We tried visiting with Santa again. Still not a fan.
No idea why this is so grainy.
Leaving church in 30 degree weather. Lila was a little surprised by the wind.
We started our family Christmas celebration at my dad's, the weekend before Christmas. My sisters and I cooked dinner, and I must say, it was delicious! We had a few different casseroles, baked ham (courtesy of our friend Susan) and a bunch of other stuff I just can't remember. It was all very tasty though.
One of my sisters and I decided to try our hand at homemade cinnamon rolls. Although my sweet of choice is chocolate, I have a serious sweet tooth for cinnamon desserts as well. Give me cinnamon rolls, apple pie, or cobbler any day. My mouth waters... Lauren and I can cook fairly well, but we are definitely not bakers. We used this Pioneer Woman recipe. We all LOVE Pioneer Woman. If you haven't read her blog, do it. Now. Her love story is hysterical and kinda steamy, her recipes almost always look delectable and every single story she types is entertaining in some way. Side bar over. Here are our rolls, pre-icing.
Although these were not the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had, we were very pleased with our first try. They were quite good and I can't wait to make them again. I think I will try PW's tip to refrigerate the dough. That will make it much easier to deal with.
I was lazy with the camera and didn't get many pictures with my camera. We had a very nice surprise for dinner. Our cousins Josh and Sarah, who recently moved to Kentucky, were coming into town and came straight to Dad's to eat with us. Even though we didn't get to see them very often before they moved, it feels different having them so far away. They are very special to us and we loved the extra time with them.
After we enjoyed our yummy dinner, we moved on to presents. Lila didn't get into the presents at our house, but she was ready at my dad's!
After visiting with Dad, we loaded up and headed to north Georgia. We got in Sunday afternoon and actually managed to relax for a while. On Tuesday, Lila and I headed over to visit with two of my oldest and dearest friends. I've kept in touch with only a few people from high school and each one is so important to me. I haven't seen either of these girls since last summer and could not wait to visit.
Ryan, April, Yours Truly
April's oldest daughter was literally the world's best babysitter. We all know Lila loves children, but she was enamored with Miss Em. Em played with her almost the entire time we were there. She held her, carried her around, talked to her, played with her, chased her, you name it, Em was there. I asked several times if I needed to get Lila, but Em always said she was fine. Lila was on cloud 9. She giggled for nearly 2 hours straight. All Em had to do is look at her and Lila would cackle her face off. It was so cute! I hate that our visit was so much work for April's children, but I really enjoyed chatting with my friends and Lila definitely enjoyed making new ones!
April's darling younger daughter.
She pretended to be shy while we were there, but I know better.
The rest of the time was spent at my Mom's. We did a little shopping and a lot of eating. Mom had some great gifts for Lila's Christmas and could not wait to give them to her. She kept giving her "one more" until we realized Lila wouldn't have much to open when we did presents. One of my favorite things Mom found was the pig stool. It is so cute! I wish we had two more and a wolf. It would be the best table set...
I didn't take any pictures while we were there and I have to get Mom's memory card. We had a wonderful visit, but as usual, it went by much too quickly.
This is Lila's loot, just from my parents and sisters. A little ridiculous isn't it?
I couldn't stop laughing at the picture of you guys with Santa! So cute!
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