Prayer Request

Next Wednesday, Jan 5, Camille is scheduled to have eye surgery.

She doesn't do it all the time, but these pictures give examples of how her eyes diverge when looking at a distance.....especially if she is also looking up.  The surgery pulls in a tiny muscle from beside each eye, forcing her eyes inward....and hopefully also forcing them to work together.  Her ophthalmologist said her vision is actually quite good, but her eyes are not working together.  The longer we wait, the more her brain is engrained with the compensation of shutting off one eye so she doesn't see two images.

She will be put under general anesthesia and will come home after a few hours.  She should be "herself" within 24 hours.  We may notice her eyes overcompensating by turning inward for a short time, but that should correct in 48 hours.  The surgery has an 85% chance of working.  If it doesn't work, she may need a second surgery. 

Please pray with us that Camille's surgery will go well...

1.  That she will not have any complications from the anesthesia

2.  That the Lord will guide the surgeon's hands

3.  That the surgery will work

4.  That Patrick and I will have peace that the Lord is in control through the whole process.

5.  That with the myriad of illnesses flying around, she will be healthy before and after surgery.

Wordless Wednesday

Holiday posts coming soon....

FREE VEGGIE TALES ALBUM

The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree is FREE on Amazon.com today.  Click here to download yours!!!

Flash Mob

I'm sure most of you have seen this by now, but in case you haven't.....

So cool!!!

Advent (and other December stuff)

This has been one of my favorite Christmas seasons ever.  I've been perusing blogs for the past few years getting advent ideas, but my girls were too young to really participate in much, and I just didn't get my act together.  This year I started planning in the fall, and we're having a blast!!!  I'm not as disciplined as some bloggers, so I'm not going to show you our daily tasks.  Plus, I don't have a formal schedule.  I just have a list of fun things for us to do....some of them scheduled, some of them not.  I wanted this month to have a real focus on Jesus, to truly build up to the excitement of celebrating Christ's birthday.  Some of our activities have a clear message attached, but I didn't try to attach a meaning or verse to EVERYTHING.  Some things are just fun!  Here are a few ideas I found through my research....some of which I hope will be traditions for years to come.

1.  We've been using this advent book as our family devotional book in the evenings.  My mom made us an advent wreath, and Adeline is learning the themes of each week and hopefully learning more about the Christmas story.  The lessons are short.  Each contains a scripture reading, lesson, song, and prayer.  

2.  I've been looking for a Christmas countdown calendar for YEARS!  I finally settled on this wooden gingerbread house.  It has 24 numbered little doors, and I put a treat (and sometimes a paper telling them about a fun activity planned for that day) in it each morning for the girls to find.  It's the first thing they do when they come downstairs.  As an added bonus, Adeline is practicing finding two digit numbers...

3.  After they find their treat, they usually open this box (which I just bought at Tuesday Mornings for $6!!!).  I spent hours reading books from the library, my collection, and my mom's collection to find books that the girls would enjoy/understand and that were not cheesy or conveying a message I don't want them to learn.  Most of them have a lesson or tell the story of Jesus, but a few of them like Fancy Nancy's Splendiferous Christmas are just fun.  Each book is added to our other Christmas books in a basket by the couch for them to enjoy throughout the month.

Here are a few of our fun activities....

4.  Opening presents from Aunt Lisa.  There was a misunderstanding with the caregiver at Lisa's house.  The gifts Lisa brought at Thanksgiving were intended for the girls to open then, but my parents were told they were for Christmas.  So, one morning last week, I let them open the gifts.  They were ADORABLE outfits for the girls, and Lisa even picked out an outfit for baby boy with a matching fleece blanket.

5.  Making Christmas cookies.  We've made three kinds so far.  Rock was over one day and helped to unwrap the mints for our special Chocolate Mint cookies.

 

6.  This might be my favorite activity.  Adeline had a date with her daddy to see The Nutcracker by the National Ballet right in our hometown!  They got dressed up and went to a Saturday matinee.  SHE LOVED IT!!!  She still talks about it every day, and when I play the Christmas mix on my iPod, she gets excited every time a song from The Nutcracker plays.

7.  The girls made gingerbread houses.  I was definitely thankful for the one-to-one parent-to-child ratio for this task!  Camille got tired of it after a while when we wouldn't let her eat ALL the candy, so hers has a few less details than Adeline's.  So sweet....Adeline wanted to decorate a tree to add to Camille's house when she was done with hers.  Adeline really loved this activity.  She told me where to put the icing, and then decided not to follow the picture on the box.  She creatively placed the candy on her own.  She did a GREAT job!

Adeline's house

Camille's house

8.  I don't do many crafts with my girls, but this idea is great on so many levels.  I traced their handprints onto green paper and cut out several.  Since we are focusing on Jesus and being more Christlike this month, whenever the girls do something that Christ would want them to do, I write their deed on a handprint, and they get to tape it to our wreath.  It's only week two, so I think we may need to add some berries and a bow when the wreath is full.

