Daddy It's Cold Outside...

I heard this song on the radio and thought it was the cutest thing EVER...!

Click here for a free download...the smile is no charge as well!

Fake Thanksgiving...

Last Saturday we made a turkey dinner. I'm using the term "we" very loosely. Really, Lee made a turkey dinner...Complete with homemade apple and pumpkin pie! See, as I mentioned earlier, we have to do our own turkey meal. But this year was different! He whipped up an onion/garlic butter to coat the outside of the bird, he peeled and mashed all the taters, he whipped up a perfect fruit salad, and then still managed to make 3 fabulous pies! (One apple, and two pumpkin, because one pumpkin is just not enough...!)

Lee's parents and little sister came over for the meal. And I was so proud of my very kitchen-savvy spouse! He really loves to cook, and it was fun to see him do it so successfully!

My contribution, incidentally, was Rhodes rolls. I took them out of the freezer, HE cut and arranged them in the muffin pan, and then they went into the laundry room to rise. And rise they did! When I went to get them to put them in the oven, they were like the size of my head!! (Slight exaggeration, but ONLY slight!)

But I guess it was a good dry run...Eventually, the parents will tire of cooking for us, and now we know...We're ready to host when that day comes! :D

Secret Sister...

Sydney was given the assignment on her first Sunday in Young Women of coming up with a person she admired/wanted to serve in our ward, and then delivering a treat or a note to her secret sister.

In true McAlister form (Lee aside...But hey, I'm trying to work on it!), she sort of forgot about it until this week...when all of a sudden she was in a panic to complete her assignment! So Sydney announces to me that she needs to make cookies for her secret sister. I sort of groaned at the thought...thinking I have tons of other stuff I need to do...and then I remembered we had "Krusteaz Sugar Cookie Mix" in the pantry. Add butter and an egg...I think she can manage!

So my 12 year old has now completed her first complete dish on her own! I was in the kitchen while she worked, and I answered a couple of questions, but she made them herself!

Woo-hoo! Now if I can just get her to figure out main dishes, I'll have found myself a new chef!

Library...

We went to the library today.

Is it a bad thing when you go to the library, and your 5 kids check out a total of 5 books, but a total of 12 movies? (And that was after I made them each pare their stack of DVD's down from 6 or 7 to 3 each!!)

Just wondering...

Aww...

She's not a teenager yet! (No, really...she isn't...but she also doesn't (always!) act like one, either!)

Yesterday at church, I was sitting in Relief Society waiting for the meeting to start. My cute 12-year-old darts up to me, kisses me on the cheek, says, "We're having opening exercises with you guys!" and then runs off to sit with her friends.

At first, I was thinking, "Whatever...don't come sit with your mom...!". Then I realized she left her friends to come and say hi. I hadn't even seen her yet, so she didn't do it out of guilt or anything. She's just pretty special!

I'll take it. :D And I'll continue to remind her that she's never going to be one of THOSE kind of girls!

Gotta love it!

I get a kick out of my kids. I'm not really sure what the rest of this letter to a snowman says, in fact to hear Spencer tell it, this is hate mail. But I'm putting it on here for the sign off:

Peace Out...Or "Pes Owt", as some might say.

Christmas Fun!

This a call for help! Today is my kids last day of school for a whole month...And what a great month to have off!

I need some ideas of some fun-to-do stuff: free and cheap would be great, but any suggestions of things you've done or heard about would be awesome! I'm excited for this long holiday season of playing with my kids!

(The only thing that would make it better would be if Lee got to be "Off Track" too! Bah! Stinky work!)

Crumb...

Don't you hate it when you run to Smith's to buy a hair color kit, and you buy two different kinds because you aren't sure which one you should use, but you plan to go back later and return the one you DON'T use...

But then when you go in, instead of refunding you for the hair color you no longer want, they CHARGE you for it a second time? And now you've paid twice for a hair color you don't even have?

Oops. Hee-hee!

So now I get to go back again! :D

Enough...!

So at the risk of sounding redundant, I had to color my hair last week. (Although just saying I did it isn't the redundant part...The part that comes next is.)

Last Wednesday was a Grandparent's Day Open House at the school. Grandpa McAlister met us there, and we spent some time going from class to class. They had a little photo sitting set up, so you could get a picture with your grandparent. We made that our first stop. I was standing off to the side, holding 37 coats (or maybe just 5...whatever...) while the kids posed with Grandpa. Behind us, another lady had come in and was waiting with her granddaughter.

She tells me "Go on and get in the picture with your husband!"

What?!

I just ignore her. She was viewing me at a profile, and from the "gray" side...

But she said something again about how lucky I am to have all the grand kids at the same school.

sigh

I went and got my hair cut, and when Lee came home he looked at me and said, "Why didn't you color it?" Um...'Cause it's kinda expensive! So he sent me to Smiths to buy a color kit so he could do it himself. It turned out great...I love it!

Thanks again, honey!