A killer fudge recipe

Yesterday I had a hankering for fudge. I was out of all kinds of things I needed for it, and my car was a block of ice, so I improvised. It turned out to be the best peanut butter fudge I've ever had. So, I'm gonna share my recipe.

Rodiemom's Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup evaporated milk

1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

4 cups mini marshmallows

In a heavy pan, combine butter, sugars and milk over med-high heat. Heat to a rolling boil. Boil mixture for 5 min (exactly) stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat and immediately add peanut butter and marshmallows. Stir vigorously until thoroughly combined and mixture no longer appears glossy. Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan and let set about 1 hour before cutting. Enjoy!

Calories don't count at Christmas, right?

Beware...

It'll suck your life away. I've tried to avoid the whole YouTube craze, but every once in a while I start and I just can't stop. So click at your own risk.

My Dad had a book by Thor Ramsey at his house and it intrigued me because Ramsey is my maiden name. Check him out. He's hilarious!

A Christmas Promise

I absolutely love Christmas! I'm not really big on the whole Santa thing. And I actually hate answering the question about what I want for Christmas. I think it kinda cheapens the whole giving something to someone to let them know they are loved thing. But I love gifts and trees and snow, if I'm not out in it. I love the carols, and the smell of the fire burning. I love that the whole family gets together and plays games and eats lots of goodies. It's just such a fun, familiar time of year.

When I was a kid, my favorite part of Christmas was the Christmas Eve service that always ended at midnight with the candles and everybody walking out of the church so quietly. It was just so peaceful. And the best Christmases were the ones when it was snowing as we walked home. We almost always lived next door to the church so we'd walk out in the snow and watch the sky for a few minutes. It's so neat to see the snowflakes falling from a starry sky. Then we'd walk in the house and crawl into bed. In the morning my Mom would have Grandma's coffee cake ready for breakfast. And my brother and I would race down the stairs to see the gifts under the tree. That was always a great part. I'm sure at the time the presents were what I looked forward to, but the Christmas Eve service is the part that I remember the most.

But Christmas is not just about presents and snow and trees and Santa. Those things are all fun and they all have their place. It's not even just about a baby born a long time ago. It's about a promise. The promise that God made to his people many years before Jesus and Joseph and Mary and the stable. A promise of a Savior. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise, the gift He gave all of us that first Christmas. He started His journey to the Cross that day in the stable.I think that's why I loved the Christmas Eve service so much. It was such a quiet reflective time, but it made everything feel like something BIG was about to happen. What could be bigger that the birth of the Savior? So let's remember that promise this Christmas. Remember that something big is about to happen. When we're shopping for that last great deal or getting all those goodies finished in the kitchen, let's remember that our God is in the business of keeping promises. He promised a Savior and He came. He promised He'll come back again. Don't forget, He keeps His promises. Merry Christmas everybody!

The Reason for the Season

My MIL sent me this forward today. I thought it was worthy to share .

*Twas the month before Christmas*
*When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying*
*Nor taking a stand.*
*See the PC Police had taken away,*
*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*
*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*
*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*
*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*
* December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.*
*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*
*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*
*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*
*Something was changing, something quite odd! *
*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*
*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*
*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*
* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*
*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*
*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*
*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*
*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*
*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*
*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!*
*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*
*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*
*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*
* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*
*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*
*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*
*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*
*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*
*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*
*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday!*
Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is 'The Reason' for the Christ-mas Season!

Let's remember our Savior this Christmas.

Mother of Boys!

You know, I never wanted boys. I wanted girls. Don't judge me, I'm just being honest here. Now, really, I would never trade my two boys for anything. I'm so glad God knows better and He's in control. If I had my way, I would never have gotten Micah or Jadon and my life would never be as full and fun as it is right now.

That said, I never wanted boys. And here's why. Micah and Jadon have spent the morning chasing each other back and forth across the house. Smart mom of boys that I am, I sent Micah and Chloe to play out in the snow while I get Jadon ready for his nap. He's still little enough that a nap is what he really needs when he starts getting roudy.

