Osso Bucco - slow cooked in the dutch oven all Christmas afternoon, tempting our taste buds
Christmas Salad - baby spinach leaves, strawberries, candied pecans and goat cheese with a raspberry champagne vinaigrette
Christmas Cinnamon Torte - 38 layers of alternating cinnamon wafer cookies and chocolate whipped cream, decadence at it's best
My favorite gift that we gave the children was not the cat. That comes in a close second. It was a baby cradle for Sara. We left it unwrapped under the tree. It was the first thing she saw and after that it was the only thing she had eyes for. You can barely see he rocking her baby in it in the corner of the picture in the previous post as the kids are unwrapping the cat. It was so fulfilling in some way to see he role playing being a sweet little Mommy. She loves her baby. And all Christmas morning she rocked her in her new cradle, talking to her, taking her out for hugs and then tucking her back in under her covers.
There was a "cat" theme this Christmas. This is my first quilt! More to come...
Of course I can't deny the cat it's place in awesome Christmas history. It was so fun to have such a massive secret to keep safe for two weeks. And the looks on their face were so worth it. Kate is still walking around asking if the cat is really ours!
Dave always finds something thoughtful to do for me and this year he surprised me with an enlarged picture that I shot of Mt. Rainier. It is so great to have a husband that supports me in my hobbies and helps me to grow my talents.
Fairy gifts are still big for Emily. I saw this and knew it would be perfect. It plays "Close to you" by Karen Carpenter
We did a lot of outfitting our family for our first backpacking adventure. We are gearing up to go maybe in late Spring or early Summer on our first camping trip minus the car. I am very nervous. Tailgate camping has SOOO many perks (comfort, fire and good food). But living in this beautiful state, we have to take advantage of it more. We are eager to camp in the wilderness. Who knows maybe I will think trading comfort, fire and yummy food for peace, quiet and non-drinking camping mates will be a worth while trade!
On of the cool things about this Christmas season was that the kids for the first time actually showed some interest in doing their own share of the giving. Chase came home from his friend's house after seeing him buy presents for his siblings and wanted to do the same. (don't you just love good friends!) He actually used his own money to by great gifts for his sisters. This is my miser we are talking about. It made me so proud of him!
We have accomplished the impossible. Dave and I have been hiding a cat in our master bathroom for two weeks. All in the name of the "ultimate" Christmas surprise! I can't believe that we made it to Christmas. The little stinker didn't cooperate very well. I think he is the loudest cry baby cat ever adopted. He meowed so often and so loudly that we have had Christmas music playing (loudly) on the computer every day for the last two weeks. Poor Chase even came out one night to ask us to turn it off so he could sleep. It didn't cover up all the noise but fortunately for the sake of the surprise, our kids aren't the quiet, pensive types and never were still enough themselves to hear the cat.
That was until Christmas Eve, when Kate comes into the loft to tell me that she hears a cat. It took some pretty fast thinking to come up with a cover. I told her "socks" our neighborhood cat must have gotten stuck in our garage. (you know its warm in there and cold outside...he was seeking refuge!) We went downstairs (away from the real meowing cat) and I opened the garage to let the nonexistent cat out. She totally fell for it too!
Wow this year has been a great snow year. Usually we only get a light dusting here in Dupont. Two years ago we got a few inches, just enough to build a snow man. But this year we have had at least a foot. Holy Cow, that's a lot of white stuff for people that don't know what to do with it. I've always thought it was funny how poor California's totally freak when it rains. All it takes is a drizzle to jam the freeways and have the school cancel recess. But here in Washington people still drive 70 miles an hour and the kids play unless there's lightning. This last week though I bet everyone in Utah and other snow states were laughing their head off at the us poor Washingtonians! We cancel school, can't get packages delivered (GRRRRR!!!) abandon our cars on the freeway and utterly refuse to take our dogs potty until it melts (oh wait that last one was just me).
Yesterday was Sara's 1st birthday! And it snowed. How fun is that. The season's first snow on your birthday?! We celebrated her birthday today since Saturday was so busy with the piano recital and the Nutcracker. First birthdays are always simple affairs at our house. We make a cake. Well two actually. One for baby and one for us. And then open a few presents. The big excitement is always about the possibility of cake annihilation! Will she dive in face first? Take enormous handfuls? Will cake be flung, smeared...you get the idea. Suspense is a wonderful thing!
I always love the look we get from our babies as we set a great big cake in front of them. It that, "what this cake is for me" kind of look. We could totally see the gears turning in Sara's head as she tried to process the gift we had just bestowed her. She didn't do much, and we were preparing ourselves for great disappointment when Mom (me) in her great brilliance gave Sara a spoon. That's when great cake destruction ensued. 
She totally pulverized her cake. It turned to mush. I don't think she ever put more than a few bites in her mouth. It was more fun to smush it everywhere. We laughed and laughed, it was good fun. 
