Festivus

Between Christmas and New Year's my good friend Amy had a Festivus party. For those of you not familiar, Festivus is "the holiday for the rest of us!", a made-up holiday created on Seinfeld by Castanza's dad. You gather around the Festivus pole and have the Airing of Grievances, quickly followed by the Feats of Strength. Then you exchange gifts.

It truly was the most fun I've had in a long time. We did have the Airing of Grievances - It was funny then, but wouldn't be in the retelling. They even erected a Festivus pole in their living room. Awesome. We had a White Elephant exchange - always fun, and then for the Feats of Strength we played Spoons, which I don't think I've played since Junior High. We wrestled for spoons, got bruises, fell out of chairs. And all this time the kids are having a wild rumpus of their own upstairs. A good time was had by all. It must become a yearly tradition, even if it means the Sharps have to drive back from Missouri to come.

Kyle is secure enough in his masculinity to wear the ugly neck scarf he got as a white elephant gift.

Kelly and Amy grappling for a spoon - this went on for several minutes.

Sweet victory for Kelly

Kelly's tacky Chinese Calendar

Kyle A. got a pregnancy test and an ovulation predictor.

Gerry, Amy, and Kelly

Playing Catch-Up

I wouldn't be surprised if no one reads this blog anymore, I have been so horrible about posting. I am resolved to catch up on the last couple of months, though and be a much better blogger. I have been so busy. I mean, I'm sure everyone is busy, but definitely more so than usual around here. I did not have time to read a single fiction book the whole month of January. This says something HUGE about the state of affairs around here. We have been passing sickness around like you cannot believe. I got sick on New Year's with a stomach bug and was so kind as to send it home with Kyle's family. Then Kyle got it. Then Seth and Blake got a cold. Then Blake and Cullen got pink eye. Then Kyle and I got the regular flu. Then Cullen got pink eye. Then I got pink eye, and here we are.

I guess he started to get out of bed to make mischief and was so tired he fell asleep!

What would a Bennett family get together be without shooting guns? Here I am with Friggs teaching him to shoot a .22 for the first time.

Here's a pic of the Stringer family. Gloria got us all camo gear for Christmas. For New Year's we had a cookout out at the land. I was able to go hunting for the only time this year, but did not see anything. See how everyone's smiling? That's because they have no clue that they will be violently ill within 24 hours.

Had to take a pic of this, I thought it was so bizarre. At the house next to the DQ in Kerrville, there is a patio table with 3 concrete birds. Are they eating or playing cards? Notice the one chair is wheeled, and the other two birds are on concrete blocks!

So cute! I'll be sad when I have no babies to wear outfits with ears on them.

Cullen at 7 months.

He looks sooooo much like Kyle.

December and New Year's in pics

We took a trip to Kaufman because I was having serious withdrawals from my girls. See how big we're smiling? And we had already been together all day. We're just that jazzed about being together again. I deeply miss their daily presence in my life. I miss having prayer partners who know the ins and outs of my marriage, because they were there with me through some tough times. Of course, they are just a phone call away, but only one of the three really carries her cell phone and answers it regularly (Names are withheld to protect the guilty). Now, San Antonio friends, don't get sad, I love you too. I'm glad I'm here. Wouldn't change it. I just want these girls to move here, too. We stayed up late and talked til the wee hours of the morning, we did Christmas shopping, we managed to cover all manner of deep topics as we usually do. I feel filled up. Recharged. Thanks. Come see me.
Debbie, aka "The Baby Whisperer" making Cullen laugh more in one night than I have total. Knew she would. She's got the gift. He looks a little orange and I have since cut him off from all orange vegetables. Why do all my kids do this?

Grammy with the cutest elf ever. Can you get enough of that hat? I couldn't. I'll probably bust it out again in March and call him a leprechaun. A girl at Kyle's work knitted it for him and it is just to die for.

The whole Bennett crew. We opened up Christmas presents at our house and then got in the car and headed to the farm. We had too much food and played lots of game. We even cooked cabrito. Yum.
I've always been a sucker for the eyes. Man.Friggs with his new camo gear from Glo Glo and Pa. He loves it, of course.

Beyond Gross

As parents, we all have our strengths and weaknesses dealing with bodily fluids. Poop is not a big deal for me. Well, unless they've taken their diaper off and done something with it. I really hate snot, though. Snotty, drippy noses. Mucus streaks on my shoulder from a crying kid. Gross, gross, gross. Well, I should have been thankful for the shoulder swipe because Bean has found a new place. For the record, I am pretty vigilant about wiping and blowing, but the thing is a faucet this week. So, where, you may dare to wonder, is this new handy handkerchief? I'll give you a hint: It's about his height, so it's pretty handy. It's always covered with fabric. It's nicely rounded to give him a good swiping place. Yep, the kid will walk up behind me and wipe his snot on. my. bottom. YUCK! It is sooooo violating and disgusting. I mean, when it's on the shoulder you can try to wipe it off and rationalize, "You can barely see it. It's nothing compared to the pureed squash droplets." But with this new location, I can't see what he's done, but I know I can't even sit down. I don't have a million pairs of ratty pants to change throughout my day! I'm really trying to nip this habit in the bud.