Yesterday, after a similar episode, Micah and Chloe were told to hang up their coats and mittens and snowpants and put their boots away. I personally hung up Micah's snowpants and stuffed his mittens inside. So this afternoon, finding snow clothing should be no problem, right? Wrong! Boys do not work this way, at least not my boy. After his clothing had been hanging for several hours, I found Micah in the living room throwing one mitten in the air.

Mommy: Where did you get your mitten from?
Micah: (shrugs)
Mommy: Where is your other mitten now?
Micah: (shrugs)
Mommy: Please find your pants and put your mittens inside of them.
Micah: But I don't know where my pants are.

Mommy and Micah proceed to retrieve the snowpants and the other mitten. Mittens are returned to the pants.

Mommy: Please hang your pants on your hook in the hallway.
Micah: Yes, Mommy.

Now, I'm not sure about the exact wording, but that is pretty much how the conversation went. So today, at outside playtime, getting dressed should be a piece of cake. Right?

Again, not with my boy.

Mommy: Where are your snowpants?
Micah: In my pants drawer. (that makes sense, right?)
Mommy: Go get them and put them on, before you put your boots on. *note, he already had a boot on, and I'm not sure how the pants were going to fit over the boots
Micah: (retrieves pants and begins to put them on)
Mommy: Make sure you get your mittens out before you put your pants on.
Micah: But I don't know where my mittens are.
Mommy: (silently: AARRRRGGGHH!)

We eventually found the mittens under his bed. Don't ask me how they got there. But here is my problem. This is not a one time occurrence. I frequently find things in the weirdest places or don't find them where they should be because Micah has picked something up, wandered into another room, and put it down without ever realizing he has it in the first place.

Jadon discovered Daddy's comb in the toybox yesterday. I think that was his doing. Micah, when told to put his shoes and socks on loses his socks while looking for his shoes. Micah puts one ball away only to find another and begin tossing IT within seconds. When asked to carry his dishes into the kitchen, he walks directly into his bedroom with them. As I type this, I notice one of my socks on top of the computer monitor. I am certain I did not put it there and Jadon is not allowed in here unattended. My only explaination is that Micah found himself without a ball and my sock was handy.

I can definitely see how ADHD is so overly diagnosed in boys in this country. The attention span of a five year old boy is enough to drive any Mom crazy. Not to mention the wild, "hyperactive" behavior of most of them.

Of course, if I didn't have these boys, life would surely be more boring. I mean, is it really fun when everyone sits quietly in their seats? Or when no one is yelling and jumping up and down because they scored a homerun on Backyard Baseball? If I didn't have boys, I think I'd really miss the swordfights with turkey feathers and the giggling over Matchbox Car crashes.

So I guess God really did know what He was doing when He gave me boys. Maybe someday He'll give me a soundproof room to hide in every once in a while.

Mommy's Big Day

As a mother, I am often surprised at how quickly my kiddos are growing up. You'd think by the title that this post was about me. But it's not. My day was big only in that I spent the day waiting and (trying not to) worry while my dad took Chloe and Micah skiing. That's right, skiing. For those of you who don't remember, Chloe is just six years old and Micah just had his 5th birthday last month. And I know that there are kids out there who have been skiing since they were potty trained. But not mine. Mine are going to stay little for a very long time. My aversion to them skiing might just have a little something to do with how much I dislike skiing myself.

However, on the return trip, my Dad called to inform me of some bad news... I may have to decide to like skiing after all. Because, apparently, they loved it! I'm happy for them, I really am. And I'll probably decide that they should go a few more times this year.

My Dad, of course took some photos of the day. I didn't even ask him to. (Betcha you were all wondering where I got my photobug from) Their ski instructor for the morning was April. She met them when they walked in the door and spent the next three hours teaching the kids everything from how to put on their skis to how to make a "pizza" (with their skis, for those of you who have no idea). While the lesson did cost a pretty penny, my Dad said it was definitely worthwhile. He should know, it was his penny.

Chloe got the hang of the "pizza" pretty well and was turning and pulling herself up the tow rope. Micah, however, was a little distracted by all the snowballs he kept picking up. Not great when the snow is pretty much ice. But what else would anyone expect from my boy. I mean, he is a Rodie afterall.

