Merry Christmas

Christmas was wonderful this year. As my friend Jennifer said, it was so fun to watch our girls believe in magic and experience the joy of giving. Afton's whole-hearted belief in Santa Claus made me feel like a child again. She was just as enamored with the Baby Jesus and really seemed to understand the excitement of His birth.

My mom and step-dad stayed with us all week. My sisters came in town too. Together we made Christmas cookies, fudge and wrapped presents. Afton could hardly wait until Christmas Eve.

The snow on the 24th made for the perfect White Christmas. Our families joined us for church services at Whites Chapel. Then we all gathered at our house for Christmas Eve dinner. Jeff made fajitas, enchiladas and I baked sopapilla cheesecake. The blizzard sent Jeff's parents home a bit early, it took them 3 hours to get to Aledo. But on the whole, the snow was fun!  Santa even dropped by for an early visit and brought Afton a shiny sliver bell for her bike.

On Christmas morning, Jeff and I actually had to wake Afton up at 7am. She was so tired from the night before, it took a few minutes of coaxing to get her out of bed. Then when she realized it was Christmas morning, she ran down the stairs. Santa brought her a doll house and pink camera. She loved all of her gifts. The camera is my favorite, it's been funny to see the things she takes photos of. I will have to post some later this week.

I got some great gifts too. New dishes, work out clothes, gift cards to Macy's and Nordstroms, new nutcrackers for my collection, Smashbox eye shadow, and an Edward doll!

We ended the day with a trip out to Frisco to celebrate with Jeff's family. There were 3 babies celebrating their first Christmas, which was adorable. And Jeff's grandparents were here to celebrate too. They have been married forever and are a wonderful example of love and respect.

It was a Christmas full of so many blessings.

Cake Balls!

So you know I don't cook. But I do love to bake! I made red velvet cake balls for my neighbors/friends this year. I found the recipe on  Bakerella's blog and have been wanting to make them for some time. Warning- they are amazingly delicious. I actually ate 3 of them for lunch today. Somehow chocolate seemed like an appropriate lunch for a nursing mom :)

(All photos from Bakerella's blog- her photography is just as good as her baking!)

I would recommend microwaving the chocolate, the double-boiler just didn't get it as smooth. If you nuke the chocolate for too long, a tablespoon of crisco smooths is right out without affecting the flavor. Other things I learned, use a fork with a spoon to dip the balls and remove any excess chocolate. Oh and if you make a mistake and the chocolate doesn't smoothly cover the balls, just let them dry and re-dip. It makes the hard chocolate outside even thicker, which is of course, better. Finally, I think chocolate tastes best cold, so I keep mine in the fridge.

After the chocolate coating dried, I drizzled white chocolate over them. Made them look prettier, afterall you do eat with your eyes first!

I have also made her oreo truffles for Valentine's gifts. I made all of mine into the little heart shapes, dipped them in dark chocolate and then drizzled pink icing over the tops. They are right up there with the cake balls!

Anyone else obsessed with these this year?

Counting Down

Now that the presents are under the tree, it is painfully hard to wait for Afton to wait for Christmas. We have an advent calendar that uses candy canes to help with the count down. Although, I am not sure Afton quite grasps the concept. She told me "We have to hurry up and eat those candy canes before Santa gets here, otherwise, he'll eat all of them." Ha!

Luckily we have lots of things to keep us busy while we wait.

Wednesday was Parent Day at gymnastics. They set up chairs inside the gym so that we could take photos and see class up-close. (Usually we watch the class through an observation room.) Afton was quite distracted by my presence. She kept turning around and smiling for the camera, shouting to me across the gym, and showing-off a bit. It was pretty funny.

Over the weekend, we took the girls to the White's Chapel Christmas Festival. Afton loved the live nativity. She was so excited to see the 'real baby Jesus'. She loves baby Jesus so much this year. We have been playing this at home too- Afton is Mary, I am Joseph, and Maisy is baby Jesus! When we got home, Afton put her on her Christmas pjs and reindeer hat (again) and wanted to hold her baby.

Take another look at this hat, I love it!

Finally our dear friend Vivi turned 3 years old! She celebrated by taking her friends to see "Princess and the Frog". The girls dressed up to see the movie, so adorable. Then we went back to Vivi's house for pizza and yummy castle cake. ( Oh and the movie was so good, especially because it took place  in New Orleans.)

So, 10 more days and counting... Maisy is getting excited too!

2 Months Old

Sweet Maisy is already two months old.  We love her more and more each day. She is now smiling! Her little face lights up with a big toothless grin.  Maisy is also able to 'coo' and carrying on little back-and-forth conversations. Maisy also likes to play in her gym now. At the top of it is a little light-up star, she smiles at him and talks to him. Afton and I have decided that the star is Maisy's first little friend.

We took Maisy to the doctor and she weighs 9 lbs. and measures 21 inches long. That puts her in 13th percentile for weight and the 23rd for height. She is a petite little girl.

Here is her monthly picture in the rocking chair. She is wearing jeans that Mimi got her- pretty cute huh?

Over the weekend we have been getting ready for Christmas. Afton was brave enough to sit on Santa's lap without any tears. She told him that she wants a pink camera and a doll house. Then we took the opportunity to get our first family picture of the four of us.  Finally we went shopping for "Toys for Tots". Afton loved picking out gifts for other kiddos, of course she managed to point out a few items that she wanted as well.

She also got to choose a present for baby Jesus. At her school on Thursday, the children will dress up like shepherds and bring a gift to lay before Jesus. The gifts will be donated to a real child, but the idea is that the preschoolers experience the idea of giving for Christmas. The gift is to be chosen by the child, so Afton picked out a stuffed Panda for baby Jesus. Afton said, "I think that would make Jesus smile!" Me too :)

Thanksgiving

November has flown by, I can't believe Thanksgiving is already over. Our Thanksgiving week was so busy and fun. My mom and sisters came home and we got to spend a lot of time talking and laughing. And Jeff's sister, Jenn, had her little baby girl, Analeigh, on Monday night.

On Thursday, we went over to Debbie's to celebrate. Everyone was together, about 30 people in all. Afton went non-stop all day-fishing, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the playground and roasting marshmellows. Jeff got to fry his turkeys and hang out on the driveway. And Miss Maisy and I spent most of the day inside talking!

Over the weekend, we got the Christmas tree up and decorated the house. We made it through an entire TCU football game with both girls on Saturday. And on Sunday we went out to Frisco to visit Jenn & Jade.

I am so thankful for my friends and family. So many blessings!