Happy Birthday, MARC!

Kinda stinks to have your birthday on the day after Christmas, if you ask me. But Marc doesn't seem to mind. He'd rather have a low-key event anyway...Outback dinner and a movie. This year we're literally snowed-in at the cabin, so he won't even get that. Since we celebrated Christmas a day late, his birthday got squished into the evening. Mom made a delicious prime rib dinner and we had a yummy "Strawberry Whipped Sensation" for his birthday cake/dessert. All in all, it was an excellent day.

Happy Birthday, Marc!

We love you!

Merry Christmas to All

We have made it safely up to the cabin and are just waiting for the rest of the family to arrive for Christmas. Don't tell the kids, but we're actually going to celebrate a day late. Chuck has to work on Christmas, so we've moved everything back a day. Sierra and Ally don't know the difference for now and neither would we if we didn't look at the calendar. It is a beautiful winter wonderland up here in Garden Valley. On Monday we hiked up into the forest service land and picked out a tree. It's tall, scrawny and so authentic! Marc continued the candy train tradition with the girls and we've been having fun reading books and watching movies here in the warm cabin. So far we've seen one beaver, four raccoons, seven deer, and a whole flock of wild turkeys. It has already been a memorable Christmas vacation...and we haven't really even started.

Have a blessed Christmas, friends!

Baking Day

Susie started a tradition a few years back of having one BIG Christmas baking day in mid-December. She invites several friends who each bring some favorite recipes and their ingredients. We spend the day laughing and baking and making a terrible mess of Susie's kitchen. This year was so much fun with Sierra and Ally. They were old enough to actually "help" and when they got bored with the baking, they played with Annie. Susie provided a delicious lunch of potato soup and homemade rolls. Snow flurries fell all day while we kept the house nice and warm with a busy oven. By the end of the day we had fudge, peppermint bark, frosted sugar cookies, Reese's peanut butter cup cookies, candy-cane cookies, and Russian tea cakes - my favorite!

Sierra cuts out the sugar cookies.

Ally flashes her most charming smile!

Sierra put the finishing touches on the peppermint bark after crushing all the candy canes herself.

Ally loved unwrapping the peanut butter cups...and popping some in her mouth before Mommy could catch her!

Marc's mom made these adorable aprons for the girls!

Our Little Angel

Sierra got to participate in her first nativity play last weekend. She was the cutest and proudest little angel that I've ever seen. (And I'm not at all biased!) The adult choir at our church performed a cantata called Joyful and Triumphant in which several children acted out a brief manger scene. She didn't have to say anything, but she got to stand up on stage with several of her friends in a pretty white dress, wings and glitter on her face. It was heaven on earth for her!

Angels in the front row, getting ready for the program to start.

Sierra had her fake smile pasted on her face during the first performance. The second night she actually tried to sing along with the choir.

Our beautiful girl!

Susie's Surprise 30th

I don't understand how it can be possible that we celebrated my little sister's 30th birthday this weekend when I AM STILL ONLY 24!!!! Where have the years gone?

Benjy did a great job of making all the arrangements for a surprise party at my parents' house on Saturday afternoon. We had several Beck and Cook family members as well as some close friends over for cake. Mom made a fabulous ice-cream cake for the occasion. Along with the gifts, we played a fun "Susie trivia" game and watched a great slide show of her life. It was a special day for all of us. We love you Susie!

Mom's tasty ice-cream cake sensation!

Getting a little help with the gift opening.

Watching the PowerPoint show that Benjy and his mom put together.

Elmo Makes Music

Last Friday evening we took the girls to a live Elmo show at the Idaho Center. Ally isn't "into" too many things for any length of time, but Elmo has been her friend for several months. If you remember back to June, she wanted an Elmo themed birthday party. Since then she has slept with her little stuffed Elmo doll almost every night. Funny thing is, she hardly ever watches Sesame Street so she doesn't really know too much about him. I guess she just thinks that he's a cute little character.

Anyway.... the show was pretty fun. It was family night, so we got discounted tickets and had fairly good seats. All the Sesame Street characters were there and the costumes were very VERY realistic. The plot of the show wasn't very compelling to anyone over the age of six, but Sierra and Ally enjoyed themselves. Sierra pulled out all of her white-girl dance moves for several of the musical numbers. Ally picked her nose most of the time, but she did watch the entire show. (Quite an accomplishment for her!) In spite of the begging, we didn't get suckered into the $15 light spinners or the $8 balloons. Although Sierra told me that she positively DID want to get ripped off. It was a night that the girls will be talking about for a while.

Like I said....

F.Y.I.

Here's why you should always shake the pasta sauce BEFORE you loosen the lid. AAARGH!

The sauce was EVERYWHERE!!!