A Joyful Holiday

We had a lovely Christmas this year. Christmas Eve day was a bit crazy and I was exhausted by the day's end (to say the least). However, Christmas Day was wonderful. It was very relaxing. We cooked a big ham dinner on Christmas Eve, so other than our homemade breakfast, it was just snacking & leftovers the rest of the day. The boys were thrilled with their day and proclaimed it to be "The Best Christmas Ever".

Here's some pictures of the boys and I rolling in the dough on Christmas Eve (a rare sight indeed)!

Here's a picture of the boys exploring what Saint Nick left for them. Ryan found two suckers in his stocking and promptly popped them both in his mouth (this prevents the other brother's from stealing them). His older brother's should have learned from his wisdom, as Ryan later stole their suckers too. All I could say when Jake and Dylan tried to complain is S-U-C-K-E-R-S.
























Here are some pictures detailing what each of the boys were blessed to receive this year.

















Notice the beautiful knit blanket behind Jake. Grandma Anderson made that for him. She made one for each of her children, and is now working her way throught the Grandchildren. While I love the one she made for me when I was a teenager. I didn't have as good of a sense of color and it does not match my house as well as Jake's new blanket does. Jake knows I have my eye on his new blanket, and is quick to remind me that it is "HIS", but is letting me store it for him laying gently on the edge of my couch (and looking fabulous I might add!)

My boys are notorious for their ability to make messes. I wrote this little jingle in honor of being the mother of 3 little boys, which at times is my greatest struggle and at times my greatest joy! It's set to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. I'll spare you all the verses and just cut to the last verse!

On the 12th Day of Christmas
My 3 Boys gave to me....

• 12 Messy Rooms
• 11 Lego Explosions
• 10 Grass Stains
• 9 Broken Plates
• 8 Snacks-A-Spillin'
• 7 Puddles-A-Splashin'
• 6 Muddy Footprints
• 5 Golden Marker Stains
• 4 Wrestling Matches
• 3 Banana Peels
• 2 Spilled Cups of Juice
• And a HUG to make it all WORTHWHILE!

Here's hoping you & yours had a joyful holiday as well!!

The Reason For The Season

Here's hoping that this week we can focus on the reason for the season. The boys drew this today in Microsoft Paint and it touched my heart (even though Mary has really big hair ;). Merry Christmas!

Christmas Wishes ~ 2008

http://www.ortlerchristmas2008.blogspot.com/

Twas the week before Christmas....

The leaves have been raked






The 3rd grade Nutcracker program has been performed







The kids have posed next the the fake snow scene

Santa's lap has been sat on

The tree has been trimmed








The cookies have been baked








The stockings are hung by the chimney with care





.....In hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there.

All Dylan wants for Christmas is his two front teeth...

...but instead he got this shiner! Isn't that what big brothers are good for? Oh, the many joys of boys.

It's All Worth It...

...today Ryan made my day all worth it! He said "I love you Mom, you're my best girl ever!" Now in reality, in our boy heavy family, I'm the only girl, but still it was perfect.

Christmas Trees For Sale

This year we are offering two Christmas trees for sale to our dear family and friends. These trees are very fresh and in addition to daily water also require food and one daily hug and kiss. They are a treat for the eye and are a sure "crowd pleaser". These are VERY special one-of-a kind trees and are in limited supply. We also had a "Jake Spruce" which has already sold (sorry folks, but we are a first come first serve operation). Shop early as these two remaining trees are expected to go quickly!

Our first offering is a "Dylan Fir", which is very similar to a Douglas Fir. This spicy little number has a nice shape and is nearly 4 feet tall. As you can see the tree is pre-decorated and comes with a tree skirt, multicolored lights, a shiny red garland, and is topped with a furry Santa hat. The smiles are free, but sometimes come with a little sass.


Our second offering is a "Ryan Pine", a very close relative to the Red Pine. This tree has a slender shape and is about 3 feet tall. This tree is also pre-decorated and comes complete with a tree skirt, multicolored lights, several lovely ornaments, and has a special edition "Cat In The Hat" topper. The smiles are included and the giggles are endless with this one.

We Are Thankful

Wishing all of our family and friends a Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated Thanksgiving in grand style with a fabulous meal. We enjoyed having John's mother, Sue, visit us for the week. We served two yummy gluten-free desserts this year, coconut pumpkin pie (made with coconut milk -- special thanks to Sue) and apple crisp. We have many things to be thankful for!

• Ryan is thankful for Mom, Dad, Jake, Dylan, Grandma(s), Grandpa(s), his best friends "Jakey and Joey", his red light sabre, and when prompted for "what else?" he replies "and dat's enough!"
• Dylan is thankfuf for family, clothes and the backyard.
• Jake is thankful for family, food, and TV.
• John is thankful for his family, his job, and that one of his fantasy football league is 8 and 4 (we won't mention the other one).
• Melanie is thankful for my family, good friends, healthy food, knowledge, God's daily blessings, and that we are over half-way to the "End of the Football Season Party" (some people call it the Super Bowl :)
• Sue is thankful for the health of her family, visiting her Texas grandchildren for Thanksgiving, and Carrie's newly announced engagement to Y.K.

Table Setting

Gravy Making

Turkey Carving

Trouble Making :)

Family Feasting

Dessert Admiring

Pure Indulging!

Martha Stewart....Eat Your Heart Out!

