Barbie Jade

Jade got a few Barbies for Christmas.  I got all these dresses on Ebay from China.  Pretty cool huh?

Christmas 2011

Note-to-self.  Next year take pictures with the regular camera.  These are off the video camera.  Not good.  The kids had a very Merry Christmas.  We waited to do gifts until after church.  That was really nice.  It made the morning so much easier.  The one thing that was a big deal this year was that Teagan finally got a Ninendo DS.  Jade got one too.  He had been waiting for 3 years to get one.  So he was pretty happy.  Merry Christmas!

Not Even a Mouse

Isn't it wonderful when it finally gets here?  When everything is wrapped and nicely under the tree.  We kept with our tradition of three gifts each.  I enjoy the meaning of it.  Kids can't argue with the fact if it was good enough for Jesus it's good enough for them.  Honestly they don't even try.  They are very grateful every year.

Coooookies

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I LOVE this gingerbread cookie recipe.  I swear I say that every year but I don't think I ever actually post the recipe.  So here it is...

1 (3.5 ounce) package cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1.In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover, and chill dough until firm, about 1 hour.

2.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets. On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into man shapes using a cookie cutter. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

3.Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.

This recipe is from allrecipes.  Here is the link:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/gingerbread-men/detail.aspx

Perhaps you are traditionalist.  If that is the case these may not be for you.  These are sweeter and just the right amount of spicy and the texture is just YUM.  If you have kids then it would be very kind of you to try this recipe.  My kids will nibble a leg of a regular gingerbread and then politely lose it some place.

Sadly I can't remember what they were watching on tv.  I think maybe rudolph.  You can see as I'm taking pictures I'm clearly in the way.  I love my little gal.

Teagan's Santa cookie.  He was about half done with it.  Pretty creative.

Gauge was getting the hang of a pastery bag this year.  He did pretty awesome.

You have to have lots of goodies so that when half are eaten there is still plenty.  We like to use Mini M&M's.

Cute huh!?  I think they did such a great job.  We left some for Santa and the kids at the rest.

After they went to bed I sat in front of the tv and made some.  They were meant to be gifts but they got eaten too fast.

Gingerbread House

We did a regular gingerbread house this year for the sake of time.  I planned to do graham cracker ones with friends but tick tock.  The kids had fun with this and I think they want to do this kind again next year.

My kids have gotten to be experts with pastery bags.

Gauge liked the candy.

They watched Charlie Brown.

I love my little people.

Ugly Christmas Sweater

The Mora's had an Ugly Christmas Sweater party.  Ian and I had a really hard time finding a sweater.  Where are they when you need them?  Anyway.  We found these.  Two of them so we match.  We didn't win but we looked pretty aweful.  :)

Christmas Crafts

Aunt Fay gave the kids oranaments they can paint for a spirit gift.  They really enjoyed them.

Best Christmas Present Ever

I am addicted to soda.  There I said it.  Admitting the problem is the first step to recovery right?  So a friend of mine had one of these and I tried it.  It was love at first sip.  I got it not intending to do the syrups but I do those now too but I'll drink plain carbonated water as well.  It makes me happy!

Tap Shoes

Gauge loves his sister's tap shoes.  It was too funny not to get pictures.

What a sweet boy.

Christmas Parade 2011

I can't ever get good pictures at the parade.  I didn't bother posting the ones of the floats.   The coolest was the tow truck that look just like Mater.  It was awesome.

Gauge wasn't happy again.

It was pretty cold.  The kids enjoyed themselves and afterwards we went and played at Ace Hardware with the Mora's.  They had bounce houses and stocking decorating and tamales.  It was a good day.

Bike Ride With My Lil' Sweety

I really don't think it will matter how old I get.  A bike ride will always remind me of the feeling of freedom as a kid.  I was the one thing we could do and really just leave all our cares behind and have fun.  Gauge loves to go on rides with me.

Can't beat the view.

Decorating the Tree

I know my kids are always in their underwear.  I'm sorry.  I'm just not a stickler on clothes.  Unless we are going some where I just really don't care what they wear.  So forgive the underwear pictures.  The kids did the tree themselves and did an excellent job.

Teagan is dressed!  Yay Teagan!

Gauge is dressed but he doesn't match so this outfit was definitely his idea.

They worked hard.  I guess I didn't get an after of the tree.

2nd Pie Attempt

Man I hate to toot my own horn but I can make a pretty pie.  Both of these were from scratch.  This was for our second Thanksgiving with friends. 

The pecan pie was a different recipe.  It was more custardy than the kind I usually make.  I hate pecan pie but this tasted great.  Why the before picture?  Because I dropped it!!!!  I seriously wanted to cry.  It was cooked perfectly.  Ian ate it anyway so it wasn't a total loss.

Christmas Tree Farm

I have to say I'm a little bit sad that I talked Ian into an artificial tree because we have so much fun here at the Christmas tree farm but when I figured out that we could all go to Knotts Berry Farm for about the same price as the Christmas Tree Farm including the tree I couldn't help myself.

In the corn maze.  I love these people.

This year they had these cool  posts where you can make a crayon rub.

Gauge picking flowers.

Another rub.

All done.  Pretty cool huh?

Me and my honey.

Teagan is still up for the pony rides.

Jade couldn't be happier.

We bought Teagan one of these when he was 3 or 4.  He became an excellent driver in one afternoon.

Jade and Gauge love the gators too.

Either Gauge is letting her have it in this picture or giving her a kiss.

They had a blast.

This was Gauge's reaction when it was over.  NOT HAPPY!

I love them all.

The pushy goats.

Jade really liked the little ones in the bars.

This one is eating my shirt.  HEY!

They loved this bunny.

The kids always have so much fun decided the breed of the birds they have.  There are little signs to help.

I think this was some sort of fat quail.

Fancy pigeons.

And regular chickens.  It was a great time and we got a great tree.