A Christmas to remember!

Sophia in her Santa outfit Katie got
her on Christmas Eve

We had the most wonderful Christmas with our families this year! It started off with a nice small get together for Christmas Eve at Jeff's parents with some aunts, uncles and cousins we hadn't seen in a very long time! It was so nice to visit with them and catch up, not to mention laugh until our sides hurt! Jeff's mom made a delicious dinner and we opened gifts and just relaxed. It was a lot of fun! Once we got home we put Sophia to bed, and it was now time for us to be Santa. Since Sophia loves to pull all of my pots and pans out of the cupboards and pretend like she is cooking, we thought it would be a good idea to get Sophia her own little play kitchen set for Christmas. So Jeff put it all together and we set it up in front of the Christmas tree along with filling her stocking and putting some other presents out by the tree. I have to admit, as tired as I was, I almost couldn't sleep Christmas Eve night, because I was so excited to see Sophia's face when she woke up in the morning.

Sophia's little reindeer feet on her Christmas PJ's

Christmas morning Jeff and I woke up around 7:30, and went out by the tree to wait for Sophia to wake up. Fortunately Jeff's family lives fairly close so his parents and sister, Katie, and her husband, Kevin, came over early before Sophia woke up to watch her open her gifts from Santa. Around 8:15 am Jeff went upstairs to see if she was awake. She hadn't made a peep, and was just up there hanging out in bed. As we sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting excitedly for her to come down, Jeff and Sophia appeared at the top of the stairs. Sophia looked at us all and smiled and was in such a great mood! Hand in hand Jeff and Sophia slowly came down the stairs and at first Sophia didn't realize her big kitchen set, she was just so excited to see everyone there waiting for her so early in the morning. Then once we showed her the kitchen set Santa had brought her, that's all she wanted to play with! She was pretending to make us coffee and food and then she would bring it to each of us. The cutest part was that she would watch us eat or drink it and then take it back and ask us "more"?

Sophia laughing when Jeff showed her the burner
made a boiling sound

After that we began opening all of our presents to each other, while we tried to get Sophia to part from her kitchen to open one present every now and then. Once we were finished around 10:00 am, my family and siblings came over and we all enjoyed a yummy breakfast (courtesy of Nelson and Kevin). I kept trying to get in there and help cook, but they kept kicking me out telling me to relax, lol. The breakfast was soooo good, complete with french toast, eggs, hash browns, and bacon! We all enjoyed our breakfast together and visited. It was so relaxing and such a wonderful blessing to have both sides of our families all together at our house on Christmas morning!

After a while, Jeff's parents, Katie and Kevin left because they had to go home to get ready for Christmas dinner at there house. We then opened presents with my family and hung out for a while. Sophia got so many wonderful gifts that I'm sure will keep her busy for a VERY long time! Among them were books, coloring books, Alphabet puzzles, a motorized Barbie quad and an art easel. She absolutely loves to draw and was always coloring on my little sister's easel every time she went over to their house so my mom really wanted to get her an easel of her own. It's really cool because it comes with a side that has a chalk board and then a side with a dry erase board and 75 magnetic letters to help her learn the alphabet. Jeff and I also got her a baby doll with a highchair, car seat and baby bassinet. We want her to learn how to help take care of her little sister once she is born and how to be gentle and kind to her. Sophia was quite burned out by the end of opening all of her presents, so we put her down for a nap with her new sponge Bob blanket and pillow (she is obsessed with Sponge Bob!). Jeff and I were just as pooped as she was, so we laid down for a little cat nap as well, before we had to get up and get ready to go over to my grandparents for Christmas dinner. It was so nice to have some down time to rest and relax with Jeff before we had to rush off again!

This Christmas had to be one of my very favorites by far, not because of any of the presents, but because I got to see my daughter's eyes light up with excitement and because we enjoyed a wonderful morning with both of our families all together. And though it was a FULL house and a bit squishy, it just made Christmas complete to have all the people we loved all together under one roof celebrating the birth of Christ!

Our Christmas Card...

This year I thought it would be cool and different to send out a email slide show Christmas card with pics of our changing family throughout this last year. As most of you know we found out in June that we will be expecting another child due Feb 8th by c-section. On top of this wonderful news we have been blessed so much this year with wonderful friends and family and amazing opportunities that the Lord has put in front of us. We are so excited for what the New Year holds in store for our family as we welcome another little girl into this world and (Lord willing), sell our house and move to a more family friendly area for our kids. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

P.S. Before pushing play don't forget to pause the music at the bottom so you can hear the music /with the/ slide show:)

Prayer Request...

Colds seem to be getting passed around worse than ever this year and holding on longer than they used to. Unfortunately after my beautiful baby shower, I came down with what I had thought was a common cold that would last a few days and then hopefully go away. I have now been sick for a week and a half and it is beginning to take it's toll on me and my body. I have not been able to sleep the last few nights due to chronic coughing and sinus headaches and was beginning to get pretty worn out! During pregnancy there is little one can do to relieve any sort of cold symptoms, so I have just been taking Tylenol for the headaches, hot showers for the congestion, and throat lozenges for my dry soar throat. But it has seemed to do little in the way of helping my body fight this cold. I have also been sleeping upstairs in our spare bedroom so that I wouldn't cough all night all over Jeff and give it to him or keep him up since he has to get up early for work every day. And though it is quite a challenge, I have also been trying to hold Sophia the least amount as possible and when she wants to give me kisses, I turn my head so she kisses my cheek and not my lips because I really don't want her to get it! Wednesday morning Sophia began sneezing and I was hoping it was just a tickle in her nose and not any sign of a cold to come. Well yesterday her nose was a little faucet and she began sneezing more and had a slight temperature. I also should have known she wasn't quite herself, because she gets extra clingy and needy when she's not feeling well. I am really hoping it's a just a little cold and not the same bug I am continuing to fight!

