White Christmas

According to the internet, the last real White Christmas in the Dallas area was in 1926! What a wonderful blessing for us to have one, especially as we have been missing snow.

You can see our footprints all over the front lawn where we played in the snow the night before!

We had a wonderful quiet, and peaceful day. The snow was beautiful, the kids were pretty well behaved, and outside was cold! We opened stockings, ate breakfast, did presents, then relaxed and played in the snow (Esther built her first snowman!), and then cooked up a storm for dinner. Nathan was so thrilled with his dump truck!
Esther is our horse and pony lover and was so excited to add more to her collection.


I decided to go really simple and natural with our table decor this year. And I found mini Martinelli's for our guests to take home. After bowls of Italian Wedding Soup, we had a big salad with hard salami, sharp provlone, and tomatoes.
Roasted rosemary fingerling potatoes and steamed carrots with butter and dill.
Simply the best Italian Wedding Soup I've ever made. Pretty, huh?
Stuffed turkey breast - stuffed with green olives, sausage, proscuitto, and chestnuts.

And for dessert - spumoni filled cannoli shells, biscotti, and Italian nougat candy. What a tasty feast!

Christmas Eve

First off - it's snowing!!! We are honestly having a white Christmas - in Dallas!! As Roark's family was getting ready to leave, the kids were all running in the 2 inches of snow on the ground. Esther got knocked down on accident by two big cousins who were wrestling and she got her first taste of snow down the shirt and all over the face. Laura, a true Texas child, screamed out in awe, "This is the deepest snow I've ever seen!"

We made five pizzas, but I only remembered to take pictures of three of them. We made mozzarella, tomato, and basil; ham and pineapple, meat lovers, chicken zucchini alfredo, and veggie.



Then came our Nativity pageant!






Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Hallelujah!

Who says Mormons can't have fun? Check this out!

Peanut Butter

Nathan discovered a new use for peanut butter - shampoo and face wash! He was "eating" a bagel with peanut butter and had already made a huge mess on his plate. Then he proceeded to rub the plate all over his face and hair. You have to wonder why in the world that seemed like something fun to do, but hey - at least I got a couple of adorable pictures out of it.

The Christmas Spirit

Enjoy this video my church put out recently reminding us of the true meaning of the holiday.

Cute Craft

I made this for Esther's room yesterday. I made a bigger one for our bathroom that is similar but the letter is a "J" and is made of metal. If you'd like to learn how to do this, let me know! It's very cheap and very easy.

Christmas Decor

Here are pictures of our Christmas Decor. I've been loving the simple elegant Christmas theme - it really helps keep my mind focused on the beauty of the season and the true meaning of Christmas. I have a Nativity set that I just purchased off of Ebay that has a place of honor waiting for it. I'm really excited to put it up and listen to Esther tell the Christmas story to me.

Gingerbread House!

I was extremely lazy this year and purchased a pre-made house at the grocery store. Then we decorated it with candy we picked up. I learned a few things about doing this with two very small children.

1. Get a smaller house. Their attention span isn't long enough.

2. Nathan LOVES M&Ms! He snarfed down a few and then asked for more - again and again and again. And since the house still wasn't done, we unwisely kept giving them to him.

3. Esther loves to eat candy more than she likes to decorate with it. All day she's been asking when we can eat the gingerbread house.

4. I love to eat candy more than I like to decorate with it.

5. Nathan is not a huge fan of marshmallows unless they're covered in chocolate and throws them half eaten across the room.

My favorite people in the whole wide world

Snow!!

I went to get the kids dressed this morning so I opened the blinds in their room to let in some more light when all of a sudden I noticed there was fluff dropping down from the sky!


