Hannah's Magical Bag (or is it?)

My dear sister Hannah gave me a fabulous and completely unique present for Christmas this year. I would like to post some pictures, and you decide what it really is used for.
Here is one side of this fabulous bag. Note the brilliant colors and nice sparkly mirrors.

And here is the other side. Different colors, patterns, and otherwise fabulous designs...

Use #1: A rock star guitar carrying case. Unfortunately, I don't have a guitar, but if I did, I would be the coolest rock star around.

Use #2: The prettiest princess backpack around for dear Ella-marie to carry around.

Use #3: A stylish, yet funky hat, but not functional...apparently I need a bigger head so that it doesn't swallow me up.

Use #4: The piece de resistance...a baby carrier of the most stylish kind. Who would have thought that Levi would fit in it and even have room to spare. He wasn't exactly the happiest camper on the block, but he sure was the cutest.

Christmas Eve Extravaganza

This year's Nativity play may be counted as one of the most theatrical thus far in our family's history. The nice thing is that we are finally getting enough children to do a good job covering all of the parts...hahaha...but Spencer was the man of the hour by playing 3 different parts. The ever important donkey, the angel singing to the shepherds, and a wise man to help guide his co-wiseman Hunter. Hunter needed a lot of guiding. Spencer really saved our play.

Ella-marie was Mary, and in the picture above, is scared to death of riding on the donkey. I think Spencer has handprints in his sides from her holding on. Corbin tried very hard as Joseph, to help her to not fall off. We're just happy they made it to Bethlehem.

Levi was a very cooperative Jesus. I don't think we've ever had a Jesus that didn't cry. But Levi did great and even let Joseph hold him. Mary didn't get to hold him because he's almost as big as she is.

Miles was our shepherd, and a very cute shepherd if I do say so myself. He even had some help from his sheepdog Scout. They did just what they were supposed to do. I'm not sure why the shepherd is holding on Scout's tail, but there must have been a good reason.

The angel (Spencer) certainly made the shepherd "sore afraid" but then he did a lively rendition of "Joy to the World".






Here is Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and the shepherd. So far, so good.

Then the wisemen come. And wise they are. Hunter was feeling quite uncooperative, but luckily he had the big wiseman to help him along.


















Ta-dah! And here is the finished product. Merry Christmas!

Happy Anniversary!

Lucky seven years! I can't believe that Spencer and I have been married for 7 years already! Spencer was so cute this morning...he brought me out to the kitchen, and all on the floor, in each little square there was a chocolate kiss. And half were white chocolate kisses (which means I can eat them!) He said that if he could, he'd kiss the ground that I walk on because he loves me so much! Oh, so cute! I am thankful for Spencer and for all that he puts up with. Sure we've had our bad times, but there have been way more good times and laughs to make up for the hard times.

Here are some pictures of the kisses.

The children's reactions were just plain funny. Ella-marie just started exclaiming "Mommy, mommy, come look, look, look! Look at the floor! Oh wow!" And Hunter tried really hard to walk without stepping on them, but that didn't work very well.

Recipe of the week 12/21

Butterscotch Apple Cake
3 eggs
1 1/4 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 med. apples, peeled & chopped
1 c. chopped pecans
1 cup butterscotch chips

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, oil & vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture and mix well. Stir in apples and pecans.
Pour into ungreased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with butterscotch chips. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-45 min. or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool before serving. 12-15 servings

Christmas Decorations

Here are some pictures of our Christmas tree. Levi was nice enough to model next to the tree for me. Thank goodness he's still too small to wreck havoc on it. I like to call the theme of our Christmas tree..."Decorated with Love by little children!" I tried really hard to not re-distribute the ornaments after the kids put them on, but I am guilty of moving a few so that they're not all in the same spot.

And also, Spencer took the snipped off branches of the tree and made a wreath for me. He did an amazing job considering he's never done anything like that before. Very impressive.

Christmas time is here!

Well, despite all of the illness and pain and agony of the season, we finally got our Christmas tree up and decorated this weekend. The children sure thought it was a lot of fun. Our dear Hunter is quite a monster though and not only tries to push the tree over, but also takes ornaments off and rips/bends/smashes them. He has spent a lot of time in time-out in the last few days. We also opened our early present from my parents and it was a beautiful olivewood nativity set from Israel. It is so pretty and I'm so excited to have it up. I'll post some pictures of our Christmas once I get around to it. Hopefully that will be sooner, rather than later.

The Cookie Crumb Mystery

So, yesterday morning when I walked into the kitchen after my shower, I found a mysterious trail of chocolate crumbs that went from the garbage can into the hallway. Very mysterious! And I asked two of my children, who shall remain nameless, whether they had gotten out of bed and eaten food while I was in the shower. After a little hemming and hawing, they finally admitted to have moved a chair, climbed up on the top of the fridge, and eaten two moonpies each. And all this before 7am! I was ready to strangle both of these nameless children with my bare hands. Needless to say, I was not happy with either of them. Their consequences started off with not having any sugary food at breakfast...no raisins, banana, yogurt, or granola on their cheerios. Just plain cheerios and milk. You would have thought I was torturing them big time. And also, they didn't get any dessert after dinner. Which was extra sad because the missionaries were over for dinner and so I had made a new recipe for butterscotch apple cake. They were devestated! I don't know what else to do. I no longer have any moonpies on my fridge (sorry Spencer) because I tossed them in the garbage, and my pantry is pretty much cleaned out of candy/treats because they have had this problem before. The butterscotch apple cake was so delicious! I am going to put the recipe up at the end of the week. I loved it.