Christmas Sweets

 We had a fun Christmas season at our house this year, but apparently not a lot of photo documentation.

The boys had fun decorating gingerbread cookies. I think I got the idea to put the sprinkles in a muffin tin from a Cook's Illustrated magazine. It definitely made things (slightly) less messy!

Rhett picked the tulip cookie cutter as one of his shapes and called it a "Christmas flower."

Rhett helped me make some Christmas Jell-O. (He was a lot more happy about it than he looks here.)

On Christmas Eve we decorated our graham cracker houses. 

Later we took our neighbors gifts of homemade hot cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows, and had our traditional Christmas Eve Palestine dinner. I cooked salmon using this recipe, which was so tasty, if not very authentic for a Palestine dinner.


Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze
from Cook's Country
  
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 sprig rosemary (about 5-inches long) (I've since substituted dried rosemary)
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 4 skin-on salmon fillets, 6 ounces each, 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick
•   Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions

1. Whisk vinegar, juice, honey, and pepper flakes together in small bowl, then add rosemary. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Season salmon with salt and pepper and cook, skin side up, without moving, until well browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip fish skin side down and cook until all but very center of fish is opaque, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to platter and tent with foil.

2. Wipe out pan with paper towels and lower heat to medium. Carefully pour balsamic mixture into pan (it will splatter). Simmer until thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Remove rosemary sprig. Whisk in butter, season sauce with salt and pepper, and pour over salmon. Serve.

Thanksgiving

It snowed on our drive down to Richland this year.

Fun times were had, as always.

We are thankful!

Weekend Getaway

When Paul had a training for work down in Seattle, we all got to stay with him in the hotel one night. The kids loved the hotel and can't wait to do it again!

Halloween Costumes

 Thor: Cape made by Mama, Dollar Store breastplate, hammer made by Dada, shirt and pants from his drawer. Who needs a $20 Thor get-up from Target?

 Green Lantern: made by Mama out of t-shirts and glow-in-the-dark paint. Rhett doesn't know anything about Green Lantern (neither do we for that matter), but he got it in his head and insisted on this Halloween costume. (As of February 2013 he still wears it sometimes.)

Sweet Lucy. She didn't really get a costume. I did make her a yellow cape and mask to go along with our Super Hero theme, but she wouldn't tolerate the mask and we didn't ever get a picture of her on Halloween wearing this shirt, a white tutu skirt and her yellow cape. She sure loved trick-or-treating at the church, though!

Friends + Fish = Fun!

We wrapped up September with a fun visit from our friends the Dymocks. They were nice enough to drive up from Portland to hang out with us for the weekend.

We spend Saturday at the Vancouver Aquarium:

 

On our way home we stopped for a bit at the Vancouver Temple. It's fun to bring the kids here since they don't get to see the temple as often as we do.

 

(Little friends Samantha and Connor)

The Fair!

This year we were wise enough to get to the fair right when it opened, which made for happier kids and happier mom and dad as well.

We saw and did all the usual things. (If I wasn't posting this 5 months after the fact I might remember more interesting anecdotes about our day at the fair.)

 Newborn calves are always fun to see.

 

 As are cows who have been tp-ed.

 

 They had some cool birds of prey. 

Notice Benjamin's new "school haircut." We went to the JC Penney Salon where they were giving free back-to-school haircuts to kids K-6. The lady didn't do a very good job, but Benjamin was pretty excited about it nonetheless.

Baby animals are always a hit with our kids. We usually make a couple of rounds through the baby animal area before everyone is satisfied.

 Rhett struggled with the "don't touch the chicks" rule.

 We loved learning about this mama pig and her brand new piglets. Did you know that pigs are born potty-trained? That would be awesome.

 As always, we tried to find the horses with our kids' names. This year the only one we could find was Rhett. It seems this is a tradition that is way more fun for the parents than the kids. I'm not sure why we keep doing it, to be honest. Especially since the horses are all facing the wrong way for pictures.

We let each boy pick one ride to go on. Benjamin chose this obstacle-course type thing that he could run through and then slide down at the end.

 

 

Rhett had his eye on the Ferris Wheel, so I got to go too.

Fun times! Till next year...