.  :-)

Penelope was in quite the mood this day.  Joseph
had a holiday dinner and asked me to tag along.  So,
we asked our normal babysitter if she could watch all
three kids one evening and she said that she could.
Unfortunately, Penelope had other plans.  The boys were fine
but Penelope refused three feedings from the babysitter!
Oy!  Penelope, at this point, would only take bottles
from me and no one else.  She was quite the difficult
little lady that evening.

I, however, had a blast and was so excited to dress up
and get out of the house with Joseph.  Unfortunately,
Penelope woke up 5, count 'em 5 times that night to eat
in order to make up for the feedings that she missed
throughout the day.
Oy!  It wasn't the three glasses of wine that hurt me, it
was the utter exhaustion and sleep deprivation that destroyed
me the next day.  :-/

The next day, Alex had an open classroom where he showed me his portfolio and a book that he had written about himself.  He was so excited to show off all of his hard work.

Alex sharing his "All About Me" book with me,
William, and Penelope.

William was so interested to see what Alex had done.

Alex drew a picture of Disney Land and wrote "Wish Your Dreams."

"My house has planest (plants)."
He also labeled all of the objects in the picture.

"Mom, Alex, and Will"

"Yay!  Playground"

Alex drew a picture about his field trip to the apple orchard.
He wrote, "We went on a hay ride."

He also labeled the objects in this picture.

Alex was growing a bulb in science.  He predicted it would
grow into a "zoocene" (zucchini).  Pretty good invented spelling, buddy!

Alex's bulb that he grew in science.  He wrote, "Grown with love"
on the outside of it.  Too sweet!

This guy was soooo excited to have us in his classroom
and was so proud to show us his work.  Great job, big guy!

Alex chit chatting with his friends.  So cute!

Our big girl wearing her brothers' onesie and kicking
off her little socks.  They used to fit her perfectly
and now they're too small!  Phew!  This little girl
is not such a peanut anymore.

Our William, giving me a whole lot of sass as we were
walking to pick up Alex one day.  Love this kiddo.  :-)

One afternoon when Alex had a short day, I asked the kids if they wanted to go somewhere.  They emphatically screamed, "Lego lannnnnd!"  So, we quickly ate lunch at home and headed off to Lego Land.

William, Penelope (in carrier), and Alex getting ready
to watch the 4D movie at Lego Land.

Sometimes she sleeps with her eyes open.  It's pretty crazy.

Penelope on December 18.

Our cutie patootie

Oh my goodness!  So adorable!  Penelope, while in her jammies,
 reminded me so much of Puss 'n Boots.  What do you think?

Right?  All I need is a little hat for her to hold.  :-p

I like her mischievous grin, too.

Oscar checking on Penelope while she was on her play mat
one afternoon.  He loves her so much.

William wanted to tickle Penelope's feet before bed time.

Below is a quick and easy treat that I made for the holidays.  I took some white chocolate and melted it, then laid down miniature candy canes and lollipop sticks and piped the chocolate over them.  Then I topped the chocolate with a little crushed candy cane as well.  Gotta love Pinterest!  :-)

Aren't they adorable?  They were delicious, too!

I know it's been so long since I've posted a recipe, so here's a recipe that I made to make my own chicken stock.  I've never made my own and didn't realize how EASY it was to make. 
We had a rotisserie chicken one night for dinner.  After dinner, I picked the rest of the meat off of the bone.  Then I took the carcass and any of the remaining bones and did the following:

Ingredients:

• 1 small chicken carcass and bones
• 1 handful of baby carrots (about 8)
• 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
• 1/2 onion, quartered
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• Salt to taste
• Water

Directions:

1. Put all of the ingredients (except for water) in a slow cooker.
2. Fill the slow cooker with water so that it covers the top of the carcass.
3. Put the lid on the slow cooker and set it to low for 8-10 hours.
4. Pass the stock through a fine strainer.

Put all of the ingredients in the slow cooker

Pour in the water so it just covers the top of the carcass.
Set it to low for 8-10 hours with the lid on and you'll
wake up in the morning with the house smelling amazing
and you'll have a LOT of stock at your disposal.

I never knew how easy it was to make but was so thrilled
with the results.

I also made a few fudge pies based on a friend of mine's recipe.  Since it's not my recipe, I don't feel that I can share it, but let me just tell you that it was deeeeeelicious.

William liked licking the spatula.

Alex got the remnants of the bowl.  :-)

I just HAD to get a picture of Penelope's squishy little
bottom!
However, she disagreed with me taking it and as soon
as I snapped the picture, she peed allllll over me.

Penelope:  1  Mommy:  0

Penelope on December 21.

William splashing around in the puddles that morning.

Splash, splash, splash

Since it was a nasty, rainy day, I decided to have the boys make gingerbread scented play dough.  It was so simple to make and the dough smells soooo good.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves

I had the boys mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
(Oscar wanted to join in on the fun.)

Then, with a rubber spatula, cook this mixture in a
sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly.

The dough smells heavenly, just like gingerbread, and
has a really great consistency.  We will totally make
this play dough recipe again.

Snuggle time with my best girl :-)

<3

I'm one of the room parents for Alex's classroom and was in charge of getting his teacher a class gift for the holidays.  Since Alex's teacher has a very young daughter, I thought it would be nice to get her a gift that was a collection of activities that his teacher could do with her daughter over the winter vacation.

Oscar would NOT leave my side and was very curious
as to what I was putting into the baby sled.  He kept nosing
inside to try and see if there was something for him.

This is my attempt at gift wrapping something.
That's about as nice as it gets.  :-/
At least Alex's teacher enjoyed the activities inside
the sled with her daughter.  Woo hoo!

Little Miss P on December 22 loving her tubby time

Penelope snuggling with Alex after her bath.

Oy this kid!  Love him so much.  He gives me a hard time
but then turns around and says, "Mommy, you're beautiful
and I love you soooooo much!"  He knows just how to work me.

While Penelope was sleeping and Alex was at school, William and I had a fun time playing with Oscar in the basement.  It was nice to see Oscar with a little skip in his step.

He loves to play with the plastic squeakers from his Bobo toys.

William and Oscar playing tug of war with the squeaker.

I love the relationship they have with each other.

William and Oscar playing

All of this transpired the week before our family members visited for the holidays.  It was an action packed week filled with doing things for others.  Up next will be how we celebrated Christmas.
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki