New Year's at the Ranch

This year we went to New Mexico for New Year's Eve. Jesse's parents have a ranch in mountains there. The small community they live in does a New Year's Eve party every year with a live country western band and an all-you-can-eat buffet. We had such a fun time.

Amy
Mark and Amy
Amy is such a great aunt dancing with Katie all night long. Cute girls.


Katie has a great friend that she plays with when visiting. They danced all night.
John and Sylvia still have it!
Our new baby niece
Laura and Benson
Sylvia having Happy Birthday sung to her in front of the whole group.

Sweet Little Holly

Christmas

We had an interesting Christmas this year. Sydney and I had tickets to go to The Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. A blizzard (slight exaggeration) blew in that day but we made the terrifying drive to downtown Fort Worth to see the ballet because the tickets were non-refundable. I am so glad we did because it was beautiful. But while we were there we got the disappointing news that Grandy and Grumpa had to turn back because the road conditions were really bad. By the time the ballet ended the weather had worsened and I knew mom and dad had made the right choice as sad as it was. Sydney and I made it home safe and sound, but my knuckles were white and the steering wheel is permanently imprinted with my finger marks.
After arriving home, the kids opened their family gifts. They got all kinds of fun stuff from Mom and Dad.




Our plans that evening were completely altered because of this severe snow storm. We were expecting my parents, and 3 other couples to come spend the evening with us. We ended up only having one family over. They live in the same town and come from Utah, so they weren't afraid of driving. We really enjoyed their company and I am so glad they were willing to make the drive over. We played Sydney's new game, Catchphrase, with them.

Christmas morning the kids woke us up at 7 am. This is probably the earliest they have ever had us up. They got what they wanted for the most part. Apparently Sydney really wanted an Ipod touch. She got Rock Band 2 and Beatles versions. This would have been a great gift except a week before Christmas the Wii broke and had to be sent off for repairs. So she didn't get what she really wanted and the thing she did get that she would have been happy with she didn't even get to play with the whole day. Maybe this wouldn't have been so bad had Jack and Katie not played with their DSi's in front of her all day. Sad day. She didn't even let on that she was disappointed until the very end of the night. I sure felt like a bad mom for not noticing. She never asks for anything and would never intentionally let on that she was less than thrilled with everything. Dad was a little more clued in than mom this time and he pried until he got it out of her. What a sweet girl she is.
Jack got the much desired DSi he has been wanting for years. He also got a guitar, a real guitar, the acoustic kind. He's been asking for one of those too. I'm excited about the idea of having a guitar player in the house.
Katie got a DSi too. She has played all day. She and Aunt Lindsey had an hour long pictochat today while we were visiting.
Jesse got an ice cream maker, the counter top kind that doesn't require ice or rock salt. The man was thrilled and in the middle of the blizzard last night was making ice cream.
Me-I got a robot. It's called the iRobot Roomba and it sweeps my floors. It is a dream. It just wanders all over my house looking for dirt to sweep up. I never knew I wanted one, but now that it's here, I will never want to live without it. My techie husband comes through again!

We went to Lindsey and Les's house for Christmas dinner this afternoon. It was a nice evening. Lindsey and I decided to do the 12 days of Christmas food. We came up with a whole menu based on the song. It was really fun. The only problem was Mom was providing a few days so we only had the 9 days of Christmas. We loved it even without our other 3 days.

Even with all the glitches and a few disappointments, it was a wonderful Christmas. I love my family and I am so grateful to have them. I hope everyone else had a very merry Christmas.

Favorite Fudge Recipe

Ingredients

* 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2/3 cup evaporated milk
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
* 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Line an 8x8 inch pan with aluminum foil. Set aside.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt. Bring to a full boil, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat and pour in semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours, or until firm.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Yea Sydney!

Sydney competed in the UIL competition this week. There were probably 5 or 6 schools in all. Sydney participated in the Ready Writing and Improve portion of the competition. She won 1st Place! There were a lot of kids participating in the Ready Writing competition so this was quite an accomplishment. Congratulations Sydney!

The furniture's in...

and the tree has come up. I still have lots to do, but it's finally starting to get there.

Great News!!!

Sydney loves to perform. She is always auditioning for various performances as they come around. I am so proud of her because even when faced with disappointment and rejection she doesn't give up. She just tries again for the next performance. This year paid off for her. She auditioned to sing one of the solos at the upcoming choir Christmas performance. She was awarded one of the solo slots. She is so happy. I am so proud of her. She performs Thursday at 7:00 pm. I wish her grandparents were closer so they could come see:(

Before and After

Yea! We're finally getting rid of the disgusting carpet and putting in wood floors. Here are pictures of the house with carpet. In a few days I will post the pictures of the finished product.


This is the finished product. It will look better when everything gets put back in the house. But we are thrilled!!! I love that my mother-in-law comes to town for a day and somehow finds us a guy to come and do the floors. Not only did she find someone, she found someone GREAT!!! He did a beautiful job. Come and visit so you can see them in person.

