We have tried really hard this past week to see Frozen as our first movie experience as a family.   Tuesday (Christmas Eve), we headed west toward a theater around which we'd formed our day's plan when I suddenly realized that either the times had changed since I'd done my research or I was looking at the wrong info. Oops.

We pulled over and, upon more research, realized that we could drive 30 minutes east to a theater nearer our old house and make the first showing there.   So we did that, got there half an hour early, and....found the movie already sold out.   Ugh.    That turned into killing a coupla hours at the mall which, while unnecessary, was a perfectly fun way to spend the morning!

We then moved on to a new plan for Friday morning back at the first theater.  The movie time was now 9:45 AM which would lead beautifully to a lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, a restaurant we don't make it to very often.   We hit the road bright and early and walked into the theater lobby to find the manager coming out to tell us that there were technical difficulties and all of the first showings had been canceled for the day.   UGH.

It was only about 9:20 at this point but we accepted the challenge of killing time until CPK opened at 11.   It was probably the best Target trip ever for the kids because we let them scope out the toy section to their heart's content.  I was starting to lose steam around 10:00--what were we going to DO until 11?--but a visit to the Starbucks counter inside Target perked us up.  The shopping center has a great playground so that helped us in our efforts and we emerged triumphant to be the first customers at the restaurant when it opened:


(I added a filter to this pic that made the BG's vacay beard look much fuller/darker than it was but I've totally been digging it!)

Anyway, it was a beautiful sunny morning and we had a really nice meal.  (BK: "this pizza is SOOOO good!"    And the parents cheered.)

We recalibrated our movie-watching efforts for yesterday morning.  We headed back to the same theater since we were told that we'd "be taken care of" if we came back (and we also got a refund....although it's yet to show up on my credit card statement.)   I am happy to report that we were able finally to watch the movie.  As you can see, Miss C was thrilled:


Okay, that's really just an unfortunate picture.  She did great for a not-yet-3 year old, although I still think that's too young for a movie.  They are SOO loud these days (yes, I'm shaking my cane and rattling my dentures as I write this) and even the animated kids movies can be a little overwhelming.  She was in and out of her seat a bit but didn't get too upset, thankfully:


She sure loves her (now less-bearded) daddy!   A few months ago, she gave him a big hug and said she was "sweeting on him."  That's now a fun family expression and gets used a lot because she has lots of sweeting to give!


Appropriate that today's post has been about a movie since it happens to be the birthday of my favorite film guru!    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GEOFF (aka Lyman Green)!!!

I made this collage of pics back in 2008 for a blog post about his Jeopardy appearances and think it's still a winner:


For those of you new(er) to the blog, be sure to check out this post about his game show experience!!

PS:  Happy birthday also to loyal reader Abbey!!!   Hooray for New Year's Eve "babies"!!!

Olive and her parents came over to play on Friday afternoon and the girls were decked out in matching shirts:




Annnddd.....that was about the extent of our weekend excitement.  We are loving having a reason to be completely lazy.  Hard to believe there are still THREE days of vacation left!!!

Dorky title but true nonetheless!

Polly came to visit us in the morning.  This was our first time seeing her since she moved to Oregon in March.  We are SO happy that she had time to come play since she's got a lifetime of family and friends in this area to visit.  She brought her Christmas present camera and we managed to get some cute shots:


Sadly, we couldn't play with her all day.  The B-man and I had tickets to go see Elephant & Piggie on stage!!   I had originally found the tickets but then Grammie graciously gave them to him as a Christmas present along with the two latest books in the series (A Big Guy Took My Ball and I Am A Frog).  At this point, they are well below his reading level but Mo Willems just has such a flair for storytelling and the B-man quite loves to perform dramatic readings!

Outside the very famous performing arts center:


By the theater sign:

 And with the impressively robust program:


It was SUCH an entertaining show.   The two actors playing the titular characters (along with the 3 "Squirrelles" back-up singers/dancers) performed scenes straight out of six or so of the books.  The vignettes were all linked together with an over-arching storyline that included several songs!  B was just giggling and guffawing the entire hour.  Such a crowd-pleaser!   Thanks, Grammie and Opa!

The day started out with the traditional Moore family cranberry bread.  We cut slices and broil them with butter--yum!!  Glad we doubled the recipe because an entire loaf is already gone:


Then there were some bleary-eyed children checking out what Santa left for them:


And then there was some of this:


And this:


And then there was this no-knead artisan crusty bread.  Prettttyyyy sure I'm going to start making it regularly-- can't wait to try it with cheddar and then maybe with craisins and pecans and then maybe with feta and herbs.....and....and...    It requires an overnight rise but it is super easy otherwise!


Hope there were merry Christmases all around!

