All the years I have known Jerome, even our dating years, every year at Christmas his Gran would make a cake that he loves....German chocolate cake.
It is a holiday tradition that he looks forward to every year.
I can't say I blame him, this cake is delicious!
The past two years I have made this cake for our family dinner. Even though it is a good bit more complicated than making a Betty Crocker cake,it is worth it when you take that first bite of yummy goodness.
104. family Christmas dinners 105. my girls in the kitchen learning how to bake 106. smell of chocolate cake baking in the oven 107. excitement Christmas morning 108. going to the movies 109. no more holiday shopping! 110. watching Spencer with his three year old and two year old cousins, Bradley and Caleb at our family dinner
Today is the first day of Christmas break for our kids. We stayed up late last night and all slept in this morning.
Jerome started the coffee while I started making the reindeer pancakes I promised the girls I'd make.
We didn't have bacon (for the antlers) so I improvised and used Hershey's chocolate syrup, a maraschino cherry for the red nose, whip cream and chocolate chips for the eyes. I found the idea for it here
Buddy the elf would be loving the sweet sugary breakfast we had this morning....but he was in Katie's room on her little Christmas tree.....he covered her tree with toilet paper last night.
Katie was excited to see Buddy somewhere else besides the freezer this morning. He was in the freezer when she woke up yesterday morning. She kept getting upset because she was afraid he would freeze and lose his magic powers. I had to remind her that he lives at the North Pole and the freezer reminds him of home.
Natalie took the next picture with my camera.....
98. making reindeer pancakes with our kids 99. sleeping in on the first day of Christmas break 100. baking for the family get togethers 101. kids helping in the kitchen 102. wrapping presents 103. watching favorite Christmas movies with my family
Several weeks ago Katie was so happy to find an Elf On The Shelf waiting for her.
She came home from school telling me how her friend Emma has an elf, how you read the book and then his magic starts and the next morning you wake up and get to find him hiding in the house somewhere.
We carefully unpacked him, making sure not to touch him....because if you touch the elf he loses his magic.
Katie named him Buddy....Buddy the Elf.
She went to sleep that night anxious to wake up in the morning to find out where Buddy had found to stay for the night.
Since then Buddy has been a lot of places in our home, hanging from the clock, playing with marshmallows, eating cereal, hanging out with Barbie and her friends and many more places.
Katie loves Buddy and loves that he is "magic".
This past weekend all three of our kids had friends over or went to a friends house to stay. We had a house full. Natalie had Hailey and Casey over, Spencer had Adam over and Katie went to the movies with Emma and stayed the night with Sydney.
I had just gotten out of the shower and gotten dressed when I heard Katie banging on our door and crying.
I opened our door to a little girl crying her heart out.
Our conversation went a little like this:
Me: "Katie! Why are you crying? Whats wrong?" (thinking she was physically hurt)
Katie: "Mom!! (sniff, sniff) Mom!!"
Me: "WHAT?"
Katie: "Adam touched Buddy and now Buddy has lost his magic!!"
(Adam standing shocked and surprised and unknowing of Buddy's magic powers, which Spencer let him know of when Katie freaked out on him)
Adam: "I didn't know! I just picked him up, spun him around Katie! I didn't know!"
(I was trying to hold a laugh in, Spencer and Adam were too)
Katie: "Mom, can we get another elf...PLEASE?? Buddy isn't magic anymore!"
Me: (thinking fast what to say because I did not want to buy another elf)"Katie, Buddy is still magic. Adam doesn't believe in Santa or Buddy the Elf so it doesn't count if he picked him up, he didn't make Buddy lose his magic. Only the little kids that believe in Buddy the Elf and Santa make Buddy lose his magic if they touch him."
Katie: (calmed down a little, sniffing and wiping her tears) "You promise Buddy didn't lose his magic?"
Me: "I promise, you will still be able to find him in new places tomorrow morning"
The next morning Katie was excited to see Buddy the Elf holding on to her Daddy's coffee pot......Jerome told her that Buddy was needing some caffeine.
