Gingerbread House

Ever the fan of the edible crafts, we picked up a gingerbread house kit for the kids to decorate over the break. (Who am I kidding? You all know I love doing this, too!)

Upside down ice cream cones make cute trees!

iPod

I can blog from my ipod!!! Look, I can even post this cute pic of M in his new cowboy hat.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Barbie Homelessness Problem Solved

Gabi woke up to a Barbie dollhouse on Christmas morning. It's quite the fancy mansion.

There is a bed where you can sleep with a cat on your feet.

A laptop & cellphone!

A new convertible so the Barbie can ride in style like Aunt Pet!

This is the fourth story attic/bonus room.

What southern mansion could be complete without a porch swing? And a lego Christmas tree.

Alternative transportation for the health and environmentally conscious Barbie.

Kitchen with blue and white china on the walls!

Living room to relax by the fire on purple and pink couches.

A lovely formal dining room. Perfect for your Barbies in formal attire.

And look- it's taller than Gabi!

Cookies & Milk & Matching PJs

Santa got milk & delish Triple Chocolate Cookies with colorful M&M decorations. The reindeer got apple slices. They made a mess with them in the yard though. Apple all over the place. They shouldn't eat and fly at the same time, I guess.

Micah also drank some Santa milk. Santa's milk is white. Plain old white milk. Micah is normally a chocolate-milk-only sort of guy. But he has declared Santa's milk to be good and drank it ever since. Thanks, Santa!

Aren't they cute in their matching PJs?

Christmas at MiMi & Poppy's

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we always go to church. Gabi wore her "Dolly & Me" dress and took her one-eared bear, Fufu, along. Aren't they cute together?
Micah wore his red plaid Christmas shirt and sweater vest. He was mad. First, his bear didn't have matching clothes. But second, and most important: "This kind of red is for girls!" It took me longer than it should have to realize he was thinking about their school uniforms, where the girls wear red plaid. A remarkably similar red and navy plaid to his Christmas shirt. Note: in the future, nothing red plaid for Micah.

But, Micah got over it -- after all, Santa was coming!

We went to church and sang and lit candles and it was a great worship service.

Gabi even read the first scripture from the lessons & carols, and did a great job.

Built-two-Bears

Merry Christmas! I have videos and photos galore but I haven't uploaded them in the crazy chaos of the holiday. Soon! But to tide you over, here are the iPhone pics of the kids' new bears. Gabi got a generous build-a-bear gift card from Gramz & Papa so we headed there after church and lunch with friends today. Want to know what a good sister she is? She used part of her gift card to buy Micah this:

Yep, that's a bear in a Darth Vader costume. Just a plain, soft, brown bear. Because it was all about the light saber. Funny side note-- this was Micah's first time at B-a-B, and when he first pulled a little bear body out he got upset and wanted to trade it because it had a hole in the back. We had to go show him someone else's bear getting stuffed and sewn so he'd believe it was supposed to be there. He loves his cuddle Darth Vader! Whoever thought Darth Vader could be cuddly?

And Gabi still had enough Bear bucks to get exactly what she wanted-- a pink tie-dye bear with a pink shirt, pink ruffle skirt, pink mary-jane shoes, and a pink sparkly headband. The bear's name is Hope.



Gabi is also showing her new kitty cat sweater dress (which she fashionably accessorized with a pink glitter belt, new pink Barbie watch, and pink boots.)

Peanutbutter Fudge Night

We traditionally make Jack's Famous Peanutbutter Fudge before Christmas. That's my favorite niece, up there, anxiously awaiting her job as fudge taster.
I thought I'd share the secret recipe with you all.

First thing you need to make fudge is to measure your marshmallow cream and peanutbutter.

Then you need two guys in matching aprons.

Melt some margarine with some sugar and stir in some evaporated milk.

This is the peanutbutter, but don't stir it in until the mixture has reached a nice, charlie sheen.

Be sure someone documents the whole process.

There's going to be lots of stirring. Have helpers.

Lots and lots of stirring.

Put a candy thermometer on your heavy pot, but ignore the temperature on it in favor of yelling "I need a glass of water!" You're looking for a softball stage here.

Don't forget the stirring! And beware the dangers of boys shooting soft balls at you.
There is a soft ball theme going on here.

Once you've reached the softball stage, stir on the rest of the stuff you've measured and pour it into greased pans. Put the pans out on the back porch to cool off quickly on a winter night so you can eat it sooner.
There- now you all have the secret recipe for our family's peanutbutter fudge. Enjoy!

With a Chair-y on Top

This is the "after" picture of our dining chair re-covering project. My mom helped me (actually she did 90% of it as I was sick that day) and I think they look fab!

No-Sew Blanket

Gabi and I made this blanket. She did most of the knots herself and is ready to make more of these easy, soft, cuddly blankets. This was our first attempt (here are the directions if you are interested) and I must say- using plaid fleece made this incredibly easy b/c of the built-in lines!

The Batyard

Here We Go a-Caroling

This is our family's official version of this classic carol. You can read here if you don't remember what this is all about.

Micah also wanted to record a Christmas song video, but really, he only sings one song. And the singing is more of a humming. And once he starts humming it, he suddenly transforms into a Jedi and it really isn't Christmasy at all, but it is a lot of fun.

Pageantry

We had an impromptu Christmas pageant at church yesterday-- the kind with no practice. Any kid who shows up finds a costume that fits and line up in the narthex. During the service, the incredibly handsome pastor (or whomever is handy) reads the story. The kids come in when their character is mentioned in the story and stand at the front to form kind of manger scene. Micah is being Micah. You know, Micah the prophet. Gabi and her friends were shepherds. We Methodists are cool with girl shepherds.