HAYDEN!!!

Happy Birthday Little Miss. We love you!
Hayden is turning 3 years old today!

Sorry for the pause...

Hi everyone. Sorry for the major delay in my blogging. Christmas has pretty much begun for us. Sunday evening was the Childrens Christmas program and Brielle was in it (sorta) this year. They had the 3-4 year olds go up and recite their memory verse and say Merry Christmas Jesus Christ is born. B and Hayden were very cute. Brielle sat at the front and pouted (not something we're ok with, but hey...she's 3). She was pouting because there wasn't really any order to it and she didn't get to talk into the microphone for more than 3 seconds. You couldn't really understand what they were all saying half of the time because they were all saying it at their own speeds...quite funny. So, Brielle was a little disappointed. Miss Hayden just stood at the front and waved at everyone, like a little Miss America. We all thought she was the shy one...quess we were wrong! Asides from that I've been helping everyone finish up their Christmas shopping. On Tuesday evening I went into Calgary with Kelly. She wanted to go to MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) and wasn't sure how to get there, so I took her. Then yesterday I went shopping with Jon's Dad to help him pick out some gifts for Jon's Mom. It was fun. I don't think I've ever done anything with just Jon's Dad before. Also yesterday, we had supper at Jon's parents house, then after supper we got the kids bundled up (kinda over-kill since it was maybe -1) and we loaded up our travel mugs with hot chocolate (homemade) and walked around looking at all the Christmas lights. It was a GREAT evening. Today/tonight is another packed day. It's my niece Hayden's 3rd birthday today, so we're heading down to the bowling alley at 4pm for a birthday party. Then we're heading straight out to Highriver for Christmas with Leanne (Jon's cousin). Phew. It even makes me tired just writing it all out. I love Christmas time. You're constantly on the move but it's so much fun. Spending time with family and friends....what could be better? Well I'll try to find some time in the next few days to post some pictures. I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Christmas.

Mmm..I have to share this one.

Here's a recipe that I happened upon. It's great for breakfast/brunch. I ate it toasted with honey on it...yum,yum.

Swiss Apple Breakfast Loaf
Ingredients:
3 tbsp Butter
2 c Peeled and diced apples
1 tsp Cinnamon (I probably came close to doubling this)
1 1/2 c All-purpose flour
1 1/2 c Whole wheat flour
3/4 c Rolled oats
1/3 c Wheat bran
1 tbsp Baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
2 c Diced Swiss cheese (I find Swiss over-powering so I used Havarti)
1/2 c Butter
1/2 c Brown sugar
3 Eggs
2 c Milk
1 tsp Vanilla

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter a loaf pan, then flour or line with parchment paper.
2. In a frying pan over medium heat, melt 3 tbsp butter and cook apples until soft. Sprinkle with cinnamon and let cool.
3. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients with cheese. Make a well in center.
4. In a separate bowl, cream 1/2 c butter with brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually add milk, vanilla and apple mixture.
5. Pour liquid ingredients into well of dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Avoid over-mixing. Spread batter in prepared loaf pan.
6. Bake in center of oven for 1 hour. Loaf is ready when a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm with fresh fruit.
Freezes very well.

Variations: For a change of taste, use Gouda, Havarti, Oka or Cheddar.

12 days to Christmas.

Well, I am happy to report that Micah is fully better. He actually didn't get nearly as sick as Jon. He was feeling much better by Saturday afternoon. So it only lasted a few hours for him.
Anyways, I can't believe how fast December is going by. There is less than 2 weeks until Christmas Day. Crazy! I'm pretty much completely ready for Christmas though. I only have a bit of baking left to do, but other than that...it could be tomorrow, I'm set.
I absolutely love driving around and looking at all the Christmas lights. They are SO beautiful, to me they are a reminder that we are to be the lights in this world. Shining for Jesus. People should be able to look at us and see Jesus shining through us. I love how you can be blocks away and see someones lights shining. That's how I want my life to be. I don't want people to have to be really close to me to know that I'm a faithful servant of Christ. I want them to be able to see from miles away. :)
I love celebrating Jesus' birth. Thanking him for coming to earth and being the ultimate sacrifice for MY sake. What a truly amazing God I serve.

Aw Man...

Well, we weren't so lucky with this virus. Not only did it NOT bypass our house. It's attacking Micah. Not cool. He's the only one that can't run to the bathroom when he feels the need to explode from one end or the other. Sick, is all I have to say about this virus.

The Joys of Motherhood...

My little Micah has been waking up 3-4 times a night for the past, oh it's probably been 3 months already. I was absolutely at my wits end, so Jon and I moved a mattress into the living room and we moved Brie into our room (so she could sleep while he screams), and we let him scream all night until he finally got the hint, 4 or 5 nights later, that no one was going to come and get him out of his bed. Last night was the first night that we moved Brie back into her own bed in Micah's room and we slept in our room. Micah woke up around 11pm but only cried for a max. of a minute. I would have had my first FULL nights sleep in 3 months if it wasn't for Brielle. She decided that since Micah wasn't going to wake me up...she was. For one stupid reason or another she came into our room 4-5 times last night and woke me up. One of the times that she came venturing into our room was because she wanted some chap stick for her lips...at 2 o'clock in the morning! I wanted to roll over and die. When I try to fall asleep it usually takes me a good hour before I'm out. This is no exaggeration. So waking up so many times, meant trying to fall back asleep as well. I have had NO energy for the past little while because I'm so terribly sleep deprived. Things around me are whipping past while I can only seem to move at a turtles pace. No one is aloud to come to my house because of the total and utter chaos they would see. I want to be wealthy so I can hire a house cleaner, and maybe a night time nanny as well.
Sorry for my pity party. I do feel better now that I've ranted a bit though. :)

Only the cutest kids EVER...

Update...

I've been meaning to download the pictures off my camera and post some of them for awhile now. I guess it's better late than never! Here are a few pictures from the past month.

Here's a some pictures of my adorable niece climbing for the first time. For those of you that don't know her she's not quite 3. She'll be 3 in a few weeks. She did awesome. She has a little of her mommy's fear of heights though.






Here's a few pictures of our Christmas decorations. We have a real tree again this year, however, I really wanted a "pretty" tree (I don't know if you all remember my story of our tree last year...let's just say I deserve a pretty tree). Anyways, I was scared to go out and cut our own for fear of another experience like last years so I convinced Jon to buy me a tree. I had no idea how expensive it is to buy a pre-cut real tree. Whatever, I'm happy...I have a pretty tree that doesn't take up my entire living room. :)




Other news...
All of Okotoks is getting sick with some horrible stomach bug. I've been told that it's NOT the flu by my sister. Apparently it's some highly contaigeous air borne virus. My brother-in-law was the first to get it of people I know. Then followed my niece and my sister. I just heard this morning that my mom left work sick last night and late this afternoon I recieved a phone call from Jon...he was on his way home puking his guts out. Not cool. I was hoping that our house hold would be bypassed by this miserable virus, but no. Please pray that my children don't catch it. I don't really want to be cleaning up puke and diarrhea for days. Jon can at least make it to the bathroom...my kids, although I love them...I don't trust them with this detail.