Leah's Favorite Things

Hi folks!
How was ya Christmas?
Mine was great…I cooked a TON and then got Christmas day off to enjoy my Momma’s cookin.
And my friends and family totally rocked my world with Christmas gifts this year.
Thanks guys!
Oh yeah…and I put my youngest of baby sisters in a headlock.
And then threatened my soon to be brother-in-law with a lighter.

Baking 7 batched of cookies can drive a woman mad

Despite my violent ways…fun was had by all.
At least that is what I tell myself

Tomorrow is New Years Eve…and we are gonna party it up people!
At least that’s what I’m tellin myself.
We’re having our first Christmas Eve party.
Pray I don’t burn the food and that friends have pity on us and show up.
But if they don’t…I shall sit on the couch, drown my sorrows in spicy pork and count down to the New Year with Andy, all the Housewives and Bravo.
Is it too late to cancel the party…cause that doesn’t sound too bad

Love ya! Have a safe and happy New Year and as Andy would say… “Mazal”!

I’m remembering what Christmas is all about and dreaming of a Smokey Mountain Christmas today!
Love you all!

I love Christmas…it is by far my favorite holiday.
And Christmas Eve is my favorite part.
I live for the anticipation of it all.
Today I make my first Christmas Eve lasagna dinner for my family.
If all goes well we might have to make it a tradition
Lasagna, the annual opening of one Christmas present, monkey bread and Smokey Mountain Christmas.
What’s not to love?

One of the newer Christmas traditions is cookie baking with Leah.

Do you notice anything different about Leah?
Maybe something different about her midsection?
My friend Leah…not me (lets get that straight).
Yeah she is growing a baby!
And the word on the street is that her baby girl could come ANY DAY!
How much would I love my 2010 Christmas tradition to be holding a sweet baby Hoover?
A lot, I would love it a lot!
Although, I’m not sure if Leah is up for that tradition EVERY year

Lots and lots of baking!
And some really fun Christmas present creations that I can’t blog about just yet…don’t want to ruin the surprise for the last few recipients
But I will share soon.
And here are the three recipes that have kept my oven and I real close over the last couple days.
Might be helpful for those looking to squeeze in some last minute Christmas baking.
As always, they are husband approved

Spicy Molasses cookies – tip: I don’t do shortening…I always use butter instead (I refuse to believe real butter is bad for you). However, butter causes the cookies to come out much more flat than shortening (bummer). So to help the cookies rise stick the dough in the fridge for about a half hour before baking. It has something to do with the rate at which butter melts. It works and even makes them easier to roll.

Snickerdoodles – my least favorite cookie…but everyone else loves them and Husb really liked this recipe. He said “they have just the right amount of snicker to doodle”…oh brother

Homemade marshmallows – were easy and turned out great! Idea courtesy Darby.

of this real housewife.
Last week I decided to document  my day in pictures to share on this here blog.
Hold on to your pants cause your about to be blown away!

8:30am – packed husb’s lunch

9am – bible study lesson

10am – started making and baking salt dough tree stands for homework club

12pm – checked email, Facebook, bank account, Google reader while salt dough baked

12:45 – assembled craft example

1pm – lunch (salami sandwich on delicious olive loaf, apple slices, Satsuma)

And that my friends is where it ends.
It ends because, for the next 6 hours all I did was bake salt dough.
So I guess this was a half day in the life of a real housewife
I told you to hold on didn’t I!

Now I’m craving salami!

I know I’ve been a bore around here lately.
This holiday season has had me pinned against a wall.
And thankfully God is giving me the patience to enjoy it.

Last night was our big CRM Christmas party.
We had over 150 kids…and then there were parents and babies and toddlers.
All of which I wanted to take home
Mexican moms have a special way of bundling up their babies with layers and layers of big blankets and hats and gloves that make their chubby cheeked babies even more irresistible.
They obviously don’t know what this does to me!
It was a great night.
Kids everywhere…and I do mean EVERYWHERE.
We didn’t even have room for them all…some had to eat dinner sitting on the hallway floor.
It was loud…trust me when I say it was LOUD.
It was somewhat chaotic…at least for us leaders.
But it was wonderful.
My favorite part of the night…Tyrone counting down for the present opening.
It’s tradition to count down to zero and then rip into the presents as fast and loud as ever.
Nothing but a sea of smiles and wrapping paper flying through the air!
A party that size takes planning and organizing and hot glue reinforcing of 150 wire snowflake ornaments (thanks for the extra hand Tash!)
But now it is over…and I have two weeks before I have to worry about kids crafts or dinner schedules (all which I love and am thankful for by the way).
Now I get to clean my house, get back to meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking dinner.
I think Husb is looking forward to this
And finally I get to finish my Christmas shopping  and continue my hunt for Martha Stewart baking twine (why is this sold out EVERYWHERE?)

