I never told you about New York!

For my eldest daughter's 16th birthday we surprised her (and the whole family) with a trip to New York City!  Mark was in the Middle East and was meeting us in NYC.  I revealed the destination in Atlanta.

Before leaving I made a booklet of all the places I thought we might want to visit.  I included the address, hours, prices, etc.  For the last flight I told Mary to look through this list and see what she really wanted to do

Here are Grace, Mary (the birthday girl) and Emma in Atlanta right after they found out where we were going.

The 9/11 Memorial-the one place I insisted that we see.  I was totally overcome with emotion as I read the names.  I don't know anyone personally who perished on this awful day, yet I cried uncontrollably as I walked through this beautiful monument.

Leave it to us girls to find the library!  We've managed to find one in every city we've ever been in! We just love the library.

Our hotel was in Time Square.  This was the view at night. Gorgeous!

One day we went to The Top of the Rock. What a n amazing panoramic look we had at the whole city!

We had to go see Central Park.  Here are the girls on our last day.

One of the 'must see' things was a Broadway show-Wicked!  We all love  the Wizard of Oz and couldn't wait to see this show.  It was amazing!!

We have to go to Hard Rock in every city/country that we visit.(that has one)   We're never been disappointed!

Here are me and the girls waiting on the subway to take us to Lincoln Center to the see NYC Ballet perform The Nutcracker.  It was so beautiful!

American Girl!  One of our favorite places!  This is the 3rd one we've seen.  They never grow old!

Our Sweet Valentine's Day

Valentine's morning found me with 2 sick girls and my hubby in the Middle East.  We managed to make it a positive, very sweet day.  I found a recipe on Pinterest for Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies.  I made mine in a heart shaped cookie sheet.  They turned out so well!

1 box red velvet cake mix

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients until combined.

Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart (or use a sheet like I did.  I used a small melon scooper to put my batter onto each heart.)

Bake 10-12 minutes.

Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 1lb box confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla

In mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.  Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.  

These little hearts are the easiest, and tastiest things ever!  I found this recipe on the back of the heart shaped cutter.  (from Target)
1 package of refrigerated pie crust
1 can pie filling
1 egg, beaten

Cut pie crust into shape of choice.  Put about a Tbsp (depends on the size cutter you used) of pie filling in the middle of the crust.  Brush egg around inside edge of 2 pieces of crust.  Put a piece of crust on top of one that has filling.  Press edges together very well.  My cutter had a crimping side.  Place on wax paper on cookie sheet.  Brush more egg on top.  Bake until lightly browned.

My Annual Ornament Party

December is such a busy month for us every year but one thing we refuse to give up is our annual ornament exchange.  The girls and I love buying ornaments, planning our menu and preparing the invitations.  This year we had 22 people come.

  My great aunt loves to play games and so does my youngest daughter.  We start the morning off with a few games.  After that it's time for lunch.  Our menu this time was a vegetable and fruit tray, hamburger soup with oyster crackers and Southern Living's winning white cake.

After our tummies are full we move to the living room and begin the exchange.  It's always amazing to me that we never have 2 of the same ornaments.  I love seeing all the beautiful ornaments unwrapped and figuring out who brought them.  There's  lots of laughter and smiles all around.  In the midst of this busy month, this is one day that's pure enjoyment!

Party favors-dishcloths that I crocheted

All ready for everyone to arrive

All of the adults eating lunch (children and teens had to eat in the kitchen-this table just wasn't big enough!)

l-r my cousin, my mom, another cousin and my great aunt

Having fun exchanging ornaments!

All of the family members-4 generations

fruit Christmas tree* 

Vegetable Christmas tree*

*I forgot to take pics of our vege and fruit trees.  These pics are from pinterest.

Our Christmas

Christmas is always good when it's spent with loved ones.  

The girls anxiously waiting at the top of the stairs.

Grace with the cello she's wanted for so long.

Emma's all about American Girl

Mary's favorite thing-coffee!

WIP-a Christmas Quilt

I bought this fabric while we were in Canada this year in November.  Unfortunately,  I haven't had a lot of time to work on it since we got home . Now it's crunch time because I just have to have it done for my party.    The girls and I have an ornament exchange party every year. This year it will be on the 19th. I'm determined to have the quilt finished by that day and displayed in the living room. We shall see....

Our Thanksgiving

I'm a little late in posting this, but better late than never, right?  This year we had such a nice Thanksgiving!  Even though my sister-in-law and her family couldn't make it, the table was full.  My parents came, my brother-in-law, my father-in-law (his fiance from Belarus and her daughter) and our friend Julia who was visiting for the first time from Austria.
 
