Annual Christmas Party

Todd and Ben hosted the second annual McMillan kid Christmas party tonight.  Todd's 9 invitees all attended, as did Ben's 2.  We had a good time.  Todd's planning was impeccable--he planned fun projects, crafts, and games.  When it came down to party time, though, he really wanted to wrestle and be absolutely crazy most of the time.  I guess multiple seven-year-olds in the same room bring out the insanity in everyone.  However, we did have a nice time.  

We made gingerbread (graham cracker) houses, ate pizza, played a fun (and exceedingly loud) game of Christmas Bingo, and attempted some crafts (Sam, Sophie, Mandy, Olivia, Skylar, and Ally actually did these).  I have to put in a side note here about Sam.  He was having a rough day when he showed up, but he probably enjoyed the specific activities more than any of the other kids.  It was fun to watch him meticulously figure out how to do each thing.  I was glad he came. 

After the unsuccessful group crafting, the kids watched Tom and Jerry Christmas, which they loved.  I'm glad that they can still get tons of enjoyment out of good classic humor that doesn't involve vulgarity. Granted, it does involved rather reckless constant violence, but I'm good with violence that squashes a character as flat as a pancake, only to have them inflated by a bike pump.  That kind of cartoon violence suits me just fine.  (How did this  become an entry about television?)

One of my young women, Allyson, came to help out.  She spent most of the night with the three little guests.  Ben thinks she is just about the greatest thing in the world, and she is so good with him.  I love it when the youth are good examples to my younger kids--it makes my job easier as a mom.  So, a shout out to Ally for helping tonight.  You're the best.  

Things I will change for next year's party:  Keep it simple.  Graham cracker houses, bingo, pizza, and movie.  Maybe make up a few crafts kits for those kids who don't want to watch the movie.  Serve rice krispie treats instead of brownies (chocolate mess).   Shorten the guest list (if possible)--13 kids turned out to be quite the party.  

But, all in all, I think the kids had fun.  Todd and Ben were both happy.  We'll try it again for our third time next year.  

Oh, on a positive side note (for those of you who are a bit insane like myself), I didn't clean my house before the party.  I straightened up and things, but I didn't dust or vacuum.  I figured I'd just have to do it after everyone left, and was I right.  The floor was a disaster.  Glad I saved myself some time.  And I can guarantee the kids didn't notice a thing :)

Cookies

I've had some requests for the yummy mint chocolate cookie sandwiches I made for Enrichment last week. Thanks to my NC friend, Emily, for the original cookie recipe, and to Nabisco for the inspiration to create a delicious mint filling.

Chewy Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches

2 ½ sticks butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup cocoa

Mix ingredients together
Refrigerate for ½ hour
Roll into balls and dip in sugar
Bake at 350 for 9 minutes
Will be a bit puffy and cracked on top and will fall when you take them from the oven—be careful not to overcook.

Filling: 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup cream cheese, 2 Tbsp cream, about 4 cups powdered sugar, mint (or vanilla) flavor, food coloring. Cream items together to desired consistency, and enjoy.

Spread between two cookies. For a fun flair, use some icing in a cake decorating bag to create designs on top, them sprinkle with colored sugar.

SNOW!!!!!

It was lightly raining at our house this morning when my friend Rachel called to inform me it was snowing at her house in Summerlin (across town).  By noon, she had convinced me to load up the kids for some fun snow time.  I'll have to admit that althought I rarely question Rachel's intelligence, I was a bit skeptical of this one.  "Probably a little dusting of snow hardly worthy of collecting my snow gear," I thought.  But we went, and our pictures are proof that occasionally it does snow in Las Vegas.  

So all y'all who have been touting your "first snows" and fancy "snowman building days," can just move right on over, because the McMillans have arrived.  We have to give the credit for Hawaiian snow lady to Livi and Rachel.  Todd was more interested in snowball fights, snow angels,  and rolling the largest grass covered snowmound (not caught on film).  It was a great day.  

For those of you who are faithful readers of my blog, note little Livi's pink cheeks.  She looked super cute/perky today and is even starting to grow back some hair.  It was great to spend some time with our friends today.  Thanks, Rachel, Livi, and Aaron for a fun snow day.

Quiet Night

Warning: Complainer Alert
It's been a bit of a long week.
Ryan's been gone quite a bit lately--a hazard of his part time job (hee, hee).
I babysat kids every day this week--and don't get me wrong. I'm glad to help people out. Don't read this and then never ask me to babysit your kids again. But you've been there. Extra kids are always extra kids.
I've been trying to finish up Christmas presents--not just mine, but a few commissioned pieces--once again, I underestimate how long school will take each day and how little time I'll have to accomplish other things.
And to top it all of, it's Christmas so I'm supposed to be happy, not grouchy. And since I come from a long line of guilt-mongers, I can even make myself feel guilty about not being happy and cheery when I should be.
Plus, we just found out that the local stake that has performed a beautiful live nativity for something like 15 years running is no longer performing, so our plans for tonight went out the window.
As a result, we ended up at home with each other. What a blessing. We snacked on my yummy guacamole, (courtesy of clearance avocados at Fresh and Easy--$.59 for 4) ate pizza, and drank Ryan's gourmet milkshakes for dinner. Then we snuggled up on the couch for a viewing of Polar Express. It was nice to stop for a few minutes and enjoy each other's company. If you haven't tried it in a while, just chill with your familly. It might make your Christmas season a bit brighter--Perhaps because family and love is really what Christmas is all about.

