Fritterin' Away the Day

Well, back to reality.  After a couple of wonderful day in the 'Mont we were back to our usual routine in the Hills today.  My kiddos multiple times today have said how sad they are to be home and that they'd rather be with Grandma and Papa.  I'm thinking of packing them up and dropping them off.  Mom, you ready for them?

Actually, for getting adjusted again they've been really good today.  Mikayla especially during the day today has been extra helpful. I think the talk Mom had with her about 'earning' her ice skates really set in because she asked plenty of times today what she could do so she could use her ice skates.  And the bigger one has been earning some extra money himself for Holiday Shop next week.  Between that and their 'extra niceness or help' via the Advent calendar countdown I may be able to just give up house work here soon ;-)

Today also reminded me how close to Christmas we actually are as the Bean and I waited in line for 27 minutes to pay for our cart of groceries at Miejer!  I forgot that I need to build in at least 30 extra minutes to my shopping time over the next few weeks as it is pure pandamonium.

In other news, Happy National Fritter Day!  A search on wikipedia showed that a fritter can actually be a lot of different things, but the big key is that it usually fried in some fashion.  So we had 3 different kinds of fritters - 2 I made and 1 I purchased.  For dinner it was BBQ Tuna Fritters (think crab cakes) and Cheese Fritters.  Then we followed up with a yummy apple fritter for dessert.  Grant LOVED the cheese fritters.  They were made of cottage cheese, egg, half&half, flour, salt, baking powder and nutmeg of all things and then fried into a crunchy shell that was soft on the inside.  None of us could place exactly what they reminded us of but I think we might be seeing them again as they were a fun use for cottage cheese.

We just all finished snuggling on the couch with some peppermint ice cream watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special.  If this morning wasn't enough of a reminder, this was a fabulous way to kick off our holiday festivities here at home.

I'm helping in the Bean's class in the morning and we tackle another pie - apple in nature tomorrow :)  Until then...

The Bean insisted on carrying in the 2 liters and putting them away

 Lunch time!

 So I told her she could pick something special for lunch - she is the ONLY child I know who would ask for crab legs!

 Well, and a donut with blue frosting

 Mom - we got batteries for the clock.  The kids LOVE it!

 BBQ Tuna Fritters (easiest and one of the tastiest tuna recipes I've found in a long time)

 Cheese Fritters

 The inside of a cheese fritter

Apple Fritter!