Baby Shower

 I got to host a baby shower for my dear friend Rochelle.  I had a blast making paper banners and decorations.

 Eliza made the cute "baby" collage in the frame.  We put half the flowers in water with blue dye to get the above effect.

 More paper banners.

 My favorite food item were the cake balls.

 My friend Gayle made these cute pretzels as a thank-you gift.

 Some of the food.

 Close up of cake balls.

 Lots of presents.

My sweet friend Rochelle.  We are so excited to meet her little boy!

Dessert Weekend!

It was a weekend of desserts!  First, Porter made this Oreo cake for his cub scout Blue and Gold banquet.

 Eliza made this lemon chiffon cake for her camp fundraiser.

 Parker made these seven layer cookie bars for his scout camp fundraiser.

 Our friend Penny made this chocolate cake with raspberry filling!

We bought this peanut butter, chocolate cake at the fundraiser.  Emma also made peanut butter, chocolate fudge.  We didn't get a photo of it, but it was delicious!

Valentine's Day 2012

We had a fun Valentine's Day.  Here's the table all set with prizes.  Jim had the beautiful roses waiting for me that morning.

We had our traditional pink pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast.

For dinner we had curry chicken with rice.  My friend, Sonia, brought this heart shaped bread over.  I also met a friend for an afternoon of mani/pedis!  It was a great day.

80s Fundraiser

Our elementary school had an "80s Themed" fundraiser.  Jim and I got to dress up and go enjoy tasty food, dancing and fun prizes.

Parker's 15th Birthday

On Tuesday Parker turned 15!  We celebrated his birthday three days in a row.  First on Sunday I made his favorite dinner: roast beef and Nauvoo Potatoes.  Monday we went to Burgermeister.  And finally on Tuesday (his actual birthday) we made his a birthday poster with treats!

He requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and M&Ms.

Here's a look back just two weeks ago when he had braces.  I can't believe that he is 15 and has his braces off.  Scary to think that he'll get his learner's permit in six months!  We sure love you Parker. Thanks for being such a great son and wonderful big brother!

The Christmas Season

We decorated early so we could enjoy the Christmas season.  I love having a mantel to display my Santa collection!

We visited Thompson Lane and got a photo with Santa.

We decorated a ginger bread house and ginger bread men.

We let the kids sleep around the Christmas tree one night.

We stayed busy during the break with crafts.  Here's some of the girls paintings.

The kids made shrinky dink necklaces for their friends.

Porter loved making Star Wars ones.

Christmas Eve- we are ready to party!  We had some friends over and lots of great food!

We acted out the Nativity and substituted hippos for the sheep.

Christmas morning the kids woke us up at 6am on the dot.

Porter with his Star Wars Wampa Cave legos.

Eliza displaying all her Christmas loot.

Emma with her Griffandor T-shirt and leg warmers.

Parker with his Star Wars computer game.

It was a great Christmas. We also took the kids to the Nutcracker, a Hand Bell concert, watched lots of classic movies and baked and ate all our favorite foods! 

Our Top 10 Christmas Books

Every year when we decorate for Christmas I pull out two big boxes of Christmas books.  We love to read them throughout the season.  After Christmas I pack them away until next year.  Here's our list of our favorite Top 10:

This book is lots of fun and written by my friend Sam Beeson.  He has a bunch of books and they are all witty and fun.

This is a beautiful story full of beautiful illustrations of quilts. My aunt Shannon gave this to me one year-- it's a must for anyone who loves quilts.

This is packed with photos of real snowflakes-- magical!

Love the illustrations in this book.  It's a wonderful story of friendship.  Gayle gave it to me one year with a big bag of oranges.

A classic!

Another classic.  We all love this story.  It's fun to read while drinking hot chocolate!

I'm in love with any book illustrated by Jan Brett or Eloise Wilkin!

We love this story!  I can never read it without crying--It's in our top 3 of all time favorite Christmas books!

Mom gave us this book in 1997.  It's a picture book with no words. We love it, especially the kids, and I really like the other picture books by Peter Collington.

This is our number one favorite book for Christmas (or Easter).  Jim always reads it to the kids and cries. This year while Jim was reading it Porter exclaimed, "I feel the Holy Ghost!" and cried for about ten minutes!

What are your favorite Christmas books?