Micah claims his favorite part was the magic carpet. Chloe never told me her favorite part, although I have a sneaking suspicion it was the hot chocolate break that she keeps talking about. She couldn't contain her glee while she was telling me about the day, despite the fact she was too exhausted to even eat supper. All in all, they had a great time, and I hope we can get some more use out of their new skis this year. It is only the beginning of winter and it promises to be filled with snow.

Fab 5 is FIVE!

Can you believe it? Luke and Caleb turned 5 yesterday. Remember when we started this journey? Now we have 5 big 5 year olds in this family. It's kinda funny that despite spanning only about 4 months, they still span two grade levels.

Luke and Caleb are definitely all boy, much like cousin Micah, their older cousin by a mere 3 weeks. While they are identical and often told apart by the fact that 90 percent of the time Luke is wearing blue, they are two distinctly different people. I'd get into that a little more except that I am now late for church so I'll just leave you with a couple pictures of the new 5 year olds.

Thanksgiving, a birthday and Black Friday

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I know I did. It was a little weird because the kids and I were gone while Kevin stayed home. He and his Dad are attempting to build a bedroom for Chloe in our basement and I didn't really want to be home for that. Unfortunately, they met a few challenges along the way and not a whole lot of progress was made as far as the actual building process. But the kids and I certainly had a good time with my parents.


Thanksgiving itself was pretty low key: just me and the kids with my parents. My brother joined us on Friday night. And on Saturday, the kids and I drove to my grandparents' house which is midway between Mom and Dad's and our house. (Midway being nearly 3 hours to either one) We had Thanksgiving Dinner their with my Mom's extended family before heading home for Kevin's 30th birthday. Yes, you heard that right, Kevin turned 30 yesterday. I think he's handling it pretty well. He played around 18 hours of Xbox with his brothers that day, so I suppose he's trying to hold onto his youth or something.


For the past several years, my Dad and I have gone shopping on Black Friday. Previously, we've gone into the city, about an hour, but this year we decided to stay a little closer. The town they live in is less than 4000 people but still has a SuperWalMart, so we thought we'd check that out first thing. We got there at 5am and had to park on the grass, but the store was really not too bad. Everyone seemed to be pretty patient with each other and we were back home by 5:30. We didn't even wait in line to check out.

After a quick trip home for breakfast and to get Jadon, we headed into a slightly larger town nearby to do some more shopping. JJ lasted a couple of hours until we stood in line at the cutting table at JoAnn Fabrics forever. After the first half hour, my Dad decided to hold my place while I took Jadon home to Grandma for a nap. He was waiting in line to check out when I got back a half hour later. We hit several more stores and then made it home for lunch. Wanna see all my loot?




You didn't really think I'd show you all my Christmas presents did you? Not only did I get most of my shopping done(only a neice and a couple things for Micah left), I even got it all wrapped! Sorry for showing off, but I'm so excited to have that done so early this year. Hopefully I can get the rest finished next weekend so I can spend the rest of the time baking yummy goodies. That's one of my favorite things about this time of year. Oh yeah, my parents brought home a cat for my Dad's mother to visit (she just went into the nursing home near them) so this is the introduction she got to her new home. (sorry for the blurry photo, but I could not get this kid to be still!)

Rodie Christmas

Okay everybody. This post is actually my second for today, so be sure to scroll down to get to the interesting stuff. I use the word "interesting" very loosely here. Kelly was looking for the Christmas list for the kids earlier today and once we found it, I thought I'd put it up here just so there would be a central spot anyone could find it. It's pretty generic, you decide which kids to actually pair up individually. I never remember by Christmas anyway.

Todd's kids have Teegan, Ilese, and Eliana
Mark's have Claire and Lydia
Jody's have Andy, JJ, Mallie and Micah
Mine have Luke, Abby and Katy
BJ's have Caleb and Chloe

Now you know. Grown ups are doing that crazy white elephant game. I'll be out of town the rest of the week while Kevin and Joe destroy our basement so Happy Thanksgiving everybody. And try not to kill yourselves on Black Friday!

