Turned Creative

My Aunt Barb (and Uncle Franc) are in town for the week and the girls and I headed over to my Mom’s for a visit on Sunday. Austin calls her Greatest Aunt Barb and I think it’s adorable. She brought her pup over for a visit. There’s something human about this dog – he looks so wise. I couldn’t stop looking at him. He  has a bunch of personality. ;)  Barb was working on a project for her newest great-grandson. She wasn’t happy with the hat she made so she whipped up a new one in no time. Her mad-skills are unbelievable. We played Apples to Apples and Barb won (oldest and wisest – of course she won). Hopefully she’ll be around a bit more and I can head over there again – I don’t get to see her enough. Cady likes her so much she cried when we had to leave. :(  I'm pretty sure when I was little I cried when she had to leave too.

We started the morning at home with a quick breakfast and presents. The girls waited patiently while opening presents and seemed pretty grateful for each of their presents…I’m hoping this lasts. Cadence wanted to call Santa and thank him for the gifts ;) After all the presents were opened and all of the toys were taken out of their boxes and assembled, we managed to get the girls dressed and over to Grandma A’s in time for a late breakfast (which worked out well since the girls didn’t eat much of breakfast #1).  More terrific gifts and quality time with the folks followed. We headed back home and made a quadrillion deviled eggs for Aunt Kathy’s Christmas party/Kevin’s birthday party at Jenny’s house. The party was great - I haven’t laughed as hard or had as much fun in a long time. Cadence put on her Christmas dress and thought it appropriate to wear a tiara too. Snow More snow And more snow  

The mashed potatoes were just part of the spread at Monica’s Christmas Eve party. There was turkey, gravy, corn, stuffing, rolls, and lots of desserts. It snowed most of the day Friday. JP found her shovel and cleared her driveway (shot through a window – no way was I heading back out in that) M has the cutest Holiday things Advent calendar Snowmen candles   Colorful Christmas lights Santa mugs Super-cute bowl White chocolate covered pretzels       I put the camera away because I kept getting weird looks :) Had a great time – thanks again Monica for putting it all together.

When Monica asked if I’d bring mashed potatoes to the Christmas Eve party, she probably assumed I’d make them out of a box (not unlike I normally do). Little did she know I was going to give real cooking a chance… Thanks to PW’s Delicious, Creamy Mashed Potatoes recipe, I think they were a success. I started with a ton of russet potatoes. I peeled them (myself, thank you very much). And cut them (myself) I mashed them in the pan (per PW, then deviated and transferred them to the mixer). No lumps! mmmmmmm   I threw in the butter Then cream cheese (never question PW) Then cream, garlic, and some other super secret spices. Viola’       I could live off of mashed potatoes

I’ve seen some pretty great macro shots lately on FB and over at Two Peas. We haven’t had enough snow for me to give a note- worthy effort at one myself. There were a few flurries Sunday morning and I got excited to give it a shot. I put a plastic plate outside to cool it down, then set it out to catch a flake or two. JP thought he had left the plate out there and brought it back inside :(  (I had to laugh) Instead of giving up, I grabbed the camera and snapped two quick shots of the edge of the porch. Needless to say I need some work ;) I had a touch time focusing on the flake I wanted to focus on – and I couldn’t get in close enough for this one. I’m looking at the flake in the upper right. Might have been a pretty okay shot from another angle

Ever notice how awesome Bella’s mittens are in Twilight? I’ve never been a fan of chunky mittens until recently (maybe it has something to do with the cruelly cool temps we’ve had here lately. Unknowingly, my Mom talked me into trying to knit some mittens. I only had enough yarn to knit one :) so I stopped by the yarn shop on Saturday to pick up another ball. They were out. So…I have one finished mitten and one waiting to be knit (knitted?). It’s a lot longer that it looks in these shots. It stops near my elbows    

I’ve tried baking a lot of things lately and have failed miserably. I’ve tried to make cookie dough truffles twice in the past. The first time they turned out great. The second, not so great. Saturday night Paige got sick and went to bed early, so Cady stayed up late and helped me bake. We started with cookie dough truffles. Mmmmmm I got to use my new cookies scoop so my hands wouldn’t get sticky. They flattened out pretty quickly, which is fine because I planned on reshaping them after they chilled for two hours. After chilling, I rolled them into perfectly shaped balls and dipped them into the melted chocolate. They weren’t cold enough and jacked-up the chocolate. I put the dough and chocolate into the fridge and vowed to try again later (in a day or two). We moved on to the cranberry coin cookies. I deviated from the recipe, and I think they turned out pretty good. Yummy dough   Scoops Cady sprinkled sugar on top :)  I left them in the over about a mi...

Following EWB’s lead, I made a quick and simple Advent wreath for the girls this year. This year I snipped extra pieces of the Christmas tree and used them on a glass plate to make a mock-wreath. It’s nowhere near as cool as Emily’s, and next year I plan on using a wooden container and nicer candles. But for this year it was good enough to get the point across to the girls. We lit the last weekly candle tonight, and the girls are looking forward to lighting the main candle this Friday night after we have Christmas dinner at Monica’s.