Gingerbread Houses and stuff

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you are having a joyous season.  I can't believe Christmas is on SUNDAY and I am so excited! And actually mentioning joy, the past few Sundays (I guess all month) the theme for the talks in Sacrament meeting was "joy".  Very fitting.  I heard some wonderful talks. 

I have been enjoying a relaxed holiday season.  This will be the very first Christmas that it will be just Lee and I and the kids.  I have always been around LOTS of family during the holidays so the thought of Lee, the kids and I being the only ones together on Christmas seemed sad. That probably seems weird to many of you! My dad's birthday is Christmas Eve, the next day is obviously Christmas, my oldest brother Darrell's birthday is the 29th, mine is the 30th and then we always have a BIG party on the 31st.  So between the 24th and the 31st there are lots of celebrations (five actually), visiting, games, and yummy food.  It's a great time of year for many of us, if not all, to be together. I mean, who wouldn't want to be together for three birthday and two holidays?! But, I am at the point this year that I am looking forward to our little family being together on Christmas.  I am excited about going to church that afternoon too.  (In our church we go to church on Christmas only if it falls on a Sunday.)  But we aren't cutting the strings completely....we are getting together with my sister and her family for New Year's Eve and hopefully my birthday (hint hint).

We've been enjoying some Christmas traditions too. I wrapped several Christmas/winter books and stories and each night (well, we've done it a few times) a kid picks out a story to un-wrap, then I read. We recently finished our yearly tradition of listening to A Christmas Carol.  I think I want to read it next year instead of just listening to it. We will soon watch two versions: A Muppet Christmas Carol, and A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart--personally my favorite version.  I hope to squeeze in some more Christmas movies, like It's a Wonderful Life.

Another tradition is making gingerbread houses. I grew up making gingerbread houses and I've enjoyed sharing this with my kids. What are some of your traditions? Last night we invited our friends the Dollers over for potato soup, homemade rolls and gingerbread-house-making!  We had a great time and they brought some awesome candy. Thanks for coming!




Elden enjoyed eating the candy!  He decorated his house and then soon thereafter took the candy off and ate it.








These guys had a great time together.  Clark is the life of the party!






Lee made a fun house to give to Dr. Downey.






Here are the creations!




















My dad has Parkinson's and tomorrow is his surgery to get his battery replaced (I can't remember exactly, but the battery sends out electrical impulses to the brain which somehow stop the tremors. And yes he had to get wired from the battery pack located by one the upper area of one of his shoulders all the way up to some rods placed in the brain area...correct me if I am wrong Mom or Dad).  It is a simple surgery (the battery re-placement one), and I hope it stays that way.  It is exciting though the amazing technology available in the medical field.  My dad had deep brain stimulation surgery over a year ago at the Mayo Clinic, and it's been a success.  Going from many tremors to basically none is incredible. 

Elkton Eyecare seems to be doing well this month.  We've heard December is really slow, so we were pretty nervous.  But of course the blessings keep coming in.  Just yesterday Lee had a surprise patient, which is always great!

We've enjoyed having a break from school.  It will be sad when school starts up again!  The kids have enjoyed playing, watching movies, going to the library, eating popsicles, and waking up early to watch cartoons.  The weather is still pretty mild and I'm hoping to go to the park tomorrow if it's not raining--it's supposed to be 61! Though I do hope there will be snow on Christmas!!!

Enjoy your last preparations for Christmas.  Lee and I still have gifts to wrap and a few people to see.  Thus far it has been a fun and joyous holiday. 

Christmas Purses

I just posted this on my sister blog, but wanted it on here too.  Enjoy!

Last Christmastime in 2010 I made these skirts for the girls.  I mistakenly made them too big, but thankfully they yet again fit them (perfectly) this Christmas! 

Haley and Shanna Christmas of 2010


I bought this purse for the girls' (they each got one) birthday in May.  We got them a mini Book of Mormon to put in the purse, thus becoming their little Sunday bag. Well, blue doesn't really go with their Christmas skirts.If you are interested in a purse tutorial, here you go!