Traditions

For our third year in a row, we coerced an invitation from our great friends, the Joneses, to decorate gingerbread houses.  It is such a fun start to the Christmas season.  This year, Sarah and I actually undertook the project of baking the houses from scratch.  We decided the kids would really enjoy having their very own house to decorate.  I did recognize, however, that I need my own house next year as well, because I have some creative energy just dying to be spent on a house of my own.  We had a great time.  Ryan got to be there for the dinner part, but had to duck out for the fun decorating part.  Next year we'll schedule his time better.  Here are a few fun pictures of the evening.  

Good Stuff

This was after Thanksgiving dinner.  Great comic relief.

Thanksgiving

I have officially graduated to being a grown up, as I hosted a meal for 20 this year for Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful time.  It was so nice to have family in our home to share the holiday with.  

My parents, my brother Scott and family, my brother Chris (missed you, Julie and boys), Ryan's parents, Ryan's brother Brandon and family (including 2.5 week old beautiful baby Samuel), and Ryan's brother Kalen were all here.  Some amazing friends lent their house to us for some extra sleeping room while they were out of town.  Thanks so much!

We had a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner with tri-tip, southwest turkey, rice, beans, chicken enchiladas, and a yummy salad.  We did break down and have delicious cherry, apple, and chocolate pie with a side of cream cheese pumpkin bars.  Delicious.

We ate great food, played at the park, and had a little basketball action in the gym in the evening.  And, yes, I can still kick some trash at Lightning.  Anyone local up for a challenge?

Friday we thought we'd get away from the big city and we headed for the great outdoors at Red Rock.  However, we quickly discovered that the remainder of the city had the same idea.  The park was filled to capacity and closed.  We drove on to an overlook and ate our picnic lunch and looked at what might have been.

Then we soothed our grief with a seriously fun-filled afternoon of mini-gran prix racing for Kalen's birthday.  Todd has begged to go repeatedly, but as mentioned before, I am a cheap mom.  But, we went anyway and it was super fun.  The little kids couldn't drive, but they could ride along on the raceway, so I took Ben in my car.  He spent the entire drive holding onto my arm saying, "Really not fun.  Too fast.  Really not fun. . .really not fun. . .really not fun."  I will admit that I did not slow down.  I was having a ton of fun.

We had pizza and birthday cake to round out the day.  

The Play Station was a big hit with all ages.  Todd is still suffering a bit of withdrawal as he adjusts back to normal non-vacation restrictions on screen time.

Saturday morning, Aubrey and I finally got together for a sewing lesson (we've been trying for over a year) and Aubrey made a stinkin cute little purse as her first project.  She was a great student!

Scott and family left Saturday  morning, much to Todd's dismay (he loves Kyle) and Ben's sadness (he loves Lizzie).  Ben said, "I don't want to miss Lizzie.  She's my best cousin."

Glenn and Kathy left as well with Kalen and ran into brutal traffic on their return to California.

Mom and I hit JoAnn's for the sale day but refused to wait from number 9 until our number 58 in the cutting line, so we settled for a good buy on some notions.

The boys (Ryan, Brandon, Chris, and Kalen) played RISK every night and we women got some good Christmas present sewing (we won't mention who for) under our belt.  

It was a great weekend.  Thanks all, for coming.  I'll send the whole batch of pictures out via Picasa.

More Funny Ben

I know my last post was about funny Ben, but here are a few more tidbits.  Todd is equally fun to be around, but he's grown past the stage of saying hilarious things.

Yesterday afternoon, I was upstairs sewing and the three boys were downstairs rough-housing and playing some version of hide-and-seek, more like run-and-attack.  Anyway, I heard Ben say, "Hey, Bishop, come get me."

To which Ryan replied, "What?"

"Bishop. Over here."

Then, later, Ben was sitting at the table and I walked by, "Mom, the Bishop and Todd are teasing me."

We're not sure where he developed this fondness for calling his dad Bishop, but it is quite funny.

Today in church Ben decided that he didn't want to go to nursery.  He has only done this one other time, the day Ryan was sustained as bishop, in fact.  So I decided to play it Mommy Cool and let him come with me to Sunday School.  My thinking was that it would take him about 1.5 minutes to decide my class was boring and he'd want to return to nursery.  Wrong.  He sat and listened to the lesson and read his Friend magazine.  One brother made a comment.  Ben's little head perked up and he grinned, "That man just said yada, yada, yada.  That's funny."  I tried to take him back to singning time training in the "big kid primary" but he pitched a bloody fit so I dragged him screaming with me to teach my Young Women's lesson.  We were talking about careers while he drew Star Wars ships.  I casually said, "Ben wants to be a Star Wars animator when he grows up."  He looked at me, rolled his eyes, and said, "I want to be a Clone Trooper when I grow up."  I stand corrected.

Tonight, we attended the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  With about five minutes left and President Monson speaking, Ben says, "I don't want to watch this show.  I don't like it."  Classic.

Benny keeps us on our toes.