Christmas at Home

We spent the entire Christmas weekend in Gainesville this year. This was the first year we’ve done that and it was really nice. My parents came up Friday night and stayed through Monday. We filled the time with lots of food, shopping, napping, attending a live nativity, Christmas Eve service, church on Christmas day, and celebrating the birth of the Savior.

The kids were ready for presents at 7am. Again this year they didn’t deviate from their usual ‘get up time.’

Rosemary and Ben helped distribute the gifts.

This was Charlotte’s first Christmas!

Ben went for the biggest present first. He was excited about his  Mega Blok train set.

A little bath wrap for Rosemary.

Ben guessed this gift.

An overnight bag for Charlotte to coordinate with Rosemary' and Ben’s.

Excited about Strawberry Shortcake from Grandma and Grandpa

A new book

A little baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa

Ben’s hooded shark towel.

Ben specifically requested a “Mack” and my mom and dad got the last one at Toys R Us.

The new train set

After opening gifts, we all got ready and attended church. It was a great morning. When we got home, it was time to start getting the food in the oven. We had prepped just about everything the night before so it wasn’t too hard to get things ready.

Christmas dinner is ready!

My mom and dad got us a fire pit for Christmas so Jonathan and my dad set it up and we had a fire and s’mores Christmas night.

Obviously, it wasn’t too cold since Jonathan is wearing shorts!

In addition to s’mores, the kids had some veggies, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie for dinner. Such a weird meal!

Merry First Christmas, Charlotte!

The next morning, mom and I shopped a bit then met up with everyone for lunch at Five Guys. We had a wonderful Christmas weekend!

Christmas Season 2011

We have had a wonderful Christmas break. Here are some photos of the low key moments that have been so fun too.

We grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King the other night then ran some errands. By the time we got home Rosemary and Ben were asleep. Jonathan carried them both inside and they stayed asleep! That never happens. They were exhausted.

I think these Butterfinger Bites have become a new Christmas staple. I saw the recipe on Pinterest. They are so good. If you’re interested in making them, the recipe is available here. I would change a couple things though. I would use a larger pan so that the pieces are thinner and after they cooled I would melt and pour the chocolate over the entire batch before I cut them.

We get the ol’ push toy out for Charlotte. She has enjoyed it.

Playing a bit in the older kids’ room.

Drinking some hot chocolate with a straw, of course. It was almost 80 degrees outside though.

Climbing all over daddy!

Rosemary wanted me to braid her hair before bed one night and these are the results the next morning.

Curly hair!!!

Christmas Tree 2011

Amicalola Falls from Labor Day camping this year; Forks, Washington ornament from Jonathan’s trip to Seattle; Jacksonville Zoo ornament from our trip this summer; a White House ornament from my brother; and a candy cane bead ornament Rosemary made

Air dry clay ornaments that Rosemary and I made one day.

Glass ball ornaments. The top right is Ben’s hand as our snowman family, the bottom left is Rosemary’s.

New ornaments this year. Cars for Ben, an angel (from Rosemary) and the Family ornament for all of us, the little pink stocking for Charlotte’s first Christmas, the purple ballerina for Rosemary, and the photo of Charlotte.

Visit with the Pate’s

Rosemary and Ben spent a few nights with my parents last weekend. I drove down a day early to drop them off and to meet up with Becky and her kids. We’d tried to meet up a few weeks earlier in Gainesville and it ended up not working out. It was great to catch up!

Charlotte and Jacob hung out a bit on the floor.

And Rosemary and Abby enjoyed playing with the dollhouse.

Ben was around playing somewhere.

The Nutcracker

It was my turn in December to plan our co-op field trip so in keeping with the season, we planned to attend the school performance of The Nutcracker. Since it’s the school performance, it’s an abridged version of the ballet and only an hour long. There were about 25 of us from our co-op that attended. I’d love to go back and see the full ballet with Rosemary. I saw The Nutcracker for the first time when I was about Rosemary’s age with my Aunt Edith and remember it as a very special event.

Last week, Rosemary and I headed to the Phillip’s Center while Ben and Charlotte spent the morning with Emily.

We were there early so we snapped a few photos

Being silly waiting for the show to start.

But she did indulge me and smile sweetly for one.

We ended up pretty far back but could still see fairly well. They won’t seat your group until everyone is there but thankfully we were able to see.

We had a wonderful time and would love to go back next year.

The Buckeye

To me, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas unless there are Buckeyes. I think Ben agrees. I have fond memories of making these almost every year with my mom and my brother. The ones that I rolled were usually the biggest. This year Rosemary helped me make them for the first time. She was a great roller.

Buckeyes (this is a half-recipe but is always plenty for us with some to give away)

• 1/2 lb margarine
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 to 1 1/4 lbs confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 pkg chocolate candy coating

Using an electric mixer, combine margarine and peanut butter at a medium speed. Add vanilla. (I forgot the vanilla this year and you couldn’t even tell). Slowly add confectioners sugar until all is combined and a smooth dough forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough at least 1 hour.

Form dough into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls (mine are never this small though) and place on wax paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate peanut butter balls for at least 1 hour. This will make the next step so much easier!

Melt candy coating according to directions. Insert a toothpick into the top of one peanut butter ball and dip into melted coating, covering approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of the ball with chocolate. Place back on wax paper lined cookie sheet to harden. Repeat with all peanut butter balls.

I refrigerate our Buckeyes when they’re all done, but I know others who don’t. I like them cold and I feel like they last longer that way.

Charlotte at 11 Months

Sweet Charlotte continues to grow and charm us.

This month two more little teeth on the top arrived. She’s waving now. Charlotte continues to pull up and quickly crawl around the house. No where is safe from her and a favorite destination is Rosemary and Ben’s closet, where all of their toys are kept.

She’s a little Houdini and attempts to get out of any high chair straps, which is terrifying so Charlotte will be moving to the table a little bit sooner than her big brother and sister.

She continues to sleep and eat great. She’s still not on a lot of table foods, but we are introducing a few here and there. Charlotte’s a fan of anything that she can feed to herself. In fact, I’m pretty sure she tried to eat a live bug off the ground. So gross!! I got it away, but I’m not sure that I got it before she managed to swallow a leg.

Enrollment Management Holiday Party

Jonathan works in the Office of Enrollment Management, which is comprised of Admissions, Student Financial Affairs, and the University Registrar. On Wednesday we attended the Enrollment Management Holiday Party at the Harn Museum.

We got to see Christy and Toby at the party. I worked with Christy when I first started working in Assignments at Housing. She actually was one of the people who interviewed me. We shared an office for awhile and occasionally I would accidently slip and call her my roommate (which was ironic since Christy’s job was to work with roommate matching). Christy’s husband, Toby, works with Jonathan so it’s nice to have a friend at office events that we attend.

Lots of great food

A carving station

The kids did great. They had gone on a field trip to the Harn with Rosemary’s co-op so they enjoyed seeing some of the artwork again.

Ben REALLY liked this fruit punch…and the little coffee stirrer straw.

Charlotte, me, and Christy

I don’t know what Ben was eating, but he was very happy to be eating them!

Our family.