Last year Sophia was sick during Christmas and it was not the relaxing, wonderful first Christmas for her that we had hoped. So I am asking if you could please pray for our family's health. We would really appreciate prayer for Jeff, that he can stay cold-free and continue to enjoy the holidays. Also for Sophia, that she can kick this cold fast and be better before Christmas so she can really enjoy her second Christmas! And lastly for me and the baby, that I will be able to get over this cold before it turns into anything worse (like pneumonia), and that the baby continues to stay healthy and grow strong. My family and I know that God has us in His care and we truly appreciate your prayers for us! Thank you, God bless, and I hope you and your families are enjoying this wonderful time of year!

This picture has nothing to do with my post, I just thought it was too cute so I had to share it with you:) It's of Sophia kissing my friend, Lauren's son, Jude. It's just one of those sweet little innocent moments that melt your heart.

Two weeks and counting...

A few months back Sophia started showing an interest in potty training. So we thought,hey why not? She is a little early to be starting the potty training process, but Jeff and I thought why not start her now and just let her do it at her own pace, and maybe she will be diaper free before the second baby comes. Well, as of two Mondays ago, Sophia has not pooped in her diaper for two weeks now! She has told us every time that she needs to go "boop-boop" (poo-poo) before hand and then we put her on her potty seat and she goes in the toilet. She gets so excited and is so proud of herself that she'll clap for herself and then want to give me a high-five and a hug. We are so proud of her, after all, changing a poopy diaper is a lot worse than changing a peepy diaper. She's still working on going tinkle in the toilet, but she still doesn't have it completely down yet. She goes off and on in the toilet, but still will tell me right after she went in her diaper too. I really hope this continues, because then we are half way there to tackling the potty training before baby girl #2 arrives. Only having to change (and buy) one set of diapers would be such a blessing!!!

Now Available!

I have just posted gift certificates for my jewelry on Etsy in the amounts of $15.00 and $20.00! To check out these gift certificates and a complete selection of my jewelry go to GLASSCOCOON.esty.com.

Great Holiday Gifts!

I have just added some new designs just in time for the holidays! Below are a few styles, and be sure to check out my Esty shop at glasscocoon.etsy.com for a complete selection of my jewelry! I am also offering a holiday special on shipping. Buy one piece of jewelry and the shipping on the second item is free, so you only end up paying $2.00 shipping for two items!!! This special is going on now through Dec. 24th! Every item is always beautifully gift wrapped, and because of the holidays I am offering elegant holiday wrapping too!!!

Stress-free Holidays...

This year I vowed to get a jump start on all of the holiday "to-do's", so that when December finally rolled around, I would be able to relax and enjoy Christmastime rather than running around like crazy trying to get all of the shopping done. After all the meaning of Christmas is not about materialistic things as much as the media would like us to believe, but rather about spending time with the ones we love celebrating the birth of Christ, and also displaying Christ's character through our actions to take care of those less fortunate. I thought one way to make this time of year more enjoyable would be to simplify, so I suggested that we draw names on my family's side so that we were only buying and picking out a gift for one family member. After all, we have pretty much everything we need and the idea of just getting a present for someone "just to get one" didn't seem sincere to me. Now with only one person to buy for, we can really spend some time and thought on picking out what that person really needs! Jeff and I also started Christmas shopping a lot earlier, so that we would be done way before Christmas. As of right now, we only have two more people to shop for! And as I wrote in an earlier post, we decorated the house all Christmassy before we left for Washington on Thanksgiving, so we could enjoy the decorations right when we got back home. And I was so proud of Jeff for getting the Christmas lights up on the house before we left for Thanksgiving too, so now we can enjoy them every night. You can't tell from the picture I posted, but the lights are red and white like a candy cane. Jeff added more lights again this year and blew a couple fuses in the process, lol. But he and his co-worker, Joe, finally figured out a system. Sophia absolutely loves the Christmas lights and every time we turn them on she goes outside to look at them and says, "daddy", because she's telling us that daddy put them up. The only task left to do is put up our Christmas tree. We always have a real live tree, so we try to wait until the first week of December before getting one, to ensure that the tree lives until Christmas. When we were pulling out our decorations last week, we found a small pre-lit tree that we couldn't find a place for this year, so we decided to put it up in Sophia's room. Now every time we go up to her room she asks me to plug in the tree so she can see it all lit up. We decorated it all "girly" with purple snowflake garland, purple sparkly balls, and purple icicles. And now she gets to enjoy her very own little Christmas tree.

Here's a picture of our house all lit up!

I have also been enjoying baking lots of holiday goodies this year (and trying not to eat them all)! Among them have been fudge brownies, chocolate chunk cookies, peanutbutter cookies, and dark chococlate peppermint bark. This is the first year I have made peppermint bark and found it to be so easy and soooo yummy that I thougth I would share the recipe with you :)

Peppermint Bark:

Ingredients:

6 ounces (150 grams) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (do not use chocolate chips!)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

6 ounces (150 grams) white chocolate, coarsely chopped (do not use white chocolate chips!)

1/3 - 1/2 cup (50 - 80 grams) crushed candy canes

Peppermint Bark: Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch (23 cm) square baking pan with aluminum foil, smoothing out any wrinkles.

Melt the semi sweet chocolate and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Immediately pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so the chocolate makes an even layer. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Then, melt the white chocolate and remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Immediately pour the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate and tilt the pan so the chocolate is in an even layer. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes evenly over the white chocolate. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Remove the Peppermint Bark from the pan by lifting the edges of the aluminum foil. Peel back the foil and break the bark into small irregular pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Makes about 25 pieces.


P.S. Just beware, it's addicting!