Christmas Eve

We had a good Christmas Eve. Matt took Xander on a quad ride around the property (Gabriella only wanted to sit on it when it was turned off). Mom and I eat a delicious salad for lunch every day. Yumm!! Everyone crashed out in the livingroom at naptime after we watched Psych: The Musical. We had delicious dinner, went to the evening service at church and then drove around town looking at Christmas lights in my parents' van with them.

After we got home we let the kids open their present of pajamas and a movie and then snuggled up to watch it with them.

Vacation Day 3

Today I wasn't feeling very well (tummy troubles) so we had a slow morning. Mom and I took the kids to town for a couple hours in the afternoon so that Matt and dad could have a "man-date" and watch a movie together.

Jonathan and April came over and stayed for dinner. All of us kids sat at the table and had WAY too much fun laughing and being silly while mom and dad ate at the counter. I sure love my brother (and his awesome wife!!) !!!!

After dinner mom, Matt and I played cards (our favorite activity!) and the kids sat at the table and played with their cards too. We also made popcorn and homemade non-dairy hot chocolate (yummers!).

Headed to bed now and praying my tummy sorts itself out overnight and I feel better in the morning. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!! 

Vacation Day 2

We spent the day with Zac and Naomi and their kiddos.

We had fun just hanging out, eating Zac's awesome bbq hamburgers, playing Rockband, laughing, eating cookies and watching the kids wrestle.

In the evening we had both of Matt's sisters and their families over to celebrate Christmas and Xander's birthday.

Vacation Day 1

We had a nice "normal" day today.

The kids woke up and went running out to the livingroom.  By the time I got out there they were both snuggled up in the big chair with grampa and a blanket watching cartoons.

The girls ran grocery shopping while Matt and Xander ran around town and dad went to Wolf Creek for their Christmas dinner outreach.

I made a gigantic batch of gingerbread cookies (for Xander's early birthday party tomorrow) and we had some delicious stew/soup for dinner. The kids got to help gramma make cornbread! Then we watched Despicable Me 2 and I wrapped some presents before heading to bed.

Surprise Saturday

Saturday morning we got a phone call from Matt's brother. He said they were coming up for a visit! Woo hoo!!

They got here around 4:30 and everyone was very excited for our impromptu reunion!!

The kids played like little maniacs, it was so cute! The pictures are blurry because they basically had a "wrestling" match for an hour!

Dinner time and everyone sat still for a few minutes while we watched Planes and ate. 

Us girlies!

Xander was ecstatic to have boys around to play with. He followed Hunter and Noah around all night and kept asking Hunter to pick him up and carry him.  Those kids are SO good with my little ones. They are always very sweet and gentle! 

After dinner the boys showed us the weird things they could do with their bodies. 

Noah can suck his stomach in to a ridiculously skinny size! 

And Hunter can stick his hand UNDERNEATH his shoulder blade! 

We got out the Mega Blocks that my brother had given us. It was Xander's first time playing with little legos. 

Gabriella played with them the longest. 

Zac got Matt hooked on Pinterest. They sat next to each other on the love seat laughing their heads off til their phone batteries died. 

Noah giving Josie some snuggles. 

Chloe made cookies. They were delicious!!

When it got closer to bed time we put on a movie and had the kids all come settle down for a bit. 

Xander kept snuggling next to Hunter and wanted to lay down exactly like he was. It was so precious!

Gabriella joined the snuggle pile. 

After the kids went to bed us grown-ups stayed up til midnight chit-chatting (and eating cookies)! They had to leave at 8:30 the next morning to get home but it was so fun to get to see them! It was just the light hearted weekend we needed!

Christmas Cookies

Today I made up a batch of sugar cookies (my fav cookie of all time!). To me, it isn't Christmas until we've made sugar cookies.

Here is the recipe:

Sugar Cookie Recipe:

1 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar

1 cup organic Earth Balance vegan butter

1 teaspoon organic vanilla

1 large organic egg

2 1/2 cups rice flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

In a large bowl beat powdered sugar, Earth Balance, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on medium until well blended. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients. Cover tightly (I used saran wrap) and refrigerate at least two hours. 

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line your cooking tray with parchment paper. 

Divide dough in half. Roll one half out to 1/4 inch thick on parchment paper. (place a sheet of saran wrap over top of dough before rolling out to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin) Use cookie cutters to cut into desired shapes. Gather scraps into a ball, roll and cut again. Repeat with remaining scraps and second half of dough.  Place cookies on parchment paper on cooking tray. 

Bake for 7-9 minutes or until edges are just turning golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack. 

Xander was LOVING his! We had to sneak a couple before dinner!

So delicious! 

They are gluten free, dairy free and organic. It is nice to be able to have a treat and not feel like I am poisoning my kids! 

Zoo Lights

Tonight we went to the Zoo for their annual Zoo Lights. They line all the walkways with rope lights, cover tons of the bushes in lights, set up moving light displays and have light sculptures all over. It's like a Christmas light factory exploded! I loved it!!

It was 23 degrees outside so it was quite chilly. We double layered the kids under their coats (Xander thought it was hilarious to wear jammie pants under his jeans) and then added jackets, hats and gloves.

We had a great time! Gabriella thought it was fun to be a dragon (what she calls it when her breath looks like steam). Xander had a meltdown in the middle of it so we warmed up in the gift shop before finishing walking through the rest of the zoo. When we went inside the aquarium my glasses fogged up so badly that I had to take them off and carry them for a few minutes to warm them up before I could wear them again! Then we headed home for some popcorn and hot cider (thank you for the packets you sent the kids, Cousin Jessica! ).

Gabriella's "hat hair" was hilarious so we took a picture. Then Xander wanted to have a picture taken too.

Randomness

We haven't been up to much lately. Here are a few pictures from the last week.