Daily December: Day 7

I love love love snowflakes and right now they are all over my house. Funny story: I remember going skiing in Salt Lake when I was dating Jason. It was cold and it was snowing, but I remember stopping in my tracks to look at the snowflakes on my jacket. I guess growing up in AZ, I had seen snow, but hadn't ever been snowed on. I couldn't believe that real snowflakes were just like the cut out ones - each one detailed and different. I'm pretty sure that Jason thought I was nuts when I told him I couldn't believe how amazed I was to see real snowflakes!

Daily December: Day 6

A potato sack race?
Nope!

One of the ladies shared this Christmas idea at Bible study the other day.

Last year she sewed bags for each member of her family. Their job was to fill it up with things that they already had that made them happy or brought them joy.

I thought it would be a fun activity for our family to remind us to be grateful. Kellan is still too little, but I would be interested to see what Mirielle would put in her bag.

What would go in my bag?

My Avalon "Joy" CD (my favorite Christmas CD this year) and Ella Fitzgerald Christmas CD

My Christmas snowflake earrings

My boots that keep my feet oh so toasty these days

A candy cane (I love decorating red and white - so I LOVE the Christmas season!)

My new Crate and Barrel spatula that I won at MOPS (mine didn't survive the trip back from the Philippines and it has been oh so interesting to try to bake without one)

My camera, especially my camera!

A picture of my kiddos and wonderful hubby!

Daily December: Day 5

I've been trying different settings on my camera, since it seems like our house is not bright enough any longer, between it being cloudy and gray and the sun setting at 4:30, to take pictures without a flash. I was trying to capture Mirielle playing with our Christmas house that serves as the night light in our bathroom.

Daily December: Day 4

This is all that is left of our poor snowman. Heat wave this week, which means temps in the 40s. The kids keep looking out the window, crying about their poor lost snowman.

Daily December: Day 3

Tags, Tags, everywhere

30 tags for
30 Christmas gift bags for
30 women in poverty

Spent a few hours working on these tags to go with the gift bags that our women's Bible study group is giving out this week.

December Daily: Day 2

There was just enough time to fit in building a snowman before getting ready for church.

Had a wonderful message at church!

Had a delicious dinner with friends.

December Daily: Day 1

Bought a new coat at Kohls. Cause "Baby Its Cold Outside!" I brought Kellan home for a nap while Jason took Mirielle to Disney Princess on Ice for an early Christmas present. I baked most of the afternoon while watching it snow out of the kitchen window and listening to Christmas music.









Made these delicious gingerbread and cranberry orange scones for a Christmas coffee house/movie night at the hangar for all of the Moody Av students and staff. I had a few too many samples! :-)

I like to browse the blogs of some of my favorite scrapbook girls for ideas, especially around the holidays. Ali Edwards has a great idea for December. She puts together a December Daily Album. I'm going to give it a try it this year and thought I would share our pictures on the blog. I have a few days to catch up so here goes!

Recipe for: Insanity

Moody just had their annual missions conference. We signed up to host a dessert following the sessions on Friday night. What I didn't know when we signed up and offered to provide the desserts is that we were supposed to plan for 20-25 people and the dessert wasn't supposed to start until 8:30pm! We weren't sure if our house would even hold that many but we managed to cram all 18 of us into our kitchen/living/dining area. Yeah! And the kids even fell asleep before everyone arrived and stayed asleep. Double Yeah!!

My kids were lots of help while I made 3 different desserts :-) I might go the Costco route next year because with the 2 little ones at my feet it was truly a recipe for one insane mom! The desserts were much appreciated though which made me glad I spent the time and effort on them.

We hosted almost an entire crowd of freshman guys. Some of them commented on the curtains or the paint color in our kitchen, which was so sweet of them. It just made me laugh though to see what a couple of months of living away from home made those guys appreciate! It was fun to have them in our HOME! It has truly been a joy and a blessing for us to be here and be involved in students lives.

It seems like in all of the places we have lived, no matter how small or the length of time, I find a spot that becomes a sort of favorite spot.

I think that it has been a way for me to survive all of the moves. I just find a little spot in the house that makes me happy. My new favorite spot in our house is the fire place in our living room.

I especially love it now because the little pumpkins I bought for fall match the colors in the room perfectly. It makes me smile! I can't wait to see it hung with stockings. Not too much longer....