Carmel Apples

Reason #254 we love Aunt Amy living with us....






Spontaneous Carmel Apples for no occasion at all. What are we going to do when she leaves us.

Thanksgiving Dinner

This year we decided to stay home for Thanksgiving. With me being in school it's really hard to go places when time off is so limited. Not to mention, finals are coming up. So I made all of Thanksgiving dinner by myself. I think this is a first. Things went okay except for leaving sugar out of the pumpkin pie and burning half of the rolls. Jesse smoked the turkey and it was fabulous. Best turkey I've ever had. Everything else was pretty standard food. We did miss everyone and almost jumped in the car to go see family. We decided to stay put and I was glad we did when I woke up this morning and remembered all I have to get done. I was so tired from cooking yesterday that I fell asleep at 7:00 pm and didn't wake up until 5am this morning. I decided to go out with the crazy Black Friday shoppers and try my luck. I got lots done so it was a good day. Now to get the Christmas stuff out of the attic.

Sydney made a centerpiece for the table. She designed a golden cornucopia and we filled the platter and cornucopia with cranberries and candles.

Sydney set the table and made everything look so beautiful.

Jesse's turkey masterpiece. And no, that's no real champagne. Katie had to have sparkling cider.

Ready to eat. Our friend Matt came over to celebrate with us.

Jack loves apple pie so we make one every year special for him. This year the kids helped peel the apples for me. They were a great help making dinner.

I finally found the perfect homemade cranberry sauce recipe.

Ingredients

* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup water
* 1 (16-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
* 1/2 cup chopped apple
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
* 1/2 fresh lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon McCormickValencia orange peel



Directions

Combine the sugar and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cranberries and return to a boil, then lower the heat so that the liquid simmers. Add the apples, pecans, orange and lemon juices, cinnamon, orange peel and nutmeg, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the sauce cool.

ASHA New Orleans

Last Wednesday, I drove to New Orleans with a group of girls from my graduate program. We went to the annual convention for Speech-Language Pathologists. It was so fun to go to my first national convention. There were SLP's everywhere!! While there, I was able to sit in several great sessions on various topics of interest to me. It's fun to learn without having to worry about the test at the end. Brings the joy back into learning. It was exciting to walk the exhibition hall and see all the booths set up hiring from all over the country, and some outside the country. But the best part of the weekend was the wonderful food. I love Cajun food and I ate it at every turn. We had a lot of fun. I hope to be able to go to Philadelphia next year for the next convention.
Out to dinner at a place called Deanie's. Excellent food.
Beignet's at Cafe Du Monde are a must when visiting New Orleans.
Here we are with one of the women famous to our clinic. Her name is Barbara Hodson and we have all used her therapy techniques. It was such an honor to meet her.
Out on the town the night Friday night.

A Season of Gratitude

I always feel the need to express gratitude during the season of Thanksgiving. I am feeling especially grateful today. It may be because the semester is ending or because Christmas is coming soon. Whatever the reason, I wanted to take a moment and jot down a few things I am grateful for. And these are in no particular order.

1. I am grateful for a nice home to shelter my family and keep us warm during these cold days.

2. I am grateful for a husband who comes home after a long day and helps with dinner, kids, and laundry on top of helping with various other people's needs at the same time. He never complains.

3. I am grateful for 3 happy, healthy children. The more I learn and the more I see, the more I count this as a true blessing.

4. I am so very grateful for my Sister-in-law Amy living with us right now. She is a calming presence in our home. I appreciate her love, support, encouragement, and endless modeling shows.

5. I am grateful for my education. I love to learn. I love knowing things. I love the opportunity I have to broaden horizons and expand the mind. Knowledge is empowering.

6. I am grateful for my wonderful friends. I have so many people who have an impact on my life in big and small ways. I am especially grateful to those friends who see me at my worst or who I have offended or hurt, being able to look past my flaws and imperfections and love me in spite of. These are the friends who see you through to the end. I love you all.

7. I am so grateful for my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc., etc. I am so lucky to be a part of a family filled with so much love for everyone. We are a very blessed family!

8. I am grateful for my healthy body, free of aches and pains. I know they are coming soon enough, but today I am grateful that I have inherited great genes.

9. I am grateful that I still have my natural hair color and I haven't had to start coloring my hair to hide the gray.

10. I am the most grateful for my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. What a gift to know we are not alone and never have to be.

Busy Bee

Katie came home from school Friday the proudest I think I have ever seen her. She won the honor of taking home the "Busy Bee" bag with her for the weekend. She received this honor by getting smiley faces everyday and she says because she told someone she liked their picture. Whatever the reason, this was a very special event for her. The busy bee is a hand puppet. He is in a book bag and the book bag contains a journal. We have to write down what we did with busy bee for the weekend and include pictures of things she did with busy bee. Katie carried that bag everywhere with her Friday and Saturday. Here are a few of the pictures from her adventure with busy bee.