I've never understood the game of football - too many rules - but, I enjoy watching the game, occasionally, and the Super Bowl is one I always attempt to watch, with constant explanations from my husband!  Even Rissy was captured by the excitement of the event.  She was helpful in the kitchen and a real yeller when watching the game.  Annamarie was content to play games on the computer and Luci only wanted the food to hurry up and be ready.

Thirty minutes before game time, Rissy and I started popping food in the oven and and nibbling things and mixing things and nibbling things and laying things out and nibbling things . . .   AND, we all drank root beer (soda pop being a rarity in our home)!  All was well in the kitchen.

The game was less than exciting to me and reminded me of watching baseball with the low scores that prevailed throughout the majority of the game.  Fourth quarter was lots better, even though I didn't have a favorite team picked.  Jesse and I prayed before the game that no one would be seriously hurt.  Those were some "big boys" out there on that field and I ached for their mothers.   It's a good thing I have all girls and don't have to be a football mom!  I'd never make it!

The food all turned out good and I found a new friend in a crunchy fried chicken strip made by Tyson.  I  will use it in the future to top garden greens, along with some black olives, strips of cheese, and hard boiled eggs, when making fried chicken salads.  The new mini bread baskets (3 flavors) had more of a pizza flavor and were "okay" but not worth the money.  The lil' smokies w/barbecue sauce, Velveeta cheese dip, celery/carrot sticks with ranch dip, spinach/artichoke dip, pickle/olive relish tray, and mini quiches were a hit - as they are, always.  We ate more than half of what I served, and will have nice leftovers to snack on today.  The 3 girls actually asked what was for dessert and were wounded in spirit when I told them we had enough to eat without serving dessert, too.

The highlight of the evening was when Jesse smacked me in the face with the back of his hand.  Out of fairness to my dear husband, let me explain . . .  I'm not sure how the choreography played out, but it went something like this:

He and Rissy  were on the loveseat.  I came over to sit on the right side and he scooted down to the left side (Rissy in the middle) to make room.  Somehow, when I sat down I was bent slightly forward and he sat down at the same second, we collided.  As he landed on the cushion, his right arm flew out (to catch his balance?) and hit me in the glasses and in the right eye.  SMACK!!!!!  I can't imagine receiving a punch "for real" when one is intended!  I grabbed my face over my right eye area and moaned.  I went into my "late labor" childbirth breathing technique to avoid feeling what had just happened!  I tried to evaluate  my injury and not groan, which would have made Jesse feel even worse.  My outer sinus bones took the brunt of the "punch" and felt larger than life compared to my bones on the other side of my face.  I had no cuts, no bloody nose, and no goose egg!  JESSE FELT HORRIBLE and continued to apologize profusely!!!  After the game, in the light of kitchen, I found my glasses had broken and the lens fell out while I used Super Glue to fix the frame.  They are an older pair I use in the den to watch TV.  I mean "really older" - like Sally Jesse Raphael (sp?) style from the mid-80's.  So, no real loss and no permanent damage to me.

Games are always SO exciting, aren't they?

Everything is good today.  No indigestion lastnight, either!  We are to be near 80 degrees today and tomorrow the temps will be low 30's with light snow!  Hooray Oklahoma! 

And, a double hooray for football games and "all" the fun they bring!

I've been on the Internet looking for gifts for Rissy and the girls are watching late cartoons.  Jesse and I watched a movie this morning and were using the TV that gets the "best" cartoons - whatever those are!  So, this is the first opportunity the "cartoon" TV has been available!

I found a cute children's recipe box on Amazon.com for Rissy.  She can start keeping track of the recipes she has learned.  She is so interested in cooking and homemaking in general.  She makes quite a few things from memory, but I think it's time she started recording recipes.  AND, it will help her with fractions.  She isn't able to double a recipe when it calls for fractions, but we'll work on that in time.  I hope she looks back when she's grown and remembers how young she was when she started to keep recipes.

I overheard Rissy telling Annamarie she was going to ask for two bicycles for her birthday.  Annamarie asked why Rissy wanted two bicycles and she told Annamarie, "That way you'll have one and I'll have one and we can ride together!"  I thought it was a precious expression of the closeness we want for our children to feel towards each other.

The guys (Jesse and James) are geared up for tomorrow's Super Bowl game.  Not that they have a real interest in the teams playing; but, because of my party food!  Jesse was thinking of going to Amarillo to see his Dad this week end and then said he remembered the game was on Sunday.  He didn't mention the "game" as much as he did the fact he didn't want to miss the food that would be served!  I think "party food" is sounding good to all of us because of the colds we are getting over.  It's been a while since all of us had a sense of taste at the same time!  Like I said before, the girls just like the menu because the food is waaay different from what we normally eat and everything is perfect for little hands!

I've begun to seriously consider bringing Luci home from daycare.  She is picking up some bad habits from other children and bringing those yucky things home.  I think it's worth doing and maybe Pre-K homeschool will occupy her.  She seems eager to learn.  I don't know how long her eagerness will last.  I figure if I can nip some of her less than desirable behaviors in the bud, it will be worth the change of routine the older girls and I have established.  AND, another possibility:  Jesse and I talked about finding several people who might be available once a month to watch her for a day while the older girls and I do fun things together (like lunches out, etc.).  Since Luci's behavior is so erratic, I never know when one of her famous melt-downs might occur and that makes it hard to be in places where we can't remove ourselves quickly.  The fact they raised the daycare rate is another determining factor.  A $500/month out of pocket, non-reimbursable expense makes a huge "owie" in the budget!  If we paid different people to occasionally watch Luci, it would surely be a drop in the bucket compared to what we are paying now.

This week, I paid all the bills for the next 60 days and now it's time to work on filing for our tax refund!  Paying bills ahead of time in the winter months always makes me feel like I'm going to break out in hives!  The tax refund will be like calamine lotion on our checkbook AND my peace of mind!

We have no plans to go anywhere this week end.  I'm just so grateful everyone is feeling like themselves again - except for an occasional cough.  That's another reason Luci's being home will be good.  No more germs from the other children at daycare!  I've made a point to keep away from mass contact or closed places containing people until my immune system is sufficiently built back, but the daycare has posed a challenge!  Luci brings home more than art papers!