Christmas morning

I promised pictures. In no particular order...

Christmas morning.

Ajojo sent the robes. Very soft, and worn every night!

Grammy sent these outfits. We had to stop unwrapping just so the girls could change. Hello Kitty is still very cool in this house!

All I want for Christmas is a lamp?? Yeap. She's in heaven.

Now the girls are asking to go to Borders to spend their gift cards. Then they want to spend their Christmas cash and get more Barbie things for the My House that GG got from Santa.

How was your Christmas? We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Recipe: Eggnog Quick Bread

I made this quick bread on Friday for AB's class. It was a hit. A few of the moms have asked for the recipe, so I thought I'd share it with you, too.
It comes from Pillsbury: The Complete Book of Baking (1993 edition)

Eggnog Quick Bread

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dairy eggnog (not canned)
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
2 t rum extract
1 t vanilla
2 1/4cups all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom only of 9x5 loaf pan. Beat eggs in large bowl. Add sugar, eggnog, margarine, rum extract and vanilla; blend well. Add flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into greased pan.

Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely. Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Oh, it snowed last night

Ok, maybe not last night. Tuesday I think it was?

And Wednesday after school we went out and celebrated.

I do believe I got in 40 minutes of Wii Fit that day.

Add 45 minutes outside in the balmy 9 degrees...

This is the small hill that we are trying to get up to no avail.

This is the year AB wants to do it all by herself. Up & down.

After several attempts she finally asked for my hand.

In which case the camera had to be put away... Weeeeeeeeee!

GG is a pro on the small and big hill.

She rolls over at the last minute before hitting the pond.

Good girl!

I have mice!

And they are the cutest things you ever did see!

I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures, these are
from rehearsal.
The bunch are cheering on the
Mouse King fighting the Nutcracker.






Unfortunately, (for the mice) the Mouse King
dies, so they drag him away to do whatever mice
do when their king dies.


I think one mouse has eaten too much cheese!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hope you have a fabulous day!

It's a boy!

No, not me. My cousin and his wife welcomed a beautiful baby boy. Jacob arrived early this morning. You can get a peek at him by clicking on the title above.

Congratulations Bert and Dawn! May you enjoy the many joys of parenting. God bless you!

`

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

How lovely art thou branches.

Yesterday, the four of us went Christmas tree shopping. There is a place that we try to get to every year. Prairie Elf Christmas Trees is located SouthWest of Lawrence. It's a fun family experience. We take a ride out to the trees from the parking area/warming hut.

We brought a blanket to keep warm on the ride. They do have several on the hay bales, too. Walk around and look at the different trees. The girls looked for snowballs in the trees (yes, they actually found them in trees!) Once you find the perfect tree, you can cut it yourself or have one of the guys cut it for you. We will cut ours next week.

We picked this one and tagged it. Next weekend, after I make room in the sunroom, we will go and cut it down, bring it home and start decorating. It's not as tall as past trees. Which, being the one who climbs the ladder to put the lights and star on top, am not complaining.

The warming hut has warm cider, cookies and popcorn while warming up. They have cute/simple crafts for the kids to make which is free. They have beautiful wreaths for sale, too.