More January

Our January Tea was at Norgeen's house. The girls read poetry and celebrated Hannah and Hailee's Birthdays.

For Hannah's birthday mom sent her a special gift~ Grandma Eulas's old night gown. It's so beautiful and makes us think of Grandma every time she wears it.  My grandma Eula died a year and a half ago and we miss her everyday.

Tiffany and Liberty wanted to wear their petty coats and look like Hannah.

Hannah and Liberty thought this was so funny and begged me to take a picture.

January

A week before Christmas we received a few calls from family asking us if they could sent money and have me do their Christmas shopping for the girls. Since I had no time to do any shopping, I asked them if they would mind if we put the money towards Disney passes. My mom also sent a large amount of money for us to put towards the rest of the passes. All of Liberty's specialists are at CHOC which is just 10 minutes from Disney so we use the passes A LOT! Taking Liberty the first time was absolutely precious. Hannah and Tiffany were so excited for her.

 

Hannah's Birthday was January 21st. She turned 12.  She had a slumber party and 17 girls attended. It was such a fun evening! I can't believe my "baby" is almost a teenager.

Becca Holzer made Hannah's cake for her. She is one of the best bakers we know!

Marvelous Mondays

After the Christmas Holidays we decided not to return back to co-op. This was a big deal for us as we loved co-op and all our dear friends that attended. We did not make this decision on a whim. I won't go into all the reasons for our departure but it has proved to be a wonderful decision for our family.

As many folks know I am NOT a morning person. Whenever we have to be somewhere early in the morning, I have to pack and organize everything the night before. I've always fixed the kids breakfast, but never really put my heart into it~ since I am barely functioning at that time! Since we aren't running out the door to get to co-op now on Monday mornings, I make a formal breakfast for our family. I've made some of the most elaborate breakfast dishes ever, and we take our time to enjoy every morsel and read the Bible together. We read the Bible everyday but this Bible time is different as sometimes our breakfasts will last for a few hours.  It's a sweet way to begin our week  and focus on what's most important to us~ our faith in Christ, and our precious family.

 

I borrowed this new recipe off of another blog that I love to follow~  Clementines with a special sweet sauce. We also had homemade hot cocoa with cinnamon, and of course our morning tea. It seemed funny to have hot cocoa with tea, but the girls insisted on having them both.

  

My lovely little ladies.

Chad had to drive into Orange County so he missed our special time, but he made up for it by writing all of us girlies a special note. The flowers are from him too. 

Some breakfast visitors.

Here is another breakfast we had the following week. Sweet Taylor was a guest. This time we had AMAZING French muffins. I stole the recipe from the Pioneer Woman cookbook~ Thanks Carri! They are absolutely melt- in -your -mouth scrumptious!!!

December

I haven't blogged in a few months so here are a few "catch ups"...


We went to Rancho Santa Fe to see The Living Nativity with the Parsons and the Fischer girls. It was such a beautiful evening. We were able to taste real Biblical Cuisines and the girls even rode a camel!

 

Our Motley Crew.

                                      Here they are riding the camel. The lighting was terrible for pictures so this is the best I could do. I wish I got a good one with the camel in it. They were HUGE!


                                                   PIANO RECITAL

 

The girls with their piano teacher, Rebekah Tolopelo.

  

SILLY LIBERTY!

  

  

  

  

MAKING COOKIES WITH GRAMMY

  

Mom bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer. Everytime she comes she gets us something really nice for our home. Growing up she always made cookies for our teachers. I asked her to bring her old recipes and make them with the girls for our local policemen and firemen. We delivered them on Christmas day. This will be one of our new traditions.

  

Tiff looks a little excited here. She always did have a major sweet tooth!

VISITING SANTA

Liberty begged and begged to go see Santa this year. We had to stand in line for hours to see him but it was all worth it. It was precious to see how excited Hannah and Tiffany were for her. Made the LONG wait totally worthwhile!

Waiting patiently.

She said she felt embarrassed here.

Big sisters always make everything better.

 

CHRISTMAS DAY

This was probably our smallest Christmas ever. The girls got only a few gifts. BUT, it was one of our favorites! This was the first Christmas where Liberty actually "got it." The Parsons and Fischer girls joined us for dinner. We ate the goose that Chad shot a few weeks earlier. It was very "gamey"~ a bit like liver. Only a few folks actually liked it, but it sure was beautiful!

Liberty and Grammy reading together. They really grew close over the holidays. They played Little Pet Shop for HOURS each day. Mom got us a Skype camera so they can play together on Skype. After mom went home she even went out and bought her own Pet Shops so she can play with Liberty. How sweet is that???

 

The beautiful goose.

Our special dinner guests.

  

The kids did a Christmas play for us. It was a bit silly (okay...VERY silly), but we all loved laughing together.

 

Chad's folks arrived late and they were starving so we made them their own little romantic spot at the table.

Sleepy heads...

                                                          More sleepy heads.

 

Jesse and Rachel came out on the 27th. Rachel made us all our own blankets. It was a sweet day. Oh how we love them!

TIME AT THE DUCK POND

  

  

  

COUSINS

Haley and Emma came down for a few days. Here are the cousins in Old Town.