I've been attempting to learn to make gluten-free bread (not so easy of a task). After many poor results and with Sue's bread-making expertise, we finally found a recipe that worked. Gluten-free bread often comes out of the oven nice & full, but within minutes seems to fall and compact down onto itself. We finally learned the trick of turning it upside down (suspended over a pan) the minute it comes out of the oven. Isn't it lovely?? As an added bonus it tastes good too! We were very pleased.

Caution....Slippery When Wet

A Future Chef?

I awoke bright and early Friday morning (about 6:10am) to some light banging noises. As I pried open my eyes I noticed a glow around my bedroom door, indicating that the kitchen light was on. Realizing that John was still in bed beside me, I knew that one of the kids was up and was doing something in the kitchen. I figured I should get up and investigate, but quickly decided to enjoy the warmth of my bed for 20 more minutes before my alarm went off.

At 6:30 I dutifully approached the kitchen to find Dylan standing with his hand in a potato chip bag and a bottle of sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) close by. I barked out "What are you doing, put those chips away." To which he gracefully replied "I made breakfast." He escorts me to the table where I found this.

There was a bowl of sliced bananas with a toothpick in each one, a bowl of potato chips slathered with sunbutter, and a platter (okay, okay it was a plastic Ronald McDonald plate) with ham slices neatly arranged. Imagine my surprise. When I gathered my breath, I said "Oh look, you set the table." To which his face lit up and he said "And I made plates too!"

The plates are kind of hard to distinguish in this picture, but he had carefully cut plates out of cardboard and drawn a "smiley face" on each one. Each plate was a different size to represent each different member of the family.

A few minutes later, Jake joined us to eat breakfast before school. Dylan showed him each of the dishes he had prepared and they set in for a feast. When they were done Jake walked quietly past me and said "that wasn't bad!" A future chef........indeed!

The Coveted Prize

Fall soccer season is over -- Yiiiippppeeee! (Did I just say that out loud?) The boys each earned a trophy at the end of the season, here it is in all it's glory.

The boys don't know it, but each day while they are away at school I bring the two trophies out and proudly display them in my kitchen. I do, after all, feel that I deserve it for all my hard work that makes soccer season a success. There is the coordination of schedules, washing of all the clothes for games and two practices a week, water bottle filling, snack packing, endless cheering, three-year old chasing, and driving, driving and more driving.

I tip my hat to all of you other sport mom's out there.

Too Smart!!

Here's a conversation between Jake, Dylan and I the other day:
Jake: Mom, my soccer ball is terrible.
Me: Why, what's wrong with it?
Jake: It's too hard. It's terrible because you bought it at Wal-mart.
Me: It's hard because it has too much air in it, it has nothing to do with where I bought it. The ball is fine.
Dylan: Jake, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.

It totally cracked me up. Here's a kindergartener setting his older brother straight. Gotta love it!

Yummy Fall Breakfast

I found a fabulous recipe on a friend's blog today for pumpkin waffles and couldn't wait to try it. I converted it to allergen-free for our family and it was a success. I've posted the allergen-free version on my food allergy blog: allergen-free recipe. For those who want the original recipe in all it's glory, here it is: original recipe.

Food + Sleep = Grow

Good news!! Ryan has had such a hard time gaining weight. Well he went in for his 3 year well-check and he is finally on the growth chart! He weighed 29 pounds (woooo-hoooo) and had gained 6.5 pounds in the last year. He is now at the 20% for weight. I was VERY pleased.

Now the downside of all this is he is trying to give up his nap. It's such an awkward stage as he still needs it, but fights it. Here are some pictures of him over the course of a couple of weeks, where he fought the good fight, but lost the battle (yes, in one picture he was actually asleep standing up!)

Time Change Debunkle

Okay, who forgot to tell the kids they were getting an extra hour of sleep last night? I made the mistake of using my extra hour of sleep staying up late to finish dusting & folding an extra load of laundry {sigh}. Then the kids got up at 5:45 instead of 6:45 {sigh, sigh}. Oh well, maybe I'll get that extra hour of sleep next year ;)

Halloween Outcome

The boys finally decided what they were going to be for Halloween, and suprisingly, Ryan's costume did not include a lightsaber!! Here's a picture.

Sadly, here's their Halloween stash, but they can't eat it due to their food allergies. They're cool with it though, I cash them out for it, and their dentist has a candy buy-back program too. We then pay a little visit to the dollar store.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

My baby is three today, and is NOT a baby anymore, but I just had to say it one last time ;(

Ryan, you graced our home three years ago and when you arrived backwards (delivered frank breech) we should have known that you would change our lives forever! It has been quite a journey with the severity of your food allergies. We have learned so much from you and wouldn't trade the experience for anything!

I still remember your first birthday when you couldn't tolerate cake, so we served you birthday oatmeal, here's a picture of you enjoying it!













Here are some of our favorite memories of your first three years.

































You have grown into such an amazing child and you are a joy to be around! We love your energy and endless smile and your giggle still melts my heart! You are very bright and we love to see you learn new things.

We celebrated Ryan's birthday last night before Grandpa O. left. We had quite a feast with a turkey dinner, homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cinnamon marshmallow rolls, and apple crisp for dessert. Happy Birthday Ryan!!

Fall Fun

Happy Fall Y'all! We had our annual visit to the pumpkin patch. It was a good time as always, we enjoyed the hay maze, a hayride and the bouncehouses. Here are some pictures of the fun.

My boys are very into Star Wars this year and are still trying to decide what they want to be. Ryan is trying to choose between being a lightsaber carrying Thomas the Tank Engine or a lightsaber carrying Spiderman while wearing a Peter Pan hat?? Needless to say, it should be an interesting Halloween :)