highlights from Dec 2008

Matching PJs and Mexican Hot Chocolate...look at those great moustaches. If you've never had mexican hot chocolate before, you are missing out. Abuelita brand is my favorite. Heat up four cups of milk, put a round tab of Abuelita chocolate into the blender. Pour the hot milk on top let it start to melt and then blend it up. Its a tradition for Brock's family to have it Christmas morning while opening presents...its my tradition to have it year round, and on the night we decorate the tree.

We celebrated Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve with our Plumb family. Here is a group shot of the festivities; 4 of my siblings were there. It's amazing to me how well my mom plays the piano. Some carolers stopped by and sang a couple songs and after they had already begun singing, my mom was able to sit down at the piano and match the key they were in. It was a bunch of little kids and she was able to join right in without making them change to a different key. It was amazing.

We spent the rest of Christmas in Paradise with Brock's fam and had a wonderful time up where it was a little colder. Ashlyn and Claire enjoyed their cousins and Lara enjoyed having lots of people to sleep on.

We celebrated Grandma Bonnie's 90th birthday, and had a fun Rockwood reunion/party.

I love this picture of Ashlyn peeking around her chair on Christmas morning at the presents. The week was spent playing with toys (feeding a playdough ice cream cone to tickle me Ernie), tormenting the dachshunds, and of course more mexican hot chocolate...

Which inspired these photos...

Here are a few other photos to wrap up the highlights for Claire and Ahlyn. Here is Claire having Tim and Becca help her open gifts. Aunt Becca lived with us when Claire was a baby and I swear some sort of imprinting took place, she LOVES her aunt Becca and now her fiance Tim as well. Claire also loves the baby play mat/mobile we have especially when her baby is in it. I find it hard to give Lara consistant "tummy time" or rolling time on the floor...too vulnerable.

Ashlyn is enjoying her Joy school group (one of the boys is missing from the group shot, there are five in the group and all the moms rotate teaching two days a week). We did a fun Christmas party and Ashlyn got to be the angel for the nativity. She was very excited about her gingerbread man as you can see, and she still often makes reference to what happened around Christmas time and what we should do next Christmas.

Voila I filled in the big gaping hole in my posting of Christmas/December 2008 and can now resume with more current events next time.