our very merry christmas

santa

ready to go see santa

neither one had any clue that scary ol' santa was behind them, but adalaide was terrified of the camera man who got in her personal space. there was no rallying her around, so it looks like we can add another crying santa picture to the mantel.

bliss

have you ever had a cranberry bliss bar from starbucks? they are, well...blissful.
a couple years ago my mom found the recipe and we've been enjoying these treats every holiday season.

recipe:

• 
  
  cake
  3/4 c. softened butter
  1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
  3 eggs
  2 Tbs minced candied or crystallized ginger
  1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  1/4 tsp salt
  1 1/2 c. flour
  1/2 tsp baking powder
  3/4-1 cup diced, dried cranberries {i get them from trader joes}
  4 oz white chocolate, chopped {good quality white choc. chips work fine too}
  bake in a jelly roll pan, lined with parchment paper
  at 350 for 14-17 minutes

frosting
8 oz cream cheese
6 tsp fresh orange juice + orange zest from whole orange
1 tsp vanilla
4 c. powdered sugar

sprinkle additional chopped cranberries on top of frosting.
this makes a ton of frosting, so feel free not to use all of it.

proud parents

this is a video of finley telling the christmas story. it's a little shaky at first, and i think adalaide is pooping in the background, but stick with it. she's the cutest!

if you're in google reader, you may have to come to my page for the video to work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlVuiW8f7hQ

finley recently started writing her name. i wish i could take credit for teaching her how to do it...she just busted it out all her own. yes it's backwards, but from what i remember from my teaching days, this is pretty normal for beginners.



also, i just have to share this story. i recently went to a new moms group at brian's family's church. i took finley down to the childcare and dropped her off with two adults she's never met. while i was signing her in, the man told me that the 2, 3, and 4 year olds would be going upstairs to perform in front of the women's christmas party. i immediately got anxious because i know how shy finley gets in front of strangers, let alone hundreds of people. she's never been on stage before or in any kind of performance, so i was sort of nervous how she was going to react. later on when the kids came on stage i made my way to the front. she looked nervous, but she gave me a big wave. she didn't know the first song, but they handed out bells for the 2nd song {she loves instruments} and this time she knew the words. Up on that huge stage, surrounded by little kids she's never met, she carefully rang her bell in sync with the instructor, and she BUSTED OUT THE WORDS TO JINLGE BELLS. i cried. i tried not to cry too hard, but i was so proud of her. and she was so proud of herself. on our drive home she had me call daddy, and both grandmas to tell them that she 'went on stage'.

another christmas miracle...

...getting the four of us to smile and look decent in the SAME picture.

oh, and it didn't help that we attempted to get a picture while we were all sick.

here are some outtakes from our christmas card photo shoot. silly me didn't bother 'reviewing' the pictures and my poor mom knows nothing about camera settings. so 95% of the pictures are out of focus and overexposed. oh well, we got something that worked in the end.

this makes me laugh. brian is done posing, and i'm saying 'come on, just a couple more'.

seriously?!

you guys.
my baby is 9 months old.
three-quarters of a year.
how is this possible?

she is on the go and into everything.

her favorite place to explore is the bathroom.
 she loves to crawl in there and stand up at the tub, reaching for the bath toys.
taking a bath is her favorite activity.
she squeals, and laughs, and splashes a ridiculous amount of water out of the tub.
but, i kinda don't care because it's so cute to watch.

she pulls herself up, and walks along furniture.

she is the best eater.
she loves sitting at the table eating finger foods {cheerios and tofu are her favorite}.

she has her four front teeth and a couple more on the way.
her hair is starting to curl a little, which is really exciting because i really
want one of our girls to get the adorable curls brian had when he was little.

she is very attached to her blankie.

brian likes to think that she's a 'daddy's girl'.

her whole face crinkles when she smiles.

i am slightly jealous of her eyelashes.
strangers comment on them a lot. they also call her boy a lot.

we love her so much and can't believe how fast 9 months has flown by!