Kenzie's first cooking class!

Kenzie loves to be in the kitchen. She loves to watch cooking shows, try new recipes, and gets really excited the more she gets to do. It's so much fun to watch her get more confident and be proud of her creations! This past Friday she had her first cooking class with our friend Kelly Dyches. She chose to make chicken empanadas and made the dough from scratch! She had a blast. And they were so good! She researched more recipes and next time we're going to try chicken picata! Yum!

learning the secret to the perfect pie dough (shhh!)

rolling and cutting her first empanadas!

wish this was smell-o-vision!

Perfect!

Family fun

This past weekend was a long one so the kids and I had a family fun day! We stayed in our jammies all day, played games and watched movies. I'm not sure how often I could handle watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua again, but the rest of it I would do over and over and never get tired of it!

ready for a game of Yahtzee!

Not sure we followed the rules but at least it was fun!

Everybody say Chihuahua!

I promised Daddy we could do it again, complete with same movie, when he comes home!

2 weeks and counting!

Family

Pictures of the kids on Christmas morning is fun, but the best part of going back to North Carolina by far was the family. Here are some special pictures from our visit:

Charlotte & Pompa

My brother Chad & his son Ryan

my sister Emily's son Masen got an Iron Man rocket for Christmas. Look at all the kids faces watching the rocket as it takes off, priceless!

My brother Ben and his wife Jen

Gabi with her cousin Mady

That's my girl! (with Nana)

This is Andrew and Ryan (Chad & Danielle's sons) when Andrew opened his birthday presents. I love Ryan's face here

From left to right: Charlotte, Molly (Chad & Danielle's) and Amelia (Emily & Damion's)

Charlotte says"We miss you guys already and can't wait to see you all again!"

Christmas in North Carolina

Ok, so I'm a wimp. The thought of spending Christmas without Chuck was making me whinier by the minute so I talked to the family back in North Carolina, braved several plane rides across the country with all 5 kids by myself and viola! Back in the Christmas spirit! It was so nice to be around Nana & Pompa, Chad & Danielle and the kids, Emily & Damion and kids, and Ben & Jen and kids again. It had been too long! I really just missed being around everyone, part of the chaos! It was definitely a different Christmas being without Chuck and I'm really hoping that part of it doesn't happen again, but being with the family again was just what we needed. Merry Christmas!!

Charlotte was so confused being handed a new toy every few minutes!

Avie got lots of dress up jewelry, a new tutu and some pompoms, rah!

Gabi LOVES her new recorder...a little too much maybe?

Ian's favorite gift was a dinosaur game for the Wii!

Kenzie got the Wii cooking game she really wanted

Happy girl

Avie danced with Cinderella around the tree

Notice the resemblance? :)

I love seeing Ian's smile

Read a holic after my own heart

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

I love Christmas! Everything is just so warm and cozy, except outside of course! I love all the rich red tones, the tree decorating, the baking, the family nights by the fire, all of it!

Nothing gets you in the Christmas mood like a little snow!

Charlotte present

In an effort to keep the little girls from messing with the family tree I got a little tree for them to decorate and keep in the playroom. They had fun decorating it, but it didn't keep them from touching the big tree!

We always decorate graham cracker gingerbread houses, like my kids don't get enough treats!

The girls love getting new Christmas dresses (Ian always gets a new Christmas tie too but he wasn't ready yet!)

And now Avie will read you a Christmas story..!

Thanksgiving

Troy and Michelle and the girls took pity on me for Thanksgiving and drove all the way out from Fresno! It was great to see them and let all the cousins play for a while. Michelle and I made the traditional dinner together and it came out great! Thanks guys!!

I can't believe all these kids are ours!

Troy & Charlotte

A fun game of life with the cousins

Natalie and Gabi

Kenzie, Gabi and Charlotte

Early Christmas

Unfortunately Chuck had to go back to "work" in early November and would not be coming home until February so we had a little early Christmas before he left. The kids thought it was great that they were getting several Christmases, until they figured out it meant this was the only one Daddy would be there for but the presents did take their minds off it for a while!

some new gloves for Mr. Ian

A bumbo seat for Miss Charlotte

Daddy got some new warm clothes

Kenzie and Avie before opening their presents

We love you Daddy!