Few of My Favorite Things during Christmas 2008

We hope everyone had a great Christmas! We spent it with family and friends. My Mom brought us these crazy head gear. You can not tell but Asher's hat lights up with lights.


These are Rudolph Really "Sucky" Reindeer pins that we got from my Mom as well. A lady makes them. If you want to purchase an one of a kind, unique gift for friends, co-workers and family, email: sue.leigh12@gmail.com It was fun to wear and I got a lot of comments regarding this fun festive pin.



We had the Smiths over and made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and lots of candy. Asher and my Dad juiced oranges so we could drink OJ while we built our houses or architectural feats!

We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and made lots of great memories. We have had a great year. We celebrated the birth of Jesus and are so thankful for His life and Atonement. We enjoyed looking back over the year and counting our blessings. These are a few of my favorite things...

The Grey Griffins Series

I love to read. I enjoy reading children's literature. I just finished this series (well till the next book comes out).
The Grey Griffins Series by Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis. It is a fun series so far. I like the good versus evil and then the adventure the books take me on. I think it is one way to escape to another place. It amazes me how authors can think of such places and write so that I can see them in my head. I wish I had that kind of talent.



I am now reading this:

Which one of these things is not like the other?

Okay, here are the Santa Clause cookies I made for this years cookie party. Way too many! Can you find the Santa Clause that is not like the others?

Just for information there are 32 cookies in a package of Nutter Butters.

I also made these yummy cookies. A friend of mine, Denise taught me how to make these. Ritz crackers (or generic), peanut butter and chocolate bark. I used ghirardelli chocolate and it makes a big difference. I also found piping the peanut butter with a zip lock baggie on to the crackers was easier than spreading it with a knife.

I have enjoyed baking this Christmas season. I am getting ready to make peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses in the middle. I also made Mexican Wedding cookies which is my mother-in-laws recipe and one of my favorites.

I still have one more gift to get and I am done with the shopping. It is really not a gift but more of a tradition with both families. Mixed NUTS with shells. I have fond memories of cracking nuts during Christmas. I have to get some nut crackers though!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season with some fun baking and enjoying the friends who eat the food.

Hint: One Santa does not have a red nose!

The Raleigh Ringers

My friend, Debbie told me about the Raleigh Ringers. She is a handbell ringer at her church. I have heard her group and it is so beautiful. I looked up the Raleigh Ringers on Google and found where and when they were playing here in TN. Debbie told me that they were the best and that I should go hear them. So, Asher and I went and heard them play. Wow, they were awesome. I love listening to great music. If you go to the website and look in the Gallery you can listen to some samples from their albums.

Birthday Month-November

Asher and I are a year older. We both have November birthdays! I decided to celebrate separately this year. We usually do it together. Less cake, same amount of presents. I made Asher's cake. I think it turned out. It was a chocolate cake with caramel, toffee, and whip cream. I layered everything and put it in the fridge. Tasted Great! I also made dinner and made his favorites, Moroccan Shrimp with rice. I am still working on that recipe but it was all gone at the end of the meal.

I did not want to make my own cake and so I had a friend make my cake. I had a coupon from her for a free cake. Lydia Spencer is so awesome. She made my wedding cake for the reception here in TN. I remember she gave me a magazine with cakes in it and I just picked one. It was just like the picture and tasted great! Her cakes always taste so good. I think that is hard to do as well as look good. I have a problem with that area at least. I called her up and asked if she had time to make my birthday cake. She asked what I wanted and I had no idea but I did want chocolate! I told her things I like to do and sewing was on the list.

She made my cake in the shape of a sewing basket. It had everything. She also made me a Pooh Bear! Asher calls me his Pooh Bear. I know it is silly but it was fun that she made one.

We had a great birthdays! It was a fun time. The cake is gone and everything tasted great. I can say that we had a great birthday.

