The Twii

Our friends have an annual Christmas party that is such a blast. They've got the invites out by mid-November, and we all descend upon their house for a night of food, the Newlywed Game, and a white elephant gift exchange.

There are usually about 12 couples that attend, and, for those who haven't tried it recently, the Newlywed Game is seriously funny - I think especially since NONE of us are even KIND of newlyweds.

You know that sensation of laughing, recognizing that something hurts, and realizing that it's your face from laughing so hard for so long? That's our annual Christmas party. Too bad we don't have a hidden camera (or even used the one we brought). We'll just have to keep it in our memories :)

My friend Kimberly and I thought we'd try out a day where we get together and do all of the baking for our friends/neighbors/teacher Christmas gifts together. So we doubled or quadrupled our recipes, did our shopping, and planned a day at the beginning of the month (which luckily was nice and cold - perfect for baking). Neither of us expected the project to last quite as long as it did - but we had a lot of fun, and were very productive. Landon and Aiden (Kim's little one) had fun playing, and when the big kids got home from school, they were all too happy to help "clean" up extra caramel, batter spoons, etc. The day before, my friend Kendra and I had done a baking morning for the women we visit teach. We cranked out a couple recipes while my kids sledded in the back yard with her little dog. And, yes, I admit that I'm a glutton for punishment (or really good Christmas food), so I made a new cookie recipe every couple of days or so.



Landon's head in the box, or Liza's face in front of the packaged products, may just well show how we felt by the end of it all. Not really - it was a lot of fun. Only because yummy food and awesome friends were involved every step of the way. We should always work like that!



The end result: 30 quarts of caramel corn, 5 pounds of peppermint bark, 20+ loaves of cranberry orange bread, 2 batches of Swedish nuts, 2 batches of 7-story cookies and 3 varieties of refrigerator cookies: chocolate toffee, coconut lime, and cranberry orange. Recipes (and plenty more pictures) to come :)

How 'bout some bowling for FHE? We took the kids bowling for the first time a couple weeks ago - and it was so much fun. Liza was definitely more into it than Landon (though I suspect that will change in the next couple of years) - but we all had a good time. She'd march herself up there, chuck the ball, and then stand there, hands cupped beside her mouth, yelling, "GO BALL, GO!!!!" It seemed to work pretty well for her. By the end of the second game, she and I had probably only a 20-point spread : ) (Look closely at the look of satisfaction as she watches her ball go down the lane).

I love bowling with bumpers - though I miss the bright blue padded ones that let everyone in the bowling alley know you've got 'em. I think Tyler was a bit sore that I kicked his butt on the first game (thank you, bumpers), cuz he tried to figure out a way to make the electronic bumpers dependant on the player. No go. No worries, Tyler - I'm such a rookie, my arm's worn out by the end of the first game. It's all downhill after that.

One question - does your bowling alley have servers that come by and check on you - take food orders, and bring you food that you buy (even if it's only a soft pretzel while you're standing at the counter. "One pretzel please." "Okay, we'll bring it to you." "Huh?")? Is this a way to make our 99 cent bowling cost more - the tip we didn't plan on for the guy we didn't need? Not to be cheap - just curious. Seems kinda fancy for a place where you wear clown shoes and have your path illuminated by giant neon bowling pins.

I'm realizing that the perk of having a little one in pre-school are all of the cute crafts and foods associated with it. Liza frequently comes home with funky headgear, cool crafts, and all sorts of fun things. For Thanksgiving, she came home dressed as a pilgrim one day. So, when it was her turn with the "snack bucket," the kids and I made these Oreo cookie turkey treats that I saw a picture of somewhere, sometime - and thought were so cute. Anyway - that's what those pictures are about.

Also, Thanksgiving is a fun time for us with an anniversary celebration usually at hand. Since Tyler was gone the weekend immediately following our anniversary, we postponed our annual overnighter until Thanksgiving weekend. We made a trip down to Colorado Springs and had a very nice time. Remember some of those little things that you take for granted before kids come along? Sleeping in, scheduling as you go (or having no schedule), choosing activities based on your likes, and not kid-friendly options. Or- how 'bout this: just hopping in and out of stores without the getting in and getting out taking longer than the actual time in the store? Anyway - we had fun. A couple pictures from the property we were at are included. By the time you count dinner out on our anniversary night, the Nuggets game, and the trip to CSprings, we spent a good week celebrating our 9 years of marriage. Lucky me!

In a nutshell, I've posted as much about food as about my family (until now). Here's quick picture trip and brief synopsis of Thanksgiving (although think of the food posts to come - the ultimate eating day!).

We had two sets of neighbors over for Thanksgiving - and it was so much fun! Everyone brought something (which didn't keep us from cooking for days in advance). The kids picked out favorite foods (Landon somehow downed 2 or 3 rolls between me getting them out of the oven and then onto the table), and then ran around and played together. The adults -well, we ate and talked and ate and talked some more. Sound like your Thanksgiving?

Tyler and I also got to go to a Nuggets game that night. Woot woot for free tickets (with good seats) from a specialist (note about the specialists - for those who don't know our lives well enough. Their business comes from our business. Right? "Oh - you need a ____ - let me send you to Dr. ____. He's a (fill in the blank) -ontist :) Consequently, they are the source of frequent gifts and such - - a token of their appreciation. I appreciate their appreciation.) But I'm off topic

So, Becky and Mike (our next door neighbors - the blonde and guy behind her in the picture), graciously let Liza and Landon come over for a "slumber party" while Tyler and I went to the game. It was SO MUCH fun! I can't remember my last NBA game, and I just have forgotten how much fun they are. Oh, the memories. Stories from Spurs game would take a whole new post :) Anyway, that was our fun- and since TNT was airing the game, somebody had a sign that summed up our day: Turkey, Nuggets, Thanksgiving (if you happened to see the game - you definitely saw the guy - I guess they were lacking in exciting footage- cuz he had his 20 minutes of fame).