It snowed for about 45 minutes but since the ground hasn't even frozen yet, it didn't stick for long. I ran outside to get a couple of pictures just to prove it actually happened. Then within minutes, it was gone. But it was pretty while it lasted and that combined with the 50 degrees we've got today, it's actually "beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"

Nutcracker

This year, Esther and I began a yearly tradition to go see The Nutcracker together. It was held in the beautiful new opera house here in Dallas. We had a wonderful time and Esther sat pretty still nearly the entire time, absolutely enthralled with the dancing. Yep, we have a little ballerina on our hands. She even recognized a few of the steps that she has learned in her dance class. Afterwards, we went out to dinner together at a little hole in the wall where we were rather overdressed. What a fun outing! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Highly Recommended

The other night Daron and I watched the movie Arranged on the recommendation of his parents. It is about two first year teachers at a public school in New York City who, despite their differences in religion (one is Orthodox Jew and the other is Muslim) become friends. They find that they are both experiencing having their future marriages arranged by their parents. The movie depicts their struggles through the process of not only dealing with the arrangements, but finding the need to defend their faith.

There is a strong theme of striving for world peace in the movie, which is important, but truly the religious aspects is what impressed me the most. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I have often found myself in the same predicaments as the two main characters. Like the Orthodox Jews and the Muslims, we live by strict moral laws. We don't drink alcohol, coffee, or tea; we don't have intimate relations before marriage; we don't smoke; we dress modestly, etc. Many of these things are looked upon as being restrictive and not allowing us the freedom to have fun or live life to its fullest. I choose to follow what I've been taught. I find freedom in choosing to follow God's commandments. There is joy and peace in doing so that I will never find elsewhere.

Granted, these are fictitious characters, but there are people like this out there. I just wish that more people would stand up for what they believe and not be afraid to follow their religious convictions - even if it means standing out like a sore thumb. What a better place our country would be!

Well, I digress. It was a wonderful movie and it was definitely worth watching. Let me know your thoughts. We found it on YouTube, but I'm sure you could get it from NetFlix, your local library, etc.

Cheesy

Esther: I want a girl cheese sandwich for lunch. And Nathan wants a boy cheese sandwich.

Emma

If you didn't know already, BBC just aired a new version of Emma in England. It is available for viewing on YouTube but will not air in the US until January or February. It is a four part mini-series and I must admit, is very well done.

I found that they followed the book quite well, the actors were excellent, and the scenery gorgeous. The house that was used to portray Hartfield was especially beautiful. From the moment it first appeared on screen, I was in love. I have a thing for stately red brick homes, large gardens, and surrounding woods.


It was interesting that in this version, Emma was portrayed as very much a home-body - not just the high society girl she is usually shown as, though she is that, too. As such, they showed many shots of her beloved home both inside and out. So much so that by the end of the film, you felt that you had been an intimate visitor the entire time and knew the colors of the walls, the fabrics of the furniture, and could point out the different paintings hung about the rooms. I have never quite had that sensation while watching a movie before and was impressed at the director's ability to make me feel comfortable in the home that Emma loved so much.

My only qualm with the movie was that the characters exhibited some modern mannerisms. The dialogue seemed fairly accurate as far as the time period goes, but often the way they interacted with each other, their gestures, or poses indicated that they were not quite comfortable in their period roles. But I think this was done on purpose as I recall reading an article awhile back as to the producers' intention of doing just that, though I don't know that it added anything to the movie except distraction.

If you have seen it or you watch it soon, I'd be interested in hearing your opinion.

Congressman Mike Rogers from Michigan

My mother-in-law sent this video to us last night. I'm so glad that some politicians in Washington are fighting for our freedom!

ER Trip

This morning Nathan took a tumble off of a chair onto the carpet. This is not a completely unusual experience for him as he loves to climb, but this fall scared him. He cried immediately, but picked up momentum and began one of those long drawing in of breath with face turning bright red sorts of things. You know, the kind that seems to last for a very long time and both parents are beginning to shout, "Breathe!" Then he promptly fainted on Daron's shoulder. He woke up just a moment or two later, but it seemed like an eternity. I raced for the phone as I yelled to Daron to keep him awake.

