Rice Krispie Teddy Bears

I've written before about the teddy bear mold.

It holds special childhood memories of Christmas with my Grandma. She always had baskets full of teddy bear rice krispie treats. And now that it's my turn to continue with the tradition, I want to ask her how many batches of these things she made! Goodness! Either my childhood memories are grossly exaggerated or she bought every single pack of marshmallows and box of Rice Krispie cereal in the store! Oh, and she must have stockpiled on the heart-shaped Red Hots because I drove all over town looking for them! Apparently they are a Valentine Day only treat. And... one more "and" I promise... if anyone knows where I can find those teeny, tiny Reese's balls for the eyes and nose, let me know. Round cinnamon drops and mini M&Ms will have to do I guess.

Jeff was super sweet to help me make all of these for my family {despite his funny face in the picture}. I think he liked decorating them more than he lets on... that or he wanted first dibs on eating them. Well, on second thought, he was probably worried I'd put too much cereal in and they wouldn't be ooey-gooey, fall apart in your hands soft.

I only remember my Grandma using the teddy bear mold, but she also had a Christmas tree mold and some Easter molds. So we decided to decorate a few Christmas trees too.

Oh it makes my heart happy to see all of these sweet treats in that basket. 

 

And even more happy to see the smile it brought on my Dad's face.

2nd Christmas

A few days after Christmas, we had "2nd Christmas" at my parent's house. My siblings and I always fight over who will get these handmade ornaments that ME and my grandma made when I was a kid. I will admit that Jesse was there, however; he was not the most enthusiastic, happy child despite what false memories he has of himself so I will split them with him.

Glad we cleared that up.

The kids had fun opening presents again. For the 4th time (Christmas Eve with Jeff's family, Christmas morning, with David and Vickie, and now "2nd Christmas").

My brothers tease me about a shirt I have that says "I'm a Zero" from the Zero Fatalities program. It's a shirt to remind me and others that I will drive safely. I thought I was pretty clever when I was able to get two of these shirts for "my favorite brother." He he. They both wanted me to confess who the favorite was.

It takes a lot to truly surprise Jeff and get a smile like this. My brother got him a hat signed by Bobby Wagner, former Aggie football great and {spoiler alert} soon to be 2014 Super Bowl Champion.

And in true me form, I came up with an idea for my mom and Jeff's mom about a week and a half before Christmas. A really awesome idea. Hand stamped jewelry from A Vintage Pearl. Their amazing creations are so adorable! But the problem was, I was a few days too late ordering them a necklace with vintage spoons stamped with the initial of their grandkids. I was so bummed. But Jeff told me to order it anyway and just tell them Santa was slow delivering their gifts. To my surprise though, they showed up on Christmas Eve day! I was so excited! I think they really loved the gift, even if Jeff added a lizard to the box.

I got a really cute terrarium from my sister, a new cookbook and Lincoln logs from my sister in law, and a bucket of soda with some money from my parents.

We had the traditional Christmas morning breakfast casserole, fruit, and yummy breads. Trying to win some brownie points with my niece, Anberlin, who screams every time I touch her, I plopped her down on the counter and let her eat the bread by herself. She still preferred Aunt Kimmy.

My grandparents live down the street from my mom and dad so they came down for lunch. I was so excited to give them their present! I always feel bad because I come up with something at the very last second for them and then throw it together. But my brilliant (ha ha) mind just works better in overdrive when I'm totally stressed out and exhausted I guess. Several months ago for Young Women's we made family pedigree charts but with a twist. We wanted something cute enough that the girls would actually keep it and put it somewhere they could see it. So we designed a tree with leaves that they could write their ancestors names on. I loved mine so much that I decided to make one for my grandparents. It was fun looking up all of my ancestors' names... I wondered who they were. I was so excited to watch my grandparents' reaction!

I actually liked theirs better than mine. I was able to put a full five generations on there, which is a lot of leaves! My mom was hoping I'd hidden one somewhere under the tree for her once she saw it.

