Daily December

On my other blog I wrote about a scrapbook project I am working on called Daily December. This is my picture from day 2. Norah was so darn funny and happy last night....even more than usual. My journal entry for the scrapbook that night was all about her joy. She is a happy little peanut!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Now that we have celebrated Thanksgiving and December is here, I am very excited for the Christmas season! I asked Danielle at Blogs by Danielle to give our blog a holiday look. I LOVE the way it turned out! And I added a few favorite Christmas tunes. Danielle is so creative & I love to support her because she is also very charitable. (And if you know me, you know I like to give my business to stores, restaurants and companies that give to the community.) When Danielle designed our first blog look, she donated her time and talents as a fundraiser for the Half the Sky Foundation. (It's one of my very favorite organizations. You can read about them here.) And now Danielle is contributing a portion of her fees to Souls4Soles. (You can read about them here.) The organization coordinates shoe donations for people all over the world and during relief efforts for disasters like the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Danielle's contributions will support their latest project "50,000 shoes in 50 days." A $5 donation will buy two pairs of shoes! (You can read about that effort here.) If you have a blog, consider a makeover from Danielle here. And if you don't have a blog, but you want to help Soul4Soles, skip that nearly $5 coffee concoction today, make your caffeine at home, and donate that $5 instead to buy two pairs of shoes for people in need.

Are you ready for some boo-ball?!?

Norah loves "boo-ball" as she calls it. Whenever she sees a picture of a football player or a clip of a game, she claps and cheers. Here she is cheering on the Pack with Pops and Liza. We had a lovely dinner at their house after the game.

On the way home, Stephan said "Well, it's too bad we lost, but hey, at least we're better than Detroit!" There's always a silver lining.

Check out these curls....so cute!

How to Cook a Turkey

When Stephan was in four year old kindergarten, his class wrote "How to Cook a Turkey" recipes that ran in the local paper. Just in case you are looking for a new recipe this year, here is Stephan's suggestion....

"There are turkeys at the farm. Ask the farmer to show you where they are. Pick out your own. I'll pick out a brown one with feathers. Take the feathers off because we don't eat them. If you do, you'll get turkey sick. Use a knife to cut the feathers off. The turkey doesn't like them either so he will let you do it. I like chicken in my turkey so cut a little hole for that. Put the chicken in and then put the thing you just cut off back in really tight so the chicken doesn't come out. Oh! I took the feet and the two legs off first. I don't like the feet because they are hard. Cut off the skin because I don't like it. Don't put anything on the outside, not even sauce. Put it in the oven. (It's a big square thing in the kitchen.) It's so hot. Turn the knob to the red beeping thing that says number one. It's done in six minutes. Then take it out. Eat it, but my mommy said "No, don't eat the turkey. It's too hot." (I call her Mommy, but my dad calls her Rebecca.) When it's cooled off, then eat it."

The first snow

We had our first snow of the year. It was only a couple of inches, but it was beautiful.
Truly a winter wonderland!

Quick trip to the zoo...

It was sunny this weekend and just warm enough to bundle up and walk around the zoo. It was a short trip because of the weather, but we saw quite a few animals & it was a great way to get outside.

Casey & Stephan enjoying the bonobos.

Norah just can't believe her eyes!

Norah has been to the zoo a few times, but it is more & more exciting for her as she gets older.

When we first walked into the main entrance, she squealed when she saw large animal banners. She was stunned when she saw the real things!

Up close and personal with a python...

This snake followed Stephan in every direction he moved. It was pretty neat to watch, but sort of scary! Stephan must have looked like a tasty treat. I was thankful for the glass.

Who needs toys....

...when you have a tupperware cabinet?