Christmas Eve Dinner- Raclette!!

On Christmas Eve our family ate one of our favorite meals.... Raclette, which is french for "to scrape". It consists of raclette cheese, petite potatoes, cornichon pickles and cocktail onions, and of course, plenty of baguettes to go along with it. You melt the Raclette cheese over the little burner in the middle of the table and pour or "scrape" it over the potatoes, pickles, and onions. The combination of flavors is so delicious and unique. Mike also prepared different sausages to go along with it, which satisfies Phil's need for a "beefier" dish :) Grandma made the table extra beautiful with linens she purchased in Europe. It was so beautiful and added to the ambiance of the evening!
This meal is much more than a tasty, palette pleasing experience, it runs deeper than that. for me, it brings back wonderful memories of spending time with my family in Europe and eating this dish in both Switzerland and France. I want to take Phil and the kids there someday to eat it in the European setting, which brings this meal "to life". Bon Appetit!

Julie and Sarah

Sarah and Julie posing in my mom's living room. I love you, Sarah!

Visting with Ryan and Sarah

Phil and I had a great time visiting with Sarah and Ryan Rickels. We didn't have a lot of time to spend together, but it was quality time and we were grateful for whatever time we could get. Merry Christmas Ryan and Sarah! We love you guys!!

HAIRCUT!

To my surprise I came home today and found Julie had taken Madeline to get a hair cut. Her hair was just below her shoulders and was really cute. At first I didn't like it because it had taken her so long to grow it out.

However Madeline had requested it and she is quite happy. It is growing on me.

What do you think?

I asked Madeline to not grow up so quickly, she said "I'll try, but you'll have to make the years go by slower".

This is our neighbor's daughter Erica. They are wonderful neighbors and this evening we had a gift exchange with them. Erica babysits for us often and the kids love her. We are truly blessed to have such awesome neighbors.

Camping In Arkansas

These are some photos of a camping trip back in October. The kids loved it and had a great time. They loved when I would make Daddy's Dirty Eggs and Bacon over the fire for breakfast each morning. We rented a pontoon boat and went out for the day, we tried to fish but didn't catch anything. Although Nathan laid his pole down for a few minutes with his hook in the water and had a bite and the fish yanked his pole into the water. He didn't mind a whole lot as he had already lost interest in fishing with no action.

Mostly the kids just loved hanging around the campsite and campfire. We were right on the edge of the water on a penninsula. Madeline & Nathan spent a great deal of time just throwing rocks into the water. At only $10 a night for the campsite it was a great deal and we had an amazing view. We wished it had been just a little bit cooler, it was in the low 80's and it didn't cool off much at all at night. We slept with a battery operated fan hanging just inches over our heads to create a light breeze during the night.

Next year we're hoping to upgrade from a tent to a popup camper with AC so that we actually camp more often.

Sweet Caroline

When each of our children were born I took one roll of Black & White film in the delivery room.

This is one of my favorites. Just minutes after sweet Caroline was born I took this photo. I have an 8 x 10 hanging up in my office at work and I get a lot of comments on it.

Nathan! Nathan!

Nathan is almost 3 1/2 and is growing up so quickly. Back in September we went to Galveston and spent the day at Moody Gardens. Several of the video clips are from that day. Nathan has a few outfits that he loves and he likes to wear them several days in a row and refuses to wear something different. He is wearing his "basketball" outfit comprised of sweat pants and a sweatshirt that he is now wearing for the third day in a row.

Let's try a photo.

Welcome to our new Family Site.

I'm new to "blogging" and I'm trying to find an easier way to post photos of kids to share more easily with friends and family.