Baking Day

December 22nd~ Becca and I got together at my house to try out Ann Schar's famous bread dough recipe!   It was a first for us, even though we have seen Ann's demonstration twice. (:  We decided to finally do it on our own!  We made each made a Christmas tree, a batch of cinnamon rolls, and Becca made a batch of dinner rolls.  Everything turned out wonderfully!!  It was easier than we thought it would be, which is always nice!  (Katrina was planning to join us, but she ended up not feeling well that day.  We'll have to do it again next year!) 

Sadie helped out, too!

Cinnamon rolls before going in the oven.

Making my Christmas tree...

Before

After

The next day, the boys and I made sugar cookies together.

I tried out a new recipe for Peppermint Whoopie Pies (:  They were yummmy!!

Tate- 13 months!

December 18th~ Tate started taking steps the week before Christmas!  I heard rumors that he took a few steps in the church nursery, and then again after church that day, but I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. (:  This video was the first time we all saw Tate take more than one or two little shuffle steps.  As you can see we were all really shocked & excited!  Feel free to turn down the volume and pay no attention to the over-the-top excited Mama voice! (;

Merry Christmas...

...from our home to yours!

Wishing you Love, JOY, and Peace in the coming year!

Class Party

I volunteered to help with Ronan's class party on Dec. 14th, and I could smell the sugar when I walked in the room! (:  They got to make gingerbread houses using all kinds of fun candy!

Senor Ricardo comes once a week to sing Spanish songs with the 2nd graders.

Getting started...

It was a sticky project, but all the kids loved it!

The final product!

Sra. Long leading the kids in their goodbye song.

I knitted coffee cozies for the boys' teachers this year and gave them each gift cards to Dutch Bros.  
When I asked Ronan if his teacher liked coffee, he said, "Well, she drinks something out of a green bottle.  I think it's wine." (;  I said, "Hmm, it might be sparkling water or something like that." and he said, "I don't know, but she likes wine." When I asked Griffin what his teacher would like for Christmas, he thought for a long time then said, "Lipstick". (:

Preschool Program

Griffin & Finn waiting for their turn to perform on stage.

12/13/11~ Each class from Grace Community Preschool sang a handful of Christmas songs for the audience, and they all did a great job!

Griffin was excited!

Ethan

Macey

Tayden

(:

Jingle Bells!

Since all the Hecht grandkids were in the same place at the same time, Memaw & Papa requested a group picture. (:

MOG Brunch

This group of women is such a blessing in my life!  I am always so thankful for the encouragement I receive from this group, and how each of them minister to each other.  We have had such an amazing year so far--lots of newcomers, along with a strong core group that has been together for a few years.  We all had a wonderful time at our annual Christmas brunch, with lots of great food, a fun gift exchange, and an extra-special service project!

Top Row: Ann, Becca, Katie, Sydney, Amy, Katie, Mom, Leah, Betsy, Susan, Debbie, Amy, Deena, & Malia
Middle: me, Catie, Christy, Stephanie, Kristen, Misty, & Katie
Bottom: Darci, Lindsey, Erin, Amy, Kelly, & Tiya

Malia's brother is in the army stationed in Afghanistan.  We have "adopted" his platoon and  at the brunch we assembled care packages to send to them.

It was neat to see everyone getting involved in this project!

Our Moms of Grace Leadership Team: Kelly, Amy, me, Sydney, & Becca

Gingerbread Night

Every year our church hosts a Family Gingerbread Decorating night, and this was our first year to attend.  We invited the Whipple family (Ronan's best buddy from school) and we all had a great time working together on our gingerbread house!  At first we didn't realize that it was a competition, including several categories, judges, prizes & all!

The Henrys and the Martins went right to work creating their gingerbread houses.

It took us awhile to decide on what to do...

The Martins

The Henry's gingerbread house...I think they got 2nd place (:

Tate was going crazy trying to get to the candy, so I found some raisins for him to eat. (:

Our finished product!  We won 1st prize in the Traditional category!

These ones were made by kids 5 & under...

Some other cool ones...

This was my favorite!  The Wuebbles family made it.