We Wish You A Merry Christmas

*Please note: this is a long post with lots of pictures of Rachael. It's mostly for her grandparents and other relatives, so they can see what we did for Christmas. You have been warned.*

Christmas Eve spread... yum! We watched Joy to the World, played Mother, May I?, read the scriptures, and watched the Muppets Christmas Carol.

We also read "Twas the Night Before Christmas," which Rachael loved.

Then we got our cookies and Diet Coke out for Santa.
I hope he managed to find a cookie under all those sprinkles!
Rachael went to bed about a half hour late and was asleep in no time. In the morning when she got up, I asked if she had heard Santa on the roof last night.

"Nope, he must have been really quiet, because he didn't disturb me at all while I was sleeping!"

(Who talks like that?? Rachael, that's who. She also reminded me to turn off the bathroom light so we wouldn't waste power. Moving on.)
Santa brought Rachael an art easel, with a whiteboard and chalkboard.

And a Barbie! Santa must be real - this was her one request when she went to see him in person.

A fun magnet princess toy from Aunt Lorie. Thanks Lorie, Declan, B & Ry!

A cute T shirt and bonnet from Aunt Lesley. The bonnet is too small for Rachael but she thinks it will work really well for her baby dolls. Thanks Lesley, Chad, Kira, Ana, and Kaelyn!

Strawberry Shortcake from Aunt Lynne! Thanks Lynne & boys!! Also a big thank you to Lynne from Ryan and I for the really neat book on temples. It is beautiful.

A cute puppy toy and a beautiful new Tinkerbell blanket from Grandma Ricks. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa! She wants to sleep with the blanket every night.

Pajamas from Nana! Thank you Nana & Grandpa for the pajamas, and also for the Fancy Nancy book and the Tinkerbell game.
Thank-you to Grandma & Grandpa from us - Ryan got a blank and some components to build a 2 wt rod, and I got some books and noise canceling headphones.
Thank-you to Nana & Grandpa - Ryan got some new 5 wt line he wanted and I got 2 nightgowns, plus some shopping money to buy myself some new clothes. (Can't wait! Christmas just for me!)

We gave Rachael a new Leapster 2 for playing games. She has spent a LOT of time slouched on the couch playing Tinkerbell or Princesses. I can see already we might need a time limit for video games... but not today, it's Christmas.
Merry Christmas everyone!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Snow!

We got about three inches or so last Saturday. It was that really heavy, wet, packing snow, so we set about to have all the fun you can have with it.

The requisite snow angel: (isn't it cute??)

And of course a snowman or three:

Rachael had a small problem with the way the snow packed onto her boots. She was fine stomping around on top of four inches of packed snow, but when she stepped on the walkway she slipped and bruised her knee. (It's a glorious shade of purple today). We switched for another pair of shoes and then we were off again.

Then we decided to build a castle in the backyard. It's pretty tall - over 40 inches. It should defend the yard against any invading mongols, I'm sure.
(Don't you love the sad face? In that exact moment she decided she was too cold and wanted to go in.)

This is it for our white Christmas though... it's nearly all melted (although the fort is still standing) and the forecast is for rain on Christmas Eve. Oh well. At least we had a great time while it lasted.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Keeping ourselves on the NICE list...

I helped out at Rachael's preschool party

She's a crack shot - when she steps over the line

I got to go to the temple... many many many thanks to my friend Niki for keeping Rachael the entire day, so I could go. She's on the nice list too!

I babysat Alex and Blake so Jenny could take a final exam. Alex and I busied ourselves by taking pictures of each other... well, actually, we both took pictures of Alex. He doesn't quite have the hang of it. But who am I to squash his fun?

The highlight of the week!! Rachael cleaned her room by herself without being asked, including putting away all her clean laundry. Someone must have told her that Santa Claus is watching all the time!

Flashback Friday

Christmas 2007
Scooter Guy and Sleeping Beauty

Flashback Friday

Christmas 2005
Oh, I miss those cheeks!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Lots more Christmastime fun!

The Richmond parade... so fun! The temperature was more than triple what it was last year... we may have even had 38 degrees or so. (It was 10 degrees last year!)

