another catch-up post

Today we went to Salt Lake to have dinner with the Sorensons. Rich made rouladen, a dish he came to love on his mission in Germany. As always, we had a great time and forgot to take pictures.

This morning I rushed to make ischler cookies for dessert. I have been meaning to make these for years but am always missing some ingredient whenever the time to bake arises. Today I had everything on hand! I was really proud of myself for making cookies on no sleep and on top of everything else, but I couldn’t have done it without Abe’s help watching the kids. He deserves credit for making me feel like I could get something done today.

IMG_1869 IMG_4059Yesterday Abe and I worked on the house and hung Christmas lights. We also made gingerbread houses (from Trader Joe’s) with the girls.

IMG_1859 IMG_1865 IMG_1866In the evening Lydia and I went on a mommy-daughter date to do a ton of errands. Those dates have been so wonderful. I want to do them every week because Lydia and I get to talk and enjoy each other. Normally I feel so busy, frazzled and tired that I don’t get those types of interactions very often anymore.

The day before was Lydia’s preschool Christmas program. I took a couple videos, but here’s the one where Lydia was an electric train with her friend, Gunner. I had massaged her whole dry body with coconut oil that morning, and I think she was having some sort of allergic reaction during the program. Her face was quite swollen. It’s better now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBwic9mLy5w