Merry Christmas

from Rob, Amy, Broderick, and Carys!

"But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good new of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Cookies in the making

Last Wednesday morning Broderick and I went to work. Hard work! We spent the entire morning making cookies. This is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas. Broderick was a great helper, too. Carys kind of just walked around and played. She did a great job of keeping herself entertained. Next year she will be able to help a little more.

We made these graham cracker things with chocolate, peanut butter and white chocolate. I can't find the name of them at the moment. They are one of my favorites this year. Super simple and tasty!

I let Broderick pick two kinds that he wanted to make. Jello Jigglers was one of them. They didn't turn out so well. If anyone has any pointers I would appreciate them. Thankfully he didn't care, he just wanted to eat them.
He also picked these shovels. When he showed me the picture I thought, "Oh, these are going to be fun. They actually weren't as hard as they might look. They don't taste great, but they look cute. Broderick helped put the cookies on the sticks and put the marshmallows in place. He did a great job.
My favorite are these Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls. They have become a tradition around here. Rob and I spent a whole Saturday making cookies when Broderick was just a newborn, so 4 years ago. We made these and have done so ever since.
We also made Reese Cup cookies. I don't really know what the "official" name for them is. We always made them growing up. They were made on Thursday though. I went to make them on Wednesday and didn't have baking soda. Of course none of my neighbors where home to help me so I just waited until the next day to finish them. They turned out okay.
Of course I can't just make the cookies have to eat about 10 a day. It is a good thing one of my friends and going to be teaching Zumba in January! If anyone would like the recipes I would be glad to share them.

A little Christmas fun!

Last night we took the kids to a rec center near our house that does a light display. In the middle they have a little log cabin with Santa in it. Broderick has never sat on Santa's lap in this kind of setting before. He comes to my dad's house on Christmas eve and Broderick sat on his lap then. But just yesterday at the mall he said he didn't want to. I asked how Santa would know what he wanted for Christmas then. He said he would just tell him when he comes in is room. (Santa leaves one gift in the kids room on Christmas Eve.) It was very cute! Carys on the other hand I knew would have issues with Santa. The picture below looks like we are tormenting her. I promise we really weren't! She was on his lap for literally 2 seconds. Our pastor showed some histerical pictures on Sunday of kids sitting on Santa's lap. If you were there, I think you would agree she could have been one of the pictures.

Broderick on the other hand had no problem with Santa. He decided to wait until Santa came into his room to tell him what he wanted may be a little to late. He told Santa he wanted RPM #64, a car from the movie, and a Geotrax with the snowplow. Thankfully Santa has already picked them up. (I know because he told me!)

Tomorrow we are spending all day making cookies. I am very excited! Look for those pictures in the next couple of days.

The first Snow

Broderick was so excited for the snow today he could hardly wait. Yesterday I was on the mad hunt for snow boots and a sled for the kids. So, naturally he knew the snow was coming. He woke up at 5am and said he was done sleeping, but of course I told him he needed to go back to sleep. At this point there was not a whole lot of snow on the ground, so I was really hoping that it was going to snow some more or I was going to have a very disappointed child. Then at 7 when he woke up for the day, he just kept asking me "Can we go outside?" 7 in the morning!!! I told him at 10am we would go. I still heard him ask that question about 10 more times. I finally told him after the 10th time and it only being 8am that if he asked again we were not going out. As you can tell by the pictures below we did make it out. After about 30 minutes of layering up and piecing some random things together for Carys to wear we made it outside. We stayed out for about an hour. We tried making a snow man, but the snow wasn't packing very well. I then started shoveling the driveway. After I got half of it done Broderick would push his sled then run and jump on it and go sliding down the driveway. Remember...this is the already shoveled part! What a boy, What a boy!!! Carys on the other hand would walk about 2 steps and then fall. She wasn't able to get herself back up, so she would sit there for a few minutes and then want someone to help her up. After she saw Broderick going down the sled she wanted to. She went down the driveway as well, then we came in for some hot Chocolate. (Warm chocolate really.) Broderick will be all ready to go back out after his nap I am sure. We will see.

Too Cute!

My sister-in-law, Lisa, sent this to us. The kids just crack up and think it is the funniest thing ever. Enjoy!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1141151090

Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

Today is Broderick's 4th birthday. It was a day packed full of fun. We had a little party for him this afternoon.(A shark party in case you couldn't tell by the picture.) He was so pumped for it all morning. Then after his nap all he wanted to do was play with his new toys. He received some great toys. He was so overwhelmed by all the new stuff, at times I don't think he knew what to do next.

It is hard to believe my little buddy is 4 yrs old. He is a little guy full of energy, enthusiasm and spunk! His heart is so big and kind it makes me laugh and cry at times. My prayer for him over the next year is that he continues to grow a desire to know more about Jesus and His love for us. Happy Birthday Bud!!!!