peanut butter blossoms

one of my favorite holiday cookies:

1 3/4 C sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C. shortening
1/2 C. peanut butter
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbs. milk
1 tsp vanilla

cream together the shortening, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar. add the egg, milk, and vanilla. mix until incorporated. blend in the dry ingredients. shape into balls. roll the cookie dough balls in sugar. place on ungreased cookie sheet. bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. remove from the oven and place a chocolate kiss on top of each cookie, pressing down so the cookie cracks around the edge.

wishing you a very merry christmas filled with love and joy!

gingerbread houses

the kids made these cute little gingerbread houses with their cousins over the weekend. i didn't get a chance to take photos while they were making them, so here's a few the morning after.

evan's dinosaurs started attacking his house...

grammy's gingerbread is so delicious!

oranges and lemons

i picked a whole box full of these beauties from my parent's backyard. the kids eat the oranges like candy and the lemons are sooo juicy and delicious.

favorite snack

air popped popcorn with a drizzle of butter and a light sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese. mmm.

i asked evan to smile for me and these are the faces he gives me

finally a smile :)

my sweet boy is growing up too fast. he will be three in february.

recent read...

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is an amazing book. it is the heartbreaking account of the drive of the native american indians from their homeland, told from the perspective of native americans. I highly recommend this book.

2 months

little lorelei is 2 months old. she just started sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at night, which makes me feel like a brand new person! she is such a sweet baby, always giving us lots of smiles.

balla family

this fun session was from back in september. it was a super dark and overcast day, so i had to boost the iso WAY up. between that and the mosquitos that were eating us alive, we still managed to get some cute photos. here's just a few...