Friday, December 31, 2010

Homeade Pizza Time

It amazes me how much my brothers and husband love to cook. The "boys" came up with the idea to do homemade pizza for Christmas Eve and all the pizzas were yummy!

Spencer made a basil, pesto, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and tomato pizza.

Steve, Lori and Courtney made a pepperoni, green olive and mushroom pizza.
Benjy made a garlic, white sauce, shrimp, green pepper and tomato pizza.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Girl With the Most Lipstick..

Kaydree is our little athletic girl who prefers ponytails and tennis shoes, for the most part. Karsyn is our girl who is into fashion and looking pretty. I am not one who paints my nails or likes to get dressed up most days. At my parents house I have been known to go from one pair of pajamas to a shower, only to put on another pair of pajamas. So I am sure Karsyn feels deprived of a mom who encourages her to be really girly.
Auntie Em, on the other hand is always getting "all done up" and looks really nice all of the time. She is often found straightening the girls hair or putting make up on them. Karsyn has honed in on this from the time she was very young. This trip around she had Emmy curling her hair and applying the lipstick all day long. She would ask for a lipstick refresher. I think I have applied lipstick on Karsyn maybe once or twice in 6 years. I think Emmy did it 6 times in an hour on Christmas Eve.
The entire day Karsyn would smile from ear to ear.
When Grandpa would hand out presents he started saying, "To the girl with the most lipstick, to the girl with the most lipsticks, sister or to the girl with the most lipsticks mom." Karsyn just sat and giggled. She has been zooming around our little basement on her new scooter. She thinks she is so "HOT" on her scooter.
Even when Karsyn was snuggling Korin, her cousin, right before bed, she was still smiling to show off the lipstick that was just about worn off. She told Emily, " We are lipstick BFF's." She also asked Emmy, "Are you into fashion? I like to be into fashion." We joke about this now, but we are wondering what type of issues will this create in her teenage years?

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Breaking Tradition.

Well...kind of. My mom's family always had Oyster Stew for Supper on Christmas Eve. Our family has also adopted in Chicken Noodle soup for those who don't like Oyster Stew. (Me, being one of them) This is one of our family's traditional foods that Benjy loves. (Yuck)
It pretty much looks like milk until you get to the surprise of the slippery, slimmy little guys waiting at the bottom. Did I mention that they are stinky, too?
Since my Grandma is a busy lady making her rounds, we got to have her out for Christmas Eve, lunch. I am always thankful for the other breads and salads that fill in for the Oyster Stew! It's funny I don't like it, however it would be very odd for me, not to have the choice to eat it. Funny how traditions work.
The girls were excited to have Grandma open her gift. Yes, Karsyn has on a lot of Auntie Em's lipstick. (A story about that and pictures to follow.)
Grandma also practiced riding the shiny red scooter around. I Can't believe I didn't get a picture of that. It was pretty funny. I just love this picture.
Then the Grandkids gave us a musical treat before Grandma was off to her next party. Some of them got those uncontrollable, nervous giggles, but they pulled through it and brought in the Christmas spirit. Karsyn may have been a little more focused on showing off her RED lipstick.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Our Own Little Exchange.

We usually exchange gifts with our girls and now (Kyce) right before we go out of town for Christmas.
Benjy's sister always called him Chicken, so he just laughed at the box she sent with the gifts. Benjy's sister Becky and her family got our name this year and they sent so many adorable and unique gifts for each of us. I am guessing she also made the awesome "Bless this Home with love and laughter" blocks in the background too!
Karsyn was so excited to get her pink "cowgirl" boots. She wears them all the time now!
We have always given the girls an ornament. This year of course I messed up and put their last year school pictures in them! Yep, I am losing my mind.
Karsyn picked out this gift for Benjy and she was dying trying to keep it a secret. I just love how she gets so excited to give gifts even when it's a little package of his favorite cookies.
Of course the highlight of the evening was Kaydree freaking out over finally getting a cell phone.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Family Home Evening

For Our Family Home Evening last Monday night, we decided to do a Gingerbread House and Sugar Cookies for our Activity. The Gingerbread House was given to us by our friends from church, the Dribnaks. I admit that I put off doing cut outs with the girls, however tag teaming up with the Gingerbread House sounded like a great idea. We invited some others to join us and we had so much more fun and it was way less stressful on me. :)

One of Kaydree's friends, Elise came over.

They sat and giggled and giggled and giggled.

Karsyn usually finds a way to plop herself in the middle?
The frosting part got a little tricky and messy!
Our friend Melissa was so patient with Karsyn. Karsyn tends to do things in super slow motion. It was a great learning lesson for me that it isn't the goal to see how fast we can get done. Once again, it's finding the JOY in the journey.
Benjy and Justin mixed the frosting. They did a great job. Nice, vibrant colors. Some were more creative then others.
It was a great Christmas memory from 2010.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Celebration at Church.

Kaydree and Karsyn were busy girls this year at the Church Celebration.
Kaydree sang with the Church Choir.
She also danced with her dance group that has been meeting for a couple of months.

Karsyn and her little friends were so excited sitting there waiting to do their dance.

One of the Young Women from our church offered these dance classes for free! She was doing it as part of her Young Women in Excellence Project.
She is in the back row in the white. She was absolutely amazing. It was such a neat experience for our girls. All of the Young Women put on the Christmas Celebration and it was AWESOME! Great food and wonderful entertainment. It was exactly what we needed to kick off the Christmas Season!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve.

The excitement is in the air. The guys have been cooking and baking all day. The kids have been practicing their Annual Christmas Play. We just sang Christmas Carols and my heart is full. I just love this time of the year. I love looking at the serenity of the Nativities placed throughout the house. I can't imagine what Mary felt about the upcoming birth of the Son of God. I can't imagine the magnitude of what she felt and yet from all the depictions of what we know, she seemed to be peaceful amidst some very difficult circumstances. I am so grateful to be celebrating the Birth of our Savior. I can't help but feel reflective and yet at this time of year, I pray for those who are struggling with the loss of loved ones, struggling with poor health, sadness or any type of despair. I pray that throughout the world tonight that people will feel the love of their Savior and be surrounded with peace and joy. I pray that broken relationships will be healed and that families and friendships will be strengthened. May the light of Christ burn within each of us.

Family




Thursday, December 23, 2010

Wednesday, December 22, 2010