exactly!

Entertainment

I asked my sister to watch the girls tonight while
Justin is working the hockey game and I go to the Temple.
I came downstairs and found Alaina all set up in this
little chair on Britany's bed watching (or at least
looking at the TV) a movie. I found it pretty funny,
because when I walked in she really looked like
she was watching and understanding what was happening.

trying to attack her hand and suck on it ferociously

cute, cute, cute!

Chocolate Fantasy Night

I completely forgot to blog about this!
Earlier this month I went to a women's only
Chocolate Fantasy Night. A lady in my ward hosts
this every year around Christmas time. I was so
excited when I found out about it and got to go.
Looks like I moved into the right ward, eh?

I took my Dad's wife Brandi and my sister Britany
(who is living with us) along with me.

So here is how it works. Everyone brings some kind of
goody to share, generally something that is dipped in chocolate.

This is not just a come and stuff your face party. You get
to work and make chocolates, truffles, turtles, peanut butter balls,
caramels, pretzels, basically anything you can think of.


You also bring a dish or container to take goodies home in.
We're talking like a HUMONGOUS ton of goodies.

Some of the ladies at work
Gotta love seeing the resident dietitian at the party :)

Turtles in progress

A non chocolate treat-these were really good

These little goodies were a hit!
I'll tell you how to make them:
small pretzels
Rollo's
pecans

Spread pretzels on a baking sheet
place a Rollo on top of each pretzel
put in the oven on 400 degrees x 4 min
gently press pecan into warm Rollo
let cool
Voila!
Fast. Easy. Yummy.

I brought these Red Velvet Chocolate Cookies
How embarrassing! They tasted pretty bad.
I guess you should never try a new recipe if you
are planning on sharing it with a bunch of women.
Oh well.

It was a really fun night!

Sweet Alaina Jane

I cannot believe we made it through an entire day of
church without her outfit covered in spit up. I had to
get some pictures in this cute little dress she borrowed
from her cousin Audrey.

I seriously could gobble this little girl up.
She is a joy!
She makes me laugh.

Enough with the pictures already!
I'm HUNGRY!

Our Little Princess

It's amazing what joy 20 bucks can buy. Katelyn got
one of those dress up chests with three costumes in it.
Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty (but Katelyn will
correct you and tell you that it's "Princess Aurora"). She has
been a princess every day since Christmas and changes her
costume multiple times throughout the day. I especially
enjoy watching her walk around in her "glass slippers".
You have to admit, she does make a pretty good Snow White.

Alaina woke up and Katelyn helped her open her gifts.
She watches her big sister intently.

Katelyn is a really great sister. She is very sweet with Alaina.

I am pretty sure we all think that Alaina was the
best present that we got this year.

Princess Aurora

I can hardly keep food in the house with this guy around.
He'll hate me for posting this, but here is an example of
one of Justin's snacks. FIVE rolls with the expensive
Hickory Farms Ham Summer Sausage and Smoked White Cheddar.
I guess when you marry a guy Justin's size, you have to
expect to feed them A LOT!
I'm not sure why after 5+ years of marriage this still surprises me.
I should be used to it by now. I guess I'd rather have a hearty
eater than a picky eater for a husband.

Christmas

Stockings
(Dad, Mom, Katelyn, Alaina)

Katelyn was very excited about what Santa put in her sock.

Justin crawls out of bed after just a few hours of sleep.

Cheesy Grin

Beauty and the Beast
Katelyn says to Justin: "mom's Belle and your the Beast".

Cute snow hat from Granny B and Grandpa Patsfield

Cool tie and Barbie movie

Katelyn's first real Barbie from G'ma & G'pa Peterson

A tired looking mom with the sign Justin made by hand.
He did a really good job on it. He told me the wood is
called "purple heart". It is really beautiful wood and very heavy.
Thank you babe! I love it!

Santa scored big points by bringing this dress up chest

Sleeping Beauty crown

Cinderella costume with glass slippers and all.
The best part is hearing Katelyn say the word
"costume"

This is how miss Alaina spent Christmas morning.
I am soooo jealous!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with some people from our
ward here in Kennewick. We had an AWESOME dinner:
Ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, candied sweet potatoes,
green salad, broccoli salad, rolls, stuffing, chicken rolls (not really sure
what they were called, the Argentine family brought them), tomatoes,
cheese, pie and ice cream, fudge, cookies, candies...It was so good!

Katelyn was in heaven when she found this
Cinderella dress up gown. I'm surprised we got it off her.

Afterward we came home and let Katelyn and Alaina
open one of their gifts from Grammy & Grandpa Meador.

Hi cute baby!

Katelyn got a Dora growing chart.

and Alaina got some bum wipes.
What more could a girl ask for :)

We talked on the phone to some Grandparents,
sang a few Christmas songs and then sent the
girls to bed so we could do the Stockings.

Knock, Knock!

Tonight we spread the Spirit of Christmas, Neighborly Love and Calories
with a few of the people who live next to us. Katelyn was really
excited to run to each house with the goodie plates. She didn't want
much to do with conversing with them once we were at their doors though.

Daddy & Alaina join in the fun!
We feel lucky to have some really great neighbors.

sugar overload

I never thought it would be possible for me to say I can't eat another sweet. I have a horrible sweet tooth. Maybe it's the absence of a gall bladder, maybe it's my age, I don't know really. But I think if I taste one more goodie, I might puke.

This year's list of goodies include: Cream Cheese Shortbread cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting and candy cane sprinkles (my favorite!), fudge, gingerbread men (or "gingermen" as Katelyn would say), Caramels (this was my first year making caramels. I don't think they turned out as well as I'd like-too soft), and Chex Mix Brittle. Tonight we will deliver just a few plates of goodies to our closest neighbors.

For those of you who might say to me, "quit making sweets" (you know who you are), I say, "no". I will not quit. It is part of the fun of Christmas time and is a tradition I will continue and share with my girls, family, and friends. I enjoy doing it and it's fun to share once a year.

We are looking forward to having Christmas as a family. Justin has to work Christmas night, so that kind of stinks, but we'll make the best of it. Next week we will head to Spokane to spend time with each of our families.

Comit & Cupid

After Molly's reception, we went over to a place called
Beaver Bark. It is a plant nursery over in Richland.
They had two of Santa's Reindeer there- Comit and Cupid.
They were cool. I really wanted to pet one, but
the sign said it wasn't allowed because they like to nibble fingers.


Katelyn was very irritated that she had to
be bothered for a picture. Smile!

This hand didn't belong to any of us- it was some other
guy there and the reindeer didn't take the apple.

We were very surprised that Katelyn didn't act
more afraid of the reindeer. She got pretty close.

Some nice lady kept offering to take pictures
for us. Sure! why not?

Quite possibly the world's largest wreath.

Inside the place was a great shop which I had no idea
existed. It kind of reminded me of Mel's in Spokane,
but on a much larger scale. They had some really
cute stuff in there and I can't wait to go back sometime.

There was a display section for dog lovers and Katelyn
felt the need to give every single dog in it a kiss or hug
good-bye. She is just so sweet sometimes.

This particular dog was going for $600.00!
NO thanks!

~HUG~

Miss Alaina was not feeling good Friday and Saturday
and she was sleeping from the time we left for Molly's
reception at 2:15 until we got home after 7pm.
She really needed the sleep because she had slept so
poorly the last two days. I was happy to find her
feeling much better later in the evening. Sweet baby.