Christmas Time!

As usual Christmas was busy and wonderful at our house. Ayana is old enough this year to understand about Santa Claus this year, so it was fun to see her get so excited about meeting him and telling him her gift request (5 trains, some train track and a train table). Our Christmas season officially started at our church Christmas party where Santa Claus made an appearance. Asher was not fond of him at all and decided he would fill the role of the screaming kid on Santa's lap, though he cheered up pretty quick when he got that candy cane!

Of course we got a real Christmas tree, we found a real pretty Frasier Fir and Trever got some large LED lights for it. I just love Christmas trees, they are so fun! The kids had a blast decorating, though I now understand why Mom had to "redecorate" every year after we went to bed when we were young. The kids sure liked to hang all the ornaments in one spot.

Christmas morning was it's usual mix of chaos, excitement and happiness, here are a couple of pictures of the kids in their new Christmas pjs before all the craziness began. Ayana got so excited to see that Santa had come and filler her stocking and left her some gifts.

They got many wonderful and well-loved gifts, but their favorite was their gift from Santa of a new train set. They could hardly contain themselves as they climbed all around that big box trying to get all the wrapping paper off. Trever got to spend most of his morning playing the typical Christmas morning Dad and putting it all together, but the kids have already spent many fun hours playing with them, so it was well worth it.
No Christmas would be complete if the kids didn't have at least as much fun with the packaging as with the presents, and Ayana and Asher were no exception. Here they are trying to pop some of the air pillows.

All in all, a wonderful Christmas season. I got a really nice, new viking sewing machine for Christmas and I can hardly wait to start my creating. I think my first project will be new aprons for the family along with Chef hats for the kids. Trever got mostly practical things, which is a switch for my kid-like husband, but he is excited to have a new backpack and shoes as well as a few video games.

I hope that all of you had a joyous season as well and that you took the chance to remember the Savior's birth along with all the other things that fight for your attention. Hope your new year is filled with adventure, fun and success in all you undertake!

Spelling Bee

We are so proud of Andrew,...he won first place in the Spelling Bee for the whole school. He will be competing in the district competition in January. He had totally forgot about it being on Friday until he got to school. Way to go Andrew!

St. Jude Half Marathon

We did it!!! Nathan and I both completed the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis on Saturday, December 4, 2010. Yep!...that is 13.1 miles!!!! What an awesome experience! I have been training for the past 4 months with my two awesome friends and running buddies Vanetta and Stacy. I couldn't and wouldn't have done it without them. And Nathan is Superman, for completing it with minimal training! :)

Cream Wafers

Mom asked me to send this recipe to Shannon, but then we decided to post it here instead so anyone who wants it can get it!

Cream Wafers

1 cup soft butter

1/3 cup whipping cream

2 cups flour

     Mix thoroughly - chill about an hour.  Roll 1/8" thick and cut into rounds.  Transfer rounds to sugar and coat both sides.  Prick with a for 4-5 times.  Bake at 375 on an ungreased cookie sheet 7-9 minutes, until puffy but not really brown. Cool. 

Makes cookies into sandwiches with creamy butter frosting:

1/4 cup soft butter

3/4 - 1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

I hope everyone is doing well!  Good luck with the cookie making!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had our dinner on Sunday and are off to Disneyland tomorrow, so I want you all to know we are thankful for you! Enjoy your day.

So, I promise, we do still exist!!!! Things have been kind of crazy, but I know that it really just comes down to me being absolutely horrible about keeping in touch! A lot has been going on. First off, as I am sure you all know by now, I am pregnant. We are having a boy this time, due January 4th, and the girls are really excited for their baby brother to make his appearance! I'm a bit nervous, but it will be fun. I am subbing at the day care as needed, but I am mostly home right now, which is really fun to get to have more time with the girls. Nathan is working in Anchorage at Schlumberger, and he seems to be really enjoying his work. I don't think I could do that commute everyday, but he claims that he actually likes that bit of time to himself each day. The girls are doing great! Kyrie is in kindergarten this year and loving every second of it!! Shes been working really hard a learning a ton, and we are so proud of her! She also is doing a tap/ballet dance class at sonjas studio, and getting very excited about their Christmas recital next month! She had her first daisy scout meeting this past monday, and is excited for that as well. They all colored their own dolls that they are hoping to send around and get pictures of their dolls around the country for their traveling pedal, so if you get her in the mail, please take a picture and pass her on! Arianna is doing great also. She is doing preschool at headstart in Palmer, and she does really well in a classroom setting like that. She is in school almost as much as Kyrie, and shes loving it too! She also qualifies through the school district to get speech therapy at preschool, so 2 times a week she has one on one practice with a speech therapist. There is the possibility of having her spot on her lip removed as well, but we haven't decided for sure on that yet. Medically, it wouldn't hurt her whether we leave it or remove it, but there is the possibility of her speech improving slightly without it since without it she may be able to close her mouth easier. Halloween went well, Kyrie was tinkerbell and arianna was ariel. Even though Halloween was on Sunday, they definitely got there fill of halloween fun before that! They both had parties in their classrooms, and both of their schools had fall festivals for the whole family in the evening different days that week. And of course we did trunk or treat at the church. All in all, they definitely got more candy than they will ever eat! I hope all is going well for everyone, I love reading about how you all are doing! I think Amber is right on who has who for christmas (at least I hope she is because I have been trying to plan for scott and yvonne!) and Meg, we are looking forward to seeing you soon! Love you guys!

I was making some dessert tonight since the missionaries are coming for dinner tomorrow and thought you might like to try this sometime - especially if your in the mood for a really rich chocolate treat. Make a brownie as directed on the package but instead of a pan, fill cupcake pans about 2/3 full of batter. Then press a mini reeses peanut butter cup in the middle of each one just level with the top. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 min. I also saw a similar recipe where they put a little batter in the bottom of a the cupcake pan then put a regular size peanut butter cup and put brownie mix on top. Either way sounds yummy.