Cookies and SNOW!

I did a post earlier on Lebkuchen cookies!

We made another batch, and I grabbed some pics of us making our cookies:

This batch took us many many days to complete. 

The first day it took me 5 hours from start to finish - we started and got all the wet ingredients added together.  With everything that can crop up through the day (I NEVER know what I'll get - it keeps me on my toes - I wonder what we'll run into today?) I didn't get a chance to add all the dry ingredients until after 11 that evening.  I put the dough in the fridge, and it was a couple of days later that we finally got a chance to roll it out. 

I've learned not to preheat the oven until just before we are ready to cook them, even a cake mix can take us a whole lot longer than the oven takes to preheat :) 

 River kept saying that it didn't feel like Christmas because it wasn't a white Christmas - it was a brown/muddy Christmas!   Soooo....I went to change Summer's diaper, and came back to SNOW!

Happy White Christmas!

Hot Chocolate and Christmas Songs

Here's a new tradition that we started this year that we'd like to do each Christmas:

Hot Chocolate and Christmas Songs Family Night

VIDEO:  Silver Singing

VIDEO:  River Singing

Colt came home and put the groceries by the door as he was getting more groceries out of the truck and didn't want to track mud across the carpet. 

River was our big helper and helped carry the groceries to the kitchen - one thing at a time of course :). Unfortunately, the gallon of milk was too much for her.  Silver  had grabbed a gallon and was struggling to get across the front room.  River said "Silver, look, this is how you do it"  She hoisted the gallon up as high as she could get it, and then we watched in slow-motion it seemed as she went over backwards with the gallon of milk.  It hit the carpet and split the jug open with milk gushing everywhere.  We quickly salvaged 1/2 gallon before it too ended up on the carpet, and grabbed towels to soak up the standing milk. 

I then took out the carpet cleaner and slurped up the remaining milk.

Sounds like a good night for hot chocolate to me! 

We sang songs of Christ's birth and of Santa and the Reindeer.   

 FHE Lesson:  How Repentance is like cleaning up the milk.

Sin/Mistakes - Spilling milk on the carpet. 

Towels:  We do what we can to fix it/clean it up and then Carpet Cleaner:  Christ's atonement fixes it the rest of the way.

Definitely a Tradition Worth Keeping!

Ornaments

One of my favorite traditions is an ornament for each child for Chrismtas. 

Colt's family did this for him, and when we got married, we had a whole tree full!

We also do an ornament for the family!

 This year's ornament - I think it's neat that they light up and are under the tapestry that reads:  "In His Light"

 This are very beautiful ...

and extremely fragile!

We had 2 break this season...

The kids have their own Nativity set that they can play with. 

River is always playing with this and rearranges the figures in different ways while telling the story of Christ's Birth.

 This is the Family Ornament from 2 years ago when Silver was a newborn for Christmas.

Our Gingerbread House

This was a really fun project!

I started putting the house together with Royal Icing, and my side and back fell apart.  River says "Mom, you're not very good at building things...huh?"  and then a bit later when it wasn't coming together..."Mom, I'm gonna go pray to Heavenly Father to help you...Nephi prayed when he didn't know how to build a boat, and God showed him how...I'm gonna pray that He'll show you how to make a house!"  A minute later I peaked around the corner to see her kneeling fervently praying that her Mommy will figure out this house!  **Gasp** "Mom!  It worked!"  The house is GORGEOUS!

 Silver:  "Sticky!"

 Can I please eat just one?

I was really impressed, I told them not to eat the candies, and very few were eaten :)

VIDEO:  Silver being Silver :)

Our Christmas Tree

I love River's Expressions in these:

We found a fun tree this year with 2 trunks.

Our ornaments have had a rough year with Silver taking them off....

Most of the ornaments are on the top couple of branches so Silver can't reach them :)

Christmas Candy Making Party

I find that the hardest part of a get-together for me is not the planning or even the cooking, it's the invite!!  Why is it so hard for me to invite people over?  I am ever so grateful when others invite me and our family to things, so I have made it a goal to invite others to our home and to activities.

My friend Lena is great at inviting and planning events.  She planned and put together a Christmas Candy Making Party that we had at our home.

 I envisioned making these goodies to be a lot harder than it actally was - I was thinking of the candy making where the sugar has to be a certain temperature, and if you don't stir it just right, it will be ruined, long hours with less than stellar results.  These recipes were oh so yummy and super, super easy with only a couple of ingredients and only needed to use the microwave.  She got the recipes off of tasteofhome.com.  Click on the following to be taken to the recipe:

Chocolate Peppermint Bark
Microwave Marshmallow Fudge
Holiday Truffles
Toffee Peanut Clusters
White Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles (this recipe is for bloodshot eyeballs for halloween, but make them beautiful for Christmas)
Oreo Cream Cheese Truffles (again, a "Hosts of Ghosts" halloween recipe, but excellent for Christmas).
Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy

It was fun because at the rate I go I may have gotten to one recipe - this way we made 7 different goodies and all had an assortment of chocolates when we left.  We had over 20 ladies come to our party.  This will definitely be an annual Christmas event!

Great company and lots of chocolate = a fabulous evening!

4th of July - And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”

I'm proud to be An American!

I love flying the flag and teaching our girls about the freedoms and blessings we enjoy by living in this Promised Land.

My Country, ’Tis of Thee

With dignity

1. My country, ’tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing;

 Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims’ pride,

From ev’ry mountainside

Let freedom ring!

2. My native country, thee,

Land of the noble free,

Thy name I love;

I love thy rocks and rills,

Thy woods and templed hills.

My heart with rapture thrills

Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze

And ring from all the trees

Sweet freedom’s song;

Let mortal tongues awake;

Let all that breathe partake;

Let rocks their silence break,

The sound prolong.

4. Our fathers’ God, to thee,

Author of liberty,

To thee we sing;

Long may our land be bright

With freedom’s holy light.

Protect us by thy might,

Great God, our King!

2 Nephi 1:7   Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.

Ether 2:12  -  Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

 America! America!

God shed his grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.

 The Star-Spangled Banner

Vigorously

(Last Stanza) Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

 Alma 46:12–13 - And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.   And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—

Most of the above pictures were taken on the 4th of July.

We went to the Parade and then enjoyed the booths at the park afterwards.

Later that night we watched the fireworks and enjoyed hamburgers and fries before they started.

The last 3 pictures reminded me of the 4th of July with their Red, White and Blue!

River sings all day long, she is either singing her Primary Songs or more likely a made up song, whatever is in her mind and heart at the time.  They are often about the Savior, Our Heavenly Father, or her Mom and Dad.

And This Be Our Motto:  In God Is Our Trust!