The Last Day of School for 2011 !!!

We are so excited at the Ferrell homestead!  After tomorrow, the Ferrell boys and I will get to sleep a little later and play a little later at night.  Did I say we were excited?

Also tomorrow is the school Christmas parties too!  Excited ...excited ...excited...

Today the boys' school had a Snuggle up and Read Day.  The children wore pajamas to school and the teachers read Christmas books to them.  In Alex's class, he and his friends snuggled up in blankets on the carpeted floor while the teacher read.  It was sweet.  Alex loves his teacher.

Today was also a half-day at school, and one of Zach's friends came over at lunch to spend the afternoon with the boys.  They mostly played video games but they also fed the cows and took the trash to the road for me.  They were so funny playing on the Wii and very involved it sounded like to me.  I was in the kitchen cleaning up the lunch dishes and listening to them and finally my curiosity got the better of me and I peeped around . . . and they weren't playing Wii anymore, but wrestling wildly on the floor in the living room And having the best time.  Boys.

They really enjoyed playing video games on Dave's computer. . . .still in their pajamas . . .

While they played, I fixed supper.  When Dave's home for supper, I like to cook a real meal for him, not pizza or hamburger helper which the boys love.

Tonight I made the Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti.  My sweet sister, Michelle, gave me the Pioneer Woman's cookbook when we moved into the new house.  I love the Pioneer Woman.  I discovered her a few years ago and became consumed with her blog, http://thepioneerwoman.com/ .

I'm not as consumed with her blog now, but I still love her cookbook, and she even has a cooking show on the Food Network that I watch and record.

When I say I was consumed with her blog . . . I apparently was spending more time on the blog than with Dave.  I first found her blog around Thanksgiving, and I spent hours reading her blog and recipes and looking at her pictures.  She had written a story about how she met her husband.  She calls her husband the "Marlboro Man."  She has lots of pictures of him on the blog along with her 4 children.  They live in the middle of nowhere on a real working ranch.  Her blog is all about that life and it's very interesting and she's very funny.

That year for Christmas, Dave gave me these as a gift:

 On the card Dave wrote, "I want to be your Marlboro Man."  lol!  He's so funny.  Anyway . . .

Here is MY Pioneer Woman chicken spaghetti:

That's her cookbook on the counter.  The recipe made a lot.  I froze half of it for another night.  I love how she has lots of pictures for each recipe:

During the Christmas season, my momma always uses her Christmas dishes for every meal.  I have the same Christmas dishes and we use them for our meals too. 

Dave loved the chicken spaghetti.  And I did too.  Zach and Shane -- not so much.  Alex said he loved it.  I guess 3 out of 5 is not too bad.  If you are interested in trying her chicken spaghetti, you can get her recipe off her website HERE . 

Dave was off today and he started on a special project just for me.

This is as far as he's gotten on dismantling the old piano.

I'm just happy that he's started on it.  Now if he'll just finish . . .

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the year.  All the boys will be having their class Christmas party tomorrow. at. the. same. time!  Makes it hard for a momma to be at all 3 parties.

I'm one of the homeroom mothers for Alex's class, so I'll spend most of my time in his class.  I wanted to make goody bags for my boys' classes, and I bought the candy and stuff for the goody bags several days ago, but for some reason, I hadn't put them together yet.  I don't know why. 

Fortunately I have sweet little boys who love to help.  Zach came to my rescue and helped me put the 33 goody bags together.

I wrapped the presents for the children whose names we had drawn:

Every year I've always made homemade food items for my boys' teachers and gotten them something else like an ornament or something to go with it.  This year . . . I decided to not stress about teacher gifts . . . and I . . . for the first time ever . . . bought the teacher's gifts!  No homemade food item to stress about.  :D

So as I go to bed tonight . . . I have the teacher's gifts, the goody bags for each class, the friends' presents ready . . . Tomorrow morning I have to remember the camera, the video camera, the chips and dip for 2 classes, the Christmas plates and napkins for another class . . . 

Am I forgetting something?   Oh yes!  Batteries for the gifts!

Christmas party day at the school can almost be as stressful as actual Christmas Day! 

Y'all have a great Friday!  I know the Ferrell boys and I will!

Tina