Last eve after church but before our fancy dinner of leftovers, the kiddies spread out the reindeer food that came home with C from preschool:

Then Miss C practiced her cheerleader moves:

For all of those celebrating today, we wish you a joyful day of merry times and blessed love as we remember the arrival of He who came to give us new life.

Hugs all around!   Wish you were here eating cranberry bread with us!!

It's like the subjects decided ahead of time which one would get the wider smile in each pic:


It's fun to turn off the flash and play with the manual settings.  Especially when the hair then matches the cabinets:


Selfies with big cameras are very tricky!


And finally:  I am so excited there's a new version of Photoshop Elements waiting for me under the tree thanks to Big D.  I haven't had access to the editing program in a coupla months after having to get a new laptop so I am very much looking forward to getting to play around with pics again! 

The doorbell rang Saturday morning.   It was really early:  7:20.   My first thought was that it was a package delivery of some kind but I looked through the glass of the front door and saw a girl wearing a leather jacket and a backpack.  As much as I succeed in my general aim to look for positives in life, I have a very, very strong propensity for worry on a personal level.   So...obviously, this was some sort of scam that was going to lead to us getting robbed or killed or something.

I might read too many articles/books about crime.  I might watch too many dramas/thrillers.   But I also remember the accounts growing up about people in our small town receiving an unexpected visitor who asked for a glass of water or to use the phone and then, when they went to retrieve said object, were treated to others sneaking in and stealing stuff without being seen.   I might be paranoid but that doesn't mean bad things don't happen.

I sent the BG to the door because I feel like he's a titch more imposing than I am.   Wouldn't you know it-- she asked to use our phone.  SCAM, I wanted to yell!    I sure didn't want him to hand over a valuable cell phone so I brought the cordless home phone to her.   I hung back, palming my cell phone in case I needed to make an emergency call or text.  I couldn't really hear her but I gathered that she was saying she'd run into some sort of transportation difficulties and she needed to make a call.  She dialed and then started speaking in what sounded like French.  INTERNATIONAL SCAM.  I was getting really nervous.  I knew she was going to say that the call wasn't successful so, when that happened, I was pretty much ready to be robbed.   There was some back and forth between her and the BG about taxis....and the next thing I knew, he was telling me that he was going to drive her to work.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's walking into danger.  I was convinced.  But what could I do?   "It's Christmastime, " he said.  "What better time to help out someone in need?"

So he left.   I managed not to tell the kids that they would never see their father again which might have been one of my most impressive parenting moments.

About 15 minutes later, the phone rang and I knew from the caller ID that it was the BG.   Not sure if you knew I married a comedian but the first thing he said when I picked up was, "Help!  She has a gun!"

Turns out that the girl graduated several years ago from the high school where he teaches, and her motorcycle really did have some sort of technical difficulty on her way to work in the next town over.  Since our driveway is the first one on our street, a quick pull-off from the road that goes from town A to town B, she really was just unlucky enough to need transportation help at 7:20 in the morning.   She was lucky enough to find a caring resident who wanted to make her day easier.

I am lucky to be married to that man.

(Of course, being 6' 4" makes him a lot less threatened by people than I am-- paranoia or no paranoia.)

She came back late that evening with helpers to get her broken-down bike out of our yard where it had stayed all day.  But if you think we didn't take advantage of a photo opportunity, you would be very, very wrong.


It makes me sad that fear and anxiety can overwhelm me to a point of missing an opportunity to help someone in need.   I hope and pray for wisdom this Christmastime-- and always-- to discern exactly where those moments are.

Yeah, wouldn't recommend these.  They're pretty much sweet but not in a dessert-y way:


Serious Elf CJK at her preschool party yesterday:


With her gingerbread house and a lovely hair peak!


Kids "riding" a game at the mall that transformed them into astronauts.  (Susan, you'll notice they're both sipping a Costco smoothie!!):


Jo-Ann Fabric had all Christmas merchandise 70% off and then the cashier gave me an additional 25% off.  I'd like to introduce you to our new amazingly-priced decoration.  He needs a name!!  Send suggestions! 


Start with food and end with food, I always say.  (Okay, I've never said this but I don't disagree.)  The BG brought home this beauty last night for me to eat.  A student gifted him two cupcakes and he knew, after enjoying the first one, that I'd appreciate the recipe.  That's a pretzel chunk on the top and it even had fudgy swirls throughout the cake!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!

(or at least in mid-November)!

I know there are several blog readers who are not on Facebook so I wanted to post these photos here, too.  (And, actually, they posted kinda blurry on FB so this is a better view!!)  We are so thankful that our friend, Diana, came over to help us get some shots for the Christmas card.  It was SUCH a dreary day and we almost postponed.  So glad we didn't because the next weekend was super cold and wet.    I am so impressed that she managed to get these fun shots just around our yard.  It is SO hard to capture multiple decent expressions!