101

Last month Kevin's Grandmother had her 101st birthday. I had several people ask me, "HOW old is she?" as we were preparing for the day. Yes, she is actually 101. And don't call her Grandma or Granny, she is Grandmother. She's not too fond of nicknames in general. BJ is "Bryan" and Andy is "Andrew." She loves all the kids. She has 10 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren, so it's a good thing. But the babies are her favorites. She lives with Kevin's Mom and Dad just around the corner from us. This morning I wandered over there to say hi and drop off some dishes to Grandma Ellen. This is what Grandmother had been doing all morning. Her current project for the great-grandkids. You gotta keep busy. Don't think even being 101 years old will keep you out of working.

A preview

In the interest of making this holiday week just as crazy as possible, I had 2 photoshoots today. Kevin was off in a deer stand somewhere blowing out his eardrum, so I got a babysitter and went to work. The kids and I are leaving for my parents' house on Monday for the week so that leaves me with a whole bunch of work to do either tonight and tomorrow, or to procrastinate and wait until after the holiday. Hopefully, I can get a good start and not feel too guilty for leaving the rest until next week.

But, I digress. The whole point of this post was for the preview. This little guy is sooooo adorable. His mama and I have been friends since high school. While she was feeding him in the middle of the shoot, we were reminiscing about her first date with her husband, or rather, how she asked him to our Junior Prom. His response was something noncommittal "sure" or "I guess," something along those lines. But 10 years later, this is what comes from "I guess"

I think that was the best answer he could have ever given. Just look at that face!

What an Awesome God we serve

Last weekend I had the great privilege to photograph the wedding of a friend of mine. They actually got married about 5 years ago, with a justice of the peace. They have since had two beautiful girls, but a very difficult marriage. Our pastor offered to do a rededication ceremony for them some time ago and they decided that they really liked the idea. When Elisabeth first approached me about being her photographer, I really wanted to do this for her, but I was unsure. I am by no means a wedding photographer, but I told her yes anyway.
I am so thankful I said yes. The ceremony was short and simple, but beautiful. Joy permeated the room. There were only about 30 or 40 people present, but every one of them was there to celebrate the awesome power of God evident in the lives and marriage of these two people. I feel completely inept trying to describe this in words. I'm much better with images.

Finally!

I finally got around to checking out Jody's photos from the birthday party and they are really cute. Here are some of my favorites. Thanks a bunch Jody!

The airplane cake was gorgeous. Thanks Amelia.

Jadon got his own cupcakes sans milk. He seemed to think they were pretty yummy.

This is how Micah started out the evening. It seems his face was a magnet for the bat.

But he still loves that bat.

Jadon knows all too well what that camera is all about.

Double vision. Two year old cousins.

This was definitely Jadon's favorite gift. He took it to bed the next 2 or 3 nights and even fed it breakfast Sunday morning.

Fab 5 number 3

Micah turns 5 tomorrow! Still waiting on photos of the big party, but I'm sure I'll have them up soon. We had a photoshoot for my big guy today. He's super cute! So let's have a quick overview of my guy, shall we?

Let's see, everybody knows about Micah and baseball, right? Since he was about 18 months old, he's been a dedicated Cubs fan (sorry Dad) and he watches baseball intently all summer long. Anytime he missed the end of the game this summer, he made sure to check with Kevin in the morning to see if they won or lost. As a toddler, he carried around a tiny little orange bat EVERYWHERE he went. He only gave that up for actual bats and balls and somebody to pitch. Up until this past summer, anytime you played wiffle ball with him, he was always willing to let you bat too, just as long as you bat both right- and left-handed. If he has to, so does everyone else. Anyone who thought that was a raw deal can thank my husband for that little quirk.

Micah's also a tiny little guy, but what he lacks in size he more than makes up for in personality. He makes friends with everyone he meets. At the ballpark during Kevin's softball games, he always manages to get the girls at the concession stand to pitch his wiffleball to him. Right now, he's playing basketball on the front porch while serving as his own commentator, just like in the pros. "And he saves the day! Incomplete... Micah goes back for another one, and he makes it. 42 to 0!" You just gotta love this kid, he always makes life interesting.

