It's Winter!

This morning when I came to let Grace out of her bedroom when she woke up I opened the blinds and told her to look outside. She saw the snow and immediately exclaimed,

"It's winter!"

followed closely by

"I can make a snowman!"

Alas, the snowman didn't happen this morning since we had to hurry and get ready and be at church early for the Christmas Pageant rehearsal. David played the part of King Herod and did a smashing job as the villain. Grace played the part of cutest sheep ever and while she didn't do much singing she did follow along with the hand motions of Away in the Manger and managed to baaaa with all the other little sheep. Since David was in the play I chose to leave Ethan in the nursery since the thought of keeping him still and quiet for the entire play was just too much to think about by myself. Turns out that when I don't have an occupied lap I get tasked with lots of things. One of which was taking photos of the play which I didn't mind doing, though I wish I had brought my camera since I know how to work it and would probably have gotten some better pictures. Hopefully I get a few emailed back to me so I can share them here!

Oh, and while the snow did briefly melt this afternoon it's back to white outside with more coming down as I write this. Hopefully there's enough out there tomorrow morning for Grace and I to build a snowman!

Annual Toe Freezing....errrr.....Holiday Lights Parade!

It's that time of year again...our fifth year attending the Salem Holiday Lights Parade! Each year we've attended we gain a little more insight on how to make the experience even better. Over time we've added blankets, hot chocolate, cookies, the red wagon, mittens, sweaters over multiple layers, pajamas as long underwear and so forth. So far we've got the whole thing down pretty well other then I cannot seem to find a way to keep my toes from going numb no matter how many pairs of socks I put on. I'm thinking I may have to suck it up and find my old snow boots somewhere in the garage for next year and wear them no matter how unfashionable they may be. Hopefully my cute red hat will offset the ugly snow boots!

This year we were joined by our friends James and Jessi, my brother Brian, our friends Matt and Lauren, and our pastor Jeremy and his daughter Miriam. The girls had lots of fun watching the parade together and Ethan was remarkably easy. He sat for the entire parade and watched it all go by, only crying once when some motorcycles revved up a little too loud for his poor little ears. I was pretty surprised he sat so still and was so happy in one spot. Grace at this age would have been all over the place!

At the Salem Light Parade

Laptop Ladies

Last night we met my Dad for dinner and to exchange Christmas gifts. Grace was pretty excited to receive a pink "laptop" and immediately set to "working". This morning when she woke up she made a beeline for her "puter" and sat next to me as we worked on the couch. I'm hoping she leaves our real laptop alone now that she has her own!

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Recap of my afternoon:

107 pieces of divinity
51 gingerbread boys
4 blisters on my hands from said divinity

At least I have something to show for all my work today! I made two batches of divinity for the candy exchange at the party I'm going to on Friday evening. I'm supposed to bring 11 plates of candy which seems like an awful lot. Luckily I had several egg whites in the fridge waiting for a purpose and with a little sugar and corn syrup and a LOT of elbow grease I think I have enough candy to fill the Santa plates I picked up at the Dollar Store. By the way, if you try to make divinity and live in a humid climate it's going to take a lot of hand mixing and you're liable to get some rather tasty blisters. My poor hands!

As if making two batches of divinity wasn't crazy enough I also did our gingerbread boys this afternoon. I made the batter right after lunch and it had to chill for three hours which is about how long it took me to make the divinity. I put the icing on the cookies and Grace decorated with the red hots and did a lovely job. She rather enjoyed the task and kept sneaking red hots to eat!

I rewarded myself for my busy afternoon in the kitchen by giving myself a free pass for dinner. The kids and I headed for McDonalds with the free Happy Meal coupon we got in the mail and enjoyed ourselves some cheeseburgers and fries. Ethan ate over half the cheeseburger and Grace ate about 3 bites after I scraped the onion off and removed the pickle. I forgot she's in such an anti-onion phase. She was ecstatic to get a tiny My Little Pony in the Happy Meal which was her motivation to eat the three bits of cheeseburger that she managed to get down.

A fun little tour

Our family Christmas tree is full of fun, unusual, and beautiful ornaments. David and I both brought some ornaments into our marriage (his vastly outnumbered mine!) and we buy more every year in June when we're in Sisters for the Sisters Rodeo. We have slightly different tastes which explains why wrestling Santa shares space on our tree with my dainty tea cups. I believe that a tree is not complete without shiny ornaments. David believes a tree is not complete without Lemieux and Yoda. Somehow it just works.

Enjoy your tour!


Our shoes lined up under the tree in order of David, Kellie, Grace, and Ethan (borrowing a pair of David's from when he was a little boy)

David's favorite ornament slides up to reveal a nativity

One of my shiny ornaments...this one dates back to my days of scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins

The painted gourd ornament on the right is from the Salem Art Fair

I have always loved the ice skates! These were made by my great grandmother.

Check out the crafty skills on this beauty. I made this cork horse when I was 8 and it still hangs proudly on my tree.

I know I'm not the only woman out there with sports figures displayed on their tree. Mario is next to the Margaret Furlong sea star ornament we bought on our honeymoon visit to Cannon Beach.

Yoda is hiding behind one of Grace's ornaments that Oma made for her. And another one of my sparkly ornaments sneaks on the tree!

Our pretty star tree topper and wooden cranberry bead garland are goodies I snagged while working at Macy's Christmas Store one year.

The snowman in the canoe is from our first year of marriage when we decided to canoe Lake Couer d'Alene. It's a testament to our love for each other that we're still married after that experience! The nifty mask is from when we saw Lion King the musical.

The red drum set is my new ornament for the year (I rock the drums on Rock Band!) and the gorgeous handpainted ball ornament depicts a scene from the University of Idaho campus.

Ah here he is. The famed wrestling Santa. And you thouht I was kidding.

How Uncle B made Grace's Day

My brother Brian came over this afternoon and helped David put up our Christmas lights. By help I mean he was the one that got on the roof and put the lights up. David managed the process from the safety of the lawn much to the entertainment of our neighbor's who gave him all kinds of grief, especially when he had him start cleaning out gutters and caulking under the eaves! Grace was so excited and lit up like a Christmas tree when we plugged the lights in and she saw our house brightly decorated for the season. Uncle B is Grace's new hero!

Ethan watching the hullaballoo on the front lawn from the safety and warmth of the living room window

David wrapping the lights on the porch columns

Grace reveling in the beauty of Christmas lights...her favorites are the pink lights. Are you surprised?

The end result!