My grandparents loved it. I've said before that my grandma has struggled the last several years with mental health problems. I was so grateful today was a good day. And once she opened her present it became an even better day! She started telling me stories about people and about her life. Like the time she was working for the federal government and went to Chicago for meetings. While there, Yogi Berra (a very famous MLB player for the Yankees) was staying at their hotel. My grandma and her friends wrote him a letter asking if they could get tickets to the baseball game. Well he did better than that and not only gave them tickets to the game, but told them to meet him afterwards! Grandma said he was a very nice man. How cool is that!

She was tickled with the gift.... the best compliment she has ever given to me was when she told me that she looks forward to my Christmas presents every year to see what I've come up with for them because I'm so clever and thoughtful. She said this family tree was the most thoughtful gift anyone had ever given her. It made my heart happy. 

We had so much fun! The kids cried and cried and cried when we told them it was time to go home. I remember those days myself.....

Special Delivery from Santa

I had a special delivery from Santa today!

Brand spankin' new kitchen appliances! A dishwasher, oven, and fridge! 

We only had two snags with my special delivery. First, when we moved out the old oven, we didn't realize it was hard-wired into the electricty. I may or may not have had a slight panic attack when Jeff pulled the oven out and said something along the lines of "Oh @!$#!" Luckily, unbenownst to us at the the time, but thanks to a quick Google search, this is normal. Whew. I had one of those "why did we buy a 100+ year old house again?" moments. 

Second, after waking up to appliances, presents, dishes, and furniture EVERYWHERE {the joys of having a tiny old house}, the appliance guys came and started measuring our doorways. Now, Jeff had measured a 100 times just to please me and promised that we could get everything in the house. But the problem was, the appliance guys didn't. They took one look at our old house and said the fridge wasn't going to fit. 

I immediately went into our bedroom, turned on some cartoons for the kids, and closed the door. I refused to come out until I either heard the chainsaw cutting our walls down or Jeff telling me they were in. On second thought, if I would have heard chainsaws or swearing, I probably wouldn't have come out. 

The before with all the mess of moving old appliances {and not being able to do dishes... the day after Christmas with guests over}....

... and the after! Wahoo! It feels like we are actually grown-ups now with real, shiny stainless steel appliances! The only thing that would have made them better is if they came with a maid to cook and clean for me.

Which were "Aggie-fied" by the kids and Jeff in a matter of seconds. 

Oh well. So much for feeling like grown ups I guess.

Vintage Japanese Toys

For Christmas, Jeff's mom gave us a toy. {It hide some cash too... ca-ching!}

We got the Worried Mother Duck and Baby. I was quite impressed with the condition they were both in. The boxes were both in great condition too, with all the original packing inserts. Roy and Cindy got the Playful Puppy with Caterpillar.

Jeff's mom wasn't sure how old or valuable they were. She said they were Jeff's Grandpa's toys that he played with as a kid. But as I searched online, I learned they were both 1950-1960 era Japanese toys. So probably not something Jeff's grandpa played with as a kid.

Here's the full scoop on Worried Mother Duck and Baby {courtesy of someone on Ebay}.

"Battery operated Worried Mother Duck and baby with box. The three correct actions of this toy when operating follow: Mother duck waddles forward, stops and starts again. Mother duck make realistic duck-like sounds. Head moves intermittingly with mouth opening and closing. Very amusing. The small wheel on the base can be adjusted to allow the Mother duck to move in a straight line or in a circular pattern. This is a "MADE IN JAPAN" toy listed in Don Hultzman's book, COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO BATTERY TOYS, copyright 2002, second edition. It is listed and pictured on page 207. It is a 1950's era toy made by the Kosuge Co. It also has the familiar " T-N " in a diamond logo on the toy and the box.  It has a rarity of 4 on a scale to 10 being the rarest, and a value of $250.00 in C-10 condition without the box. The box is in very good-excellent condition. It is complete with a clear tape repair on the inside of the lid. Also incuded are the original packaging inserts. Colorful box. Nice for display or storage. Would make a nice addition to any mechanical toy collection. Not often seen in this condition."

