Volleyball Season

Not only is it basketball season in this household, it's also volleyball season! Nicole made it on the "A" team and boy was she excited!  She's come a lot way since last year.  Glenn has spent some time with her and encouraged her to practice with a couple of experienced volleyball players and it payed off.

She has been struggling to get her serves over the net, but at their first game the other night, she had no trouble at all!

She tried to argue that that particular gym was shorter than ours and that's why she was able to serve over the net.  It took some a while, but her parents finally convinced her that it was a regulation-sized gym.  Sometimes, parents might know what they're talking about.  Not very often, but sometimes!

Good Books

It was so fun choosing the books to buy Jen for the book-themed baby shower. I consulted the kids, and we decided on two favorites from our collection.  They're probably more my favorites than theirs, but they didn't argue!  The first book we decided on was Giraffe and a Half, by Shel Silverstein.  Love that author.  Found this book at the library when the girls were little and immediately ordered our own copy.  Funny, silly book.  Easily found on Amazon.  Gotta love that.

The other book is from my childhood and we still have the copy my brother and I grew up reading. "Professor Wormbog in Search for the Zipperump-a-Zoo," by Mercer Mayer.

I was pleasantly surprised that Amazon carried this book also.  I was also surprised to see used copies available for $375!  I'm sure the beat up copy from my childhood isn't worth nearly so much, but still...

A person should be more careful with their children's books.

But wait, that wouldn't be fun for the children, now would it?!

Baby Shower

Dear niece Christina graciously invited me to host a book-themed baby shower with her for niece Jen.  Turned out to be a great deal for me.  I did next to nothing.  Christina did everything and we both got credit!
Ellea and I thoroughly enjoyed our day together.  We arrived at Steve and Teenie's hourse a couple hours early and helped put up her adorable decorations (that I wish I had a picture of!).

The beautiful pregnant mama was wishing she wasn't preggers anymore, but it will happen soon, I'm sure of it.

The baby tried to make his entrance last weekend, but it was just a practice run.

Grandma K got to hold Teenie's baby Will while he crunched on celery.  I've never seen a one-year-old enjoy celery so much!  Ellea was bummed that he wasn't too willing for her to hold him.  He was unusually needy for his mama that day.  You can always count on his brother, Ben, to make you feel special, though.  "a-Retta, come SEE MY TRAIN.  a-Retta, come SEE MY TRAIN.  a-Retta, COME SEE MY TRAIN!!!"
(As I stand in the kitchen, oblivious that the rambling little voice is talking to ME!)

Basketball, again

We are back into basketball season.....

 We weren't out of basketball season for long

Glenn is still coaching Ellea's 6th grade team.

He's also coaching a 7th/8th grade girls' team that we will be taking to a tournament in Boise in February.

So, prepare yourself for a few posts about basketball.

Snow Horses

Nicole and I went out for a horseback ride in the snow last weekend and it was fabulous!  The sun was shining and the horses were great.  I hadn't ridden my horse in a few months and it was great to be out.

We both rode bareback which is nice because the horse keeps you warm (and you can be lazy and not go through the effort of saddling!).  The dogs were thrilled to be going for a ride, but the snow was too deep for poor Zip.  He turned around and came back home.  We could hear him barking/howling.  Poor guy.  He just loves going with us on our rides and probably couldn't figure out how we could possibly keep going without him!

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

I know this isn't a cooking blog and I'm no chef, so forgive me for sharing recipes two days in a row, but I feel strongly that you must try these biscuits.  That is, if you have a weakness for Red Lobster's Cheesy Biscuits.  I'm personally rather fond of those delightful orbs of buttery, garlic-y, cheesy goodness.  I realize they have zero nutritional value, but that's what makes them so yummy!

I've tried a copycat recipe for this biscuit before but was not impressed with the results. I'm rather surprised at myself that I tried another recipe, but I got it in my head that I wanted a cheesy biscuit reminiscent of Red Lobster and found this gem of a recipe online.  I'm not sure I could go back and find the website if I tried, so I'm afraid I can't give credit.

