Sunday, December 30, 2007
My Early Christmas Gift
I was able to trade in my dream car turned nightmare lemon this last month. It was sort of my Christmas gift to myself that Hanna helped me wrangle. It got snowy fairly quickly after I got it and I didn't get a picture of it before the snow and road salt had made their mark on it. But the dealer took one and now I have a copy of that picture so I can post it. In the corner you can see a tiny bit of my old yellow VW Beetle. I still love those cars, but this one will be much less of a headache.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Elfin' Around
I saw this fun link on my good friend Noelle's blog. I liked the idea and here is the link to our elves.
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!
Christmas Traditions
Christmas time is so full of fun and traditions and wonderful memories. This year my girls will be with their dad for Christmas and I hope they have a wonderful time. But before they go, we have had lots of Christmas fun of our own all month long. We have been making Christmas cookies, as mentioned in previous posts. We went with extended family to the Festival of Trees together. We have been to a few Christmas parties and sat on Santa's lap a couple of times. We have gone on drives to see Christmas lights and are constantly singing Christmas carols in the car.
This weekend, one of our Christmas activities was Ballet Wests, The Nutcracker at the Capitol Theater. We had a lot of fun getting all dressed up fancy and festive in the girls favorite Christmas dresses. You gotta love fun reasons/excuses to dress up. We don't do it enough in our culture any longer. Downtown Salt Lake is insanity this time of year especially with several events like this all going on at once, but you kinda just have to chalk it up to part of the experience and try not to let it ruin the Christmas Spirit for you. So we went to the ballet for Cadences first time and Serenity and my second time. Cadence thought it was a tad on the long side, but all in all we had a great time together as always.
Both of the girls tell me that Christmas is their favorite holiday for very similar reasons. Cadence likes that we get to be together as a family and nobody has to go to work. She also says that she is glad we can celebrate twice on these years that we can't be together and that while they are gone we can think about each other anyway and remember how much we love each other. Serenity loves celebrating as a family and just being together so much. She loves the true Christmas story of the Nativity and singing Christmas carols and hymns. They are both such smart sweet girls and I love them and can never tell them that enough.
This weekend, one of our Christmas activities was Ballet Wests, The Nutcracker at the Capitol Theater. We had a lot of fun getting all dressed up fancy and festive in the girls favorite Christmas dresses. You gotta love fun reasons/excuses to dress up. We don't do it enough in our culture any longer. Downtown Salt Lake is insanity this time of year especially with several events like this all going on at once, but you kinda just have to chalk it up to part of the experience and try not to let it ruin the Christmas Spirit for you. So we went to the ballet for Cadences first time and Serenity and my second time. Cadence thought it was a tad on the long side, but all in all we had a great time together as always.
Both of the girls tell me that Christmas is their favorite holiday for very similar reasons. Cadence likes that we get to be together as a family and nobody has to go to work. She also says that she is glad we can celebrate twice on these years that we can't be together and that while they are gone we can think about each other anyway and remember how much we love each other. Serenity loves celebrating as a family and just being together so much. She loves the true Christmas story of the Nativity and singing Christmas carols and hymns. They are both such smart sweet girls and I love them and can never tell them that enough.
Friday, December 14, 2007
My Precious Angel Baby Girls
School pictures are fun and terrible all at the same time. I say terrible because when you look at all there school pictures side by side it is painful admitting how quickly they are growing up. It all flies by too fast and they just don't listen when I tell them to stop growing so fast or at least PLEASE slow down. Oh well. I just love them so so much.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
COOKIES COOKIES COOKIES
I had a few people suggest after my Baking Bug post, that I share some of the recipes that we use and enjoy. This week we made my version of Grandma Hippen's Molasses Mint cookies. They are super yummy and easy to let the kids help.
COOKIES
1 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, and egg. Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger and salt; add to molasses mixture. Mix until well blended. Spoon the dough by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake about 10 minutes until edges are golden. Let cool on pans for 5 minutes before removing.
ICING
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons butter
Milk
2-3 drops peppermint extract
green food coloring (optional)
Sift the powdered sugar then mix with the butter. Add milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until you reach a smooth creamy consistency. Add flavor and color and blend well. Spread on tops of the molasses cookies.
COOKIES
1 cup dark molasses
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, and egg. Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger and salt; add to molasses mixture. Mix until well blended. Spoon the dough by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake about 10 minutes until edges are golden. Let cool on pans for 5 minutes before removing.
ICING
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons butter
Milk
2-3 drops peppermint extract
green food coloring (optional)
Sift the powdered sugar then mix with the butter. Add milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until you reach a smooth creamy consistency. Add flavor and color and blend well. Spread on tops of the molasses cookies.
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