One of my favorite holiday traditions is to take the girls to see the Nutcracker. This was Emily's fourth time and Kate's first. Kate was SO excited that she got to go this year. She asked me a million questions during the ballet. I tried to whisper the story to her as it progressed. It was no easy task to keep her hushed though. The girls were very excited when the sugar plum music began since Emily had been learning it on the piano. We went with our friends Judy and Kaitlyn this year. It was lots of fun, but made me a little sad that Emily was sharing all her excitement with her friend and not me this year. I always love the intermission as all the little girls in the great hall come spilling out dancing and twirling! Emily and Kate were no exception. The spun and walked on their tip toes all the rest of the evening. Next year I will be more prepared. I will get there earlier to ensure the girls get booster seats and I will definitely have paper and pen at the go in order to write down all the cute things Kate says. Here are some that I wrote in the dark on my checkbook:-)
Nights like this one remind me how much I love to "do" things with my children. Individually is best but separating the genders does wonders too. I just hope they never figure out that I love the ballet more than they do. I don't want them to think that it's not ALL about them.
Emily had her first piano recital today. I sinned greatly. Not only did I not bring the camcorder to record her playing, I didn't even bring my camera. What kind of mother am I? I begged Heather (piano teacher's wife) to take a picture for us and the recording is totally staged after the math.
There aren't many things that could every persuade me to move back to California. I love Washington so much. But during Chase's baseball season better weather for outdoor sports could have almost been enough for me to pack my bags and head back down to the Sunshine State. Cousins however are a constant pull. We have the greatest extended family and if we ever do move it will only be to be closer to them. It is such a blessing to have so many children in the family. And even more of a blessing that they love each other so much!
Katie has sooo much fun playing with Claire this trip. They were just perfect for each other. One thing I have always loved about Dave's sister Liz's kids is that they have the most awesome imaginations. They can make the coolest play scenarios out of nothing. In this case a bowl they found on the drive way became a witches stew. Claire is so sweet to my girls. She is age-wise right in between Emily and Kate and she is immediately a best friend forever when we go to visit.
On of the things we were able to do while we were in California for Thanksgiving was to be there for our newest nephew's blessing. Baby Boyd is still so tiny. Shelly and Q drove down from San Jose so that they could bless him in the Downey Third Ward, better know as Wilcox Church Headquarters. Q gave Boyd a beautiful blessing. Boyd wasn't to happy about the idea though. When the men almost dropped he decided it was time to go back to Mom and cried through most of the blessing.
Literally that is how I felt Sunday night. I took my group of Achievement day girls caroling to the area in our little city dedicated to assisted living called Patriots Landing. I am working with them on the "service" requirement for their goals. My group of five girls: Emily Baker, Ashleigh Eubanks, Sophie Crawford, Bienna Shelton and my Emily were out for an hour making the Holidays merry and bright. We visited every home that had lights on inside and sang two songs. After singing we handed out pass-along cards for the "Joy to the World" DVD and some goodies.
Eliza is my best friend because I've know her since I was a baby. She is so nice to me. We are twins. She makes me happy because she tells the funniest jokes and she is just my best friend. I remember that we always got into trouble together. I got to visit her during my Thanksgiving vacation. We made a cake together. It was a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. Eliza wanted us to have matching aprons. So we found aprons that matched. When we ate dinner Eliza;'s apron got dirty and she had to change her apron, so i changed mine too so that we would still match. I always get sad when we leave because she is my best friend and I never want to leave her. I didn't even know she liked fairies and when I visited her I found out she did. That proves that we are twins.
While the kids and I were staying with Grandma and Grandpa in California we became friends with a dear woman in there ward named Sister Burton. She is a widow and lives just around the corner from Wilcox Headquarters. We visited her every once in while and tried to let her know how cool we thought she was. I was grateful for such a worthy recipient of my efforts to teach the children about service. We have missed being able to show her how much we love her. While visiting at Church both she and I came to tears as we gave each other a big hug. I really love her. If my Grandpa was interested in a companion to make the rest of his days more happy I would totally introduce him to Laureen. Anyway the kids and I tried to think of something we could do for our special "grandma" while we were in town. Emily wanted to make snowflake lollipops and plant them in her yard. Chase simplified it into doing a "snowflake attack" (like a heart attack). So Grandma Wilcox, the kids and I sat at the table and created some of the most beautiful snowflakes ever. We even made gingerbread house. We waited for Grandpa and Dad to come home from work and then in the cover of darkness delivered a "white Christmas" to sister Burton. Of course we couldn't leave our own Grandma's windows bare and she too was the recipient of some uncommon California snow.
One of the things that I really wanted to do while visiting Grandma and Grandpa in California was to visit Wilderness Park. It is a park right down the road from them and I swear it must be a water fowl sanctuary. We have always loved to visit the ducks. They get fed so much it is a wonder their tummies don't explode. We came to this park on our last morning with Dad before he left for Egypt three years ago. And even now, years later, I can still feel the pull of those long ago emotions. But this trip was for a specific purpose. I wanted to take pictures of birds. I have found that they are some of my favorite subjects. So with the overwhelming abundance of birds at this park I figured I had a chance at getting some great shots. And I did. First here are some pictures of the kids. They love to feed the ducks and Sara eventually warmed up to the idea after giving the little bread munchers a few dirty looks. 
Here are my two favorite shots from the outing...
