Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, we sure did. On Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents house and celebrated with family and friends. Santa even stopped by to hand out some presents (Santa was played by my best friend's dad since Curtis figured out that my grandfather was Santa). Lauren was petrified of Santa and was screaming and shaking. :( I felt so bad for her. She is still telling me, "No more, Santa." On Christmas Day, my mom and stepdad came over with their gifts and we fixed a Christmas lunch consisting of ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas, carrots, and rolls. In the evening, my brother Luis and his fiancee Michelle came over and had dinner with us. The kids had so much fun, Curtis even asked Michelle to put him to bed! I'm now in the process of putting the apartment back to the way it was and sorting through things to see what we can get rid of and what we are keeping, so that we can get things packed. We have a train table that we need to get rid of, so if anyone wants it or knows someone who could use it, please let me know. I can't believe that this year is coming to an end, can you? We are looking forward to 2010 and moving back to Minnesota. I hope everyone has a safe and fun new year.

I love this picture.

Curtis with Santa.

Claire with Santa. (I don't have a picture of Lauren with Santa because she was kicking and screaming, and moving around too much. My friend got a picture, so when she emails it to me I will post it).

Lauren got into my red food coloring while I was making snickerdoodles. What a mess!!

Claire's two new teeth. When she smiles, it looks like she has fangs, and we can't help but laugh. We've been singing, All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, but it didn't happen. One of the front teeth is now starting to poke through.

It's Christmas Time!

Can you believe that Christmas is upon us? Boy it sure came up fast! I have been busy baking cookies and chasing after my children. Claire turned seven months on Monday and started crawling the same day. Now she is all over the place. She has also started saying ma ma. She is the only one to say "ma ma" first. The other two said "da da" first. She only says it when she's hungry. Curtis and Lauren decorated the tree this year, which they had a blast doing. They did a good job. We have also been teaching the kids about Christmas and what it's really about. Lauren doesn't understand, but Curtis gets it and has been asking lots of questions. I have to tell you this great story, yesterday, Lauren was holding her tummy and getting a little fussy, so Curtis was concerned that she might throw up. He came up to me and asked if we could pray over her, so that she could get better. That blew me away! He surprises me sometimes with his compassion. I am hoping to finish up my baking and wrapping today. Thankfully we don't have a lot of presents to wrap. The kids get three presents each since Jesus only got three presents from the Magi on His birth. On Christmas morning, before we open any presents, we will sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Every morning for the last week, I have been reading a little about Jesus' birth to the kids. We want to make sure that the kids know that Christmas is about Jesus and not Santa. This led to a great question from Curtis, which was," Mommy, if Christmas is Jesus' birthday, then why don't we celebrate Christmas for my birthday?" This then led to a bigger discussion about why Jesus was born and ultimately why he died. Well, I need to get back to baking, but I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

Cakes

To end the week, I'm showcasing the most delicious of my hobbies, cakes. I learned how to bake and decorate cakes from my grandmother, who bakes and decorates amazing cakes. One day I hope I can be just as good as she is.

I made this cake for Kevin's 40th birthday.

This was Curtis' Buzz Lightyear cake from last year.

Lauren's first birthday cake.

Curtis' cake from this year. Not my best cake since Curtis wanted an apple cake and I had never made one before. It was more like an apple crisp, and hard to decorate. It was a definite learning experience.

Card Making

Today's showcase is on card making. This is another hobby that I have started recently. Like scrapbooking, my skills are pretty basic. Sometimes simple is better, at least until I can figure out how to make fancy cards! :)

This is Curtis' birthday invitation from this year.

This is a birthday card. You can't really see it, but I stamped Happy Birthday on the pink part of the card.

This is a birthday card that I made for my 2 year old niece with the cricut machine. One of the best inventions ever!

This is an anniversary card that I made using the circut machine and embossing.

Tomorrow, I will be wrapping up the week with a showcase on cakes!

Scrapbooking

Today's showcase is on scrapbooking. I didn't get started with scrapbooks until we moved to Minnesota where it's very popular. I'm still learning, so my pages are pretty basic, but I know the kids like looking at them. If you have any suggestions on what I could do better with my pages, please let me know.

This page is about Curtis' first trip to Disneyland and his first ride on Winnie The Pooh.

This page is about Curtis' first Angels game.

I think this page speaks for itself. :)

This page is Lauren's birth. I only have three pages of Lauren's scrapbook finished.

This is Claire's birth page and the only page I have finished in her scrapbook. I am so far behind.




Tomorrow's showcase will be on card making.

Cross Stitch

Today's focus is on cross stitch. Like sewing, I got into cross stitch when I was in jr. high. It's very relaxing, but quite time consuming. Some kits are pretty easy to do and some are very intricate, which takes more time and concentration to do. Here are some of the projects that I have done.

I made this one when I was pregnant with Curtis and it's in the kid's room.

This is Curtis' birth announcement.

Lauren's birth announcement. I haven't even started Claire's yet, I don't have any time right now.

This is Lauren's Christmas stocking that I started last summer. As you can see it's not finished yet. Maybe next year, I will have more time to finish it.

Tomorrow's showcase will be on scrapbooking.

Sewing

Yes, it is time to kick off my week long celebration of my hobbies and crafts! I am so excited to be sharing with you. I decided to start out the week by showcasing clothing that I have sewn over the years. I learned how to sew when I was in jr. high and it has been something that I have enjoyed ever since. I just wish I had more time to make all of the things that I want to make. Oh well, one day maybe, when the kids are all in school. :)

These were some of the first kid pajamas that I had ever made and they are now my favorite pj to sew.

This was the first dress that I ever made. The black mesh was a pain to sew, but the dress came out beautifully. Sadly, I will never be able to wear that dress again.

This is a maternity top that I made when I was pregnant with Curtis. I kinda guessed on what size to make because I had no idea how big my belly would get.

I made both the shirt and the shorts for Curtis last year. It was a fun project to do and he looked so cute in it.

Tomorrow I will be focusing on cross stitch.