Please don't go!

I was given a bread maker from my Great Aunt Betty after her passing. I don't know how old it is, but it's dying. It's a real tragedy that it's dying. Because that means no more freshly baked bread. When we bought bread from the store we had to throw away too much moldy bread. So we started making our own bread, which helped us not to waste that much bread. There is nothing like eating freshly baked bread. Bread maker, we will miss you!

More than she knows.

Our family has been really blessed this year. We have many family and friends new and old. We've moved from a small two bedroom basement in Calgary to a 3 bedroom townhome in Lethbridge. We love our new home and ward. We're very grateful for all of our many blessings. 

We've had a difficult time since we moved. The transfer for Ben's job didn't come through and the loss of income for a month. Through this time my Mum has been a there to help us with moving items to our new home or with money. Thank you Mum for everything that you have done for me and my family. The truth is she is my favorite Christmas present. I have the best Mum ever. Sorry to all the other Mom's because mine is the best. She's always been there my family and others. I know she doesn't know how much I love and appreciate her. She has touched others more than she knows. 

It has been wonderful to have Grandma Sabin come down and spend Christmas with us. It means more to me than anything that can be bought. My kids love it when Grandma comes to sleep over. Emily usually tries to sneak downstairs during the night to sleep next to Grandma. I don't know how she does it because she's asleep when I check on her. Emily usually snuggles up with Grandma about an hour after I went to sleep. 

A couple of months back James, Emily and Grandma picked out fabric for quilts. Grandma worked very hard and got the quilts done in time for Christmas. The quilts are perfect for the kids. I love the colors, but I'm not the only one. James and Emily love their new blankies. Thank you Grandma. 

Emily gave James a light saber for Christmas, and it's hardly left his side. It's great that he loves the present from his sister so much. James gave Emily a Cinderella Barbie, Prince Charming doll and Tinkerbell sunglasses.  She loves her gifts too. They were both given Spiderman walkie talkies. The main conversation over them is "I love you" or "I love you more". It's great to hear them talk lovingly to each other. James calles them "hockey talkies" and for a while Emily was calling them "talkie talkies". 

It was great seeing James open his first present. Which was the item I was looking forward to the most. I was tempted to give it to James early. For a while I was sad because I thought we would not be able to get it for him. If we couldn't get it for Christmas then we wanted to get it for sure before Matthew is born.  I was really blessed because through airmiles I was able to get a great present, which was... a kids digital camera. James has been sharing his camera with Emily so both of them have been taking pictures.

The smell of Onions

The other day I was making dinner and a familiar smell reminded me of my dad's favorite dip. He loved to eat, no matter what it was. Even if he didn't like what it was he would eat it and complain about it. He did insist on having this dip even up to the time he could barely feed himself. The dip was mostly made around the holiday season. It's a very simple dip. I don't know the actual name for the dip, so I just call it "John's Dip". Because it always reminded me of my dad.

I remember the Christmas when my brother Aaron and his beautiful wife Jenny lived with us. My favorite part was staying up late playing games. We had the favorite dip and 7 layer dip. I loved teaming up against my brother. I miss playing games with them, but especially with Jenny. 

John's Dip

1 Onion, finely chopped

2 packages of cream cheese, softened

Enough milk to make it spreadable

Beat the onion, cream cheese and milk. Refridgerate. It will thicken over time. If it's too thick add more milk to thin it out. 

Children are Hobbits in disguised.

I honestly believe that Children are actually Hobbits. Especially my own two little ones. I have believed this since I been around kids, but more so since the birth of my own. 

On Friday Ben and I made Crepes for breakfast. He makes the batter and I cook them. The recipe "says" it makes about 24 crepes. Ben ate two, I had one and the kids ate all the rest. So more batter was made, actually he made a double batch. It was a good thing because the kids did eat a lot more, and I got to eat a decent breakfast.

That night at dinner I gave the kids left over chicken noodle soup (meal 1) while I was making dinner for Ben and myself. I made alfredo shells (meal 2), but I thought there would be plenty for us and if the kids wanted more. I had a small serving, and Ben along with the kids ate the rest. They asked for more (like always) so I made more alfredo shells (meal 3). I told Ben that if anyone wanted anything more to eat he had to make it himself. Because I refused to make more. I made the same amount of shells and wasn't suprised that they could still eat more. 

Tonight I made meatloaf, rice and green beans. Usually I don't make meatloaf because I don't like to make it because I don't like it for a couple of reasons. One is I don't like meatloaf, second I don't like to mix it in with my hands, third I don't like extra dirty dishes. Tonight I thawed the meat like usual, but instead of dumping the meat into a mixing bowl I just dumped the rest of the ingredients in the ziplock bag with the meat. I was able to mix the meatloaf in the bag without getting my hands dirty. Then dumped it into the loaf pan. I smoothed it with the measuring cup that I had already used. Added BBQ sauce and smoothed again. I was happy that I didn't have a mixing bowl and spatual to clean after. It was great to just throw out the bag.

Usually I have to give the kids their sides like rice and green beans first then the meat. Rice and beans were served while the meatloaf was still cooking. The kids devoured the meatloaf. I lost track of how many servings the kids had, they ate a lot more than me. So out of everything that the kids ate, they wanted more green beans. We had to open another can of beans. They were really excited to have more beans. Ben and I think 1 1/2 cans of green beans were eaten by James and Emily. It's great that the kids wanted more green beans. I have very little food leftover from dinner. It's too bad that the kids and Ben were too full to eat the little meatloaf that was left.