And now for one of our favorite parts of the movie....it makes Katie laugh hysterically every time.....
Looks fun doesn't it?
Katie's Buddy the Elf is named after that crazy elf.
91. how a little "magic" brings laughter in our home 92. seeing the excitement and anticipation of Christmas in our kids 93. date night with my husband 94. running into old friends at dinner 95. warmth of a new winter coat 96. a kiss from my husband in the cold night air 97. knowing that even though it will be our last date for a long time, we enjoyed every second of it
For years now I have been wanting to make an advent calendar for our kids to enjoy counting down the days to Christmas. This year I decided to make one and I was right, our kids love it.
Each morning they pull the card out of the little brown bag, read it and know that that evening we will be doing something fun together as a family.
This evening we are watching The Christmas Story.
I put the calendar in our entry so it is one of the first things that is seen. I love it and am glad I finally took time out of our busy schedule to make a Christmas craft (especially one we will be able to use every year from now on).
I even managed to get a date night for Jerome and I tucked inside one of these little brown bags.
If you would like to use this idea you can find the numbers and daily cards here , here here and here .
I found the little brown bags at Michael's craft store. I printed the sheet of numbers out and used a Martha Stewart scalloped punch that I already had and then glued the numbers onto the bags (I need to buy another set of bags still). Then I pinned the little brown bags to the ribbon with tiny clothespins. I cut out the daily cards and tucked them inside each little brown bag. I like that I can change this out every year, add new cards to the bags as our kids grow older.
We woke up early Sunday morning to travel to my parent's church. They were having their Christmas musical program. Our girls had spent the weekend at my parents and enjoyed getting to spend time with their cousins.
The music started and the program began. They had a man in a military uniform, performing, questioning God why his friend was killed in action. He was in the desert, deployed, looking up at the same night sky that the three wise men would have years ago. At first I wanted to leave, so did Spencer who was sitting beside me. But something told me to stay right there in my seat.
Through the music performance there were a few things that were said that really hit home.
Keep having faith, because God knows what your future holds....even if you don't. Trust in Him that everything will be alright.
After the program was over we all went to IHOP for breakfast. Then I took the kids to the ice rink to meet my sister Jolena, and go ice skating. Jerome had drill this weekend so I had plenty of time with just me and our kids.
The girls love to skate. If I hadn't already finished up Christmas shopping I think I would have bought them some ice skates and lessons this year for Christmas.
Spencer was on the ice just a few minutes and his foot started hurting again. He has a pulled Achilles tendon that he did last week. So while the girls skated Spencer and I went and played a few games in the arcade. I still think it's pretty funny that I beat him at the shooting game we played four times.
Each year the tree fills with ornaments hung a little bit higher.
This particular ornament, the letters to Santa ornament, we have had for years now.
Every year the letters are different.
One Christmas a letter was tucked inside asking Santa if he was real, and to sign on the line because he will really know if it is Santa's signature or not.
That letter was written by Spencer years and years ago.
Another Christmas there were letters asking for a new baby doll, or a barbie car.
This year, after tucking our kids in bed, I took a peek at the letters to Santa.
They didn't ask for a new baby doll.
This year the letters were different.
I think Katie is still at the point of hoping that her Daddy doesn't have to go.
I think Natalie is at the same place I am. She knows that he has to go, and there is no amount of wishing or hoping that can change it. She has accepted it.
I did get a good laugh out of Natalie's "a non crappy phone", it is her year to get a cell phone for Christmas (the Christmas before starting middle school). Spencer has insisted that she has to start out with a crappy cell phone like he had to. Natalie insists that she is more responsible than Spencer and she has been asking us for a "non crappy cell phone".
Jerome and I have had this little sailor in his cracker jacks ornament since our third year of marriage.
It has always been a favorite ornament.
This year Spencer handed it to Jerome to hang up on the tree, Jerome turned with the ornament, looked at me and said, "You know, we need to find a new ornament like this now....one in a Chief's uniform".
