Christmas- What Stress...

Somehow I lost 10 days in my blogging schedule. Oh wait I know what happened- Christmas! Although I didn't think I was experiencing much stress this season, I guess I was in survival mode and things like keeping up with this project was not in the plan. Looking back over the past week and a half I'm actually quiet proud of all I accomplished.

Little Helpers

At the start of last week My Cowboy resumed our basement finishing project.  We have been working on a bedroom and bathroom in the basement for 6 months now and this is the week he decides to start again.  So, I do what any wife who wants her basement done I pitch in and help.  After our great friend Lowell helped us finish texturing the walls we were ready to paint. Ha Yoo! The bedroom is Miss O's and she had her heart set on yellow. So, Lighting Bug Yellow it is. I have to admit I think it looks amazing and she claims it is exactly what she "saw in her head". The bathroom is Texas Sage, me and My Cowboy love the color and are thinking of covering the white hospital walls upstairs with this shade. As you can see we had help from the kids- and I do believe that all of the yellow is out of Miss R's hair now. Teigen didn't mean to  rest the roller on her head- guess she was just the right hight.

I also did some baking for the Christmas meal that I hosted. The kids & I love to bake together. One thing that we always make is spritz cookies. I think the kids like it so much because they get to use a machine that makes the cookies.





I still use my mom's old Kitchen Aid mixer that I can remember at the age of 8 my dad and I buying her for Christmas.  That old mixer has whipped, kneaded and mixed more treats for 4 generations then I could even begin to count.  I'm getting to the point that I'm ready for it to wear out so I can get one of the cool colored ones.  That's how I got it, my mom got a new red one and I inherited the old one.

I also had all the other Christmas stuff to prepare for like tons of gift wrapping and a lot of house cleaning! Not to mention my paying jobs that I accomplished a lot on-very excited about this.
I'm happy the craziness of the Holiday's are over. But now I have only 12 days to prepare for the family trip to Disney World- our next big family adventure! Sure will take any advice on prep from those who have been.

One Less Wise Man in the Hadrick House

The animals & Wise Men surrounding the manger. Created by Miss R

Long before I had children I purchased this beautiful hand painted nativity set. The key phrase here was before I had children- as many of you know these words are used by people who have children-in our house it is BC (before children) and AC (after children). Had it been AC, I would have spent the money on something that was kid proof.  But alas, every year I drag out my precious barn and figurines and try to place them where they will be safe. Now, I'm happy that my kids love to touch and play with them but over the years there have been a few tiny fingers broken off and the shepherds hook is a little bit shorter (there are only 2 sheep so he can handle the herd).

Today, there was a major accident occurred just outside the manger. I was passing by the set and noticed that one of the Wise Men had lost his head. I'm not sure how this tragedy happened for sure but I did question the 2 suspects- Miss O and Miss R. They both claimed that they had no idea how it happened. I don't believe them but nevertheless I am one Wise Man down now.  I think he is fixable but I'm not sure he will ever be the same- certainly not going to be leading the charge that is for sure. For now he is in the glue sickbay with the elves I talked about before.

Christmas Movie Review-Tradition #2

One of the things our family loves to do the most to mark the Christmas season is to watch our favorite movies. We have a handful of must see's, but as the kids get older the movie selection continues to broaden.  This year we have added National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to our family movie must see.  For the first time as a family we sat and watched the ABC Family version so it was language appropriate. There is nothing like watching your kids see something new for the first time. I found more joy in watching our son laugh at all the good parts then watching them myself. We have been reliving the scenes for a week now-and we still are laughing. The kids demanded I blog about their favorite parts:

Master T's favorite line:
When Clark asks Aunt Bethany to say grace. (using the voice & all)
Uncle Lewis: "He wants you to say grace"
Aunt Bethany: "Grace died 30 years ago"
Uncle Lewis: "no, the blessing"

He will just randomly say these lines, and every time it just makes him giggle.

On a side note- this is even funnier for My Cowboy & I, when he was 5 we asked him to say the prayer one night before supper and out of the blue (because he had not seen the movie) he started saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I was laughing so hard I could not even talk.

Miss O spent most of the movie having us explain it to her.  She kept saying I don't understand why he (Clark) is being so stupid. (she is the logical one of the family).  Once she got into the silliness of the movie she couldn't stop watching.

