Cleaning the closets...

It'll be hard for me to part with some of these... LOL, it means that I don't have "little ones" anymore! I haven't told the kids yet, I'll have to break it to them gently (even though they haven't played with most of these things for ages!!)

Oh, well, onto to new stuff (they got alot of nice things for Christmas to keep them occupied)

It's a good feeling to give these away and bless others with them!!

Freezer Stash!!

Cookie Swap Cookies... YUM!

Cinnamon Rolls and Christmas Bread... YUM again!

I left out some treats for us to enjoy now, and wrapped these plus five dozen eggnogg cookies to put in the frezer till next week, when we give out plates for gifts to neighbors, and also have our family Christmas party.

Snowy Day at Home...

We spent most of the day at home baking, with the exception of sliding on the back hill, plus snow removal. We made Christmas bread, cinnamon rolls, and eggnog cookies, some of our favorite traditional Christmas foods. The kids have such a blast painting the cookies with the bright egg yolk paint!

Christmas Fun with Friends!

Kids, babies and bunnies...what could be better?!! (And, so nice to see my Haley smiling again...)

One of our friends' daughters, Leah, with the remote control car :o)

Well, it's been a very busy, very fun past few days! After having a sad beginning to our week (Haley lost her beloved pet bunny Rosie), we were blessed with some very happy events to offset our grief.

On Friday, we hosted a cookie swap/Christmas party for the homeschoolers group. We did grab bags and a craft, and the kids had fun sliding on the back hill. The moms had a nice visit, and it was overall just a great day. (I wish I had more pics to post, but I managed to snap only a few...)

Saturday night we went to some friends' house for a caroling party. It was another great time of food, fun and friends. I think we sang just about every Christmas song ever written- it was a blast!

My Bass is Here!

My acoustic bass guitar came on Friday- Dunc and I were so excited!

He has been playing guitar for about seven months, practicing intensely, and he likes to have me play basslines for him. My new bass has a nice deep sound that is way better than the guitar I've been using.

Dunc and I had some coaching yesterday from the music director at church, and to our surprise he's asked us to play at church a couple of times this month. We will accompany the youth choir, which Haley, Austin and Carter are a part of. It's so much fun practicing all together as a family!

Cooking Class

Today we had a cooking class here with some homeschoolers (five kids, ages 8 and up). The menu was:

...

Eggrolls (compliments of Christina and her mom- thank you- they were SO yummy!!)

Sweet and sour chicken

Sesame noodles

Stirfry veggies

Chocolate-filled fried wontons with berries and whipped cream (This went over big, LOL!!)

...

The girls were fighting with Noah over the remainder of the chocolate ganache!

Taejan... the cutie in my cupboard!!!

The kids also set a really nice table...

Well, that was fun... I'm a little tired (LOL) but Haley and I can't wait to do it again this winter!!

More Progress...

The sheetrock, mudding and sanding is all done...

Next comes the tub kit- that was Dunc's major project today...

The 2x4 in. braces will stay there til tomorrow, then he can remove them. (They are pushing in the tub-surround so the adhesive will bond with the sheetrock firmly.)

Dunc put in this nice decorative post, to match the ones on the ledge near our bed. He snatched them from the trash years ago, and they've been sitting in the shed- it's cool we can use them now. He's calling the over-all look of our room "eclectic-funk" because we are piecing it together with 'whatever', LOL. I think it's coming together nicely, though.

I had to take a close-up of the beautiful cherry wainscoating around the tub- it was also rescued from the dumpster! It cleaned up so nicely.

We have been waiting quite awhile to save enough to buy a tub- we wanted a six footer. Then Dunc found this tub on clearance at Greenburg's for a steal. It's just the right length and very deep. I can't wait to take a bath in it!