Waters Top 10 of 2010

10. We moved to Syracuse NY and bought a house!!

9. We flooded our new house, and took out a huge section of ceiling.

8. Bailey was our Sunbeam this year. She kept busy with preschool, swimming lessons and ballet. She is getting bigger and smarter every day.

7. Kari started teaching piano lessons.

6. Avery went through a phase of throwing everything away, including our brand new GPS. Luckily, she grew out of it. Now she finally, finally, growing hair.

5. Mike fixed the ceiling, only to have a toilet leak ruin it one short week later.

4. Kari shoveled her very first driveway ever. She wasn’t very happy about four feet of snow in four days. She did a lot of shoveling.

3. Mike turned thirty!

2. We drove all over the country. We drove to Chicago, Washington D.C., Reno, SLC, Nauvoo, Ithaca, Syracuse more than once

1. Mike graduated medical school and started his orthopedics residency!

Gloria

Bailey and Avery have loved learning Christmas songs this year. My personal favorite was the two of them singing, "Angels we have heard on high." Avery singing the glorias is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. She sings them all the time- in the car, around the house, and in her crib (when she is supposed to be taking a nap). Here is a video of them singing their favorite Christmas song (taken with Mike's new camera):

Christmas Day

Christmas morning started at 7:30am. Lucky for us, Bailey didn't let the excitement get her up too early. However, since Avery was still sleeping, she had to wait. She ran downstairs and brought up her stocking. Inside, she found a new pair of earrings, a giant lip gloss, and three head bands. Bailey was a sweetheart, once she saw her stash she announced, "Since I have three head bands, I'm going to give one to Avery, and one to you, Mom."

Once Avery awoke, we headed downstairs, but Mike pulled a classic, "Wait! I'm not ready!" One of the things I remember about Christmas as a child was my dad always making us wait. First, he had to get dressed. Then, he had to make sure the camera was ready. Then... who knows what. I laughed when Mike was doing it too.

Finally, finally, it was time to open presents.

I love this picture. Bailey is so excited about her new zhu zhu pets. I'm glad she was so easily pleased... 

Bailey was thrilled to finally get a pillow pet. She has a few other big stuffed animals, including a pillow pet like duck from last year. I tried to tell her she already had one, but she wasn't convinced. Her duck didn't fold up like other pillow pets. I asked her why she wanted one. She said, "Because it's good for travel." Oh, really. I asked her where she learned that. "From T.V." Of course.

The girls were super excited about all their new toys and books. Avery's favorite present was the giant lip gloss (the green object in her hands in the above picture). That lip gloss did not leave her hands or purse (which is also always carried around) for a whole week, until it was gone. Maybe next year she'll just get lipglosses. (:

I surprised Mike with a Flip camcorder. Well, it was kind of a surprise. I told him there was no way we could afford it, but I went and asked parents to contribute instead of buying him a gift. I got a great deal on an amazon.com black friday sale, and wrapped it up. I figured he wouldn't be able to guess what it was because it was in such a small package. When I put it under the tree, he announced, "It's a camcorder!" I told him it was way too small, trying to through him off. He wasn't convinced. He, too, had seen a a tiny camcorder "on T.V." I'm beginning to think we watch too much T.V. around here...

I got the cheese making ingredients I wanted. Yes, I know, it sounds kind of weird. Oh well. I'm excited to give it a try.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!

Our little shepherds

This year, we celebrated Christmas a little bit early. Mike had to work on Christmas day, of course, but he did have Thursday off. So on Wednesday night, we had our Christmas Eve dinner. For the last few years, we've done a Shepherd's dinner and read the Christmas story from the scriptures. Here are our little shepherds:

We ate our Shepherd's dinner on a blanket, and talked about being both sheep and shepherds. It is a fun family tradition (picked up from ward friends in Columbus.) After that, we opened up Christmas pajamas, drank hot russian and had treats while Bailey and Avery ran around like crazy.

Bailey had been excited about Christmas in years past, but this was the first Christmas that she could hardly wait. She made sure Santa had cookies and milk, and that we put enough carrots out for ALL the reindeer. She was adorable!

Before she headed to bed, she asked us if Santa still left presents if she saw him. We told her he did, so less than a minute after we put her down, she was sneaking out, looking for Santa. We told her to at least wait until we went to bed to look for him, but that didn't stop her from making three more sneaky trips before she fell asleep at nine.

In case you are interested, here is the recipe for out Christmas Eve dinner:

Shepherd's Dinner

Serves at least 12

10 chicken breasts

Rub with garlic and sprinkle with Lawry Season salt

3 to 4 c red potatoes diced (not peeled)

2 c sweet potatoes peeled and dices

2 c cooking apples sliced

3 c carrots, peeled and sliced

2 c celery

1 c raisins

1 c craisins

1 c pecans chopped coarsely

2 bunches green onions chopped

2 tsp cinnamon

Tear parchment paper into squares.  Place chicken in center.  Toss all other ingredients together.  Heap veggies on top of breasts.  Bring 4 corners up and tie with string (twine, kite string).  Put bunches on cookies sheet for one hour at 350 degrees.

Sauce:

1 c beef broth

1 c cream of mushroom soup

½ c orange juice concentrate

½ c currant jelly

¼ tsp minced garlic

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp onion salt

1 tsp dried basil

½ c melted butter

Mix above ingredients together, heat, and serve warm

Polar Express

This year, we took the girls on a train ride to the "North Pole." They had a fun time riding the train, eating treats, and seeing Santa Claus.

Well, Bailey saw Santa. Avery was less that thrilled with the idea...

First Snow

The beginning of December brought the first snow of the season. Bailey and Avery could not contain their excitement. When they woke up (at 6:30am I might add), they immediately wanted to play in the quarter inch of snow that had collected on the deck. Here they are in their snow things, ready to play:

Please note that it is still dark outside! They didn't want breakfast or anything before they headed out to the snow.

In case you're wondering, we've had a total of six feet of snow already. Four feet of those where dumped in four days. It was snow like I have never seen it before. Bailey can't get enough of it, but poor Avery has had a hard time walking around in such deep snow. Syracuse really is a winter wonderland!