Greetings and Goodies

Last December we were just moving into our apartment here in Cali so we didn't get a chance to do much of the traditional stuff. In fact, this is the first Christmas we haven't been busy with school and finals or moving! So, we sent out Christmas cards for the first time ever, with CD's of the piano arrangements Boz did (enjoy here) . Its been a blast this year! Elyette is that age now when all the magic really sinks in (which makes it even that much more fun for all of us). She proclaims "I like Christmas" randomly, carries a swaddled doll around as baby Jesus, watched "Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol" almost daily, sings carols almost non-stop -- her versions :), etc. The candy stuffed advent calendar is a hard one for her. Having to wait to eat candy is not a highlight. But she did get to help me make (well taste test mostly) tasty treats and fill the little boxes we made with them. We highly recommend the dipped pretzel sticks! They could not have been more kid-friendly and the milk chocolate peanut covered ones are SO good. Kinda wish I hadn't given ANY away :).

Naughty or Nice?

P.S. To the "Christmas Music"

By the way, since Boz didn't say so in his post "Christmas Music", I'll brag for him :). When he says he "put together a few Christmas songs", he means he played and recorded piano arrangements of his own creation. A simple task for him. He's got skills, what can I say!

Christmas Music

I'm bunching up six songs of the week into one. I put together a few Christmas songs on the piano, so I put them up here for all to listen to for the next couple weeks. You can stream them directly from here, or you can download them and stick them on your ipod and listen to them over and over again. You even have my permission to listen to them after Christmas is over.

Here are the links to download the songs:

Little Drummer Boy

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

What Child is This?

Do You See What I See?

The First Noel

Petite Peas - A Hidden Jewel Amongst a Crowd of Crappy Green Vegetables

I don't know if this is common knowledge or not, but I thought I would share a piece of information with everybody to try to make the world a better place, becuase that's what I do.

I grew up hating peas, naturally. This is because everybody hates peas. Everybody hates peas because they are nasty. So far I have said nothing that isn't known by everybody. But here is the news. There is a type of pea called petite peas. These look just like regular nasty peas, just smaller. But the major difference is that they don't taste gross.

I know you are thinking to yourself, "This is impossible. A pea is a pea is a disgusting food." I thought the same thing the first time Maegan told me they were different. Well at some point I must have given in and tried them, because today I can testify to the fact that petite peas actually do taste good, and do not taste like regular gross peas (Don't get me wrong, they don't taste like Pixies Stix, but they are still good).

I know nothing I can say will convince you that there really is a difference, so I ask that next time you go to buy peas, if this ever actually happens, don't reach for the same crappy peas you always buy. Try a bag of petite peas. They aren't even any more expensive. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Sewing: All Dressed up for Christmas

I use every Christmas and Easter as my excuse to get the kids nice new church outfits. Head to toe. Sometimes I buy them, sometimes I make them. This year I decided to treat myself to a new dress too and make us all cheesy matchy matchy. I had a lot of ideas, but after seeing this darling dress at Gap and a little encouragement from my mom to make it myself, my mind was made up. So its not an original idea, but I love it!
Elyette's dress is red taffeta and ruffling on the collar and bodice. A cute bow in front and exposed tulle ruffles under the skirt. Getting the tulle to line up right was a pain, but all in all, the dress worked well.

My dress was modeled after Elyette's. Same ruffling, but made from a medium weight gray suiting fabric with a red taffeta bow. For future occasions I'll change that up, like add belt loops and a belt. My dress was a huge pain, actually. It had a lot of fussy pleats and it fit really oddly. So it took a lot of seam ripping and adjustments to get to a decent looking dress for me...Oh and we made flower clips to wear in our hair.
I made a simple vest for Jack out of the same fabric from my dress. I used a pattern meant for older boys and men as my guide. I eyeballed the size for Jack. He was napping when I made it and I failed to take into account that he has a LONG torso, so it was a rather short (we just hiked up his pants :)). Oh well, can't win them all. As you can tell from the picture, he personalized it with his drool.

And these pictures are just because I thinks she's beautiful!

Christmas Stockings

Or as Elyette called them; "boots"... she's still new to this Christmas thing.

Makes sense to me.

Give Thanks!

We're thankful for family!

Boz and his siblings.

McKenzie and Elyette

We're thankful for the outdoors!

Riding down to the canyon. Elyette is really good at off roading.

She was hanging and even swinging from the top bar of the Jeep.

Our little family picnic in the canyon.

We're thankful for food. :)I think we'll all agree the cows were Jack's favorite.
He was squealing and chasing them with out stretched arms anytime one was in sight.
Elyette claims "Jack wants to eat them".
Mmmmm, me too, dude, me too.

We're thankful for Photoshop.Good ol' family picture attempts. Pre-edited.
We had good time at the Ranch this Thanksgiving.

We're thankful to be home!
We got home last night and put up our little Christmas tree and read a story about the First Christmas. We're so excited for Christmas and we're glad to be home!