So, last November we had family portraits taken by my old college room mate who is now a photographer. Here's some of the pictures:
We also went to Kevin's parents house for Thanksgiving dinner in November. It was nice to have a great dinner with the extended family. The boys always love playing with their cousins. We even spent the night there and then we went to a movie with the cousins -- Megamind. I wasn't fond of the movie, but the boys loved it.
Then, of course came Christmas. It was a very busy time of the year. I sing in our church's choir, so I was busy with practices for that. It was a beautiful Christmas choir program this year. The songs really brought the Spirit to the meeting. Brandon and Edward also had a little Christmas program at their school. Brandon's class recited their rendition of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was pretty cute and involved the school instead of a house. Edward's class sang Jingle Bells and they had cute little bell costumes on that they'd shake every time the sang the chorus.
We have a tradition of going Christmas caroling and delivering baked treats to those we carol to. This year we ended up putting off going until Christmas Eve. We ended up leaving a lot of plates of goodies on doorsteps since so many people weren't at home. We did actually get to carol at one house and everyone else who wasn't home later thanked us for the goodies. These are the baked goods that I made:
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| Meringue Snowflakes and Names |
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| Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting |
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| Thumbprint Cookies |
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| Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies |
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| Brigadeiros |
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| Chocolate Crackle Cookies |
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| Peanut Butter Blossoms |
On Christmas Eve, Brandon and Ed get to open up their Christmas jammies. normally buy them, but this year I decided to try my hand at sewing them. They absolutely loved them.
Then the Sunday after Christmas I played my flute with a couple other women at church. We played O Holy Night. It had been years since any of us had played so it was interesting to get back into it. It turned out nice.
Now we are almost done with January. I can hardly believe where the time has gone. With the new year comes resolutions, of course. Kevin and I are both trying to exercise more, while not stressing too much if we miss days. Eating healthier and reading our scriptures are also on the list. Kevin decided he wants to learn how to use throwing stars. He's starting with some throwing knives, but needs to wait until it's a bit warmer and can practice outside.
I recently ran across a blog for birth mothers. The birth mother who created the blog is collecting blankets so she can donate them to local adoption agencies to make sure the birth mothers don't leave with empty arms after placing their baby for adoption. I though this was wonderful, especially since she's been there. I have a ton of fabric, so I think I'll be sewing some blankets up for this special cause. I am awed by the strength birth mothers have and I respect all birth mothers greatly.
