Buckeyes!

My grandma--my mom's mom--used to make Christmas cookies every year. My favorites were always the buckeyes. Basically, they are a really yummy Reeses peanut butter cup. She passed away a little over a year ago, so this Christmas I thought I'd make buckeyes to carry on her tradition (and because they are yummy). The kids helped, by which I mean they ate as much as possible while standing on chairs at the counter, but I did the dipping after they went to bed.

Taking a chocolate bath












All done and waiting to be eaten

Calla really liked them!

What I should have taken a picture of was my hand after I was done dipping. Next week I'll post a picture of me on the treadmill, thanks to all the buckeyes! Sorry about the formatting issues. I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind blogger's justification of the pictures.

Making Bread With Mom

First, we mix the dough, or pound the metal measuring cups together to rupture people's eardrums, whichever you prefer

While we are mixing, we might as well spill a little flour...and eat some

Now, we need to form the loaves

But, first I think we should try the dough. Yummy!

All Done! Such big helpers!

Christmas Picture

Happy Holidays! Here is the kid's Christmas picture. We have some curse that says that we must lose all the addresses our in our Microsoft Outlook every year. We are also not smart enough to have backed them up, though after the 3rd time, one would have thought... Anyway, we'd love to send you an actual photo, if you'd be kind enough to email us your address, again. Happy Holidays!

Dancing With Daddy

Chris has been teaching Calla to dance lately...to her new favorite song, which should be playing, if I finally figured it out. I did shrink the player somehow, sorry (free blog advice always accepted!). I think we might have another music lover on our hands. Hope all your Thanksgivings were great! Ours was, and we survived black friday too.


On Daddy's Toes

Her Favorite part is the dip.

Obsessed

Please bear with the background for a few days. The movie is almost here!

Weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa (my parents--Chris' parents are Pabo and Grandma Nancy) came up this weekend to see Hadden in the primary program. We all had lots of fun playing with legos, riding the tractor, reading stories and, of course, going to the "cheese store," as Grandpa and Hadden call Gossners. Calla really fell in love with her Grandpa this weekend. Whenever he wasn't in sight, she would say, "Mo, Bupah!" Then, when she would see him again, she would do this deep, devilish little laugh and shout, "Bupah!" It was adorable. I also think it melted "Bupah's" heart.

Hadden and Grandpa tilling on the tractor

Grandma and Calla, so cute!

Reading Calla's favorite book, Time for Bed

Putting together Hadden's first lego set, a police helecopter. It was promplty broken about 10 seconds after they finished it.

Calla loves driving the wheel

Our silly Hadden

Hadden's First Date

Before all you LDS people have a heart attack, DON'T! I was his first date. We went to the African children's choir last week. They were in town at the local theater, and Hadden happened to notice them practicing as he was leaving his once-a-week choir hour. We bought tickets for the next night, forced him to take a nap, and headed out for a great evening. The choir was amazing! They sang and did traditional dance. The kids are all between 7 and 12 years old, and are all either orphans or from families so impoverished that they cannot afford to care for them. There were also three adult narrators who had been in the choir previously. I was totally amazed to learn that the choir sponsors these kids all the way through college. They only tour for one year, but then everything (food, education, housing, clothing) is paid for until they have earned a degree. I was amazed! Hadden loved the song, dance, and drums, all of which were performed by the kids. There was one song with a lion stage puppet that was a little scary. He kept leaning over for the next half hour to whisper to me, "Mom, was that lion real?" He's still talking about it, though, so I think we can call his first date a success.