Gingerbread House

So, you have all seen the boxes of gingerbread houses in the stores, perhaps, you have tried them yourselves. They look so easy; the gingerbread is already made and cut and you just have to put it together and then decorate the house. Not as easy as it sounds. Hopefully, you have not gathered all the kids around the box and gotten them all excited about decorating a gingerbread house and realized the first step is attach the walls together and then wait several hours for the icing to dry - what FUN! Then attach the roof and wait several more hours. Why doesn't it say this on the outside of the box?
Well, Ben and I had no such expectations this year, we knew it would take a while. I made the icing and we put the walls together. I waited 50 minutes instead of 60 and when we put the roof on the walls fell in. Back to the beginning - assemble the walls with lots of icing and wait. Put on the roof and wait. We started this on Christmas Eve and there just wasn't enough time so we let it sit overnight and then decorated the house on Christmas night. I put a hole in the special bag they gave us for decorating so we had to use ziploc bags. We got holes in these, too. We ran out of icing so I had to make more. But we prevailed and here is the result. It actually looks better than we thought it would.
Maybe we'll try again next year; I think they have a gingerbread train...

Laurie

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

This is our Christmas tree on Christmas morning with presents all around. Joey and Ben checking out their stockings. And finally TJ hinding behind between a chair and the piano. He was a bit overwhelmed by everyone in the morning. After a breakfast that included waffles, eggs and bacon when went to Mass to celebrate the birth of our Lord.

For lunch we are having cheese fondue and crab dip - yum. Dinner will be steamed shrimp and crab legs. Ben and Joey are enjoying their gifts. Joey likes his Ball of Whacks which is a magnetic ball that you can make into different shapes. Ben is still deciding what his favorite gift is but I think it will be something Legos. TJ likes his treats from Santa. Dave and Joey are having fun with the new Wii game.
Merry Christmas!

Rudolph Van to the rescue

Foggy morning here in the Triangle. Good thing I have my Rudolph nose on my van to guide me through the fog. Added bonus - embarrassment factor for teenager at high school carpool - a momma has to have some fun!

Hope I made you smile, Laurie

Baby Dog with Santa Hat

So, here is our baby dog, TJ, with his Santa hat on in front of our Christmas tree with Ben. I think he was too scared to move. This will be TJ's first Christmas with us and I am sure he will love the commotion on Christmas morning. He will be in the middle of all the wrapping paper and gifts chewing on his own gift.

Ben plays in the Pep Band

Ben plays the trumpet in the St. MM Pep Band. The Pep Band plays for the basketball games at the school. They played for the first time at a game today. They sounded great! In the second photo, Ben is at the top, you can see the top of his Santa hat.
Go St. MM Monarchs!

Santa's Village BIG Bake Sale

So, I have written alot about what the boys are up to but not so much about what I do. One of my volunteer projects that I have done for several years now is the BIG Bake Sale at Santa's Village which is a Christmas Bazaar at St. Mary Magdalene School. We ask for donations from the school and the parish and we get tons of goodies to sell as you can see from the photos. This Bake Sale is very succeessful and fun to be a part of. I ask a few friends to come and help me make chocolate lollipops which we do 2 weeks before the sale. This ends up being a fun day though I do make them work, but who doesn't want to play with chocolate all day. The day of Santa's Village is a busy one but alot of fun. This year the weather was nasty - cold and rainy - but the Bake Sale was still successful.
Laurie

Thanksgiving 2009

We hope you all were able to enjoy a relaxing Thanskgiving holiday. We travelled to see our families for a quick visit. This wonderful photo shows my grandmother, Ida, at 102 years young. My mom, me and my brother, Danny and Joey, Ben, Patrick and DJ.