Rudolph and Marshmallows

The bank had their annual kid's Christmas party before Christmas where all the children of the bank employees are invited. We take a picture of all the children and put it into the local newspaper the week before Christmas. This year the kids then had pizza and watched Rudolph before the much anticipated, annual, "Marshmallow War". Yes, we bring out the bags of marshmallows and the kids(?) have at it, usually attacking the bank president. Afterwards all the kids received their own stuffed Rudolph and a bag of goodies.

"Yes, we came home with four Rudolph's"

What a bunch of Winers

Janelle and I decided to make our own wine for the holiday season. We started the process in November and my sister Tammy and Curt helped us finish the process by bottling our Zinfandel in December. We started the evening with dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and then off to Vintner's Cellar to bottle our creation. It was a fun evening and the wine turned out OK too!









"The evening started with good food and conversation"

Tammy seals, Janelle labels and I am quality control"

"The labels must be just...right"

Riddle

Where can you find strawberries and creme, honeydew smoothie, blueberry crisp, cherry icee, vanilla sugar, and refreshing apricots?



Answer: Our shower! Yes, as I looked at the shampoos and shower gels in my shower this morning I realized I bathe in an orchard. No wonder I eat a big breakfast every morning.

Rules of Motherhood(and Fatherhood)

Check out script every new mother and father needs to memorize before being a parent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXT6Hs113ZA

Jumbo leaves

This summer when we were in Olympia WA the kids were so amazed by the large trees and the "gigantic" leaves as shown in the first picture by Megan and cousin Mandy. The kids received a surprise package a couple of weeks ago from my aunt Sister Damaris (that is were we stayed one night when we were out there.) Yes, it was package of these leaves. The kids loved them now that they had changed colors.

Elfyourself

Check out the Dancing Zanderelves:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1320364803

Holiday Baking

Tis' the season to get fat and jolly fa, la, la.....la,la,la

We started a new "tradition" last year to set aside one day to get all our holiday baking done and to do it as a family. It worked great last year and because it is now a "tradition" we decided to do it again today. This helps so Janelle doesn't end up doing it all month long, we only have to clean the mess up once, and we can so some family bonding.

Unfortunately, we received a few inches of snow the last couple of days and Megan and Jaden were more interested in playing in the snow than spending the day in the kitchen with Mom and Dad. That was fine with us so Janelle and I started after church and went to about 10 pm.

This years goodies are:

Carmel Bars
7 layer bars
Cream Cheese bars
Puppy chow(Crispix)
Spiced Pretzels
Peanut Butter Balls
Candy Cookie cups
Pecan Candies
Reindeer Eyes

These are yet to be completed:
Dreamsicle Fudge(my favorite)
Mini Cherry Cheesecakes
Sugar Cookies

As always you are welcome to enjoy the sweets but you must come and visit in order to indulge.