Winter Break

As I am getting ridiculously far behind I will try to make this brief.  And pictures are always fun to look at. 

This year we had no snow for Santa on Christmas Eve… However it did begin to snow on the night of Christmas just after we returned home.  It stayed cold, snowed on and off all week between Christmas and New Years.  Add a little more accumulation to the mix and THAT right there would really make the perfect winter all inside of one to two weeks.   

On Rick’s birthday the kids were able to go outside with Rick to play in the snow.

and make a cute little snowman. We found the old hand-me-down snow pants, dug out some boots for everyone from their basement containers and everyone had a blast staying out until the cold had gone straight through those boots and mittens.  Not the size of the snow men I remember helping to make as a child (my kids cannot fathom that much snow) they sure made some cute little snowmen!

As I was making Rick’s favorite birthday dinner (Christmas Eve leftovers) I discovered this goofy cat, Scruffles, eating JELLO!!!  I simply could not keep her out of it so I gave her her own piece.  There was plenty and she dug in appreciating it completely.

The kids came inside and warmed up with hot baths and pajamas… and dress ups!

I’m not sure which view of Rick’s Raspberry Chocolate Truffle cake I like best.

Any way you look at it the cake was delicious!

While Spooky was not too appreciative of the visiting classroom turtle named Brownie visiting the cat food dishes he did approve of my new quilted doily on the table.

Spooky was sure this was made just for him.  And I have to say once again that a camera does this cat no justice.  He is so beautiful (handsome) and my camera just never seems to truly capture this.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve with lots of fun food and a night of family games, a kid friendly countdown around 9, and watching the ball drop later on at midnight.  This was Tristan’s first year watching the ball drop with us.  As he went to bed I warned him that I’d better not see or hear him before 8:30… that would REALLY be sleeping in for this boy.

There were crackers with a cheese ball, and pizza fondue.

There was fresh fruit with a yummy fondue for dipping and Skyline Chili Dip; a delicious “SO Cincinnati” thing.

The kitchen table looked fun and festive on one of our favorite nights of the year.  Later on I made my Mom’s infamous eggnog.  Once you’ve tried it your hooked and you’ll never ever go back!

That’s good stuff… and what was left we added to pancakes in place of the milk it asked for… quite delicious!

This is my kitchen window view when it’s cold outside and then the typical scene at the heat register as they try to warm up and found themselves sharing the warm space suddenly with a chilly turtle.

One more thing to celebrate; Kaitlyn’s Birthday and then Winter Break would be over.