9.  This is the nativity that I played with for HOURS as a child.  I took a picture of it as I found it tonight.  It seems the animals are having a pow wow in the barn, and baby Jesus is languishing in the tundra somewhere by the couch.  Anyway, it has been fun to have them act out the story some mornings as I read one of our books.  Camille has formed a strange attachment to Mary.  She gets excited whenever she sees Mary in one of the books and can frequently be found carrying her around the house.

10.  Family Movie Night.  I read so many great reviews on this movie, and I add my hearty recommendation.  It is SO cute and true to the Christmas story.  At about 25 min long, even Camille can make it through this one.

I hope this post makes up for the fact that I haven't been blogging much lately.  You can see, we've been busy!  I'll try to post more of our activities through the month, but I'm mostly trying to soak up every minute....

Recipes

I've been asked for several recipes lately, so why not share them with all of you?!?  A few I've posted before...

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Almond Wild Rice

These other three are all CRAZY good!  Trust me!

Cherry Chip Scones

These are my ALL TIME FAVORITE scones.  They are buttery and moist and the vanilla chips in them are just divine.  Enjoy!

From Taste of Home.  Click here for the recipe.

Cheesy Ham 'n' Rice Soup

Another amazing recipe from TOH.  Click here for the recipe.

Finally, my pork tenderloin recipe....I don't think I've EVER served this without being asked for the recipe.  It's just that good.

Pork Tenderloin

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp ground corriander

2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tsp ground ginger

1 pork tenderloin (5-6 lbs)

Combine all ingredients except tenderloin.  Place tenderloin in a large shallow dish (or plastic freezer bag) and add marinade.  Cover (if in a dish) and refrigerate 8 hours, turning tenderloin occasionally.  Remove meat from marinade, reserving marinade.  Place marinade in a saucepan.  Boil and then simmer x5 min.  Place meat on broiler pan and broil about 20 min per side (I grill mine because broiling meat is MESSY!).  Cut thin slices and serve with marinade (I thicken my marinade with cornstarch and pour it over the meat like a sauce).

Enjoy!!!

ADVICE NEEDED, Thanksgiving, and other randomness

1.  Thanksgiving was at my house this year.  This was the first time my sister was at  my house.  It was nice to all be together to celebrate.  The food was delicious.  I brined the turkey for two days and then grilled it (yes, I said GRILLED) with a drip pan under it while frequently basing it with a delightful basting sauce.  It was a combination of two recipes and techniques.  Moist and tasty...

Lisa likes to sit and watch us be busy, so we spent a good portion of the day decorating for Christmas.  Patrick does all things tree.  I'm really glad he enjoys it.  The girls had fun "helping" too.  

2.  ADVICE PLEASE...The above picture will probably be my parents' Christmas card picture this year.  I think it came out pretty well considering we had the camera on a tripod and no one making goofy faces to get the kids' attention.  We also got a good one of Patrick, the girls, and me.....greatly assisted by peek-a-boo playing grandparents.  I am considering turning it into a Christmas header....or should I save it to send in Christmas cards?  Speaking of which, should I send Christmas cards?  Last year I did an email with a slide show....just as good or lame?  Do you LOVE getting "real" cards in the mail or is it just as exciting to get a Christmas email (which sometimes contains more info and better pictures)?  I DO love getting mail, but I must admit, when I get a card that is just signed, "Love, John and Jane Doe" I think..."How nice that they remembered us....did they really just spend money on postage and a card to mail us that?"  Then there is the other extreme....the person who sends a three page single spaced letter detailing every hiccup their precious cherub had that year.  Kinda like the people who update facebook with "going to bed now."  ....but that's a whole other soap box.  What do you think?!?

3.  A Sunday Finest post....just to make Aunt Heidi smile.

As if this isn't cute enough....

They MATCH!!!!

Fun fact....I bought the skirt Camille is wearing for Adeline two years ago on ebay.  My friend, Nancy, had two of the SAME skirts which she gave me in case baby #3 was a girl so all THREE of them could match.  So fun!...but not meant to be.  I guess we'll just have to put baby boy in a red sweater vest or something....

Sunday Finest

Camille with her characteristic wink

Adeline was sporting some serious cuteness this Sunday...

It's a....

Halloween 2010

On Saturday night, we joined some friends for a "Trunk or Treat" at Wallace Presbyterian Church.  People line their cars up around the parking lot, open their trunks, and give out candy.  Adeline fell asleep....like REALLY asleep on the way there, so it took her a while to "warm up" to the idea (on a rather cold night) of trunk-or-treating.

Camille on the other hand was ready to go!!!

Mommy always wants kisses....

Of course, a shout out to the Saladas...

On Sunday, we went to the neighbors surrounding our house, and then we sat on our steps to give out candy.  Adeline did most of the bag filling.  We shouldn't have to worry about any tricks....she's quite generous.

This might be my favorite picture of the weekend.  Oh how I love these girls!!!

Showing off her wings...

We chose this costume so she could wear it on this day next year...