Christmas & New Year's Eve

I know these are late, but at least it's still January. I've been busy trying to clean and organize our apartment, take care of the girls and John, and juggle work, doctor's appointments, ect. I'm almost all done decorating the girl's room so those pictures will be up soon.

Secret Santa Project

Mallory and Aubrey with the Secret Santa toys we bought for the precious patients at Primary Children's Hospital. We want to teach our girl's the importance of charity.

The girls in their Christmas dresses.

These are the Divine Red Velvet Cake Bites that I made for my trayline co-workers for Christmas. This was the first time I had ever made cake bites and I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out. The red velvet cake mix I used was not gluten free so I had to rely on my husband John and my co-workers for feedback. And they all loved them so it was indeed a hit! I saw the recipe on a local Utah television show called Studio 5 and I have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to try them out. I added sparkles onto these cake bites to make them look more festive just like the glittering snow outside. 

My sister Heather sent Mallory some princess dress-up clothes for Christmas. I had the present wrapped and nestled under our Christmas tree and that little stinker Mallory opened it up when I was busy in the other room about 5 days before Christmas.She saw on tv the kids opening presents and decided that she would do the same. She's pretty smart and it sure made me laugh.

Christmas pajamas from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Cathy

Mallory in her Minnie Mouse PJ's.

Bree in her Dora Explorer PJ's.

Christmas Morning

Mallory says, "let's get down to business mom and open some presents." I'm sure that's what she was thinking anyways.

We bought the girls a "Kitty Surprise" and"Pony Surprise" off of eBay for Christmas because I saw on John's cousin Brenda's blog a "Kitty Surprise" that she had as a kid growing up and I remember having one as well. I had just forgotten about it because a lot of my childhood toys that I packed up when my family moved from Michigan to Arizona never made it there. I'm pretty sure that my step-dad took some boxes off of the moving truck. Anyway, I thought the girls would have fun playing with them and it is fun for me to share this childhood memory with my girls.

Bree with her Winnie the Pooh pillow pet.

Trying out her pillow pet.

Bree checking out her pony surprise.

Snuggles loves Christmas!!! He loves it when I get out my decorations and he knows that there presents for him under the tree. He went right to his new bed. Silly kitty.

Mallory was really excited to play with Snug's new toys as well.

We bought Snuggles this Pet Grass from the pet store and he loved it!!! Animals naturally crave greens just like we do with salad greens. And since he's an indoor cat he can't eat the grass outside. And I love that it's organic.

Mallory loved her new baby doll accessories so much that she put all of them on her bed that night and fell asleep like this. Too funny.

Here's Bree sporting her new headband from Grandpa Tom and Grandma Cathy

Getting ready for bed after a big day.

 New Year's Eve!!!

Mallory and I toasted with some Ginger-ale. I'm not a big fan of sparkling cider.

Mallory took over my cup but at least she shared with me.

We decided to start our New Year's Eve tradition by having a bunch of different appetizers for dinner. We tried this gluten free Brazilian cheese bread which was amazing! And of course we had some of Harmon's fresh salsa as well as fresh pineapple, and parmesan & rosemary potato wedges. We were also trying to keep it healthy since John is losing weight.

Mallory loves chips and salsa!!! She scoops the salsa right up on her chip and eats it. I find it kind of strange that a 2 1/2 year old would love salsa so much but she really does! She gets that from her momma because I love salsa and Mexican food.

Bree on New Year's Eve