Merry Christmas!

Christmas

We put up the Christmas tree today. The kids both loved it. Yes, BOTH loved it. I was surprised at how much fun Dique had. In case you were wondering the tree is 24 inches plus the star, it is very close to being the same height at Dique. I laughed when we measured them tonight. Last year Britney gave us a cute little nativity set for Christmas. This year we are able to display it. Cyndi likes to rearrange it.

Be warned the video is about 2.5 minutes long. But it is funny to watch Dique. He wanted to help. I love the face he gives Ben after I take the tinsel away from him. Its like he says: Dad, Mom took my tinsel away. Now what?

Ben's Birthday Cake

Coconut, pineapple and almonds

Snow-family, pine trees

Ben's birthday cake!

Rapunzel Cake

Love this cake.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!

I made this for a 3-year old birthday last week. She loved it.

Playmat Gym

Who needs a playmat gym when dad is around?

Chamomile Tea

Dique is getting more and more ready for food. It is so cute to watch him and the things he does to get what you are eating. The other night Ben had some chamomile tea and Dique wanted some. He did everything he could think off to get the mug from Ben. When his efforts to get the mug away did not work, he would hold still until Ben was about to take a sip and then wriggle as much as he could so Ben could not take a sip. At one point Dique had hold of the spoon and would whack Ben in the face with it (not very hard though). In the end Ben cooled some off on the spoon and let Dique drink it and that was that. We had to put the rest of the mug into a bottle and let Dique finish it. It was only about 3 ounces. Once the bottle was finished Dique would not give it up. It was rather entertaining. Just another complete opposite to Cyndi. Cyndi still does not like tea, or anything hot/warm to drink. I am slowly getting her to enjoy hot chocolate that is cold.

J-E-L-L-O Round 2

Dique really enjoyed the jello at the ward Christmas party. He got upset if you took it away before he was done. I love that face!

Festival of Trees

We had a girls day out plus Dique last week. We went to the Festival of Trees. I had never been before. It was amazing. All the trees were beautiful. I spent a lot of the time with tears in my eyes though. A lot of the trees are dedicated to a loved one who has passed on or who is fighting for survival. It makes me hold my kids closer and count blessing as to how lucky I am to have 2 beautiful children who are healthy. While we were there we saw some old friends, the Howdens. It is always a great pleasure to see them.

Flower Hair Clip

I taught myself how to make these kind of flowers for hair clips the other day.

Cyndi loves them.

Siblings Bonding

Cyndi loves to help and play with Damian. Most of the time she is VERY rough with him. But then we get sweet moments like this: she reading to him. She picked a book with lots of pictures of Jesus Christ in it and is showing him the pictures.

Dique loves it when Cyndi laughs.

Granny's Birthday

Granny's birthday is Dec 6, but we celebrated it last Sunday since everyone is going to the Christmas devotional by the First Presidency tonight and Rory's kids were in town last week for Thanksgiving. I made Granny a french vanilla cake with a white chocolate mousse filling. Ben made the clutch out of rice crispy treats. I molded the shoe out of gum paste a few weeks ago, and then Ben went over it to make it smooth and perfect. If you missed it, the cake is a hat box. I sugar dipped the rims of the glasses and Ben and I re did the label on the sparkling cider.

Close up

The label

Blowing out candles

Everyone expect Rory - he was taking the picture. I love this one because Dique is after Granny's hair. Notice Layne is trying to claim the bottle.

Bottoms up!

We love you Granny! We sure are going to miss you next year after you go back to SA.

New Discovery

The other day Dique discovered that he could reach the toys that hung from his rocker. He has spent the last couple of months yelling at them from a far. Now to his joy and delight, he can hold them while yelling at them. It is so cute to watch him learn.

Family Photo

I got my mom to come and take some family pictures of us. It is so hard to get the kids to smile and stay still at the same time. When one smiles, the other moves. GRRR! But in the end we got a few really cute pictures. I love my little family.

Thanksgiving Food

We had Thanksgiving South African style. It was a lot of fun. It made me miss South Africa and the fact that we would have braai's very often. I made most of the desserts and Ouma and Marius took care of the main course.

Fudge - more of a well sort after snack

Main course. There was also a macaroni salad. It was all so delicious!

Banana bread - never made it to the Thanksgiving table, but made the same time.

More pictures to come of the apple pie and milk tart.