Having reached the phone, I dialed 911 and then Daron mentioned that perhaps we should just call the pediatrician. That sounded like a good idea so I hung up. Of course, the police department immediately called back. I talked to them and explained what happened and they suggested as he was conscious and breathing, we just take him to the ER. I was worried because he was just laying on his back on the floor and being pretty quiet - not a usual thing for our active little boy. But he started to move his arms and legs and was probably just wondering what all the fuss was about.

Daron gave him a blessing and then we proceeded to rush into clothes and jackets. Once we got Nathan into his carseat, he was acting as if nothing had happened. But we continued to the hospital and had him checked out just in case. Aside from starting to get fussy because of the bracelet they put on his ankle and the lack of breakfast, he was just fine. The good news was that the CT scan came back normal and the doctor pronounced him just fine.

Maybe we were a little over anxious. I think his fainting was simply caused by lack of air while crying so hard. Apparently, many children do it. But it was scary nonetheless and I hope it never happens again.

I'm ready to be done with adventures for one week.

I'm No MacGyver

When Esther first started sleeping in a toddler bed, we turned the door handle to her room around so that we could lock it from the outside. Cruel, I know, but she quickly learned to stay in bed. Then we forgot to turn it back around. Occasionally Esther would lock herself and Nathan into their room, but I never imagined what disaster may befall if we were ALL in there.

You see what's coming, don't you?

Yesterday Esther, Nathan, and myself were happily playing when Esther shut the door. She gave me that "I'm being naughty and I love it" grin and told me that she'd locked the door. My first thought was "no problem, I'll just get out through the window and get into some other part of the house." Except that all the other doors and windows are locked and my keys are in the kitchen. Suddenly, it dawned on me that we were truly stuck!

Of course, I could get out the window and phone Daron from a neighbor's house, but who wants that embarrasment? So I thought I could be clever and find my own way out. So the MacGyver theme music started up in my head and I went around the kids' room, trying to find something, anything that may be helpful. Well, MacGyver never got stuck in a child's room. If he did, he may have had just as much trouble as I did! Of course, I was fortunate enough not to have someone on the other side of the door waiting to kill me.

First, I tried to pry off one of the small springs on the crib. I nearly hurt myself. Then I used a piece of a kite to try to pick the lock. That didn't work. Next, I tried a small metal rod that was poking out of a carousel horse music box. No go.

Esther was full of all sorts of helpful suggestions like "Let's go get a key" and "Just open it, Mommy!"

Thirty minutes later, I swallowed my pride, popped off the window screen and climbed with the kids out the window. I explained to my neighbor what happened and they were able to provide me with the necessary screwdriver to unscrew the handle out of the door and get out.

I was rather disappointed that couldn't do a MacGyver Standard Escape. Maybe there's a MSE course I can take. Or maybe we should keep a screwdriver in the kids' room. Or better yet, we can just switch the handle back!

Heavenly Autumn

Seeing as we live in Texas where true Autumn is pretty much nonexistent, I have to live it through my memories and my imagination. Sigh...this is what I miss... George Eliot could have been quoting me, for all the passion I have for the fall.

Halloween!

Can you guess who we were for Halloween this year?

Here are a couple of pumpkin carving pics. Daron ended up doing all of it as it was getting late and the kids completely went beserk and needed to go to bed. We'll post one of the finished product later. But Nathan's eyes when he saw all the goop in the pumpkin was priceless.

And here is Esther pretending to be Groucho Marx - with cucumbers.

Dallas Arboretum

Somehow it's managed to sort of feel like fall around here. It's been mostly cool in the mid 60s or low 70s and we've had quite a bit of rain. Hooray! Unfortunately, the leaves aren't cooperating. You can tell they are tying to change their leaves into gorgeous autumn colors, but then they give up and within a couple of days drop their leaves in one dump.

But we were able to experience some color and beauty this morning at the Dallas Arboretum. The flowers and pumpkins were beautiful and the crisp, cloudy skies were perfect! We went with three other mommies and their kids. Thanks, ladies!