I sent Miss C off to school yesterday in a Christmas-colored ensemble:  the shirt had a hint of green in the mitten design so I decided to highlight it with the pants selection.

Apparently she did not think she had enough green on her shirt:

Here's hoping it truly is washable paint!  (Also, as you can see, she is convinced her ponytail--even if there is no bow--will blow away if it seems cold/windy so she must hold on tightly to it!)

She's fine with bows as long as she's indoors...and especially if she's cruising her favorite store!  Gotta love a place that provides such fun photo ops!

Polly mentioned to me recently the tastiness of "Christmas Crack."  Since I'd already seen versions of this recipe online, I determined that it was something I needed to try.  I knew that it would not be the best idea for me to make it for no reason--and then have to eat it--so it all worked out when I decided at 10:30 PM Sunday to go to a gathering last night with our former church young adult group.  Boom!   I'll peddle this "crack" (which is basically toffee) to them!

This stuff is super easy to make and is very tasty!  I searched for recipes and then just kinda combined them.  Basically, you:

--Preheat oven to 400ish
--Cover pan(s) with foil and cooking spray
--Place saltines (a sleeve's worth) in the pan(s)
--Melt 2 sticks of butter and 1 C light brown sugar on the stove until bubbling-- and then 3 minutes more
--Pour bubbling goo over the saltines and bake in oven for 5 minutes
--Sprinkle 2 C chocolate chips all over the top, wait for a few minutes for them to start to melt and then spread 'em all over
--Put whatever kind of topping you want on that
--Put in freezer until hard
--Break into pieces
--Keep in airtight container

Here are my pans after chilling but before breaking into pieces:


I decided to make 5 different flavor combos:  candy cane pieces, sea salt, M&Ms, coconut craisin, and coconut butterscotch.

Go forth and make this!

Big (slightly belated) birthday wishes go to this little lass who turned 1 on Saturday!!   I love how she's looking up at C:


Miss O took a nap while she was here and my children have had so much fun playing in the pack and play that we set up for her:



That's it-- I'm wrapping up their old baby toys to give them as Christmas presents this year!  :-)

It makes me kinda sad that we have so few videos of Wee Camille compared to what we have of her brother.   Whenever I try to make up for this, however, she reverts to a more silent/non-performing status.  (Oh, the fickleness of children-- ha!)

She's really into puzzles and loves doing the US State puzzle.  As you can see, she doesn't have all the names mastered--although she knows where they go!--so I think I better send her to meet with the US Map Drill Sergeant!     She sure does have the whole "taking time to smile for the camera" thing down, though!!



PS:  I know her Grammie might be concerned about the discoloration on her arm:  those are snowmen stamped at the end of preschool!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

The BG's car wouldn't start yesterday morning.  He tried to jump it but it was a no-go.  Since it was 6:15 AM, it was just easier for him to take my car than to wake up both kiddies, put them in the car, and drive him to school.   At least it wasn't a preschool day, but the assorted errands I had planned clearly weren't going to be able to happen.  Instead, I threw myself wholeheartedly into the time-suck that is the Annual Christmas Card Project.   Many hours later, I'm about 85% done and look forward to dropping the completed ones in a mailbox today! 

"Good" thing I had made these puppies on Snow Day #1 so I could have sustenance.  Because, really, nothing says "healthy fuel" like 2 cups of sugar and a stick of butter.


I used this recipe and threw in some butterscotch chips with the chocolate ones.   So easy-- and yum!

(I won't even show you the artisan rosemary bread I made on Snow Day #2 since it ended up not-so-aesthetically-pleasing; the grilled cheese sammie I made with it last night, however, was dee-lightful!)

I'm happy to report that our fabulous neighbor's brother came over, identified the car problem as a dead battery, went to two stores to track down the correctly-sized one, and installed it for us!  So at least that worked out, even if I weigh 10 lbs more than I did when the day started!  :-)

As I mentioned on Monday, schools were cancelled that day because of the frozen rain and ice that fell/built up overnight.   Making it even more exciting was that another storm came through in the wee hours of yesterday and the entire area was under a winter storm warning with possible accumulations up to 6".     While we only got a couple of inches after it was all said and done, we very much appreciated another day off from school!!    The kids and the BG had so much fun playing outside in the snow during the afternoon but only after some fireside hugs in the morning:

Truth:  The B-man loves babies.


 (Or he loves stealing their gifts, at least!)


When he wasn't entertaining the wee ones, he was taking over Matt's phone:


Ellie:


 Quinn:



Three regular-sized people and a giant!  ;-)


Keepers of the Inn:


And....because I somehow missed Anne during the living room photos,  here are the ladies after their haircuts:


Love these peeps!