Christmas 2010

 The week of Christmas was a busy one for us. We started the week as usual, Scott working almost non-stop Sunday through late Tuesday night. The week before hand we decide to take a job offered Scott, in a town almost two hours away. More on that later, but we did some more research on Wednesday morning, then went to lunch at the local yummy Chinese restaurant. I happen to have worked there a few years ago. We visited afterward and the day slipped by, as Scott's siblings came and had a Rock Band war with us on the Wii. Thursday we went to the town we'll be living in to look at houses, and put an offer on one. There were a few offers in, so we're in the process of waiting to find out the outcome.

Friday, Christmas Eve, we visited more with family and readied ourselves for Christmas. We drove through the holiday park with Scott's siblings and saw all of the lights.

Christmas morning Pixie woke up at 8, so I only had to hold her off for an hour until Scott came home from work. We let her open her stocking while we read the Christmas story. It's a good thing I didn't wrap anything in it. She had taken out Disney princesses magnets and nothing else by the time we were done!

Gold coins are kind of an unspoken tradition in our family. We realized this year that at least three of our families got them.

Terence Pez dispenser from Tinker Bell. Those candies were gone in a flash. I think she sneaked them into bed with her.

This is the neatest little toy violin. I found it on Amazon. It plays 18 different songs. How fast you bow is how fast the song plays. And it only plays when you bow, unless it's on demo. It's really cool! Dad noticed that it's made for a lefty, but she won't really care I guess! I thought that was funny though.

She's eyed these in the store for some time. She got a bit freaked out, but then later was fine with it.

Nova also loved the duckling. She kept goosing it and knocking it over when it quacked.

I know, she was totally spoiled this year! I actually held back a few things for her birthday.

Scott and I got most of our Christmas gifts early for ourselves. We got each other a few things to open. This is an Anderson "Spider" Silva MMA shirt. I've been eying it for over a year for him. It's his favorite fighter and I really like him too. When I get to see it.

No presents for doggies!

Grandma Maridee made matching scarves for us women. Isn't this adorable?

Adorning some gifts from Maridee and Dennis!

We went to my parent's house for dinner that night. Rebecca's family was sick, so they didn't come. It was a bummer, but we had a nice time anyway. 

Here's Pixie dancing with her grandpa.

My Dad and brother, Joseph.

Us.

Pixie was using wrapping paper as a blanket.

With  her grandma and grandpa.

She wanted to play with her toys again when we got home, late as it was. She's riding her tricycle while holding her duck, Terrence Pez, and Tinker Bell toothbrush.

A Few December Pictures

 The beginning of this month we went to visit Scott's sister, Laura, her husband Jonah, and their five children. 

Pixie actually had fun playing with them, when they played gently. Here are some shots of them playing ring-around-the-rosey.

Pixie went up and sat next to her great-grandfather. Scott's maternal grandfather.

 We finally decorated our tree last week. I found Pixie holed up underneath it with toys, water, and a blanket.

This is what her hair is doing in the dry winter weather! I have to wet it or put it up every time we go out.

The Whimsical Gourmet Giveaway!

My sister, Rebecca, is hosting a giveaway for my Etsy shop at her blog. 

Win your choice of the sushi or new sandwich set! Plus a coupon code for everyone!

What are you waiting for? Go enter here!

Scott's 27th Birthday

 Scott's birthday was Sunday. I had planned to take him out Saturday evening, after he spent some time with his family, but all my plans got foiled by him having to be to work at 9pm. So, we just brought Pixie with us to do some window shopping. We went to 54th Street and got some stuffed mushrooms to go. He loves those things. They are filled with some kind of cream cheesy mixture. It was really too late to do anything else, so we didn't. 

I invited Rebecca's family over for a birthday lunch after church. I prepared as much as I could the night before, because what else? Scott had to work again at 3pm and church isn't over until noon. 

Becca helped me get everything prepared. And she brought a cheesecake as well. 

We made curried coconut veggies, jasmine rice, cream cheese wontons with a dab of curry in them, veggie lo mein, fried rice, and I made a white chocolate strawberry cheesecake with a dark chocolate crust. Yum! It was amazing.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

 We went to my parent's house again this year. Rebecca's family went as well. It's always nice to get us all together, as it doesn't seem to happen very often.

I did most of the baking the day before. I concentrated on healthy foods and made everything vegan, with half gluten free as well for my Dad's diet. I baked two pumpkin pies (one GF), an apple pie, a GF tofu cheesecake with strawberry topping, and a GF chocolate cake.

Scott left early Thanksgiving morning to play football out there, so I figured I'd take the morning to bake the rest of my goods. I had been keeping an eye on black friday sales and the Kohl's one was supposed to go live at 3pm on Thanksgiving, but when I woke up and checked at 8am, it was already up! So I spent a good hour selecting my items. I felt so savvy ordering all I wanted the day before, online, with free shipping, and using a promo code for an extra 20% the already awesome prices. Pixie has so many gifts now that we're considering keeping some until her birthday. Which is fine, because we didn't really get her anything her first two years holidays.

Back to Thanksgiving. I then spent the rest of the morning humoring Pixie and baking. I made a stuffed seitan, roasted brussels sprouts, carrots, and parsnips; butternut squash risotto and a quinoa dish. I was very happy with how it all turned out. It was yummy. Pixie loved the quinoa.

I packed everything up and had a nice drive out there. Pixie was too excited to fall asleep and she didn't take a nap the entire day. We had a great meal, all of the men were very satisfied with our spread. We had lots of pies, cakes, cheesecakes, stuffings, seitan (gluten), mashed potatoes/gravy, sweet potatoes (mashed with butter. The only way I like it!), and cranberry relish.

The boys watched some football on tv, took a nap, then we played a Wii for a while. Scott had to be to work at 6pm and I forgot to take pictures while he was there. I still got some good ones.

I love having a toddler. She just ran around and I didn't have to worry about her!

Blue mouth from M&M's. I don't think she ever had the peanut ones before, if any, so she was an addict.

Some self portraits with my brother, Joseph, and me.

Rebecca's littlest one.

 Becca's oldest children playing Wii.

 Pictures of Mom and Joseph.

 My Mommy!

 Isn't this one gorgeous? Everyone had a good laugh at it. I have no face.

 It was starting to get late. Pixie was dazed.

 Dad even got to play bowling on the Wii.

This was adorable. Pixie was sitting with her cousin, stroking her hair.

Pixie and I didn't get home until after 10pm. She fell asleep in the car within minutes. 

The next day we didn't brave the early black friday crowd. We went to a couple of places later on when Scott got off work at 8am. We found everything we wanted (except a couple doorbusters) ditched in random aisles. We only had to wait 5 minutes to check out! It was great.