Free at last....

Debt-free, that is! Yes, we FINALLY paid off our student loan this week! What a good feeling that is. (Now all we owe on is the house). Next: Dave Ramsey's baby step #3--build your emergency fund. I can't wait to see that savings account grow every month!!

Sparkle!

I wanted to add this photo to my post last week, but my computer wasn't cooperating. Can't you just see the sparkle inside this girl? She's positively oozing with it! Talk about joy--she's full of it, too! I Love you, Sarah! PS Have I mentioned that she once did 139 cartwheels in a row? Because if I haven't, Sarah will surely whisper in my ear that I need to mention it.

Seven Months Old!

Skyler turned 7 months old last week. What a joy! And where does the time go?

Sarah's new laugh!

Sarah has been doing this laugh for the past month. She does it all the time. I told her I hoped she wasn't driving her teacher crazy. She said, "She'll probably just get a kick out of it." That's probably true. Sarah is definitely the life of the party! She adds sparkle to our home! As much as she frequently drives me crazy, I couldn't live without her. (And, by the way, she is getting a little easier than she used to be).

Food, food, food....

Okay, so I thought I was done blogging for the day. But I can't stop thinking about food (yummy food, that is). Those of you who read this blog regularly might have noticed that I have a new feature on the side of links to other fun blogs. Mostly food blogs. I think it's because I'm on a diet that I can't stop thinking about the yummy things I've seen on these blogs. I've been off sugar (mostly) since the beginning of November and I have lost about 6 pounds. (It was closer to 8 but I took a break from my diet over Christmas and gained a couple back:>) Oh, well. I am allowing myself to have a "treat day" at least once a week. This is a day I can have whatever I want, in order to keep myself motivated to skip those treats on the other days. I now find myself planning my treats for that day. I need to go by some mints so I can make these yummy-looking andes mints cookies ("yummy-looking" just doesn't cut it, but it's late and my brain doesn't work well these days--especially when it comes to finding the right adjective):

Don't these just look divine? You can find the recipe on the Delightful Delicacies link, because I KNOW I'm not the only one who will want to make these. Check out these other mouthwatering pictures:

Oreo fudge from Stephanies Kitchen

And last, but not least, apple pie pizza also from Stephanies kitchen. And actually the andes mint cookies recipe can also be found at Stephanies kitchen.

Fun Stuff

I love this age! Babies are so fun at 6 months old. Skyler likes to suck on his toes now!

Oh to be that flexible!

We had a great cousins day at Classic Fun Center! Nate's cousin Amy came for the holidays from California so we planned a fun little get together! All the moms with preschoolers brought their kids with their bikes, scooters, etc. to ride at the skating rink. (During the day it's not very busy so it's a fun time for the little ones). Eliza loves her cousin Andrew. They often pretend to be Prince Eric and Princess Ariel when they are together. (And whichever mom's around gets to be the sea witch)! What a cute pair!

These four cousins were all born within 2 1/2 months of each other. Left to right: Christian (March '05), Andrew (Feb '05), Eliza (May '05) and Bree (March '05). Funny height differences, huh? We are missing Katie who was born February '05.

And here's the moms! Actually, we missed getting Summer, Heather G, and Sharon in the picture. Sorry, girls! We should've gotten a picture of all the other kids, too. Darn it!

Here we have Emma, Heather Z., Amy, me, and Kristen. We need to do this more often!

Highlights of December

Emily taught Sarah how to finger knit and they made themselves scarves. Cute, huh?

We made and decorated a gingerbread house, yum!

Someone special turned 6 months old and began to eat solids. He has since double his rate of growth. One pound in the last month instead of a half pound per month. Good job, buddy! Now we're almost 14 pounds!

A rockin' New Years Eve party with three other families (14 kids, 8 adults) at our house. What fun! And most of the kids even lasted until midnight!

Christmas (I'm finally getting around to it, sorry!)

Christmas Eve: We hosted the family Christmas Eve party at our house. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures. We had a yummy dinner of beef stew, rolls, and Aino brought delicious Finnish style desserts. We had Grandma and Grandpa Larsen, Great Grandma Bartholomew, Uncle Reed, Uncle Ralph, Aunt Linda, and Brett and Aino's family (including Aino's sister, Marit). I really wish I was a better photographer and more on the ball. I would've taken a lot more pictures. But here's what I got:

Eliza and Josef are Mary and Joseph. Skyler started out as baby Jesus, but he couldn't last with these kids holding him. It was just so much easier with a pretend baby!

Sarah was our wild and crazy shepherd!

Sofia was the stylish angel!

Emily was the loud angel (and only just a little obnoxious) :>)

Favorite Christmas Presents:

Sarah loves her panda Webkinz, and a new basketball, too!

Eliza got a frog princess and an Ariel wand that lights up and plays music

(both from garage sales!)

This has been the funnest little contraption. It is called a Twistcar and even I love to get on it and ride it around!

Oh, isn't she just so cute?!