Pretzels with a Twist!

I decided to have fun with snacks and the kids last week and I found a soft pretzel recipe my friend Amanda had given me. So we made the dough and shaped it into letters. Here we are with our pretzels!

D is for Dad

M is for Mom (Evan took this picture..it's like the 12th shot because he kept cutting off my head:)

B is for Benjamin

M was for Matthew

E is for Evan

J is for Jacob

Someone asked for the recipe so here it is along with a link to the cute story that went with it (http://lds.about.com/library/weekly/aa091802a.htm).

Homemade Pretzels by Paige Holden

1 Tbsp. dry yeast 3/4 c. warm water 1 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. salt

2 c. flour 1 egg, beaten Coarse salt Wax paper

Mix yeast in warm water. Add sugar and salt. Add flour and mix. Put dough on wax paper and knead until soft. Cut off pieces and shape as you like (too thick = doughy, too thin = brittle). Place them on a cookie sheet. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle coarse salt. Bake at 425° for 12 to 15 minutes.

Visit from Sam and Carrie

We had a wonderful time with Sam and Carrie when they came to see us a couple of weeks ago. It really made us miss our friends from Clemson. We had so much fun hanging out and playing games and eating good food. We miss you guys!


Jacob checks out Sam's watch

Matthew being his cute self

Sam and Ben in the kitchen

Ben making the bacon doughnuts....mmmmmm!

Matthew discovers the Fruit Loops!

Jacob trying to take a picture of himself with Carrie's camera

Evan and Carrie

Carrie shows Jacob how to really use the camera

Playing the Wii

Super Cheese! Carrie and Jacob

Jacob figures out how to point it the right way

Carrie and Matthew

This was the sweet one:)

Benjamin becomes a footrest

Benjamin, Sam and Evan

Benjamin and Sam

Benjamin and Carrie

Playing before saying goodbyes

Benjamin gets tickle attacked!

Matthew Cheers on Evan on Video Game
(listen for "He did it!")

Matthew waves goodbye with his bread:D

Just plain cute!

This was before church on Sunday. I just couldn't resist capturing the moments!

I Have a Little Dreidel

Benjamin has learned about Hannukah at school because he has a couple of friends and a teacher that are Jewish. He insisted on celebrating Hannukah for them. So they really wanted a dreidel and here they are playing with it.

Playing dreidel

Benjamin explains dreidel

Christmas Frenzy!

'Twas the night before Christmas...

and all through the house...

not a creature was stirring....

Evan and Benjamin with stockings

Yummy! Mom gets a box of chocolates in her stocking!

Ben takes a peak into his stocking

These were really cool! We found these chocolate rocks that we put in the kids stockings. They are actually kind of like M&M's.

Matthew and Jacob with stockings. Still a little sleepy.

Matthew's just not sure what to do.

Evan took this picture of Ben cooking Christmas breakfast.

Matthew still just chillin'...

Matthew plats with his Wiggly Giggler

My beautiful Christmas apple pie. Thanks for the recipe Wendy!

The boys having fun with their Wii...One of their favorite things to do is "check their family" which means they like to see the cartoon characters we designed for them.

Matthew checking everything out and trying to decide if he wants to take a nap.

Jacob and Benjamin help Matthew with a new toy.

Jacob eating Christmas breakfast.

It was a fun day being together!

O Christmas Teeth, O Christmas Teeth...

There is the song "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth"....Well, Benjamin lost one on December 23rd....

and what I am attempting to show you is that we realized on Christmas Eve that Matthew was getting 2 new teeth (he has his bottom 2 and he is getting in the 2 on both sides of those).