I hope you guys are enjoying your December so far!
My plan is to become a regular around here once again…and husb gave me my third Christmas present the other day…I know…there is no hope for him
It was a new camera lens…which is awesome…but huge and paparazzi like and reminds me that I need to learn how to use my camera.
So hopefully there will be some new and improved pictures surfacing soon
And a quick shout out…If you are local and interested in family portraits for a decent price leave Tasha a comment on her blog.
She is a new up and coming photographer so I’d cash in on the good deals she if offering now before she gets all highfaluting  on us

My husb can’t keep a secret…so I received my Christmas presents on December 8th.
That man!
I love him to pieces…not only does he buy awesome gifts but he also gets really excited to give them to me.
I can’t complain.
It’s also a good reminder that December 25th isn’t about opening presents.
Ya know…since I won’t have any to open

I love my new pots tho!
That dutch oven cooks wonderfully and is super easy to clean!
So far…nothing sticks to it and it is dishwasher safe.
I love that about it.
So I suggest you continue trying to win one on PW’s website…there is now one less person entering the giveaway

Hi guys!
We’re back!
Actually we’ve been back for a week…but life has been non-stop since we got home.
This afternoon I finally got a chance to clean and start laundry and then there were the important things that had to get done tonight.
Recorded episodes of Real Housewives anyone?

And my goodness, I just checked the last blog post to see where I left off.
That last picture still takes my breath away…that was the interstate my friends!
CRAZY!
So where to start?
Well, after leaving the hotel and finding that the interstate was shut down, Husb proceeded to locate every possible route to get around the road closures.
Does anyone else’s Husband do this?
Sadly, for him the DOT was one step ahead of him and had planted DOT “agents” at each of the interstate entrances.
Defeated, we went back to town, ate at the Squeeze In for the second time and got pelted by snow.

However, we weren’t defeated for long!
Praise Jesus!
After 4 hours we were on the road headed straight for Tecate!
Well, after Natalie picked us up in San Diego…and after we got through the border….then we were on the road headed straight for Tecate!
There is always a hint of anxiety going over the border.
I mean, there are guys with big guns that don’t speak my language watching us.
But friends, let me tell you, it isn’t the boarder crossing that I should be worried about.
It’s the roads…they play tricks on my stomach.
All I have to say is Dramamine is my best friend, and Shea because he was my Dramamine supplier.

In spite of my wimpy stomach, we had so much fun.
Although this wasn’t our first trip to the studio, it was our first studio experience.
We were able to see first hand the work of God in a community that so badly needs healing.
Sounds of the electric guitar and drums, the faint fumes of spray paint, the Spanish language, laughing children and teenagers all colliding in a large concrete space dedicated to God.
As contradictory as this sounds…it is peaceful and comforting.
And as all the glory is rightly given to God…it is impossible to ignore his daughter Natalie.
You can only be encouraged toward the Lord as she exemplifies what it means to walk in obedience to the Lord.
We are so incredibly blessed to have a friend in her!
Okay, enough of the mushy stuff…lets get to some pictures

The first two days we hung out at the studio with Natalie, meeting many of her friends and students.
And yours truly started a project inspired by this painting.

It was very much a team effort and boy was I thankful the art teacher was in the house!
By the way, the guy below in the hoodie, that’s my Dramamine supplier!
He is also a missionary and goes into some scary dangerous parts of TJ handing out clothes, food and speaking the gospel to people that have endured more than most of us can even imagine.
Amazing.
 
And then there is Natalie’s other right hand man…Adrian.

He is the Maestro…teaching teenage boys how to play guitar and drums so they can one day lead worship.
Adrian is incredibly tenderhearted and is such a comfort to all our hearts that he has chosen to serve the Lord through the studio.

On the third day we got up bright and early to start cooking a Thanksgiving meal for all the families that come to the studio.
And Natalie doesn’t have an oven.
I know.
How do you cook a Thanksgiving meal in which 90% of  the dishes need to be baked?
The Lord’s provision…big time!
Two of the turkeys were dropped off with sweet friends and the rest was all prepared in the kitchen of another of Natalie’s friends.
And as crazy as all the prep work was…the night was incredible.
Families even suggested that Natalie open up an American restaurant in town…I think that’s a pretty good sign that she pulled it off

And this little guy…stole my heart.
He wanted nothing to do with me the first day I met him…he was much more interested in Husb.
But I didn’t give up!
By the end of the trip he would smile and wave and goof around a little with me.
Love him!

And he has such a talent for artwork!
I pray the Lord uses those talents to do great things one day!

I have a few more fun pictures of Mexico and Sequoia National Park to show you but I think I’ve hit my limit on this post.
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are having fun preparing for Christmas!
It will be here soon!