Thanksgiving and Family

We had a great Thanksgiving. The Rose family had 7 of the children home. We missed having Alicia and Mimi's families with us. Lots of family and friends. Mike, Melinda and Ethan and Derek stayed at our house. It was fun to have a baby in the house. It was relaxing. Nothing was rushed or hurried. I miss everyone.
Here are some pictures in random order and I will try and explain what was going on:
Asher is kissing me...no pictures please!
I am laughing here after the previous picture!
Pop took us all out to eat. We went to Pancho Villa. Yummy! I think the waiters were confused. Half spoke Spanish and the rest of us English. Our order was a large one but they did a great job! They brought the hats out for us and we took lots of pictures. I think they had a lot of fun watching us act silly in the hats and we devoured all the food. They kept bring out more chips and salsa!
This is Aunt Annie with Ethan. He is in all the pictures! Everyone had to hold him and play with him. He is six months old. I love Annie's hat!
Aunt Lin with Ethan. He is good with everyone. He has a cute pout but it is not quite there yet.
Uncle Josh trying to get Ethan to sleep. He did not want to miss anything! He was definitely the center of a lot of attention.
Uncle Asher got him all tired and he fell asleep.
Uncle Derek can make him laugh. He has a very unique laugh. I got a video of his laugh but I will post that later.
We crammed in the van to go to Opry Mills. Momma and Pop drove John and Cristy to the airport and met us there. They had an empty van so we squished into our van. Anyway, you get the idea. Ethan was in the car seat and had the most room. Tuni sat on the floor. Derek is peeking up from the back of the van. No seat for him. On the way home it was just right.
A group picture of all the boys. They are handsome boys!
Uncle John and Aunt Cristy holding Ethan.
Aunt Amy(me) playing with Ethan after his bath. He was so happy and I got him to laugh. I had a good time playing with him and I even got to babysit for a couple of hours late on.
Aunt Tuni and Ethan. I had a hard time choosing which picture to post. She had so many cute ones. Tuni is so good with him. I think that is his tongue!
Grandma playing the piano with Ethan. He loves music and enjoys you singing to him. He likes a fast rhythm.
Mike and Asher went to the Beech High School vs. Hillsboro quarterfinal football game. They dressed up in the Beech colors. I took a normal one of them but this one is my favorite. They were going to paint their chests orange and blue but it was too cold outside. They have a lot of layers on to keep warm. Pop joined them later on to watch the game. Coincidentally, Hillsboro won and went on to win the state title.
Mike and Melinda without Ethan. I think we finaly took a picture with the three of them. That was the joke of the week. Pictures without Ethan and they are the parents!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are very thankful for family and friends. Hope you had a good one!

Twilight Movie

Twilight
I got an text from a friend (Thanks Erin!) a month ago and it was about the Twilight Movie. The offer was that we could buy tickets to see the movie and we got a "goodie" bag etc. I decided to go for it. Sent the email out and requested 5 tickets. I got a response back that I had 5 tickets for the movie and all the information. I asked a couple of friends and of course they were very excited and wanted to go.
So, Saturday morning we all meet up at my house and headed out. We left around 9 am. We got to the theater in Cool Springs and got our "goodie" bag and stopped by the bathroom and then we to get a seat. When we entered the theater I was not ready for the huge crowed. The theater was almost full. We found seats up front (not my favorite place but oh well). We looked through our "goodie" bag and then the raffle started. Ann's number was called and so we cheered! She got to pick what was left of the pile of Twilight items. She got a hat. Erin and her sister Lauren also had their numbers called they got a shirt and signed photo. We were very excited.
The movie started and it was the wrong color. The crowd cheered and was very excited. They stopped the movie and started it again. The crowd reacted of course but it was much better fixed. The crowd reacted through out the movie more than the movied called for. It was funny. I want to see it again when the crowd will be normal. We had a great time. The movie was good but not as good as the book. They always have to change things to get everything in. I think they did a good job overall. Everyone had a great time traveling to the movie and then on the way home. It was fun to relax and talk and catch up on what was going on in each others lives.

Halloween Party 2008

Here are the photos I took in a slide show. Thanks for coming it was a great party because of you!

4th of July 2008, Independence Day!

Hope you enjoy the pictures of our 4th of July Party. This is a party we have every year and everyone is invited to come. Everyone brings food, towels and swim suits and we provide the meat, slip-n-slide, and the yard to watch the fireworks!

Santa Cookies

I have made these cookies for the last couple of years. They are fun to make and do not require me to bake. I go to a cookie party every December and I make 12 dozen of these Santa Cookies! I have made other cookies but these always seem to be a hit!

Here is what you need to make the Santa Cookies:

• Nutter Butter Cookies
• White Chocolate or Bark
• White Chocolate Chips
• Red Hots
• Red Sugar
• Chocolate Chips (melt to make the eyes)

Nutter Butter cookies can be used to make ghosts and reindeer as well.

The womens group at church is having a Service Auction. We take a quiz when we get to the event and get play money based on your score. What is on the quiz? Everyday things, how much laundry have you done this week and did you fold it? Did you pray this morning? Did you say I love you to someone in your family? Read your scriptures? Make your bed? Everyone then gets the play money. We then bid on Services or goods that we have all donated. I am donating, some of my jam, canned peaches and cookies. It is always fun to see everyone bid and I like to see the talents others have. I learn a lot about other women at church and have a lot of fun talking and socializing.