Our Very Busy Christmas

All the hoopla and excitement, and now it's over. We stayed busy for 2 weeks straight - something going on every single night. It took forever to copy all 400-something pictures on my computer. Yeah...you read it right....over 400 Christmas pictures!!! Am I insane or what? So, instead of posting 400 pictures, here are 23. Hope you had a great Christmas!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

In the past few posts, I've shown you my poor attempts at baking Christmas goodies. But behold, I bring you good news of great joy! I have a found a recipe that I have tried and conquered! Not only did they turn out great, they tasted great too - especially with a glass of milk!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

3/4 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 cup sugar 2 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 6-ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips (or 1/2 of the regular sized bag) 3/4 cup powdered sugar 1. In a mixing bowl, mix the melted butter, cocoa pweder, and sugar. 2. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. 3. In a separate mixing bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 4. Slowly mix in the wet ingredients. Then stir in the chocolate chips. 5. Refrigerate for 2 hours - or overnight. 6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 7. Form dough into 1-inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. 8. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 12 minutes. *Makes about 20-25 cookies

And to leave you with another one of my child's antics...

It wasn't just one finger picking - it was a double picking. I couldn't stop laughing. (I guess my laughing isn't going to help matters when he starts doing it all the time.)

Birthday Shout Out and Advent

Some old man I know got even older last week!

Happy birthday, Dad. I love you.

So, doing my advent activities isn't as easy as I had planned in my head. I sat down one day and strategically placed activities on certain dates to try to keep them in the flow of our normal lives. But I'm just not doing good at all.

As of tonight, we've only completed 4 activities:

1. We were supposed to read the legend of the candy cane, but the library was out; so instead, we read about Mary's baby.

2. We cooked dinner for our grandparents. Menu - chicken casserole, green beans, and sweet potatoes

3. We had red and green pancakes for breakfast.

4. We made Christmas goodies to share with others.

reading about Mary's baby

red and green pancakes for breakfast

Jason rolling out cookie dough to make candy cane cookies our cookies actually came out right this time!

and they taste great too!

More Stuff

Last night, mom, Kelli and the kids, and I, attempted to make some goodies to share with friends. I love the Ritz crackers with peanut butter dipped in white chocolate. I found out how to make them, so I didn't think it would be all that hard. Well, this is how they turned out:

They didn't look good, but they sure tasted good!

~

This morning while I was washing clothes, Gavin mysteriously disappeared. I noticed he had gotten really quiet and I didn't hear him running around anywhere. So, I called for him several times and never got an answer. When I went into the kitchen, I found him with his face up next to the washing machine and humming to the tune of the spin cycle.

~

After I put Gavin to bed tonight, I went back in to check on him and make sure he was covered up. This is how I found him:

Gavin makes me laugh so much.

Stuff

Ray's girlfriend, Katie, graduated yesterday from SMC.

Congratulations Katie. We love you.

Then, Jason surprised me with tickets to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra last night! It was a great show. I was hoping I could get some good pictures, but my camera couldn't quite handle the excitement. These were the only 2 that came in clear.

Then today, Jason and I took Gavin to get his first haircut. I loved his curls, but they were starting get a little out of control, and his hair was getting nappy and tough to brush down. He looked like a ragamuffin. We took him to the barber that always cuts Jason's hair - Sonny. Sonny cut Jason's hair for the first time when he was little, so I thought it would be neat for him to cut Gavin's hair for the first time too. Gavin liked it at first, but after a few minutes, he started getting wiggly and didn't like it so much.

Before...

After...

And now, we're home...sick with the croup. Gavin has had some congestion for the past few days, but I chalked it up to just another cold. He was coughing some this morning, but as the day wore on, it sounded worse. I went ahead and took him to the doctor this afternoon just to make sure it wasn't anything more than a cold. Well, I was wrong. Gavin has the croup. So, I had to buy a nebulizer (sp?) so that we can do breathing treatments for a week and he was also given a steroid to take. My little buddy is so sick. I cried when I had to give him the breathing treatment. I hated holding him down and putting the mask on his face. He was terrified. He screamed. So, please say a prayer for Gavin. We'd appreciate it.

Christmas Favorites

I love Christmas music! I love to sit in the living room at night with only the Christmas tree lights on and have Christmas music playing - especially Manheim Steamroller or Transiberian Orchestra! It feels good and puts me in a good mood. I also love to use my Christmas china. It sits in my china cabinet all year, just waiting patiently to be used. I look forward to cooking for my whole family so we can use all my Winterberry dishes. What's your favorite thing to do at Christmas-time?

November Happenings

I got so caught up in my political post a few weeks ago, that I forgot to post these pictures. (By the way, thanks for sticking around.) Here are some pictures of our everyday happenings:

Gavin adores Karis.

Jacob celebrated his 9th birthday.

Happy birthday, buddy.

Gavin found a wooden horsey to play on at his Mema's house.

Ray is now a first time homeowner. My little brother has grown into a smart, handsome young man. He's worked hard for what he has. I'm so proud of him.

And to leave you with a giggle...

"Why did Kristi put a picture of socks on her blog?", you may ask. Well, here's why:

I went out with mom last night, and Jason did a little shopping with Gavin while I was gone. When I came home, I started going through the Target bags and saw several packs of socks. Gavin was needing some socks, so Jason picked some up for him. I pulled out a pack of plain white socks, a pack of white socks with navy and red on the bottom, and then I pulled out those socks - pink and lavender.

Confused, I asked Jason, "Honey, who are these for?" thinking they were for my friend's little girl.

He said those were for Gavin!

I laughed sarcastically and said, "really?" Jason looked at me funny and was honestly confused by MY question.

Then he said, "You don't like them? I didn't know if you'd like this turquoise color or not, but I figured he could use the others."

TURQUOISE? Does anyone else see turquoise?? When did pink and lavender become turquoise?

I haven't laughed so hard in my life! Jason is colorblind - for real, no joking. He really thought those socks were blue. Poor thing, but what a sweet thing to do to take care of getting Gavin some socks.