Pizza Making 101

For a while now I've wanted to make homemade pizzas with the kids. It's something that is done strictly for the experience....considering Totinos pizzas are .99 and they love them. So during our Christmas break we decided to give it a try.

The kids had a great time working together to get their creations done. The girls even wore their new aprons Aunt Darla made them for Christmas. I'm a little jealous. Mine isn't nearly as pretty as theirs.

During the process David and I had a lot of fun reminiscing about our pizza making past. We both worked at the same pizza place while we were teenagers. (But not at the same time)

At guess what? they turned out pretty good. Nana would have loved it... the crust was so crispy.

Christmas

Ho! Ho! HO!

Every year we go to the McFatter family Christmas in DeQuincy. And every year Santa Claus makes an appearance. When I was little, the event was held on Christmas Eve and so it wasn't strange that Santa came by the Ranch to give out a few presents to all the kids. Now, we get together on the Saturday before Christmas, so mom and dad had to do a little fast talking to explain why Santa was already "out and about"

I was really concerned how Ty was going to do with seeing Santa. But as soon as Santa called his name to get his present he was off my lap in record speed. And when I suggested a picture later,he was all smiles and ready to pose. I think he "gets" that Santa is the one bringing the presents.

Everyone else was eager to take their turn on Santa's lap as well. Well almost everyone, Zane's too big and Mia is too scared. We've yet to get one picture of her with Santa. There's always next year

Christmas preparations

We've actually been done for quite a while now with all the decorations. We held our Life Group Christmas party at our house this year. It was the first Friday of December so that made us kick it in to high gear early. Although we really enjoy having all the decorations up it adds a lot of days to the "waiting" the kids have to do.

Kaylee was quick to teach Ty about the Mistletoe tradition. And he was quick to learn.

Every year since Zane has been born David has held the person up so they could place the star on the tree. And then as we have added children he has held everyone at the same time to get the star on. Well this year may be the last of that tradition.

He got them all up there but it was quite a challenge. Zane may have to be on a ladder next year.

Poor Mia, she just couldn't trust Kaylee and Trent to keep her up there.

No Surgery Tomorrow

Ty was scheduled to go in for two additional surgeries tomorrow. He was having a thumb reconstruction and circumcision. But on Friday morning he began running a low grade fever and having cold like symptoms. We waited until today to see what would happen. And although he is feeling better he still sounds a little wheezy in his chest. Since both surgeries are non-emergent then we can wait. Plus this will give us an opportunity to see if the dentist can coordinate schedules and maybe next time we can get 3 things taken care of at once.

Elfin' Fun

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Dashing through the Snow

Look! Snow real live snow! Here in Houston. There are still Christmas miracles.

The kids went to Awana tonight and on the way there we were all oohing and ahhing over the snow and Kaylee said "this is the best day of my life"

Our little guy

Ty's personality is really shining full force now. He's such a funny little guy. We are AMAZED at how much he understands. Even with his speech problems he usually can get his point across. He's learned to say "Why?" and "Why Mommy?"

Ty and Mia were playing with a Christmas advent calendar that makes a manger scene once it's all put together. I told them they could get the first two ornaments out and hang them up. So they pulled out Mary and a sheep. We've been trying to explain everything about Christmas to him in basic terms. I told him this lady's name is Mary and she was Jesus's mother.

A little later everyone was doing something else but Ty was still playing with the calendar. And I heard him saying something over and over. I went to see what it was and he had hung the sheep next Mary and he was saying "Mary had a little lamb, Mary had a little lamb"

It was so sweet and I was so proud he had put that together. He knows the song because it's the first song Zane learned on his trombone this year. We sing it often around here.

When Mia came in Ty told her too, "Mary had a little lamb" She was so upset and said, "NO Mommy No" I said yes Mia look he hung the sheep by Mary get it? She said "No Mommy, Mary didn't have a little lamb, she had a little Jesus"