Spoiled

Jeff and I were completely spoiled this Christmas, as in Christmas' past.  We have the best families and they all got us such wonderful, thoughtful, and generous gifts.  I felt especially blessed and loved this past weekend as we got to use and enjoy many of them.

Mamal (my mom's mom) sent us a most exciting package before we left for Texas.  She is one of the kindest, most generous people I know.  One of the things she sent was absolutely perfect for me and I was thrilled that she thought of me when she saw it in a catalog.  It's a silicon train cake mold!  It's so cute!  Even Jeff couldn't wait to try it out.  And yesterday, we did just that.

 I was very excited to use my new mixer from my parents for the first time.  Somehow I have never owned my own mixer and I forgot how nice and easy they make things!  (Notice the train mold on the left).

 The set up.  The little train cars came out surprisingly well.  There was minimal sticking to the mold.

 (Almost) getting caught licking my fingers.

 Putting on the finishing touches.  Notice the terrible mess we made.

The finished product.  Adorable right? 

I think we have found a new Christmas tradition.  We had so much fun doing it.  It will likely take the place of gingerbread houses in the years to come.

 Jeff made a cute little Christmas tree for the center.

 Jeff's cute caboose

Red sprinkles = hot coals

Luke took his afternoon nap sitting up while Jeff and I played Mario Kart on the Wii.  By the by, now that we have the classic controller, which is a lot like the N64 controllers that I used to play with, I have become a formidable opponent  to Jeff.  We get 1st and 2nd place virtually every time and I get 1st some of the time.  As a result, Jeff has gotten significantly meaner to me while we play.

I also made homemade baby food for the first time yesterday.  I used my fabulous new chopper that Jeff got me for Christmas to puree the carrots and sweet potatoes.  I got about 14 jars worth of food out of one big sweet potato and a 1 lb. bag of whole carrots; serious money saver!

We also got my beautiful 'O Jerusalem' picture framed this weekend.  I love it!  The frame is gold, while all of the other frames in our living room are black so it doesn't match, but I love too much not to hang it.

In other news, we have been enjoying Jeff's fancy new TV for a few days now.  He bought it with the Christmas and birthday money from my parents and the the Christmas money from Grandma Fisher and the Christmas money from Mamal (believe it or not, he got a good deal!).  He is so excited about it and it really is a nice TV.

And I leave you with this ...

 Isn't Luke adorable all wrapped up after his bath?