Her favorite part (well actually 2):
1. When cousin Eddie brings the gift that Aunt Bethany brought to Clark & Ellen. Ellen touches the green stuff leaking and cousin Eddie licks it off her finger. "Mmm Lime"

2. Her other part is when cousin Eddie points out to Clark that he can't swim right after Clark tells the group he is getting the swimming pool.  She can't tell me why she thinks it's funny but for what ever reason it makes her laugh.

Finally, Miss R honestly only got through the first half, but the way she 'remembers' all the the parts we keep laughing about you would think she saw the whole movie.

Her favorite part (she also has 2):
1. She too loves the lime jello scene.  I think mostly because we keep talking about it she thinks she actually saw it.

2. When the dog pukes, here again she didn't see this part either, but what kid does not like throw up, I'm sure she sees it in her mind.




My favorite you ask- it's the cat in the box! Who can't help but laugh out loud when you see that box shake. Brings me to tears every time.

On deck for our next holiday movies- Christmas Story - who doesn't love the lady leg lamp!

Sending A Thank You

I try not to let a day go by that I don't thank the Dear Lord for the many many blessing my family has. Maybe I'm at that point in my life that I reflect on those things more but I know especially this last year I have taken time to dwell on the positives and be thankful of all I have. One thing I started a few years ago was to say thank you to those who are serving in the military every chance I get.  Because I fly a lot I often see military personal in the airports. I have gone out of my way to walk up to a complete stranger to tell them and their families thank you for the freedom they are providing my family.  The response has been one of gratitude from them and always a smile. This summer when Teigen went with us on a trip I was so proud of him, as I said thank you to 3 men dressed in fatigues riding on a train with us, he looked at each of the men and said thank you too.

Our box all packed and ready to go

Today I sent a Christmas package to a dear friend who is in the military and stationed overseas. I turned My Cowboy loose in the grocery store this weekend to fill one of those flat rate boxes from the Post Office. He seems to enjoy buying random things and he did well with his purchases. When it came down to it we have 3 bags of candy, a handheld game, snacks, pens, puzzle book, beef jerky (of course), 2 containers of homemade cookies, 2 handwritten notes, and the latest BEEF magazine. The box was stuffed to the brim. Writing my note to Pat I thought about what a great friend he is to us and all the fun and adventures we have had. Sending this box was the least we could do to say Thank You.

So, Pat if you're reading this- the cookies with green frosting are from Marilyn (they are wonderful!!) the one's with sprinkles were made with love from the Hadrick women-keep that in mind because taste isn't really what we accomplished with this batch. We'll keep working on the recipe and send you more when we get them perfected.

For those of you who don't know someone in the military who will be away from their family this Christmas- find someone who knows someone and take the time to send thank you.

Sand on My Shoes

It's no secret-My Cowboy & I travel. A big misconception is that we travel for enjoyment - it's work, although it is fun- it is still work.  I often have to tell people it may sound glamours that we are going to XXX (insert your glamourous place here) but in reality we often get on a plane fly to 'glamours place' get off plane- go to hotel-work (which we love)-go back to airport-go home.  We usually don't have time to do go sight seeing. But on our last run of the year we had a rare down day. Since we are following winter travel rules (someday I will share) we completed our work in Des Moines and headed to our next job in Corpus Christi. For a South Dakota girl it is very exciting to think about south Texas in the winter.  I couldn't bring myself to pack anything but my regular winter clothes-wool socks & sweaters. Needless to say I didn't need them in the 70+ degree weather. But to stay consistent I chose to wear them, so not to mess my internal climate clock up. It was a little awkward but I'm a girl of my convictions. 

We had a whole day to do what ever we wanted. We spent the morning catching up on work and had the rare interrupted adult conversation. But our afternoon was free-we are not beach people and although I packed my suit, we tend to pick museums over sitting on the beach. First stop: USS Lexington. This beautiful aircraft carrier has been turned into a museum and the all access walking tour for 3 hours was a real treat to experience. My Cowboy and I checked out everything -he reads all the stuff while I skim it.

As we left the ship I thought I should at least touch the sand & so I wondered onto the beach to snap a picture to share with the kids. You might think it's cruel to show them a picture, but we like to share with them living proof of water in it's liquid form this time of year.  

That night we ventured out to the IceRay Hockey game. I know nothing about hockey but do enjoy watching and this was truly the case of we went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.  Spirited young men gave it all that night and there was even a suspensive overtime period. 

We sure had a lot of fun in Texas.  I am very grateful for the opportunity for us to have the day to take time and enjoy our surroundings! By the way the Texas Farm Bureau meeting was wonderful too and we would love to come back and work with you guys any time.  Thanks for the opportunity to have a free day- I loved every minute of it.