Not to be outdone

I got a new lens yesterday. I love it. No really I love it. I actually used the phrase, "It's sweet." I have never, ever said that about anything other than sugar-filled recipes or sweet babies. Like this one. She's sweet too. I think I like her more than the lens. I'm not sure though. It's close.

Two for one Birthday Special

The Rodie family is suddenly overflowing with fall birthdays. In the next week, Lydia and Teegan will both turn 1 and Micah will be 5! Jadon turned 2 about 3 weeks ago, and of course, we have new little Elianna (sp?) just 2 weeks old. So this year we decided that maybe Micah and Jadon could share their birthday party, just to make things simple. I called Jami up at the church several months ago and asked her to find a time for me sometime between October and November when the gymnasium would be available for the boys' birthday party. She came up with last Saturday.

Micah, of course, wanted to play baseball. Who could have guessed? And Jadon has really gotten into airplanes. So we had an airplane themed party, and played baseball. Amelia made an airplane cake to look like Uncle John's plane. And we had foam gliders(airplanes) and paratroopers for all the kids. We took the kids up to the balcony to drop their little paratroopers down to the gym floor. They all thought that was really cool.

We only had 36 people(I think) because of some unfortunate sicknesses and a very unfortunate run-in with a deer(literally), but it was still quite a fun crowd. And we did polish off most of the food. I don't have any pictures yet but I promise they're coming. I asked Aunt Jody to take pictures for me because I was afraid I'd miss most of the fun shots while I was trying to run the party. I think it was a good call, because I didn't even see the boys open their gifts. So as soon as we get around to it, I'll get you some photos. I'm actually pretty excited to see them myself!

Would you eat this???!!

Or this?

Or this?

How about this?

This one isn't so bad is it?

Or maybe you'd like something to drink?

Welcome to the Putrid Potluck.

We're off to see the Wizard...

The wonderful Wizard of Oz!

When I was pregnant with Jadon, I thought for sure he was going to be born on Halloween. I can't stand Halloween. But I figured I'd either be miserable every year or I'd just have to learn to embrace it. I chose the latter. So every year since I've made themed costumes for the kids. When Micah was Jadon's age he had this oh, so adorable lion costume so we centered our theme around that costume. So then we got Dorothy... and the Scarecrow. My kids have actually seen the movie, so they did know the characters, despite the fact that Micah really doesn't like the movie.
They loved the costumes. Of course we had to have a photo shoot before Trunk or Treat. Happy Halloween everybody!

Miss Me?

I realize I haven't blogged in over a week, please accept my apologies. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say that last week was busy. Now onto the really crazy portion of the program. This weekend I had 2 photoshoots. The first was a cute little guy, almost 4 years old. The shoot was outside and it was supposed to rain all day. Thankfully, we finished shooting at about 11am and the rain started about 11:30!

We were not so fortunate for the second shoot. It wasn't raining, but it was crazy windy so we had to shoot indoors. Now, you have to understand, I very much prefer outdoor shoots. Kids are much happier and more cooperative and there is lots of room to move around. I was pretty disappointed about the way it went. That is until this morning. I uploaded the pics earlier and tell me please, who could ever resist this face?

Lynette, I hope you don't mind that blog world gets to see this before you. These pics really did turn out so much better than I had hoped!

Anyway, I have photoshoots or birthday parties every weekend for the next month, so please pray for good weather and sanity for this photographer/mama.

Jadon is 2!

Despite the fact that Jadon is now 2, I think he will always be my baby. I know it's cliche, but the time goes really fast. This afternoon, Kevin took the big kids fishing while JJ and I took off for the park for a two year old photo shoot. As we pulled in, Jadon cheered. We had been shopping for about an hour, so he was thrilled to see the trees and the lake. It's kinda funny that a two year old can recognize that we were there to play even though there was no playground in sight. He had lots of fun running through the leaves and looking out at the lake. It was particularly great that he got Mommy all to himself. He's such a big boy!