Christmas

Christmas eve was so great. We had our Christmas eve dinner and had tons of ham and mashed potatoes, lots of veggies, and shloer (like martinelli's). We invited several people over for dinner but no one showed up so we had a lot of left overs. We went with our friends, the Cave's, to her father's village. They have a tradition to come together as a village and sing carols at the town center. It was awesome. There was a brass band, lights, christmas tree, and a full town center. It was a perfect scene with the snow on the ground and Eliza and new best friend Evie singing and playing around. We went back to Louise's family's home for hot cocoa, roasted chestnuts and chocolate. It was such a great evening with warm memories.

Christmas morning was great. We have a video of the first 10 minutes of the morning so you can get an idea of our morning. Eliza has been looking forward to a blue crown and a pink trumpet. She has been asking for them for months so it was exciting to see her eyes when she finally got her desire. She wore the crown all day and carried her trumpet everywhere and even slept with it.

I love Christmas when something as small as a princess juice box makes Eliza happy.

I hope that eveyone had a great, safe, and happy Christmas filled with many warm memories.

Eliza turns 3

With all of the excitement of the cruise and the big boat and London, Eliza was still waiting for her third birthday. We have told Eliza that her birthday is after the big boat so she was excited for that. Even when we were on the boat she would tell people "I am not 3 yet" so when her birthday finally came it was exciting. She woke up in the morning and I told her she was three and she said "no I am not, I am not bigger yet". Then after breakfast she came in and said " ok I am bigger now. I am 3". We had a great birthday. We all went swimming and she loved it. The pool was a perfect depth for Eliza to walk around but still learn to swim. That night her friends came over and made the day seem very special. We had a tinklebell cake and great presents.

Truly Eliza was the greatest Christmas I have ever had. I still remember being in the hospital on Christmas Eve and the carolers came by and started to sing "come let us adore him". Tears came to my eyes because I wanted to adore my little girl. She has brought so much joy to my life. When she is asleep, I miss her. She is so obedient, gentle hearted and loves her brother. I love her twirls and dancing and wanting to dress up. I am grateful every day that Heavenly Father trusted us with this special spirit.

London

After our cruise we ported in Southampton and caught a bus up to London. We stayed in London for 3 days visiting one of my friends. It was awesome. We visited a big Christmas festival. Eliza rode on the swings, two times she loved it so much. We tried to take her out after her first ride and she did not want to get out, so she rode again. We walked down Oxford street and it was awesome, lights everywhere, windows decorated, and a little German market with brats and a brass band. It was so great!

We toured all day Monday and visited a lot of the touristy sites, not all because there are so many places to see in London. London is so fascinating with all of the architecture and history all over the city.

cute moments on the cruise

Eliza loved to dance on the boat. They had a couple of dance floors and live bands so she was in heaven. Here are a few pictures of her dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw1wJSrh5MA

One night at dinner eliza was being really cute. She was singing jingle bells while eating ice cream. It was a riot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDPG0EF1pM4

cruise

I have been planning for a cruise for over a month and a half. Initially David and I wanted to tour Europe during the Christmas break, go to Albania, Italy, Switzerland, but as I started researching and preparing for the trip it just seemed more and more difficult. The cost was way over what we could afford and traveling with 2 kids seeing things they don't care about and isn't fun. Can you imagine a 16 month old in the Sistine Chapel? As the dream of traveling Europe while we were this close died, I was inspired. I still wanted to see Europe and be with my family. I wanted something relaxing for David after finals and his first semester at medical school. I was inspired to look into cruises near by. I found one that would fit our budget and we could really enjoy Christmas. It was called the Christmas market cruise. We left Monday Dec, 14 and it was a 5 day cruise. I have been telling Eliza that we are going to go on a big boat for over a month. She told all of her friends and everyone at church so it was exciting to finally see our boat. It wasn't a huge ship but big for us, 800 passangers and 300 crew. We were the only young ones on the boat, there was nothing on the boat for the children and it was very cold, so no swimming, no tennis, golf or hot tub, but it was AWESOME!!!! We ate ,ate, napped, danced and played cards and just were together. It was so great to be there as a family and play together. The children were great and everyone thought they were darling.

We visited Bremerhaven, Germany and Amsterdam. We were planned to visit Belgium but due to inclimate weather we couldn't port. It snowed out to sea and the captain said it was his first time seeing snow out to sea. This was the big freeze that came over Europe and effected a lot of transportation, but we had a great day at sea.

In Bremerhaven we visited the zoo which was really cold but the animals were all up and ready for their breakfasts, so it was great to see the animals so active and close up.

Also we went to the climahouse, which is like a discovery museum for climates and different cultures. It was huge and had some great exhibits, plus it was inside. It is the building that looks like a huge raft.

It was very cold in Germany. We finally found the Christmas market and it was great. We ate brauts German style. they were great.

Amsterdam was awesome. We went on a little canal cruise, and it was great because it took us down all of the beautiful canals and showed us the main sites of the city and it was heated so that was a plus. We walked down the market street that led us to the main city square and it was beautifully lighted. Our camera was dead at that point so we didn't get any pics, but it was awesome. We found the flower market. As we walked down the market it started to snow. It was so awesome and added to the ambiance of the Christmas feeling. We headed back to the boat a little early and enjoyed a warm very tasty dinner. It was so relaxing not to worry about food.

We were supposed to port in Belgium but the weather was bad. The captain tried to get us to port at several other places but nothing worked out. We stayed out to sea and played on the boat.

It was such a great vacation to be with my family and see a little part of Europe.

Fenton Dancing

Fenton loves his sister and loves to do whatever she is doing, including dancing. Eliza loves to twirl so Fenton has learned the art of twirling. He gets his stance and then waits, holding the pose until he is fully ready, then he twirls. It is a masculine twirl but still cute.

fudge

I made fudge for Thanksgiving and it was quite the challenge. I couldn't find the marshmallow fluff that makes fudge so easy, so I improvised and used marshmallows. That is also hard to find. I found a bag of big marshmallows but they were pink and white and the pink ones had a strawberry flavor to it. I picked all of the pink ones out, and with a recipe from my sister I made some pretty good fudge.

(remember that our fridge is a mini fridge, perfect size for Fenton) The fudge was so good I caught Fenton red handed. (my narration of the picture) "What mom, I didn't do anything wrong" Notice the fudge smears on the freezer next to the fridge. You gotta love a boy that loves fudge.