I served these with the roasted chicken I posted yesterday.  The family raved about these almost as much as the chicken.  When you hit two home runs on new recipes in one night, you're feeling pretty good about your kitchen skills!

The original recipe called for Bisquick, but I didn't have any, so I found a recipe for homemade biscuit mix and it worked fine.  You have my permission to go either way.

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits
2 1/2 c Bisquick (see recipe below)
4 Tbs cold butter
3/4 c milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 c grated Cheddar

Mix Bisquick and butter with pastry cutter until butter is pea-sized.  Add remaining ingredients until combined.  Drop scant 1/4 cup scoops on baking sheet and bake 15-17 minutes at 400 degrees.  After baking, brush with 4 Tbs melted butter mixed with 1/2 t parsley and 1 t garlic powder.


Homemade Bisquick Mix
6 c flour
3 Tbs baking powder
1 Tbs salt
1 c shortening

Mix ingredients until crumbly.  Store in a sealed container in fridge up to four months.

Yummy Chicken

I hit a home run with a new recipe recently. Nothing better than searching out and trying a new recipe and listening to your adoring family ohh and ahh over how good it is!

I found the recipe for this delicious oven-roasted chicken on a blog I love to read (Pioneer Woman) and decided to give it a go.  You know it's a keeper when the family is smacking their lips appreciatively and making happy little noises as they eat!

Pioneer woman uses something called Hot Salt in her recipe, but I used something I found at Costco recently called Sweet Mesquite Seasoning.  It was the perfect combination of sweet, salty and smoky.  Yum.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Pioneer Woman Roast Chicken
Approx two cut up chicken (PW used 24 chicken legs)
2 sticks of butter, melted
1 Tbs Sweet Mesquite Seasoning (or your favorite seasonings)
1/3 cup lemon juice (or to taste) - fresh or bottled

Combine the melted butter, seasoning and juice.  PW also suggests using garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, or something called Hot Salt as seasoning.  I personally think you should go to Costco immediately and buy their Sweet Mesquite Seasoning, but I'm sure other options could be fabulous as well.  The two sticks of butter don't hurt anything...

Dip each chicken piece in the butter mixture and place on a baking sheet.  Brush with additional butter and sprinkle with more seasonings.  Bake in 400-degree oven for 45 minutes (30 minutes for drumsticks).  If the chicken needs more color, turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes (but watch closely).  Remove when golden brown.

Scout

My brother and his family brought their little dog, Scout, when they came to visit.  He joined us for our daytime sledding adventure and boy did he get a workout.

Up and down the hill every time.  Follow the snowmobile up the hill, follow the sledders back down...

That is, until we'd been at it a couple of hours.  Then he got smart and just waited at the bottom!

Loaded Down

How many kids can one person load on a snowmobile and trailer?

Five, if you squish them in there!

More Sledding

The fun continues on sledding hill.

The kids started going down the hill in groups.

They discovered if they started out in a straight row, they would curve around and become a circle....

I kept waiting for a massive wreck...

But it was always squeals and laughter all the way to the bottom of the hill!

Walking to the Top

Our kids are so spoiled.  We already knew that, but when it comes to going sledding, they expect to be hauled to the top of the hill every time.  They barely unload from the snow mobile and they're back down at the bottom of the hill waiting for a ride.

Every kid enjoys the stories from their parents of "when I was a kid...."  But it's true!  When we were kids, we went down the hill a few times and we were done, because we had to walk ourselves back up to the top every time!

So, after about 30 times of being ferried up the hill, we suggested it was time for them to do some walking.  It took awhile of them sitting around in shock that we weren't going to drive them, but finally Tony's youngest started walking and the others soon followed suit.

