To My Readers

Merry Christmas and
Happy 200th Post!

A while ago I was going to stop blogging. I'd started to slack and wasn't enjoying it like I used to. This blog was started to keep the Grandparents (who I dearly love) in touch with us on a regular basis. It wasn't until last April that it ever occured to me that it could be more than that. I recieved a challenge to make my blog an evidence that there is JOY IN LIFE. Since then I have diversified my blog from the picture updates of my children to include much more. When I got discouraged my husband showed my I could see my statistics for my blog. I have been amazed at how many of you are reading my blog. I have been inspired by this and tried to share more of myself.

To all of you who keep coming back to my blog to see what we've been up to...Thank You!  I find myself looking for fun activities and projects to do with my family in anticipation of sharing those experiences with all of you.  (And getting excited about finnishing a project and documenting the success.)  And when I have a terrible day I think how it really would be funny to share with you as looking back on the catastrophies of life give us a good laugh once they have passed.  So thank you for inspiring me, I enjoy sharing my life with you.

Perspective

As the mother of two little boys I have to admit that there are days when I would be happy to rent them out to the highest bidder just to give me a break.  And there are some days when I really wonder why we thought we could handle two little ones this close together.  These boys are starting to come into their own lately and can be very opinionated and stubborn (though they get both from me). 

I was starting to get very frustrated with them and even wondering what I was doing wrong for a while and was really in need of a change of perspective.  A couple weeks ago my littlest got the flu.  I was up with min until late at night.  My heart ached watching him try to sleep.  He'd wake up just long enough to vomit and then settle back into the towel I'd wrapped him up in and go back to sleep.  It didn't last long but it was sure hard on him. 

My older boy got that same illness but it wasn't as bad.  Ten days later, out of nowhere, he got a fever of 102.  I treated him with Tylenol but it didn't do much good.  The poor guy had a high fever into the night.  At 2:00 AM he got up to go to the bathroom and I got up to check on him.  His fever was still high and I was worried.  Long story short I didn't end up taking him to the ER and I sat with him for the next hour until his fever finally broke and he rested.  Again, it was very hard to watch him be so miserable.

So, since then I've had a little more appreciation for these little ones in my house.  I'm so blessed to have a full home.  These boys may be crazy at times but I am so grateful that they are well.  So, I'm hugging them a little more often and counting to ten before I get upset.  I even let them help make the chocolate pretzels (it was a little messy but they did good).  I am so blessed to have the love of the boys that live in my house and I hope they know how much I love them.

For those of you who are wondering, that is the neighbor's puppy.  It's so cute but I could not handle a dog right now.  It's been fun to get to enjoy him a bit without being responsible for him. 



Christmas Caramels Recipe

This is my FAVORITE Christmas treat!  I found the recipe on allrecipes.com  I've modified it a bit so this is the altered recipe.

Caramel Candies
2 Cups Brown Sugar
2 1/2 Cups White Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Butter
1 1/2 Cups Corn Syrup
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup + 2 Tbsp Milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine ingredients in a large saucepan (atleast 5 qts) over medium high heat.  Heat to 240 degrees (soft ball stage).  Pour into a greased 9 X 13 pan.  Let cool for 9-12 hours before cutting.  I like to cut it into bite size pieces and wrap in wax paper like tootsie rolls.

I wanted to post a picture but they are gone so maybe next time.  Trust me, they're good.