New Year's Eve

 We were looking forward to spending New Year's Eve with friends, but we had to cancel thanks to this:

 

and this:

 and this:

 I took him into the doctor's office the next day (we always get sick on weekends and holidays), but there was no conclusive explanation. He's had a rash similar to this before (though not as bad), but a dose of Benedryl always cleared it up right away. This head-to-toe business lasted for about a week, coming and going between the prescribed doses of Zyrtec and Benedryl. The poor kid was uncomfortable. It faded out as I was getting ready to take him back to the doctor. I'm definitely glad he got better, but I still wish we knew why it happened!

To close out 2012, here's a picture of Lucy with her new (and improved by Mama with a new seat) doll stroller.

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!

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!

Mother's Day

 What Mother's Day wouldn't be happy when your present is decorated like this?

I love those kids.

Easter

 Saturday morning egg hunt...

Sunday morning Easter baskets...

Sock bunny

Also...

I pulled a 25-pound turkey out of the freezer to cook for our Easter dinner, and I am now completely sold on the practice of brining poultry. I've been brining our roasting chickens for a little while now, but it was just amazing with the turkey. Totally worth the trouble.

In a couple of pictures you can see some little crocheted chickens. They fit around plastic eggs and I bought them at a fundraiser for our local library (after the boys begged and begged) for what seemed at the time to be a good deal, but five crocheted chickens later I wonder if it was the smartest investment...

Fall has always been my favorite holiday, but Spring is starting to edge it out. I think after these past few years living in the pacific northwest I have come to look forward to spring more since it (hopefully) means an end to the rainy doldrums of winter around here. I have loved planting tulips and snapdragons, and watching our apple trees blossom, and have been generally in awe lately of the beautiful tokens of springtime all around me, symbols of what Easter is really all about.

Christmas morning snapshots

Let's wrap up Christmas posts, shall we?  (I'm so annoyed with myself for posting Christmas stuff in February--Where the heck did February come from anyway?)

Benjamin is wearing one of the beach robes I made for the boys and displaying his awesome new Cars 2 Legos.  (Rhett's robe is white with YELLOW trim.  I had to cut up one of our own towels to make his sleeves because I ran out of new towels.  Both hoods are lined with superhero/comic book type exclamations on flannel--Pow!  Wham!  You get the idea.)

 

Lucy may or may not have eaten the peel off of one or two of the oranges.

 

In case you didn't know, BYU apparel is always a hit with Paul.

 

 

 

 

Until next Christmas...

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

While the boys were in bed dreaming of sugarplums, Lucy was taking matters into her own hands (literally).  When I got to her she had an entire cordial cherry in her mouth and she did not appreciate the interruption.

 

But Santa didn't mind.

His letters to the kids were neatly tucked into their stockings.

And the jolly old elf left these little friends for us to enjoy.

We enjoyed a blessed, bountiful Christmas, full of joy and appreciation for what we have.

(Don't mind the lower portion of the tree, whose lights gave out days before Christmas; or the helter-skelter decorations, rearranged again, and again, and again by little hands; or the star leaning to one side; or the smudges on the mirror; or... I keep finding things to add.  Please just appreciate our imperfections.)