January at our house

 Clark wanted to be wrapped up like a baby, but I think he got tired of it pretty fast.

We don't have any big trees in our backyard, but wind blows our neighbor's leaves right up our driveway where they get trapped in our backyard. The kids had fun playing in the leaf pile we made from them. Yesterday it was so warm that we had a picnic in our backyard in shorts. Of course it had been 20 degrees the day before that when I went to work. Dallas weather is crazy.

We blew up some balloons this morning that were left over from the mixed pack we bought for Clark's birthday. The kids are playing hide the balloon right now. Mine is kind of hard to hide.

 This is Trader Joe's Poutine. It was actually quite good once I doctored it up. I added a little salt (a huge surprise that poutine needed salt), black pepper and red pepper flakes to the gravy. My pregnant wife suddenly found poutine more to her liking, much to my disappointment. As you can see this bag only made a single serving. But being the amazing husband that I am, I shared a few bites with her.

Incognito

Homemade Donut Day!

 We don't live close to a good donut place anymore, so we bought a donut pan and made our own.

Sabrina said they were even better than ones we buy at a donut shop. I can tell you that this statement is objectively false. They were quite good, though.

As a side note, we finally found a babysitter from the ward who lives down the street. The kids had lots of fun with her babysitting, and we enjoyed getting out on a date. Sabrina also gave us a through report about her. She said "Lots of calls kept coming in for her. She ignored most of them, and only answered a few." "She said she gets lots of phone calls because she is cool." It is very cute to hear a 4 year old report about a teenage girl's activities.

Mimi Visit!

Mimi came down to visit us for a week! Clark wasn't sure about her for the first day or two. Then they found this bear book at Half Price Books. Suddenly Mimi and her hand puppet bear became Clark's favorite people around. They spent quite a bit of time exactly like in this picture. There was a humorous moment at the store when Clark asked Mimi a question about the bear's anatomy in order to confirm that the bear was a boy. Clark is loud enough that I heard him clearly from a short distance away.  He often asks that particular question.

Impromptu family photo on a bridge at one of our favorite parks. The kids smile much better when Mimi is taking a picture than when we are taking it. 

 For New Year's Eve we went to a party at a friend's house. They had requested formal attire, so we glammed up. Well, one of us glammed it up and I put on a suit.

 I also dressed up a little to go out for a pork chop lunch at Perry's with my mom. I think it is delicious, and my mom seemed to enjoy it, too.

We also brought one home for Yogurl, since she hasn't gotten a chance to get to Perry's yet.

We don't have more pictures of doing exciting things with Mimi since the weather was pretty bad when she was here. So mostly we stayed in and read books and just enjoyed having her visit. We can't wait to see her again!

Merry Christmas!

 We had a wonderful Christmas, and we hope you did too.

 Sabrina's Christmas program at Pre-School had the 4 year olds as Christmas trees and the 3 year olds as angels. Sabrina learned how to sign and sing Silent Night. She is standing between her two best pre-school friends. They like to play Power Rangers together. Can you believe that kids still play Power Rangers?

 We went and saw Santa Claus at Half Price Books. Sabrina had been eager to meet one, and this one was pretty good. Clark didn't talk much, but he wasn't scared of him, so that was pretty good.

 Before opening gifts on Christmas Eve, we went for a drive to look at beautiful Christmas lights in the wealthy part of town. On the drive home, Sabrina fell asleep. I suggested she could just go to bed and we could wait until the next day to open gifts. She didn't think that was a good idea. We enjoyed some Christmas cookies and eggnog as we opened gifts.

 A new banjo for Yogurl and a new harmonica for me. Now we just need to get Sabrina on mandolin and Clark on the washboard and we will be set.

 Happy gift opening chaos.

 Beautiful hair on Christmas morning for more gifts and stuffed stockings (though no fireplace over which to hang them).

An older sister in our ward from France gave us a Buche de Noel recipe. It turned out quite tasty, and ridiculously rich. Speaking of French foods, Trader Joe's now sells poutine! Haven't tried it yet, but I will keep you posted.

Merry Christmas!