And what I could find on the Playful Puppy with Caterpillar.

"Vintage 1950s battery operated tin litho mechanical toy animal novelty by TM Modern Toys. Japan in original box. Playful Puppy features a googly-eyed grey dog (looks like a Schnauzer) sniffing mistrustfully at a springy red worm; the figures are positioned on a brightly decorated tin litho base that looks like a grassy lawn. The box has a wonderful illustrated artwork in true mid-century style. It's hard to find this scarce toy in any condition, and no wonder, it's great-looking collectible with appeal to spare. It's especially rare to find them with their original packaging."

I liked both of them but am happy to report that Mother Duck and her Baby are happily sitting in our living room.

Christmas Craziness

We decided we couldn't handle the Christmas craziness of dragging presents to Logan and staying overnight at my parent's house. It's always weird for me to be home with just my little family on Christmas Day and I know my family was annoyed with our decision, but I just couldn't do it. So we stayed home, slept in a little, and enjoyed our own Christmas chaos with the kids. And dog.

Blu has been trying to sneak her present from the kids under the tree for weeks! She knew there was a giant bone waiting for her. I'd catch her trying to smell or lick it every morning. 

Santa spoiled us again. But apparently the jolly ole elf ran out of wrapping paper for Cole because a few of his presents were wrapped in the same paper as Pearl's. 

And Santa is obviously aware of the lizard situation. Because there were lizards all over my stocking!

Oh how I love our new stockings! I love our homemade ones {minus Cole... his mom has epic failed another year and hasn't made him one yet}. I waited and waited for them to go on clearance from Pottery Barn Kids last year and when they did, I snatched them! They are HUGE and Santa can stuff a ton of surprises in them.

I was mean and made them get a decent picture before they started tearing into all the presents.

Santa did pretty good with surprising everyone with their wish lists. Fern got his vacuum just like Mom's he so wanted, some tools which he then used to "remodel" all of our windows, bathroom {before we could use it}, and walls the rest of the day, a horse trailer and Jeep to pull it with, clothes, and golf clubs. 

Pearl got "accessories" as she called them for her American Girl dolls, a barn and horses, movie and popcorn {for both of the pipsqueaks}, Calico Critters house, boots {which she has worn every day since}, and clothes.

Blu was almost as excited about opening her presents as the kids were. Seriously. That dog was jumping around and wagging her tail like crazy. I think she likes her new bone.

I love seeing my kids' handwriting on my gifts. They picked out two movies for me, my favorites, Man From Snowy River and Return to Snowy River.

Blu and I surprised the Alpha Male with a new hand vacuum and a bluetooth speaker for his phone. And he surprised me with a box of.....

lizards {and a new vacuum hose}. Lots and lots of lizards. 118 to be exact. There are now lizards EVERYWHERE in our house.

We had a nice breakfast after opening presents with Jeff's mom and dad who always make the rounds visiting grandkids on Christmas Day. I tried something new because we were going to have our traditional breakfast casserole with my family a few days after Christmas... breakfast taquitos from Our Best Bites. HUGE hit with the kids! Even the lizards loved them.

Then it was more present opening with our wonderful neighbors, David and Vickie. And for once we surprised them! They don't like us buying them gifts but Jeff was determined to figure out a gift they would love this year. He somehow got them to say the name of their favorite sales person at the "glass house" {aka liquor store} and then went there and asked him what they drank. He came home with a gigantic bottle of "fine table wine" {I laughed hysterically at it because it looked like a redneck jug of booze} and some other liquor I can't remember the name of. We even wrapped them... with a brown paper bag and ribbon but hey! They were pretty shocked and excited! It was funny.

We spent the evening at my Aunt Julie's house visiting with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We sure missed my Grandpa this year, but it was perfect laughing and giggling away for hours with them. I'm glad we stayed home this year. And not just because we didn't have to drive all over the place on a few hours of sleep but because we had to come home and clean out our kitchen and move out all of our appliances....

My Christmas presents are coming tomorrow!!!!