Christmas 2010

We had our first Christmas celebration on Christmas Day.  Tab and Sam and their families came over for lunch, Todd deep fried a turkey and it was GREAT!  We had the usual green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and jello salad (it seems like I'm forgetting something).  Anyway, after lunch dishes were done, we opened presents!
We had the kids all pass out the presents


Dom received a nerf-type gun from my parents


And so did Angel


Alyssa received an Easy Bake Oven!


Tyler received a camo back pack (and gloves, which I didn't get a picture of)


I gave Tab and Sam stained glass that my sister made:



We gave the grandkids clothes, so they weren't too excited, but it was a need. lol
After the presents were open, we had cheese ball and crackers, and punch, then everyone went home and Todd and I could relax for the rest of the night.

We don't use our fireplace for wood very much, so I put a bunch of candles in it.


Later in January we'll have our Christmas with Megan and Kate and their families.  David is getting home from Iraq today, so we are all excited for that.  I'm planning to make Prime Rib and a ham when they come, yum!

We did have some bad news on Christmas Eve, my brother-in-law in Nebraska had a heart attack and open heart surgery that morning.  He's doing well and still in the hospital, but this was the second year in a row that we've had family in the hospital over Christmas (last year Brandon, ours son-in-law was there after his bad fall).  Jerolyn was hoping to take Dave home tomorrow, but the doctors say he's not ready yet.  Hopefully he'll be home by the weekend. We're keeping them in our prayers.

Christmas Cookie Decorating!!!!

Last Saturday we had the grandkids over to decorate the Christmas cookies.  It was a lot of fun and the kids did a really good job.  It's one thing that I do every year and they seem to enjoy it.

Angel:


Alyssa:


Tyler:


All of them:


And I always have some little Christmas toys or fun stuff.  I made them each a little bag and sewed each if their names on it.


I think I only have one more present to buy for Christmas, but it's for McKenna and I need to talk to her Mom to see what to get her.  We're celebrating Christmas with them later in January since David will get home from Iraq in a couple of weeks.

December 13, 2010

I couldn't think of a title for this post, so I'm just using the date..  lol

Unfortunately, I haven't been doing much with the family since we got back from Nebraska for Thanksgiving.  I've completed a quilt and have been knitting and crocheting, so you can see that on my "sewing/craft blog".

Today I made Christmas cookies since the grandkids are coming over this weekend to decorate them.  I'll make sure I take pictures then.  (Since we have ceramic tile on the counter tops, I have to roll the cookies out on the stove - at least I can do that instead of having to do it on the table!)


Kate gave me a tip on using powdered sugar to roll them out instead of flour, so I tried that and it really worked!  However, the later cookies were very flat and when cooked they spread out much more than the first ones.  I probably should have used a mixture of flour and powered sugar.  I may try that next time.


One of Todd's co-workers requested some more Malted Milk Chocolate Chip cookies when I met him at the Christmas Party, so I'll do them sometime this week.  I don't have enough chocolate chips, so need to head to the store in the next couple of days.

I also started decorating for Christmas.  I usually do it right after Thanksgiving, but we're having Christmas with Megan and Kate later in January since David, Megan's husband, is getting home from Iraq at the end of December.  So I just put the Christmas tree up last weekend.  Then caught a cold or Cedar Fever, not sure which, but felt bad on Saturday.  I still need to finish, but I can take the rest of the week to do that.  We're really looking forward to being home for Christmas this year.  Since we moved to Texas in 1998, I think this will be the 4th Christmas we'll be home, all the other years we've went to Nebraska.  Now that the grandkids are getting older, I think it's time we are here to start building traditions with them.  And speaking of grandkids, Angel has a birthday this week!!!  On Wednesday he'll turn 6!  (Can't believe it!!!)

Time to put some more cookies in the oven.  Please check back next week for pictures of Christmas Cookie Decorating!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!

November 2010

I guess I can title this post November 2010, since it's already December.  :D

Todd finished the gate so we could move the trailer to the back yard.  It looks good!




It's so nice to have it moved from the driveway!

Todd and I were trying to decide what to do for Thanksgiving this year.  It's been a while since we've gone somewhere just the two of us - the trips we've taken in the last 18 months or so were always with family (funerals, holidays, cruise, IL), so we thought about going to Vegas, then maybe to the coast, but ended up going to Nebraska for Thanksgiving.  It's always nice to see family, but soon we need to do something just us.  Anyway, we drove all of Thanksgiving Day to Falls City, celebrated with them on Saturday, drove to Milford on Sunday and had a nice meal with them that afternoon.  Got up Monday morning, went to breakfast in Lincoln w/ Mom and Dad, then heard about a snow storm coming and decided to head home early.  We left early afternoon, stayed overnight in Pauls Valley, OK that night and made it home early afternoon on Tuesday.  Todd had to be at work Wednesday Morning, so it was nice to have a while to relax.

Anyway, while we were at Mom and Dad's, Jerolyn wanted a family picture, so I took my camera down to snap a few.

 Ben and Josh


Jerolyn and Dave


All of them together