The Weekend Report
Everyone around here had a great weekend. Carly and Andi went to the ballet Friday to see The Nutcracker. Friday night Bill and I went to a dinner at church and had a great time. He had to leave for work shortly after we finished playing a white elephant Christmas gift game, but I stayed and played games. Our pastor called and asked me to bring "that fun game we played at the youth retreat this summer." So, I took it. It is a game called Time's Up, which is by far, the most fun party game we play around here. It doesn't matter if you aren't a game player, once you get started, you can't help but enjoy yourself. I have never played this with anyone who didn't enjoy it -- and can recall certain actions years later when a person's name is brought up. In fact, I can hardly wait to finish this post, because when I was looking for the link for the game, I found Expansion packs - 500 new people to add to the basic game. Gonna place that order in just a minute.
Andi and Big Jacob stayed with the kids while we were gone. They watched Madagascar with the kids and enjoyed that time together.
Saturday, we made cookies in the morning and then the kids had play practice in the afternoon. After that, there was a pizza party for them for all their hard work.
After church Sunday, I made a pot of veggie soup and while that simmered, my friend, Vicki Alvey, Andi and I made 5 batches of caramel corn. We did it in under an hour. Such a simple recipe if you want to give it a whirl.
Here's the recipe if you want to try it. 
Make 4 quarts popped corn - no salt -
and place it in a doubled brown paper bag. In a saucepan mix together
1 C brown sugar
1 stick margarine
1/3 C light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
Bring to a boil and let boil for 2 minutes. Pour over popcorn in bag. Fold down and shake like crazy for about 30 seconds. Put bag in microwave & cook for 1 minute. Shake again and Spread on wax paper to cool.
Vicki brought the kids Christmas gifts galore. She brought them lots of craft projects to do together and several that are wrapped up individually for them to open after a good school day between now and Christmas. Trying to help me keep them focused. That's what friends are for! They all made craft things yesterday while we played Rummicubes and Jacob is making a Santa bell right now that he just opened after finishing his schoolwork.
The kids Christmas program was last night and they did a good job. So funny to watch little kids do any type of performance. Carly - as usual - could be heard above everyone else. The girl has absolutely no rhythm, but she has lots of moves. Much to the dismay of the child who is standing next to her fearing that they will be bounced off the stage. Every time there is a program at church that she is in, I know people are going to tell me how much they enjoy watching her. She is a hoot and a half.
We had a very peaceful weekend filled with lots of fun stuff and friends - my favorite kind.
