family

My Pinterest Fail and other funny stories. Bring it, Christmas!

I am excited about the holidays! So excited! Mostly because it means I don’t have to teach as much. Is that wrong?

I was at the chiropractor’s office today, when lo and behold, Daniel’s new preschool teacher walked in. I admitted to her that her job was much too hard on the back for me. Just the one day of volunteering had me running home to my hot pack. But you know what? She loves teaching. It’s her calling!

I’m so glad that there are people who actually do love teaching. I am in awe of teachers.

*********

So, some funny things have happened lately.

Yep. I can explain

The boys were so excited about this, so goofing up was sad. They were soft and delicious, but the icing was runny. That wouldn’t have mattered, if the icing bag had not BUSTED wide open all over the cookies. Icing everywhere. At that point, we just gave up and ate the cookies.

As for the Crispy M & M on the crotch, that was Daniel, and I assure you it was just a button. I’m pretty sure.

My #1 Kitchen Helper

Alan said, “Did HE make the cookies?” See, this was the day Dan had croup. I said, “Yes, but I tried really hard to not let him touch them…” That’s like taking Nonna shopping and not letting her buy anything. I wasn’t super successful.

The weird-looking ones are triceratops, and there’s one steam engine and one caboose.

Truth is, I just found that Pinterest photo and stuck it beside mine. I never had any intentions of doing something I’m completely incapable of: making cookies that cute.

The holiday bug took over me yesterday. I cooked 2 pans of cornbread, 1 pan of dressing (southern style), and gingerbread cookies! I even made my own chicken broth, mostly because I didn’t think I had any. Daniel later pointed out that I had an entire unopened carton of chicken broth in the refrigerator.  Where were you two hours earlier, Daniel?

gluten-free corn bread: Joshua has a mild wheat allergy.

One day, Daniel’s wife is going to thank me for her amazing chef husband, and I’m going to say, “Oh, you’re welcome dear. I did that just for you,” when in reality that was all God. I have nothing to do with Daniel’s awesomeness in the kitchen.

I took a few photos of making chicken broth and corn bread dressing for you. I thought I’d photograph the whole process and share my to-die-for family recipe with you.

FYI: I make chicken broth all the time. I just boil chicken (any chicken) in water with salt and garlic. Done. Easy and delicious.

Despite what Food Network might lead you to believe, cooking can be easy and still taste incredible.

Instead, I forgot to take pictures past the first 10 or so minutes. I’m sorry. Multi-tasking is also not me… I didn’t even take a finished product photo…..and that, my friends, is why I will never be a famous blogger. Pioneer Woman I am not.

******

My boys are eaten up with poison oak. Monday we finally made it to Classical Conversations. I knew Joshua’s face was starting to break out, but after missing two weeks in a row, plus several other weeks this year, due to one or the other of us being sick or having an appointment, I refused to be stopped.

We had one, shining, glorious day of CC. Then Monday night, Caleb’s entire body exploded in poison oak rash. Joshua’s face itches so bad that he sleeps on ice packs, and Daniel woke up at 1am barking and struggling for air.

When you have four boys, you should really have a MD. Yes, all parents should be doctors. It would save so much time, energy, phone calls, etc.

****Disclaimer: Please do not take anything you read here too seriously..*****

OH! This next one may look like a Pinterest fail to some of you too, but the boys and I were pretty excited about our first home school garden harvest of seriously dirty potatoes:

Dan and JD had a great time washing them.

Again, I forgot to take a photo of them clean… They tasted perfect! I caught Alan trying to throw them away.

“But they’re tiny.”

“You still pay $2 a bag at the store for tiny Steam bag potatoes, you know.”

“Well, you can fish them out of the trash, if you want. They’re right on top.”

“Ewww. No.”

“April, they’re in a plastic bag. Here, see, here, I’ll put them back.”

“Thank you.”

**********

So who’s ready for Thanksgiving? I am. I mean, what could happen?

Happy Holidays, y’all!

aprilmomoffour

April is an upbeat, Christian, blog-obsessed, military wife, and home schooling mom of four little boys. She writes about education, travel, and humorous adventures in parenting. Follow along if you’d like a little bit of encouragement and a whole lot of crazy.

View Comments

  • Ha, I love Pinterest but everything looks too perfect and mine never turn out the same too :)

    Thanks for sharing at Creative \Mondays

  • Sounds like life is always exciting with that many boys! Thanks for sharing the fun stories on the Small Victories Sunday Linkup!

  • Hahaha! So glad I am not the only one who has Pinterest fails! ;p Thanks for sharing! #SmallVictories

  • This is great. I too have had my fair share of Pinterest fails. Good to know I am not alone. I too am raising 4 boys (and one princess). Lots of adventures to be had!!

  • Bwahaha! The cookies, the potatoes! Oh my your family is a hoot. I sleep in that same position most every night. Why oh why can't they find another bed to hop into. They do have siblings!!

    • haaaahahaha! So true! And it's funny. Some nights I wake up and make Alan carry them back to their beds. Other nights, I love it.

  • April, this post is such a treasure. I promise you that you will be so glad you had a Pinterest fail instead of perfect cookies one day. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

  • I REALLY enjoyed reading this. I was literally laughing out loud. Just remember, sometimes holiday disasters run in families.......Like (ahem) exploding turkeys and iced tea in the dressing. Instead of crying when the dish the turkey was in exploded, I sat down and laughed hysterically. Amber and her friend were worried I had lost my mind. (And that was BEFORE I found out that I had burned a hole in the side of my coffee maker. lol Happy Thanksgiving, honey. I love you.

    • Oh good, I'm so glad. You DO have some INSANE stories, and best of all you got how hilarious they were at the time. So many people can't. The hole in the coffee maker really seals it. Wow!!! Happy Thanksgiving! One day I'm going to drag you all to DC, and we'll have a grand ol' holiday together.

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