Death of a Pizza

Pizza, one of our new pet goldfishes, died today.  We'll miss you, Pizza.

A Fish Named Christmas........and Gran.....and Pizza

All the little kids participated in acting out the nativity at the Ross Christmas Eve party; Carson got to be a shepherd, and Brianna was an angel. It was good to see a visual reminder of the greatest gift of all and the reason we celebrate Christmas - Jesus Christ.

.

After the talent portion of the night, the pinata came out and all the kids got to swing the little bat to see if they could put a hole in the pinata.

It finally broke open and this is what Carson's spoil looked like.

It took about an hour or so for Tucker to get used to the big crowd, so Grandpa Knight got to hold him some to help him feel at home. (fruit snacks help.)

Tucker and his new cousin, Bethany.

Grandpa Claus comes out and gives each grandchild a bag of candy!

Keith and his Grandpa Farrel Ross.

We got to take home our very first goldfish from the gift exchange - we hope they survive! We have named them Christmas, Gran and Pizza, cause there's a big one, a medium one and a little one.

Here's Carson getting ready to raid the stockings on Christmas morning. (thanks to Sofia for the garland, it really makes hanging the stockings here perfect!)

This is one of the toys Santa brought for Carson. It's a Roborover and he talks and explores.

Christmas in Visalia

Tucker with Aunt Andrea after a nap.

The boys playing in Grandma's backyard.

Tucker enjoying the packaging after opening presents.

Great picture of Aunt Andrea and Tucker. (if only the pacifier was gone.)

Our family Christmas picture this year! What a great shot!

A view of the Christmas party at my parents house with all the relatives in Livermore. This was right as we started opening presents. We had a wonderful meal with prime rib and ham, with yummy salads and desserts. We had a great time and loved to see all the family.

Yellow Car Frenzy

The boys love the Cobra. Tucker really likes his little yellow corvette car - he takes it everywhere.

Would this one make a good Christmas card?

This one is just funny. Tucker likes to swing on everything now.

Wholesome Junk food

Here's another recipe idea: whole wheat treats. I wanted to make rice-krispie treats, but had no rice krispie cereal, so I mashed up some shredded wheat cereal I had that no one was eating. Not the frosted shredded wheat, just the plain kind. So now we can snack and get some fiber! They actually taste good!

Thanksgiving is about......

So Carson came out of preschool dressed as an indian yesterday.

Nan was asking for some pictures of Carson, so here they are!

Some Really Cool, Easy Recipes

I like recipes that are really easy to prepare and that taste super yummy. Who doesn't? This last week, I made Baked Ziti and Creamy Chicken Enchiladas. I took parts from a few different recipes I found online and omitted things I didn't have or didn't want to bother with. They are tried once, and they both turned out really tasty, so I thought I'd post these mish-mash recipes, so someone else could try them out.

Baked Ziti

8 oz. penne, rigatoni, or ziti pasta
3 cups of favorite marinara sauce
1 lb. italian sausage
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 T. parsley flakes
shredded mozzerella

Boil pasta until al dente, drain. Brown the sausage, add the marinara, set aside. Combine cottage cheese, egg, parm cheese, and flakes; mix with pasta. Layer in 8x8 pan, with half of sausage mixture first, followed by all pasta and cheese mixture, then rest of sausage. Bake 25 minutes at 350, then add mozzerella on top and cook for another 5 minutes.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

8 oz sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can green chilis
1 can sliced olives
1 pkg shredded cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 pkg soft taco flour tortillas
1 can chili verde or red enchilada sauce
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

Mix chicken with sour cream, soup, milk, chilis, olives and half of the cheese. Roll mixture into tortillas and lay seam down in 13x9 pan. Pour sauce over and sprinkle with rest of cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Making Trivets With Sydney

Sydney and Carson went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop together yesterday.  They did a great job making trivets -- they even painted without making much of a mess.  Carson was pretty proud as we used his Trivet for dinner. 

It was a funny that the Home Depot, 'your project headquarters', project, was designed incorrectly -- the tile didn't fit.  So we glued the tile to the top instead of it being inset. 

Starting out:

Almost done:

The finished product:

Two Little Bumblebees

Here's Tucker in his bumblebee costume. It was just a tad too small for him. This is the only time when he actually had it all the way over his feet.

Here's Carson at our Church Halloween Party, where they had games and crafts and cookies.

Here we are at Grandpa Knight's house, trick-or-treating (see Tucker's feet hanging out). The boys got BIG candies from Grandpa. They're using the cute personalized trick-or-treat bags they got from the Numairs.

Here's Carson with Sydney, our neighbor from just two houses down. They went trick-or-treating together (you can see Carson's bag better in this one). Carson and Sydney are really good friends; they play together all the time.

Harry Potter Vision

Don't you love Tucker's new glasses? He's slowly getting used to them.

Painted Pumpkins

We decided to paint the pumpkins this year instead of carving, cause Carson is really good at painting and not making a mess. Here's how they turned out!

Lowe's Safety Day

Grandpa Knight joined Carson and I at the Lowe's Safety Day.    It was a lot of fun. 

Shortly after we arrived, the Care-Flight helicopter landed.  I don't think I've ever been that close to a helicopter as it landed -- it was pretty cool.  Then we were able to talk with the Pilot and Carson sat in the pilot's seat.

We also climbed into a fire truck.  To finish it off, Carson built a wooden toy fire truck.

Carson's Nevada Bookmark

Carson has been working on the 'Fall Reading Program' at the library.  So tonight he made a Nevada themed bookmark. 

We started off by walking around Legends Mall are talking about all of the Nevada themed artwork.  They have some amazing displays and historical explanations.  Then Carson helped design the bookmark and put Carson City on it (his favorite city right now) and Sparks.  He even wrote the city names himself (with a little bit of help spelling Sparks).

It also has a dinosaur, Lake Tahoe (twice), and a snake.

Here's his masterpiece:

Even Cuter Pics!

Carson is such a loving big brother.