A big blogger welcome!

I just made my sister start a blog so I can see my beautiful niece more often, so if you want to see one of the cutest little girls you've seen in a long time (well at least since the last time you looked at a pic of hallie... hee hee!) head on over to her blog.

She's a natural blogger so enjoy!

A Very Merry Almond Puff Christmas to You!

Since it was really only the 2 of us partaking of desserts on Christmas, I decided I probably shouldn't go overboard with the baking this year. I ended up only baking one dessert- my absolute favorite! Here's the recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
2 tblsp water
1/2 butter or margarine
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup flour
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut 1/2 cup butter into 1 cup flour. Sprinkle 2 tblsp water over mixture; mix with fork. Found into ball; divide in half. On ungreased baking sheet, pat half into a strip 12" x 3". Strips should be about 3" apart. In medium saucepan, heat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs all at one time, until smooth. Divide in half; spread each half evenly over strips, covering completely. Bake about 60 minutes or until topping is crisp and brown. Cool. Frost with Confectioner's Sugar Glaze and sprinkle generously with nuts.

Confectioner's Sugar Glaze
Mix 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tblsp butter or margarine, softened, 1 to 1 1/2 tsp almond extract or 1 to 1 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 to 2 tblsp warm water until smooth.

I would have taken a picture of its greatness, but I use whole wheat flour and it just doesn't look as nice as white flour AND I was so impatient I spread the frosting before it had cooled, so we had another strike! But really don't let this deter you from trying this naughty with a capitol N-A-U-G-H-T-Y dessert! It is melt in your mouth delicious!

Merry Christmas!

For our first Christmas without our families, we thought and thought and thought some more about traditions we could start for our little family and finally we decided to just stick with the traditions of our families as much as possible. We were sad to be away from them as we always have SO much fun together laughing and enjoying each others company, but we enjoyed our quiet and relaxing Christmas. And I have to admit it was pretty nice to not have to worry about packing everything and everyone up!

A yummy dinner we ate...

Tyson cooked a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner of Prime Rib, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cheese sauce, and rolls. (ok really the rolls didn't get made until the day after Christmas, I braved my MIL's YUMMY roll recipe and broke out my trusty mixer and made some delicious rolls!) But silly us forgot about dessert! I know kinda strange, me, forgetting about dessert, that seriously never happens! So we improvised and ate some of the left over almond puff I had made earlier in the week!

The presents were great...We had a great time laying out [and wrapping for that matter!] all the presents for the kids on Christmas Eve, we shared a wonderful conversation about how great it is to have a changed perspective on Christmas... #1 Who cares about all the "stuff," (although I'll still admit I love giving and receiving presents, with thought of course- it's a special time of year to spoil the ones we love) but seriously the "stuff" just isn't the same not being in the presence of family. and #2 The anticipation of watching Micah and Hallie open presents was great and the actual event itself was even greater- I'm hopeful the fun will increase with each year!

The dishes were done...

The stockings were hung... kinda :) I guess we can say this tradition is taken from Ty's family, his mom has a whopping 21 stockings! So they are hung around the house on the wall before Christmas, and then on Christmas morning they are laid out waiting for you at your "spot." (usually with gifts overflowing and stuffed with goodies of course!)

The smiles were heartwarming...The curiosity was intriguing The joy was apparent... And the fun was non-stop!

And our fun hasn't stopped! Daddy is off for all of next week! We have had great fun exploring and have plans for much more exploring in the week to come!

Another Christmas Tag

our cute humble little Christmas Trees :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift wrap for sure! With lots of pretties :)

2. Real tree or Artificial? We prefer real, we've done artificial, and this year we've gone totally "green" and bought 2 planted trees!

3. When do you put up the tree? As soon as I can convince T to get the stuff down!

4. When do you take the tree down? If I had my choice NEVER! I love Christmas!

5. Do you like eggnog? The thought of drinking something that actually has eggs in it makes me feel sick- yuck! T loves it and is drinking some right now :)

6. Favorite Christmas gift as a child? I really remember being totally baffled by my mom, we got a TV, but she insisted they didn't by it for us (my sisses and I) and I knew Santa wasn't around :) I was totally puzzled. As a teenager, my Letterman's jacket was pretty exciting! T says a stereo that played records, cassettes, AND had a radio!