Editor's note: I am aware that my mother will be appalled that I put this on the internet. This is no reflection of the genteel lady she raised me to be.

Cullen at 6 months

Here is Cullen at 6 1/2 months. I won't go into all the details that no one but grandmothers care about, but he is a joy and it's been awhile since I posted a pic. We shaved his head a couple months back because it was falling out very patchy, so this is the new growth and I think he has brown hair. Yay! I love blonde, but it's nice to have variety. Love those expressive eyebrows!

Quiche

I think I've mentioned in a post or two that I've been teaching a cooking class. It is seriously the most fun I've had in a long time. My friends and I were having a playdate one day and we were talking about how we need to share our knowledge or skills - Amanda is the most amazing seamstress, Kelly has mad organizing skills, etc. They said I should teach them how to cook better and I said "OKAY!" in a very peppy, Monica-from-Friends way. So I thought a few people would come, but it has grown and now we have 8 girls signed up. I send out the menu, divvy up the ingredients, they bring them, we crowd into my kitchen, I teach, we eat, they clean. It's heaven. I love cooking. I love teaching. I love eating. I hate dishes. It's a no brainer. So it's been a blast and I toyed with the idea of starting a cooking blog, but decided I'm not ready for the commitment. I don't post on this blog often enough, although I have great intentions of coming up with fresh and witty posts on a daily basis. I just don't need another blog to feel guilty about. So I thought I would just post them on here and if you're not interested you can skip it and check back later when Blake does something naughty again.

I feel that I should emphatically state that not any of my recipes are purposefully low fat or fat free. I try to avoid processed foods, boxed meals, so on, but not fat. I would rather have the good stuff and eat a smaller portion. I use good oils, like olive oil, and butter, not margarine. You will never see a dessert recipe on here that calls for applesauce instead of oil! I would rather not eat it. We do eat plenty of healthy things, like tabouleh, and thai food, so if I remember to keep posting recipes, you will see a very eclectic mix.

So, Quiche Lorraine. Kyle loves my quiche and says it is his favorite thing that I make. Of course he says that about several things, but this does get good reviews.

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients:

Pillsbury roll-out pie crust

3 cups fresh spinach, packed

1 ¼ heavy whipping cream or half and half

6 eggs

1 heaping Tbs. sautéed onion (or dried minced onion microwaved in butter)

½ tsp. dried mustard

1 ½ tsp. Mrs. Dash

½ tsp. McCormick Seasonall

1 ½ Cups cheese (any ratio of swiss and/or cheddar, I used all the brick of gruyere and then whatever’s left I used cheddar)

5 pieces crumbled bacon – you can use Hormel bacon pieces (about 1/3 cup) in the condiment aisle, but microwave on a plate for about 30 seconds to crisp it up.

1 tomato

Microwave spinach to wilt, layer in pie dish with spinach, bacon, and cheese. Mix all other ingredients with whisk or fork, pour over. Slice tomato and arrange on top.

Remember, Quiches are VERY forgiving! Take the same basic recipe and put all swiss cheese and Herbs de Provence instead of Seasonall, or use ham and broccoli with cheddar, mushrooms are good too, whatever. Be creative.

Bake at 400° for 10 min, then reduce to 350° for 30 min or until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs on it. Let set for 15 min. before serving.

I've included all the shortcuts to take, but obviously, the less shortcuts, the better the quiche. I usually take a few shortcuts but not all.

Thanksgiving

- We had Thanksgiving in Winnsboro and a ton of relatives came this year, although by no means all.
- We went horseback riding and on an adventure walk. His parents have a lot of land, and about 10 acres of woods to explore! We pretended to be Indians.
- We pulled an old sled behind the golf cart - super fun!
- We ate too much.
- Gloria and I did Black Friday shopping. I didn't buy much though and I still have tons to do.
- We went down to Longview and saw Mark and Amy. Love their new house!!! Makes us want to build when the time comes. We miss them so much and wish they lived here.
-Thought about accidentally-on-purpose leaving Daisy at my in-laws house, but decided I liked my mother-in-law too much to do that.
- The trip home took over 8 hours - it's a 6 hour trip. I35 was a parking lot from Dallas to Austin, so at Hillsboro we drove an extra hour and a half west and came down 281 instead. I'm sure we made it home faster and at least we were moving. It was actually not that frustrating of a trip, or the longest trip home from Winnsboro. That would be this one.
-Not sure why I did this in bullet points.
-We almost hit a huge owl that swooped down in front of our windshield.
-Decided to listen to Jingle Bells as many times in a row as Friggs wanted. The winning number? 30. Did he get tired of it? No, he fell asleep. In fact, I turned it off at 25 because I thought he was asleep, and he sat up and groggily said "Hey. I'm still awake." Hmmff.