Jenna. Dec 29. Food Art.

In honor of my third (and final) foot surgery tomorrow, I took the kids and met Alicia and Amanda for lunch at Rosa's today. Rosa's tacos are super yummy. And, they serve tortillas and honey with every order. Colby asked Amanda to use honey and draw a picture of a car on his tortilla. I'd say she gets an A for her Tortilla and Honey Art Project.

Jenna. Dec 28. Cute!

Carlee's cute face.

Jenna. Dec 27. Shopping.

We were the glad recipients of several gift cards this Christmas. One was for JCPenney, which is not a very big store in our area. So we decided to meet up with Grandmom at the North East Mall.

Kevin wanted to pick out a new hat. He says his head gets cold because he doesn't have any hair. Kennedy tried this one on. Silly girl.

Jenna. Dec 25. Christmas Day.

Kennedy took that pic and unfortunately it's the only picture I have from my phone of that day. I know Kevin took some with his camera. We spent the day at various gatherings. Breakfast was just the 5 of us at home; we opened our presents, played with our presents, and ate Butter Braids - yum! (Colby's school fundraiser) Lunch was a Christmas feast at my uncle Philip's house with my dad's extended family, and then dinner was [by request] spaghetti and meatballs at my parents' house with my parents and sisters.

The weather turned a little cooler today, so it was nice to sit by the fire and enjoy Christmas in a sweater instead of in shorts, which was what we had been wearing since last week. Although, it was nice to let the kids go outside and play on the trampoline every day instead of worrying about having to pick up their toys inside. Plus, now they have new toys to play with, since it's Christmas!

Jenna. Dec 23. At the car wash!

Sing it with me!

Jenna. Dec 21. Cookie Decorating.

A friend from church was so kind to invite us over for some Christmas cookie decorating. I know the kids enjoyed playing in the icing, eating the icing, and then dousing the cookies with sprinkles. And I enjoyed eating.

Jenna. Dec 18. Florida Family.

Today we were graced with the presence of my cousin Lin and her husband Keith and their four children - Aubrey, Amanda, Garner, & Avery. I didn't get too many pics but we laughed until our sides hurt and ate our annual Feliz Navidad dinner of chili, enchiladas, guacamole, taco salad, and a cornucopia of pies.

Here's Colby with Garner (age 13). Can you see the family resemblance?

And Kennedy wanted her pic taken. In the background, you can see Lin & Aubrey (age 20).

This is Avery (age 10). Kennedy took a lot of Avery pics that looked a whole lot like this.

Katrina and Amanda (age 16) went to see a one-act play that night, so I didn't get Amanda's pic. Interesting fact: Kevin and I got married on Amanda's birthday. So, we can always remember how old she is, because she turned 8 that year.

We are looking forward to seeing these Florida cousins again this next summer!

Jenna. Dec 17. Amanda visit + Casserole.

Two very random and completely unrelated things happened today.

[I suppose that's the true definition of random, right?]

Anyway, Amanda came over and borrowed my wireless internet. Don't worry, she gave it back. Then I made the casserole pictured below out of pretty much everything in my freezer. I called it Leftover Casserole. (I wasn't feeling too imaginative.) It had: frozen peas, frozen carrots, cooked pork + carrots, frozen corn, frozen black beans, frozen bell peppers, and frozen orange peppers; layered with tortillas, sour cream & cheese. I thoroughly enjoyed the casserole and it was such a nice way to use up ingredients that I had lingering in my freezer, that would never make a whole recipe of anything else.

Also, Kennedy took this pic of Amanda. Kennedy actually took a couple of pics of Amanda but most were blurry. This was the best one and of course, Amanda's eyes are closed!

Jenna. Dec 16. Colby's Christmas party.

Today Colby's Kindergarten had a party. His teacher gave each of them a small milk carton or a butter box and some icing and graham crackers; it was instant "gingerbread house" - worthy. The girls got to help a little but mostly they wanted to eat all the decorations.

Then, his class had a book swap, which to Kindergarteners means you pick a number and then take the book with the coordinating number on it. I was impressed that all the kids did so well - they were so focused in getting those houses decorated!

Jenna. Dec 15. Kennedy's Christmas dance.

Today at dance, Kennedy's class did their Christmas show-and-tell. The parents were invited inside the studio so we could watch and video them. I had to stand by the door and keep Carlee from running into camera shots, so I got a lot of video clips and pictures of the back side of Kennedy's class.

They're still cute, nonetheless.


Carlee wants to dance too!

Kennedy reminds me of ME when I was 3 and in dance class. It's a little strange [and yet wonderful!] to 'look into the mirror'.

Jenna. Dec 14. Silly Carlee.

Today I ended up taking 2 pics of Carlee. The first shows off her eyelashes [while she shows off her belly button]. The second shows off her personality. [I found her there when everyone else was buckled in the van, ready to go. She decided she needed a more swanky ride.]

Jenna. Dec 13. Stockings.

"...hung by the chimney with care...." So, where did the word "mantel" come in to play? I like the phrase 'by the chimney' serves the purpose very well. Plus, I never can remember how to spell mantel and want to confuse it with mantle, as in crust, mantle & core (the layers of the earth). Also topping my list of hardest word to spell is vacuum. Vaccuum? Vaccum. vacuum? Seriously.

Anyway, I digress. This is my favorite Christmas decoration in the house. I think it looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Last year we took our Christmas card pic sitting on the fireplace hearth.

Now ask me how many times we've used the fireplace...? I hope we get to use it more this winter because it wasn't very cold last year. But first we need to get some firewood. Anyone know where we can get some locally?

Jenna. Dec 11. Tree!

This year is the first year we have been able to set up our artificial tree, put on the lights, and decorate it with ornaments all in one afternoon. Why? We had help! The kids loved to help with all parts of the Christmas tree making. I loved watching them.

[Kevin had the hard job of lifting the kids up to put the ornaments on.]

I love our tree. Kevin's parents gave us this tree when we got married, and they used it for some years prior. So, I really have no idea how old it is, but I'd consider it an antique. It's so pretty.

Jenna. Dec 5. Seeing Double.

Rock it, Carlee.

Jenna. Dec 4. Clothes.

I took all of these clothes out of all our closets for the purpose of coordinating something for our church directory picture today. Colby and Kevin helped me pick out which ones we would use. I bought a new shirt for me and for Colby (which turned out to be too big) but other than that, we chose to go with solid colors and jeans.

PS - we looked really cute for the pic but the lighting was just terrible. I am so spoiled to have a photographer for a husband. ;)

Jenna. Dec 1. Mail time.

Colby can reach the mailbox now, so his sisters fight over who gets to carry the mail back to the house. Kennedy's already in the house. I'm not really sure what happened to Colby in this picture, but Carlee is wearing Kennedy's shoes, so everyone's coming back inside all crazy-like.

Jenna. Nov 28. Calendar of Thanks.

More at the blog.

Jenna. Nov 27. Last day - Magic Kingdom.

Are you tired of Disney World yet?

Jenna. Nov 24. Epcot.

Epcot post.

Jenna. Nov 20. Carlee & Daddy.