Bear with me, I am not a good writer...but I think the pictures will tell the tale. The purses were only $1 at Target so I actually bought four of them. I figured if my girls lost one then I could have a back-up.  Amazingly they haven't lost their purses.  So I took one of them and ripped it apart with my seam ripper.  I figured I could use it as a pattern.  When it comes to fabric I am more of a pattern person. That isn't necessarily true with cooking, but it sure is with fabric. 


If you don't have a purse to rip apart, here is the basic pattern that you want...a rectangle with a square, rectangle thingy cut out of the middle edge.  I used fabric that I had on hand.  This fabric is from my high school choralier skirt. I cut of these shapes out of the black fabric. Cut two. I had a lot of interfacing (I bought too much one time) and ironed some interfacing on one of the black pieces (outer shell) of the purse.Really, you could cut this shape out free hand, any size. Just cut two of the same size and you have the basic structure for a hand-held purse!




Fold the piece of fabric in half, with right-sides together and stitch up the sides--don't stitch the little hole that is created. The corner will look like a right angle....or a resemblance of one as my picture tells. Right here I have just sewn my lining. Oh and as you can tell the seam isn't very wide.  I am not sure how wide it is, but it is narrow.  You can make it wider if you want.  Just sew the same seam width on all pieces.



Next, where the hole in the fabric is, make it into a triangle...or a volcano where the hole is at the top and the seam is in the center of it. Lay it flat. Sorry my picture is kind of crooked of the top of my "volcano". Then stitch up the hole.  The stitching of the hole should be perpendicular to the stitching of the seam sewn previously. Yet again, a picture of the lining. Sorry...does this make sense?  I think once you do it you'll see what I mean.


And voila! You get a nice stitch for the bottom of the bag. This is actually a picture of the outer shell, not the lining.  But you do the same stitching on both pieces.



Before you sew the outer shell and the lining together stitch on any other things you want on the outside of the purse, like a fabric flower.


So now you have the outer shell and the lining.  Time to sew them together!


Make sure the outer shell is turned right-side out and that the lining is wrong-side out.


Now you need a break.  Here are some random pictures that Shanna took.  She managed some good lighting!




Okay, so I forgot to tell you about the handles.  I had a fake satin belt for one of my formals that I never wear any more and I used the belt for the handles.  I used the blue handle to determine the length of the handle for the purse. The belt was about 1 1/2 inches wide.  I folded it in half and did stitching down both sides--so basically it was a piece of fabric folded in half, and then folded in half again.

Pin the lining and the outer shell together, folding the edges into the center....see below.


You're ready to sew!


I found while sewing that it's better to pin the handle likes this instead of perpendicular.


And you're done! Okay, maybe a few hours later.... I am excited to make some other purses for the girls, now that I know how to make them!

Now they have purses to match their Sunday Christmas outfits!

Relief Society Ornament Exchange

Yesterday was the annual Relief Society white elephant ornament & cookie exchange at my church.  There was a good turnout with lots of yummy cookies! 

Shanna wanted me to take this picture of her yesterday.


The cookies at the activity!




Some of the ladies








So this is a funny story.  At this white elephant exchange, gifts are passed around but not opened till the game is over.  The sister in the green holding the baby (see below) brought the snowman ornament and funny enough the lady next to her in the red sweatshirt ended up with it. Okay, hold on and see if you can read this without being thoroughly confused. The lady with the baby asked her husband which ornament from their tree to bring to the white elephant exchange.  The husband said to bring the snowman because it was ugly.  She brought it. At the end the ladies were looking at the ornament and what not, and another lady looked closer at the snowman.  This other lady had worked at a jeweler's before and said that the snowman's hat opened.  The lady with the baby has been married for two years and the said ornament was a wedding present.  Well, the lady with the baby had no idea that the snowman's top hat could open. And guess what she found when she opened it?! $10!  So funny!  Just think how many years that snowman might have gone with $10 in its cap.  We ladies all had a good laugh.  Then another lady said "I gave you that ornament for your wedding present!"  There was an initial shock, and then the lady said she was just joking.  It was pretty funny.  Good thing it was the husband that said the snowman ornament was ugly so the $10 treasure could be found!


