Christmas Photo

Merry Christmas

"Gingerbread" Pizza

We made "gingerbread" house pizza for lunch today. I didn't plan very well, so I had to raid the kitchen for things to use as toppings. Other than the sauce and cheese, we ended up with sausage, canned mushrooms, black beans, and shredded carrots. (Yes, I often put shredded carrots on our pizzas. You can't taste it, so might as well add more veggies to it. Russ is now use to it.)  It turned out yummy. I am sure it would have been even better if I had planned some yummier toppings. Oh well. We can always try again.

What "gingerbread" thing to make next????

Gingerbread house....Sort of

 Last year I bought a gingerbread shaped pan for $2 after Christmas. I thought it would be easier than making real gingerbread houses in the future. I am glad to report it was a hit at our house. Dallin was extra restless the other day so I pulled it out, all ready to bake a cookie in the pan when I read the suggestion to use rice crispy treats. Bingo! That was it. I had fruit pebbles and colored marshmallows. This was going to be soooo easy. Best part was that I just made the rice crispy treats in the microwave, so Dallin got to do most of it.

 

Tomorrow we are going to have "gingerbread" pizza. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Winner, Winner

I got a package today in the mail. Not a surprise because I do most of my Christmas shopping online. When I got it I was going through my head what it might be. I couldn't figure out what it would be with the size of the package and the sound it was making. I didn't want to open it up with Dallin around if I wasn't sure it wasn't a Christmas gift for him.  I noticed it was from the Great Wolf Lodge, and was even more confused. I opened the box and saw a piece of paper.

And then I remembered. While we were at the Lodge, we went to the Kids Craft Camp room to play. They girls working there asked if we would like to sign up for a drawing for $100 worth of Mega Block toys. Sure, why not. I even had a friend who won $100 of Hello Kitty stuff at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City the month before. I filled out the form and thought nothing more of it. Well, I guess my name was the one drawn out.

Once I realized what it was, for a split second I thought about saving it for Christmas, but then just bagged that idea. Dallin was getting enough. Plus, he saw me opening the package. I would never hear the end of it if I didn't let him see what I was looking at. So, it is a good thing that I have dinner in the crockpot, because I am spending the evening setting up Thomas the Train Mega Blocks.  I have to admit it is funny to hear Dallin randomly squeal while I am putting them together. This raised the question, where in the world am I going to put this stuff? Also, Russ doesn't know yet. I wonder what his reaction will be when he gets home in about 20 minutes. :)

A Long Thanksgiving Post

You may remember this post and this post from Thanksgiving last year.  Well, we did it again. We made the 11 hour drive down to North Carolina, and it was a fun weekend.  I actually enjoyed the drive down there. Dallin is good for long car trips and I love getting to talk with Russ for so long.  There were a couple of incidents that didn't go so well, but I couldn't help but laugh. It started when our drivers side window stopped working right before the West Virginia turnpike and all its many tolls. Not long after that we used the GPS to find a nearby gas station. It led to someone's backyard about 5 miles off the freeway.  It then led us to what was suppose to be a Marathon gas station, but instead was an old, run down, single pump from the 70s station.  We didn't stop there. Russ was getting so mad, but for some reason I couldn't stop laughing. Trust me, that didn't help the situation. During all of this there was a funny moment when Russ tried to pass a car and splashed water into their open car window. Opps. Well, smoking wasn't good for them anyhow. 

Thursday morning we went to watch Blake play a Turkey Bowl with his ward. Dallin was the photographer at this event, in case you couldn't tell.

Can you find Blake?

Dal's self portrait

For Thanksgiving dinner we went to Mimi's Cafe. It was not too bad. The rolls where still cold in the middle, but the dessert was wonderful. It was nice not having to clean up after. We left the dads inside to pay while we went outside and let the boys run around. It was wonderful weather the whole time we were in North Carolina.

Thursday night we went to the Great Wolf Lodge. For those of you who don't know what that is (I didn't before moving to Michigan) it is a hotel with a large indoor water park.  It was a lot of fun. Russ even enjoyed it even though he didn't go swimming.  He enjoyed getting to sit in a hotel room all alone and read without any interruptions.  That doesn't happen much at home. Since I stay home with Dallin now, when Dad is home he is the only one Dallin wants to play with.

Let me explain the pancake picture in case you couldn't figure it out. The boys both ordered baseball pancakes from Denny's. Dallin's came out first (the one on the right) and a few minutes later Adam's came out (the left one, obviously). Apparently the raspberry squirter got lazy during that time.  I still laugh looking at the picture, but I am betting only the Shulz family is going to find this picture remotely funny.

At the Lodge we spent some time in the arcade. Both Dallin and Adam are extremely fond of arcades.

Dallin wanted to play some magic quest game they had, but it was more than I wanted to spend on a game, so we promised him he could get a stuffed animal to bring home instead. Dallin got a red dragon.

Then Adam wanted a red dragon too, but his had a hole in it and they didn't have any left. Like all little kids, no other one would do. He left without one. He handled it rather well, better than Dallin would have. Obviously the dragon is cheap. I think three of them got holes while trying to fill up two for us. Only one survived, though Dallin pointed out a hole forming in the arm. Nothing like a cheap quality stuffed animal to remember a vacation. :)

Adam and Liv loved the water park. I am pretty sure Adam's parents had to make him leave when it was time to go. Dallin liked it OK. He played for about an hour the first night and was done. The next day is was almost two hours before he insisted on leaving.  He hates water in his face. Makes it hard to enjoy a water park. Adam was fearless. Dallin was content to watch Adam go down the bigger slides.

Back at the Shulz home, we spent one day out at Old Salem where the best photographer ever (Miss Aly) to family pictures for us. She's awesome! After pictures we walked around. Adam and Dallin insisted on bring friends. I think the moms ended up carrying the friends most of the time.

They had a working water pump the boys loved. He visited it a couple times.

Aly bought us some sugar cake. It was delicious! It was like croissant dough with caramelized brown sugar all over it.  So good!

We did learn that Adam takes after his mom in love for photography. Not only did he want to try and be in all the pictures she took of our family, but he took the time to pose himself and Buzz for some impromptu shots. Well done, Adam.

The weather was so good we visited a park. Who wants to play on playground equipment when there is a large concrete storm drain to run it?

The last night we were there we tried to get a picture of all three of them. There was no cooperation. One had two of them looking good (No, I do not know what what Adam is doing.) :) 

The two boys together where a bit easier to deal with. They are both so cute.

The final video is of a ride the boys went on in the arcade. Aly, I know you didn't get to show Blake, so now you can. The best is the beginning when their cheeks are shaking from the movement, They loved it.