Hannah's Brithday!!

I can't believe my baby girl is three! *sob*

But she had a great birthday and was surrounded by family that loves her and cares for her so much. I couldn't ask for more for her. I told everyone that she loves dress up clothes and anything that screams "girl" so she received four...yes four tutus!! And I love it and she loves it...

"Miss Shea" from Stinkin' Cute Designs made her an adorable birthday outfit. OH yes, oh yes.

After cake and presents it was time for the big reveal. Both sets of grandparents went in together and bought her an outdoor playhouse.
Here it is the next morning, breakfast has been made and eaten, and now...I have seen nothing of my children. They are outside. Playing. Not fighting. Not teasing. They're playing nice. Aaaahhhh.

Happy birthday, Hannah! We have been blessed by three years with you and we pray to God for many, many more.

Happy (belated) Easter!

This year we celebrated Noah's birthday on Easter. The whole family was already together, so why not, right?

The adults dessert. A big fat Easter egg:
Noah's birthday cake:
He really wanted a tree on his jungle cake. Apparently, the vines that were on there were not good enough. So...gum paste and some wire...wah-lah! He liked that the lion was in the shade. Boys, I tell ya.

He also lost his first "by nature and not by jumping on the bed and bonking brother's head" tooth:
(they are pointing to it which is why you can't see the hole)

Lots of fun looking for eggs:
His new bike:
Fun was had by all!

On Friday night, I watched The Passion of the Christ. I try to watch it every year. I know I could read the story, but there's something about seeing it and knowing it was even worse than what I see. I cry the whole time. I'm also finishing up a Precept study in Daniel. This week, we looked up scripture about what happens after Christs' return and judgment. Thank you, Jesus, for going through torture, pain, ridicule, death, and separation from God for me. For my husband. And for my kids. And for the world. It's no wonder we call Him the Savior.

Happy Easter to all of you! I know I'm late, but you can share in the joy of Easter and His resurrection every day.

"Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner so that Christ could make us acceptable to God." 2 Cor. 5:21

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! (That is the angels singing, I'm sure. Wait...maybe it's just me singing. Whatever.)

I loooove you, Stand Mixer!
What's that you say? My birthday is still a month away? Ooops! :) It was on sale. A lot. With a rebate.

Ha! My actions are redeemed by my frugality! Right, honey?

*Ahem*

So...I'm makin' bread! My mom and I make bread every year for Christmas, but it's just a plain white bread recipe and I figured it was still close enough to Christmas...kind of. I mean, it's only 11 months away. It said the recipe made one loaf, but if you doubled the recipe, it made three. It lied. It really still makes two...or three short loaves. Which I soon found out.
See this fun meatloaf pan? It has holes in the top so that the greasy gross business falls below the meat! I made meatloaf for dinner with my mixer, too. It's amazing how wonderful making meatloaf is when you DON'T have to use your hands to mix it!
See the holes? Yeah. So, the bottom pan is still good for makin' bread. All my loaf pans were a Christmas present from my mom...Thanks Mom!
Oh, "short" bread brushed with butter and making my house smell very "Susie-Home-Maker"...how I love you...but don't eat you. Hhhhmm....
K...gotta run to read Thomas the Train to my kids!

Where have you been?

Oh my! It's been a long time since I posted! Well, here's a short glimpse into what I've been doing!

First, I went to a wonderful Women's Tea and Silent Auction put on by Brooke and her mom, Grandma Dot, that benefitted World Vision and won these:


I love that I can add a smiley face to this little guy with dry erase pens.
And I also received some red and white snowflaked platters and bowls. Love them!

Then, we did a snowman family night with the other Llanos family. Or did the family night come first and the tea come second? I can't remember. Anywhooooo....

Snowman soup:
My partner for many crimes against myself, my husband, my kids...
Complete with krispy treat snowmen for dessert.
We had breakfast with Santa:

Found out Santa visited our house and left letters for the two older boys:
Celebrated the first-ever birthday of our littlest little (who will soon be just our "little" because he is surpassing his sister in size):


Can you see the snowman cake balls on the right? Wish I had gotten a closer picture? Yeah, me too. :(My beautiful sister, Becky, with the red scarf that I covet like a mad woman! Oh, and she's holdin' my new one year old who has manage to develop a two-year old attitude!
The snowman cake says Happy Birthday Isaac around the back in case you were thinkin' I attempted to make orange ear muffs for him. I did not cause that would have been silly. Ahem.

My wonderful mom and world's best Nana:
The sweetest Grammy and Ya-ya ever:


Every one...and I mean every one played Mary and Joseph with Hannah. She would say, "I Mary. You Jofes." And no, that's not a typo. JO-FES. No joke. And I refuse to correct her. I hope she says that for the rest of her life.

Becky, once again. She looks like Mary, don't you think?"Away in a manger...." with Aunt Vicki.

I painted wooden spools for Becky and Brooke for Christmas. The other side has the city of Jerusalem and says "O Holy Night" but I couldn't get a picture to focus on that side.
Baked waaaaay too many sugar cookies (with the help of my own personal Santa elf, aka, Brooke):


And had the stockings ALL hung by the chimney with care...but when St. Nicholas came...well, he brought too much stuff for them and they ended up on the couch. Eh.

And the best thing of all: We celebrated the birth of when love came down. And there just aren't any pictures that do that justice.

I spent time with my family and left my cyber friends to fend for themselves. And no offense to all of you...but it felt good and right.

And now, let us all kiss 2o09 buh-bye:
And say:

Bring it on 2010!!!

Happy New Year!