Dear Santa, Please keep my husband safe while he is deployed. Please let the time apart go by quickly. Please help him return home soon. Love, a proud wife of a wonderful husband who is getting ready to serve his country, again
81. the Christmas tree ornaments being hung only on the top half of the tree by our kids. 82. looking at our Christmas album full of pictures from years past with my family 83. hearing the stories our kids remember from each Christmas 84. watching Jerome and our kids give Molly an early Christmas present, a bone that is almost as big as she is 85. watching Spencer put the star on our tree, standing flat footed and reaching the top just fine 86. Katie reminding me that we need to put the snow on our tree still 87. our girls asking to sleep in the floor near the Christmas tree 88. putting pictures with Santa in frames on our mantel 89. reading our girls letters to Santa 90. tucking our kids in bed
Sunday we went to the farmer's market from our hometown.
We looked at all the Christmas trees but ended up going home with a sprig of mistletoe and some fresh pine garland.
Jerome hung the mistletoe for me and the kids laugh when we stand under it because we always kiss. Unfortunately it being a fresh mistletoe and our house being warm and cozy, it is already wilting away. I still love having it there anyway.
I knew when I painted the chalkboard on the wall that I wanted to do something like this at Christmas. I had planned to put the "Twas the night before Christmas" story on there but I chose this scripture instead.
Each year we go over this scripture with our kids, they have all almost memorized it.
I love how the fresh pine makes our home smell like Christmas. I just hope the pine garland will last until Christmas!
68. hearing our girls read the chalkboard as they sit and eat their bowl of cereal in the morning 69. the wonderful smell of Christmas in our home 70. the way Christmas feels 71. listening to Christmas music 72. sipping a cup of coffee my husband made for me just right 73. kissing under the mistletoe 74. having Jerome home for Christmas this year 75. planning with our kids to send a Christmas package to someone deployed
There was such beauty this morning outside our window. The snow was falling down in the heaviest snowflakes I have ever seen. I slipped my husband's boots on and went outside to capture a little bit of winter's beauty.
Molly followed me out and stayed with me. She was covered in snowflakes....
The kids are now home from school, it was released early due to the amount of snow and the roads getting covered quickly. I am getting ready to go into the kitchen and fix them all some tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's our favorite lunch on cold winter days like today.
School was canceled today because of all the snowfall overnight. I had a good time in the snow with the kids today. I took this one of Natalie and Katie warming up under the blanket and fell in love with this picture of the two of them.
We spent Friday evening and most of Saturday at The Pepsi Invitational Classic Wrestling Tournament. Going in to these I had absolutely no idea they lasted so long. I thought an hour or two maybe......boy, was I wrong. I didn't take my camera with me Friday evening, I wanted to enjoy watching my son wrestle for the first time. The coach came up to me after and asked if I would mind taking pictures (something special he has planned for the boys at the end of the season). So Saturday I took a lot of pictures. Looking back I probably should have used my flash and not bumped my ISO up to 2500 but oh well.....according to my husband only I notice the "technical stuff" anyway.
Spencer's first match he didn't win, but he fought hard for it.
A little advice from the coach.....
His second match ended up being with one of his best friends, Adam. I (and several other moms) don't like how they match up kids from the same school....but I know there is a reason. He fought hard on this one too, but didn't win this match. He put up a good fight though.
Then they took a break and the kids did some more warming up before beginning again.
Spencer was very determined not to lose his next match. I think that determination carried him through because his third match he won. It was great hearing his name being yelled by our home team, "GO SPENCER!". This was the first round of his third match....
Getting more advice from the coach....
I can really see the determination in him here....
I'm proud of my son! So proud.
His coach was proud of him and Spencer was happy he had won a match. He told me he didn't want to go home without winning one.
Spencer didn't meet the standard for his weight class, he was just a few pounds over and was bumped up to the next weight class. He was at the bottom of the weight class they put him in and wrestled several that were in the top of the weight class (Spencer and Adam both are in the same weight class and both were bumped up). He is working hard to get back down in the weight class he belongs in so that way he will be at the top of his weight class. It was a long day. When we left the school that was hosting the tournament everything was covered in snow. We made it home safely and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