After looking over the pictures I realized I didn't take any with me in them, but I am sure you will all survive!  Overall it was a fun, un-stressful evening. I mention it being un-stressful because I was the one in charge of it.  Oh, and I came home with a glass pickle ornament (actually there were three ornaments total in my box!)!  I am excited to read the accompanying story to my kids and then hang it on the tree. 

After the activity I went to a grocery store, then Old Navy.  I also talked with my friend Kathryn who is moving to the area next summer.  I am SO EXCITED!  She might only be here for a couple of years, but anything sounds amazing! She was my good friend and visiting teaching companion in Missouri.  And what a wonderful visiting teaching companion she was.  I can't wait!

Oh, and I think I wrote that we went to a town get-together--they lit up a big Christmas tree, had refreshments and Santa came?  Anyway, before the event started an opening prayer was given.  I love that between the town gathering and the PTA meetings they start off their events with a prayer to God.  So wonderful!

What have you all been up to this holiday season?  I hope it's been a great one thus far!

The Holidays

I love the holiday season.  It's a wonderful time to be with family and friends. I think that is one of the main reasons why I like it so much--being together with those I love. Lately we have been focusing on Christ and the meaning of Christmas during Family Home Evening and that has been wonderful.

Something else I love about the holidays is that it lasts so long.  Even though it is not Christmas this exact day, it is still Christmas-time.  I can enjoy the holiday and the season for many, many days.  It's not a one-day event.

Since Thanksgiving, here are a few things we've been doing.

Someone took this random picture...I am guessing it was Haley.


The Monday after Thanksgiving we decorated for Christmas.  Lee and I are somewhat of a Scrooge with this...we don't decorate till our kids are asleep.  We decided when our kids turn 7 they can stay up and help. This is Clark's second year helping.  A couple Christmases ago I bought A LOT of plastic Christmas cups and plates for my visiting family.  It's fun to have some festive dishes, even if they are plastic!


Funny enough, Clark did the exact same thing last year with the cups!


I've recently discovered that Elden can touch his tongue to his nose.  But of course, I can't get a picture of it! 


Someone (let's say it's Haley) taking pictures of Elden...






And another mysterious picture of some of the stockings.  Maybe Lee took it?




Last Tuesday we pulled the kids out of school (amazingly their first whole day that they've missed all year!) and went to Washington D.C. Lee and I swapped turns going to the temple, and then did a lot of shopping.  Well, Lee sat in the van with the kids while I went to the commissary, and then he watched the kids while Lois, Blake, the girls and I went to Aldi.  My sister-in-law commented that it was funny that we did our grocery shopping in the DC area.  And it is a funny thought!  I bought a month's worth of milk at the commissary, and it sure was nice to get a decent price on milk!

Lois fed us a yummy curry chicken dinner with wild rice (or brown rice...or?). After dinner we had a delicious treat-chocolate peppermint cupcakes!  YUM! Thanks Lois!






Elden seemed so interested with this toy.






That night we went with Lois' family to the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival.  It was fun driving through the state park and seeing all of the lights.  This is our 3rd year in a row driving through a light display.  The past two years were actually free (our 1st one we were the 100th vehicle or something like that and got in free!) and this one we got at a reduced price, $8.

On our way home we went back to the temple and drove around looking at the temple lights.  Though I enjoyed the park, I wish we would have just spent all our time here. It was gorgeous! I think we will just do the temple lights next year and actually go inside, hear a performance and look at the nativities.





The Washington DC Temple Visitors' Center.  Brings back memories because when I was a missionary I served in the Los Angeles Temple Visitors' Center! You can't tell very well, but inside the big glass windows is the Christus statue, one of my favorite displays at a visitors' center.


I love this temple.  I am already hoping my girls get married in this temple!


A little closer up of the Christus and the outside lights.






We also enjoyed the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on the 4th. The prophet, Thomas S. Monson and his counselors Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke about Christ, Christmas, and the Christmas Season.  It's always a great devotional to start off the season!  You can watch it here.