What Levi is thankful for (in his own words)

Why I Am Thankful For My Freind Micah

I am thankful for Micah because, he will play whatever I want to play. For example, one day I wanted to play Tag and he wanted to draw and we agreed with Tag. He is also VERY, VERY, FUNNY!!!!! He is funny alot when we are playing Tag. Like when we are playing tag he says come and get me to his brother Dawson. He sometimes even makes a funny face with it. Micah is also responcible. For example in Kindergarten he was, pushing in chairs, closeing locker doors, and he rememberd to bring his coat home, and for that he got a responcibility bracelet. I did to but forget me we are talking about Micah here. He is also very caring. For example one day when we were playing kick ball Alex a freind of ares got skraped. Micah was kind enogh to stop kick ball and help him up and bring him to the nurs. that's all I half to say about Micah right now! BY!! BY!!

Grandma's Popcorn Balls

I made these popcorn balls tonight for Levi's class party tomorrow. I forgot how amazing they are--the perfect blend of sweetness, and salt, and buttery goodness. I wish the colors would have been a little bolder--tried to make Christmas red and green, and they're more springtime pastels, but I was trying to work quickly and didn't worry much about the color. So fun to have our Japanese friends here to help with forming the balls--they are amazing, and we're having a blast!
Here's the recipe, if anyone's interested--I could eat the whole bowl!

7 cups popped corn--I used more like 14 cups--7 didn't seem like enough. They were plenty gooey with the same amount of other ingredients.
Mix in saucepan:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter

Cook to 250 degrees, using candy thermometer. Stir the entire time. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla. May add a couple drops of food coloring at this time if desired. Shape with buttered hands into balls (press pretty tightly together). Makes 12-15 large balls.

Best Friends

When I was a senior in high school, our family hosted a Japanese exchange student, Mai. We had a great year together, and have kept in touch, seeing each other 6-7 times since then. Last night, she arrived with her daughter, son, and mother, to stay with us for 5 weeks. The kids couldn't be more excited. Within minutes of being reunited (they last saw each other 1 1/2 yrs ago), they were holding hands, playing ball, playing dress-up, and acting like they'd never been apart. It has been soo much fun to watch them love each other! What a special gift it is to get time with them.

Poor Kei Kei hit the point of exhaustion late this afternoon, and this is how we found him.

Snow Day!

While Sarah's been inside sick, Levi has been outside for about 1 1/2 hours, playing in the snow, shoveling the neighbor's driveway, and sledding with his neighbors. (Jas only made it 20 minutes or so--came in crying because his mitten had fallen off--his poor hand was purple!) I'm so thankful for our kids' friends!

Thanksgiving in the garage

I'm stealing my sister in law's blog post and changing it a bit, because I was having a hard time getting my pics to upload. Above is my adorable 14 1/2 month old nephew--my little brother's son. He was so cute following all the "big kids" around all weekend!

So, with 26 people in my immediate family, my parents are always trying to make the most of our space when we're all together. We showed up to find two big rolls of carpet put down in the garage to have a warmer place for kids to play and eat....and sleep! There really is room in the house for the kids to sleep but it was an exciting novelty thing, I think. Nine kids (plus my parents) slept out here one night! Probably not the best night of sleep for any of them, but they sure have some great memories from it--including my dad's famous "Hopscotch" stories that he used to tell me and my siblings when we were little. He is the BEST story teller ever! And they each got an Archie comic book to keep by their pillow so they had something quiet to do after the 7:00 whistle woke them up.

No pictures of our big main meal (a yummy soup dinner with homemade bread bowls Mom made) ... and more pies than you can even IMAGINE--apple, pumpkin, cherry, raspberry cranberry, pecan, key lime, and sour cream raisin!
One morning all the men were in charge of breakfast--it was wonderful!

We had a blast with both Robbie's side and mine--of course my favorite Thanksgiving tradition with the gals in Rob's family is our Black Friday shopping. We are super structured, with it all mapped out and our lists gone over for hours on Thanksgiving day--then splitting up to get the most good deals possible! So much fun!

The Flick Trick

Today Levi told me, "Whenever I get a thought stuck in my head that I don't want to think about, I just flick my fingers above my head, and the thought bounces up and down in my imagination and then flies out the window into a junkyard." I think I'll try this next time I can't stop thinking about a piece of cheesecake!