They even did it more than once.  They discovered it wasn't so bad to walk.  But then Glenn fired up the snowcat again and they were grateful for the ride.

Clear Blue Sky

We had a beautiful, sunny day to enjoy the sledding when my brother's family came to visit.

It may have been twenty-some degrees, but at least we had gorgeous blue sky!

Snow Surfing

The sledding fun continued into the following day when Tony and family came to visit.  The hill was even faster on day two.  Glenn clocked kids going 35 miles an hour!!!  Tony brought these inflatable "surfers" that his company sells for use on the water.  Well, they work to surf the snow, too!

More Night Sledding

My brother and his fam came to visit recently with the intent of getting some sledding time in.  Our kids tipped their kids off that we recently discovered the fun of night sledding.  They all began begging to begin the sledding Friday night rather than waiting for daylight and warmer weather.  At first, the adults said no, but they wore us down and we bundled up to head out into the cold, dark night....  (That sentence sounds like the start to a bad novel.)

We had a fabulous, fun time.

Glenn left the four-wheeler light on at the top of the hill so we could see (kind of).

And a fun time was had by all.  Even me--- the anti-cold, California-girl-at-heart.  Except I was happy to come home when the time came!

Meatballs

Nicole volunteered to make dinner recently (bless her soul), and settled on giving spaghetti and meatballs a try.  Meatballs from scratch, that is.  And she pulled it off fabulously.  The meatballs were perfect and the sauce was delicious.  After she started cooking the pasta I told her to set a timer and I picked up the package to see how long they needed to cook.  That's when I noticed I was holding an empty Linguine wrapper.  Hmm.

Turns out she grabbed the first bag of "straight" noodles she found and never thought to read the package.  I told her it was fine.  They all taste the same anyway.

So, we had Linguine and Meatballs.  Sounds funny, but tasted great!  Nicole can make me Some-Shape-of-Pasta and Meatballs any time she wants.

Christmas Toy

Morgan asked for a remote control vehicle for Christmas.  Glenn and I decided to get a remote control helicopter.  I think Glenn was more excited about it than Morgan on Christmas morning!

When the helicopter comes out, it's serious business.

It's not as easy as you would think....

But it sure is a fun toy for a daddy and his boy!

Christmas Ride

Nicole was determined to ride her horse and Christmas, so I suggested that put a bow on him and snap some pictures.

This girl doesn't like her horse at all.

Can you tell?

Bareback is the only way to ride in 30 degree weather.  The horse can keep you warm!

Christmas Cake

The Poxleitner Christmas party continued over into Sunday for the brave few who stayed the night. We went to church together, which Morgan loved because it meant getting to sit by his Godfather.

In honor of Ellea's birthday we had cake for "lunch!"  I had already made two cakes for her family party and friends party and Nicole had made a cake a couple days before her birthday (just because we like cake), so of course all three cakes got candles!  Not a very pretty collection, but we had choices at least!  And she had helpers to blow out all those candles.

Christmas Clean Up

My favorite part of the Poxleitner Christmas party is after dinner when the nieces and nephews take over my kitchen and wash all the dishes.  Gotta love that!

Glenn snapped a picture of a portion of the clean-up crew.  Don't you love the apron?  It's Ellea's.  From when she was five!

Reading Books

In between making noodles and eating soup, I talked little Ben into reading a book with me.

Morgan isn't too old (yet) to have a book read to him, so he joined us.  And sweet Uncle Joe grabbed my camera and took a picture.  I loved that.  I'm usually the one behind the camera.

Ben must not have liked this page.  He looks grumpy!

God Parents

Morgan adores his godparents. And not because they buy him fabulous Christmas gifts (I hope!).  He was thrilled to see them both at our Christmas party.

Morgan loves the western denim shirt that Donna gave him.

He asked for art supplies and since Phil is an artist himself, he didn't mess around with some flimsy art set!  They sat right down and went to drawing.  Phil might need to give him some lessons next!