Not only did we have our traditional food (turkey, cornbread dressing, squash casserole, asparagus casserole, kale, peas, and cranberry sauce) we also had some interesting additions.  First off, my Mary made  white bread dressing.  We had this for the first time in Canada this fall and loved it.  Natasha brought 2 dishes from her country of Belarus-a potato salad and a kind of apple pie.  Julia made a traditional Austrian dish-Sauerkrautstrudel (sauerkraut strudel) .   Everything was delicious!

Let's just say that no one got up from the table hungry!  For me it was a very nice, peaceful Thanksgiving.  I'm so thankful for my family and all that God has given us.  We are blessed indeed!

Valentine Gifts

Aren't these just the cutest Valentine's? I wish I could take credit for creating them but I can't. A very creative friend made them and I just plan to copy them for Emma to give to her buddies.

My friend also made the gifts below. I just realized Valentine's Day is this Tuesday. I better get busy!

A Special Birthday

13 is a special year for a girl. You're right in the middle of wanting to be a girl and wanting to grow up. To celebrate Grace's milestone she decided on a swing dancing/ice cream social.

The cake was pretty easy. I borrowed an old 45 record from my dad, put toothpicks on the cake and set it on top.

We decorated the back porch with old records and balloons in black, silver and red. I set up tables for the food and drinks. We also had the Bose out there to play music. Thankfully the porch is wide enough to swing dance. When everyone was tired of that they played outside games-Capture the flag, sardines, etc. Later in the evening it started to rain so they all came inside and played more games and ate more food. :)

Grace, along with all her friends said they had a wonderful time. It did my heart good to make my baby girl happy and to have all her friends running around our house and yard. Happy birthday Gracie girl!

Grace is 12!

It seems like every time I turn around one of my girls is getting older. I miss them all being babies and toddlers but I'm really enjoying this season in our lives too. August is Grace's month. Our middle child who is quiet most of the time, very vocal at other times. :) She has the biggest most giving heart. Best of all she loves the Lord and daily seeks His wisdom. What a joy she is to me and the rest of the family. Happy birthday to my precious G-dog. Love you the world.

( Grace's friend-the pretty brunette on the left, has her birthday just 2 days after Grace's. I made them matching gifts in their favorite colors.)

(my first time to try making Petits Fours.)

Enjoying the season

Some days with my girls are more fun than others. Today was a fun day. It was one of the many days when I just sit back and wonder what I ever did to cause God to bless me with these 3 amazing gifts.

Fragrant Ornaments

The girls and I learned how to make these ornaments at their co-op. They smell so good and their teacher said they last for years. The recipe is easy:cinnamon, applesauce and elmer's glue. There's no measuring-just add applesauce and glue to the cinnamon(I used a large container of this) until it's thick enough to form a ball; roll out and cut with cookie cutters. Make sure you make a small hole in the top before it's dry so that you'll have a way to hang it.

We used a variety of cookie cutters-an apple for the teacher (me!), dog bones for our furry friends and even a maple leaf to remember all of our Canadian friends.

Our Church Christmas Musical

After the dress rehearsal Wednesday night, I would have never thought the children would be able to pull off this performance! God is so good! Everyone remembered their lines and performed flawlessly. This just proves that when God has a message to deliver He makes sure it gets through!

Mary was a narrator and also had a solo to sing.

Grace was Gabrielle. She sang a couple of songs too. Emma was one of the little angels. She had so much fun. On the way to the church, Mary told Emma not to be nervous that this was like the "big stage" (recital) at dance. Emma looked at Mary and exclaimed, "I don't get nervous! I'm excited!"

My job in all of this (besides getting the girls back and forth for practice) was to make the 4 angel costumes. After much dilemma I finally settled on this pattern (McCall's MP 272). It was a super easy pattern (very forgiving). The girls looked just gorgeous and the children's director was more than pleased. Mrs. Kathy gives so much of herself to our children, the least I could do was a little sewing to make her life easier.

I also did alterations on several costumes that were re-used this year. I made the 3 kings crowns thanks to a great tutorial on Jessica's blog. Mine weren't quite as fancy as hers, but they served their purpose.

Now, just one more performance on Sunday...I can't wait!

Ringing in the holiday season

The other night officially started the holiday season for us. We had the lighting of the trees downtown. All of the shops were decorated with wreaths, red ribbons and Christmas trees. It all looks so beautiful. The girls and I have even started listening to Christmas music on the car radio.

Grace and 2 of her dance buddies volunteered to dress as elves and hand out fliers advertising the fall dance show. Aren't they cute?