Last night was a date night! Hip Hip Hooray! Since Charis has been sick lately I have really been trying to keep her in a lot to keep from furthering the cold that she has. Last night Brad and I left Charis behind with grandparents and went out with the Johnson’s. We often do wild and crazy things with the Johnson’s like going to Wal-mart or something along those lines. We still have a great time but we just act like old fogies. We actually went for dessert at Johnny Carinos last night and might I say that they have a fine chocolate cake dessert! It was so tasty! We did come back to our house afterwards for a game night but it is not so bad being at your own house with dear friends. We played a good game of Scrabble which I lost but hey you have to let others win sometimes ya know! We also played Uno Attack. Kevin just thought this was the best game of the evening. I have to admit it was fun! It was very sweet to have an evening with dear friends and to get out of the house as well!

I cannot get away from the free Kraft magazine that I spoke of earlier in the blog. I tried the Chocolate-Candy Cane Cake earlier this week and it was quite tasty. Peppermint is usually not my favorite but I thought that it just looked too pretty to pass up. If you can get your cake to look like the picture you are incredible though! Since the “frosting” is Cool Whip it is hard to get it to stay in place as it gets a little gloopy. Also word to the wise…wait till the last minute to put on the crushed candy cane; the red will bleed into the Cool Whip. I also had to store the cake in the fridge while serving it since it would get so puddley. It was still a huge hit though at Bible Study as good chunk of the cake was gone. It was such a big hit that I do recommend the cake just mind the puddles.

Charis was almost eaten by Binkit (pet bunny who lives in the kitchen)! It was quite a scary moment. It turns out that Charis is mobile even in her exersaucer. She can rock back and forth and scoot it anywhere that she wants to go and this particular day she decided to see the bunnies up close and personal! I was doing dishes and faced away from Charis and the bunnies so at the point that I turned around Charis had her fingers in the cage and Binkit was up on her hind legs sniffing and showing Charis her teeth. I grabbed the exersaucer and gave it a good tug across the room because I was not sure what actions Binkit would take. Charis thought it was funny, Binkit was quite happy that the fingers that were intruding her palace were gone and I was just relived that Charis still had fingers. You just never know what is going to come up in your day with a 7.5 month old.

Charis has her first official cold! It is the saddest thing and there is really nothing that you can do. I know that you do not want all the details but you will get some of them… Her nose just keeps running poor thing. It is really hard for her to eat since her nose is so stuffy. When I put food in her mouth she starts to “chew” it and then opens her mouth to breath and the food falls out then she gets frustrated because she does not know where the food went. This is sad I know. She hates having her nose sucked out but if I do not suck it out then it just runs everywhere and I do not care for that. I am working up my nerve to do the saline drops but I know that she will really hate that. Everyone says it works to help dry up the snoot but I do not care for making her that mad. I will do it eventually; I just need to keep working up to it. She loves sucking her passey but it is hard when you are not able to breath thru your nose so this to frustrates her to no end. You hear this suck suck , breath and cry (because she is frustrated). This pattern goes on and on. It is sad when your little one is sick!

I feel that I am all alone in the world! I always thought that I was normal until this year. Brad has given me such a bad time over the years about my need to know what a present is before it is time to know. Essentially, I am a peeker and a snoop! I know that this comes as a shock and surprise to many of you but it is true! I will admit it. I just love to know what is in that box and pretty paper! Everyone says that I am ruining the surprise, trust me it is still a surprise though and I am still excited when I open it for real as well because then I can take it out of the package to actually use!!! I generally can guess what the package is without opening it as well. Brad’s mom found this out last year. After all these years she finally found me out. My mom has known for a very long time. I am not sure how she figured it out but moms know these things. When I was little I use to open my presents that I could not figure out and then rewrap them. I am really good at the tape and then lining it back up just so. Sad, I know. Anyways, we had our bible study the other night and out of 14 people I was the only peeker. This was devastating to me thus began my quest to find other peekers. I think that I may be all alone though but I just find this hard to believe. We had dinner group tonight and I asked them if they were peekers and still none! I cannot explain my devastation about all the good little boys and girls in the world. I mean does it not just eat at you to know what is in that pretty little wrapped package? I am just a snoop! So much so that Brad keeps my gifts in his office until Christmas Eve. The sad thing is…it is not just my gifts. I love to guess other peoples gifts as well. That is how Brad’s mom found out about my guessing abilities last year. I just had to know if I was correct or not on something for Brad’s dad and she was amazed. It is such a fun game to me. I will even peek at others gifts. It is too much fun! Well, I guess I just want to know if there are any other present peekers out there. Anyone?

What you say? I have gone crazy you say! Jell-o is jell-o and not a cookie…oh but it is I say! I made some yummy cookies today if I do say so myself. I signed up on Kraft’s website to receive their recipe magazine food & family (for free mind you) and it had this intriguing recipe for jell-o cookies (see link below). I decided what the hay why not try something new and different, as I love different things! They are so tasty! You can make them in any jell-o flavor as you might imagine but I did strawberry as I was going for the festive holiday look. I am making lime next so I will keep you posted. They taste like little strawberry cakes. Yummy!

Jell-O Pastel Cookies

There is a chance for snow here tonight technically tomorrow since it should start just after midnight! We rarely get a good snow so if it snows enough to cover the ground the whole town shuts down, grocery stores run out of bread and milk and school gets out. What is it with the bread and milk at any rate? Snow makes you want milk and you crave a good piece of bread? I am not sure. Anyways, I have my hopes set high for a good dusting. It isn’t like I would not be home anyway tomorrow but how nice to see everything white, calm and peaceful when I wake. It would be Charis’s first time to see the snow. How fun!!! Plus maybe just maybe Brad would stay home with us! He lived in Boston for a bit though and is generally no fun at playing the snowed in game since he can drive in the snow. Let me just say that no one here in this town can drive in the snow unless they moved in from a state that gets a good amount of snow. Everyone says that they can but no one honestly can. The meteorologist encourage part of the snow excitement when they start predicting all the snow that is coming and how you should run out to the store for the milk and bread. People start calling into radio stations telling their snow stories and how they were without the bread and milk druing the last snow. Then the snow starts and the radio stations skip the music all together for the breaking weather reports, traffic reports and who is stuck in what ditch and where. It is quite entertaining. We go through all this media hype and then when all the snow is done falling we have a very slight dusting as in you can still see patches of grass. It is fun though to hope for the snow and anxiously await its arrival. It turns me into a little kid again. There is innocence to the snow and fun to be had in the winter wonderland! Here is hoping!

Baby babble is just about the cutest thing! I know that you think that I have spent too much time with Charis now but there is just something so sweet to hear her little voice babble on and on about who knows what. She is into the mamamamams and the babababababas a little goobledy gop and some lalalalalalalas. It is a sweet sweet thing! It is precious to know that even these little sounds bring praise to the Lord.