Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy 2014

The first two weeks of this new year have been busy. For us, just getting a fairly good family photo can be an all-day job. We managed to get this one not only with the self-timer, but on the first try.

We are back into the swing of homeschool and BSF. Along with that, so far this year we've had one teen night, a piano lesson, two dentist appointments, a birthday dinner party for a friend, and a fellow missionary family for lunch. I don't even keep track of the hours Dan has spent trying to get my visa transferred from my old passport to my new one. We've been at it since May..of last year.

Yesterday, we went to the park for P.E. It's the second time we've been there, and maybe we'll remember to take bread for the ducks on our third visit.

(The dribbling duck had just gotten a bite of Carolyn's cupcake!)

  Andy had trouble getting "real" exercise because of his long arms and legs. :)

And me...well, I'm just enjoying having my very own minion to put to work!

A 65degreeF Christmas

This year, we have a Christmas Tree Forest and a snowman. (I'm pretty sure another snowman has joined the first since I took this photo. Various Christmas decorations appear now and then...depending on who's been going through the tote in the basement!)

(There are 8 trees in our forest!)

 

We frosted and decorated sugar cookies today. The frosting turned out a bit different than what we used on our Memorial Day cookies earlier this year. The consistency was off and the colors didn't "pull" as well. I also couldn't get the red to be, well, red! I haven't heard complaints from the three people who've tested them so far, so I think we'll be just fine. Most of these will be frozen and taken to the beach where we'll spend Christmas with Dan's parents.

 

I am really, really liking my new Christmas-y table runner and I'm so glad I went to the extra effort of making mitered corners. I was excited to find not only blue Christmas fabric, but blue Christmas fabric with Snoopy! It works well with my blue and white everyday dishes. (The Christmas china didn't make it out of storage this year.)

This next project is a total copy from Pinterest. Andy's fingerprints make for tall, skinny snowmen! I'm so glad he humored me and helped make this candle holder. Carolyn made one too, and they are my favorite things on the table this year.

 

Warning -- bad, out-of-focus picture! My camera battery was dying, but I wanted to share what we're giving our church leaders for Christmas again this year. I think this is year #5 that they're getting granola! Apparently homemade granola isn't common around here because it's often treated like the best thing since sliced bread. (My kids don't know what that phrase means...isn't that sad?!)

About three years ago, I asked the wife of one of the deacons if they liked the granola. She said she didn't know because her husband wouldn't let them open it. He said it worked better as a Christmas decoration! So now I give the jar of granola to her, wish her a Merry Christmas, and tell her to EAT the granola!