This Week, So Far

 Vadar loves to chase snowballs.  And Jon loves to throw them for Vadar.  Check out how high he's jumping!

 Sarah singing, "Away in a Manger" for the church kids' program.  Don't you want to squeeze that little girl in the pink?!

 Jon, in his new bow tie, also singing at church.

A homegrown Christmas tree.  Yes, I know it's crooked and a bit sparse on one side.  It's a second/cull tree.  We think it's lovely.

We've had a nice amount of snow since Sunday night.  Just enough to turn everything white and build a snowman, but not so much that I can't drive (if I really need to--I'm horrible scared of snow driving.) to town.  

The little kids helped make Christmas cookies last night.  Why is it that I'm the only one who completes this project?  After haphazardly mangling the dough (my mom always made us start around the edges, all tidy-like) everyone abandons me until the frosting comes out.  Then after eating/licking the better part of the bowl of frosting they all walk away and leave me to finish.  I don't even LIKE to decorate cookies!  I did, finally, find a cookie recipe that I like.  I'll post it later.

I made a super easy dinner last night too.  Shrimp and rice.  And beans.  I bought large shrimp ($16!) and marinated them in a mixture of 1/2 C. olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, juice from 2 limes, and a dash of chili powder.  Then I simply broiled them under the oven broiler for about 5 minutes.  That's it!  The rice was just a version of Spanish rice: 1 C. rice sauteed with butter, onions, and peppers, then cooked with a can of diced tomatoes and enough water to equal 2 C. liquid.  Oh, and salt and chili powder too.