Piggy Pies

I have the best mom ever. Christmas this year was different. Good, I guess, but different. I had my sister here, which was wonderful. She and Mom and I got to play bells for pretty much every service. :) Children's Christmas program was especially hard. I couldn't help thinking, "My kids should be up there". Especially when I saw some wandering sheep that were about my little ones' sizes. It was good though. The kids opened their gifts before they left and LOVED everything. They loved their new books from Great Grandma and Grandpa Mille. The boys thought all their new cars were just awesome (thank you Aaron and Maren) and Kyra thought her new baby was the best thing in the whole world (again, thank you Aaron and Maren). She even insisted on taking it to bed with her. :) They loved the toys from Aunt Lexi and the trains (for the boys) and the check-up table for dollies (for Kyra) from Great Grandpa Morris. They liked all the toys but were not so impressed at the time. :) It was fun to watch them open everything. A week alone was quiet. Well kind of. I sort of tried to avoid spending too much time at the house. Did a really good job too. Lext left on Tuesday so I worked a double shift on Tuesday, played cards (spades) Wednesday night (kicked some major butt. Aaron, you would be proud of me. I went nil twice and covered my partner's nil for the last hand, setting the other team and winning the game. We rocked), played 80's Edition Trivial Pursuit Thursday night (got my butt majorly kicked), and went into the city Friday night for a major night out. Got all dressed up with a few friends and went to The Cheesecake Factory to eat, to see "The Holiday" at the theater, and to Barnes and Noble to have Starbucks and use my gift card. ;) It was so much fun. Saturday night I stayed at home and vegged. It was so good to pick them up again on Sunday. I missed having them here. It was nice to have the time to go out and do things but I would rather have my babies here.

On to why my mother is the best... for Christmas I got a really awesome coat from my grandparents, a funky new purse from my sister, a comfy robe and very useful gift certificate from my brother and his beautiful wife. All really wonderful gifts. From my mom I got a cookbook. The whole cookbook is filled with fun recipes (most of them very simple) to make for kids. I love it. I can't wait to try them all. I couldn't resist taking a picture of my first adventure. Piggy pies. :) They're chicken pot pies made to look like little pigs. The kids still didn't eat the bottom part but they all had a blast with the making of the piggies. Well, Nate did until he realized I was going to put the piggies in the oven. "But, Mommy, you can't put the piggies in the oven. They'll die!" I told him they couldn't die cause they weren't real. And they wouldn't die anyway. They were just going to get a good tan. :) This is why I missed my kids.