7. Do you have a nativity scene? At home in a box :( So sad about this one, but I just can't break down and buy another.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Usually T's mom or T himself

9. Easiest person to buy for? Depends, I usually like to give thoughtful gifts so no one is really easy.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail unless I'm a slacker- ps T actually helped this year- make them and everything! But shhh don't tell him I told or it might ruin his man ego :)

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I usually like everything I get so nothing! T says "dollar store junk- probably"

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? DUH!! I love them all! A Christmas Story, the Claymation classics, Elf, Mr. Kruegers Christmas are tops :)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? If I'm good I shop all year for those bargains, the mad dash to finish homemade gift usually begins in October and ends Christmas eve usually REALLY REALLY late! (can't help it I get too many good ideas!) T usually Christmas eve! :)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yes

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Big Christmas Eve dinner at T's parents and a snack all day Christmas day at my parents! I love rolls, ham, and SWEETS!!!! (and may I add it really sucks to have to make everything ourselves this year!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree ? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I wish I was traveling, but will embrace our Christmas at home. ;)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitsen and Rudolph. (honestly not really, I just copied!)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both usually PJ's on Christmas eve and the rest Christmas morning, but last year was different with kiddos- we did T's family Christmas eve and my family Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Usually T being a bah humbug, but he's way more into Christmas this year, reading Christmas stories together... you'd better sit down for this part- shopping together and decorating together!! WOW!!!!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love all the glass one's at my mom's and T's mom's Snowman tree, but at home we really like using a wide variety of ornaments. This year T found these sparkly chipboard embellishments at Michael's and we used those- score for me I get to use them for scrapbooking when Christmas is over! (I'm really putting a dent in his man ego!)

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I totally answered this already!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? There's a bunch of things I would be happy with, but really being home would be on the top of the list, but realistically on the pocketbook, I'll be happy with a week full of adventures! (and maybe a trip into the country- I'm SO not made for living in a big city!)

Cute Little Micah

It was a big month for Micah...

He has taken a few steps, but still prefers to crawl, he's our little chunk-a-hunk weighing in at 26 lbs. He loves to play catch, loves cars, and to play the drums. He now signs more, claps his hands (sometimes gets these confused!), bye-bye, all done, eat, and up. He says words like mum, daddy, doggy, cracker, eat, and bye bye. He HATES to have his diaper changed and usually screams bloody murder. He loves to cuddle and is a great sleeper, but watch out if he doesn't get his nap times he gets cranky!! Thank goodness he likes to sleep! He loves to go bye bye and his mood very quickly changes when the words are uttered. He is a super cutie and we love to have such a sweet cuddler in our home!

PS He got his first haircut while grandma and mom were out seeing the sights... daddy attempted a "fade" and ended up with a "buzz!" He laughed the whole time T was cutting his hair- Hallie cried! (On that note, I almost did too!)

Hugs and Kisses

A video ALMOST lost in the move... can't believe I didn't post this sooner! This now happens throughout the day... I hear giggling and find them hugging and kissing each other... so CUTE!

Now we just need to get over the wacks on the head.

Sweet Hallie

Hallie is really a sweetie, she is full of energy and is a big time entertainer. Give her a crowd, or give her time to find a crowd and she goes into full time charm mode! It was a month of big breakthroughs for Hallie...
She started walking! Taking small steps before we left WA and taking a whole lot more while Grandma was here.

She says all kinds of words like, mum mum, daddy, kitty ka, duggy, bye bye, cracker, and lots of others words she imitates others saying...

She signs more, all done, eat, up, and points at all kinds of things
She loves books, looking out the window at all the cars, the road construction, and people walking their dogs (I'm serious people there are tons of dogs- BIG ones! I even saw a place that was a doggy daycare!) She puts everything in her mouth, but is an angel when it comes to getting her diaper changed, still likes to terrorize Micah, and is all around full of spunk. We frequently catch her bouncing up and down while playing and likes to put anything that resembles a necklace around her neck (beads, yarn, scarfs, ribbon) and comb her hair. She brings such a special feeling into our home, she really knows how to light up a room and we love her dearly!

Hallie's version of Peek-a-boo :)