I love this shot. Not because she is happy and waving at the floats, but because this is the 30 seconds between when someone on a float handed her some hot chocolate (my favorite entrant, I think!), and the time she bent over to pick up some candy tossed on the street, which, of course,

poured hot chocolate all down her coat. And all over the road. Ugh.
Still, we had a really great time.

Playgroup fun...
we made peppermint bark.

The best part?

Licking the spatulas!

Family activity: paper snowflakes

A new favorite tradition (we have been three years now): Southern Lights.

(which kind of look like this on the camera sometimes)

Pure, unadulerated joy. I hope she looks just like this on Christmas morning.
(We are riding the little "train" that goes from the parking lot to the KY Horse Park main building. I think this was her favorite part - even more than Santa)

The petting zoo was fun, too.
This camel tried to eat Rachael's ribbons, her coat, and my coat. He's smart.

And of course a visit to St Nicholas himself!!

We went to the mall earlier that day to see Santa, and the line was huge. So we checked at Southern Lights while we were there, and Rachael was the only one in line! (Note for future years... get to Southern Lights early! It was great!)

Flashback Friday

Baldwin Farm, 2008

Baldwin Farm, 2009

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

This past week we put up for family tree. Being the budget-minded family we are this year, we chose to use the artificial tree we bought a couple of years ago. Usually we splurge on a live tree, but it was a good way to save a little money. Rachael thinks it's great. She did a much better job of helping decorate the tree this year - I didn't even have to rearrange too much.

(nothing posed about this shot, is there???)

We put up the advent calender to count down to Christmas. I borrowed an idea from my friend Niki and filled each pocket on the calendar with a piece of candy. Rachael was so excited when she found the chocolate all by herself, she jumped up and down for joy! Let's hope Christmas morning is at least half as exciting.

Rachael has her very own tree. I love it for many reasons. First, her daddy bought it for her. (He has his moments of weakness for his only daughter!) Second, it's just her size. Third, it has a collection of ornaments that are mostly indestructible. For that reason, she is allowed to play with it as much as she wants. Which is a lot. Fourth, because she can play with the pink one, she leaves most of the rest of the decorations alone.

We hope your decorating is just as fun, even if it is less pink!

Flashback Friday

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving Dinner

Since it was just the three of us for Thanksgiving Dinner, I thought you might like to virtually join us for the meal...

Rachael has a homemade roll, and is ready for some raspberry freezer jam

And of course, we had our jello.

The gravy! Easily the best turkey gravy I have made yet. Years of practice are not going to waste here.

And the garlic mashed potatoes. Very tasty, (yukon golds - yum!) but the one low point on the table this year. My pressure cooker is acting crazy, so I panicked that perhaps it was overcooking the potatoes, when in fact they were not quite done. Which left a few "crunchy" bits in the mashed potatoes. Oh well.

Ryan's famous sausage & mushroom stuffing.

(It has made me a convert to homemade stuffing, over Stove Top).

New for this year... cranberry pomegranate sauce. Delicious.

The pièce de résistance... brined turkey.

And everyone's favorite - pumpkin pie! With your choice of whipped cream or it's evil relative, Cool Whip.

Thanks for joining us!

Rainbow Jello

A How-To guide by Rachael

First, talk your mother into making rainbow jello for Thanksgiving. Because you are cute and charming and you love jello. Next, buy six boxes of jello from the store. Be sure to start the day before Thanksgiving, as this is a time-consuming project.

Start early! Each layer needs 45 minutes to an hour to set up, so jump right on it first thing.
(Make each layer by mixing 1 box jello into 3/4 cup boiling water. Then pour out 3/8 cup into a measuring cup, add 3/8 cup cold water to the measuring cup. Add 3/8 cup canned milk to the rest left in the pan. We poured the clear layer, let set for 1 hour, poured the milk layer, let set for 45 minutes.)

Check your progress regularly.

On to the blue layer! We're really cooking now.

And, of course, progress check.

Take a break for the green layer and let your mom handle it. After all, you have important commitments to attend to. (Playgroup).

Next: yellow! Insist on helping pour hot jello on already established layers.
Then take a picture.

Check your progress! The yellow clear layer looks a lot better with the opaque layer on top.

Descend from your throne to help with the orange layer.

Wow, it's really coming along!

Almost there! Good thing, it's almost bedtime.

Wowzers!

Finish with a little Cool Whip and serve for Thanksgiving dinner.

Now.... taste the rainbow!