Happy Holidays ...

Eight Years Today ...

Wishing you a day filled with lots of love ... and the time to enjoy it ... !!!

Love mom & dad ...

Going to the Ballet ...

Katie and Ella went to the Ballet ... 

to enjoy seeing the performance of the 

"The Nutcracker"

Looks like Ella had fun trying on some of the costumes ...

I am excited to hear all about it ...

the next time we get together ... !!!

Parts Are In ...

December 15, 2014

Exciting day in the Knighter household ...

the parts for the 1964 Volkswagen are in ...

The guys are ready to start rebuilding it ... !!!

O Christmas Tree ...

December 17, 2014

Today was the day in search of a Christmas Tree ...

we really did not have to go far at all ... just behind the shop ...

we decided that since we were planning on cutting this one down anyway ...

we might as well use the top of it ... 

Once again the tape measure came out and a measurement was taken ...

PERFECT ... !!!

WELL ... !!! We dragged the tree into the living room ... started to set it up and ...

 It was too tall ... hahaha ...!!!

The Swede Saw was brought in and Mike proceeded to cut a section off it ...

Now he blames me for not holding the measuring tape correctly to begin with ...

not so ... it was exactly 14 ½ feet when I took the measurement ...

he then decided to check it just in case it would be too short ... 

still not sure what happened ... !!!!

Once the tree was put in place ...

it was time to decorate it ... using the extension ladder to reach the top of the tree ...

 listening to Christmas music and a fire crackling in the background ... !!!

All the decorations complete for the festive holiday ... 

We're taking time to sit back and enjoy our masterpiece ... !!!

Another Birthday Gift ...

December 10, 2014

I was so excited to finally receive my birthday gift ...

from my dear friend Dagmar ...

It took quite a few days to arrive from Arizona ...

This is a new skin kit from DecalGirl ...

for my new iPhone 5s ...

just love how it looks ... !!!

It's a thin cover that sticks on and around the phone ...

with the wallpaper to match ... !!!

Thank you so much Dagmar ... !!!

I have had so many compliments on how my phone looks ... :)

Christmas Baking Completed ...

December 8, 2014

These are yummy meringue cookies ....

with crushed candy canes ... chopped pecans and chocolate chips ...

Melt in your mouth delicious .... !!!!

The rest of the shortbread cookies ...

iced and decorated ... 

The last cookies baked were the spritz shortbread ...

Think I have enough baking to share with family and friends ...

A few packages ready to be sent off for Christmas ...

PS: mom I do have a container set aside for you ... !!!

And So It Continues ...

December 7, 2014

I had been working hard to finish my baking ... in order to send it off to the kids ...

these are one of Ian's favourite ...

 Pinwheel Cookies ... 

I mixed up a batch and then set them in the fridge to set ...

So ...  in the meantime ... I made another batch of shortbread cookies ...

some with decorative candies ...

the others to be iced ... 

The Pinwheel rolls were firm enough to slice and bake ...

A few more batches of cookies to make ...

and I will be done baking for this 2014 Christmas season ... !!!

Let The Icing Begin ....

December 5, 2014

Royal icing made ... sitting at the kitchen table ...

giving these Gingerbread men and angels ... a happy face and accessories ... !!!

While the Snowflake shortbread cookies were cooling ...

this batch of Jam filled shortbread cookies were baked ...

Once these cookies were cooled ...

I headed back to the kitchen table ... sat back ... and began to ice the Snowflakes ...

The warmth and aroma in the kitchen made it a wonderful day ... 

perfect to relax with a cup of tea and sample a few cookies ... !!!

Time To Bake ...

December 3, 2014

Well enough of Birthday celebrations ...

 it was time to get busy and start my Christmas baking ...

Gingerbread men are the first cookies I bake ...

as they take the most amount of time ... from start to finish ... !!!

Six and half dozens cookies ... waiting to be iced ...

The next cookies to be made were the ...

Vanilla Kipfels ... (Austrian Viennese Crescents)

Always double this batch as they seem to be everyone's favourite ...

The last batch of cookies to be baked today ...

were the 

German Pfefferneusse ... (German Peppernut Balls)...

one of my favourites ... !!!

It was a busy day in the kitchen  ... time to sit down and relax ... 

 because in the next couple of days ...

 I will have to tackle icing all the Gingerbread men and angels ... !!!

Another Surprise ...

December 2, 2012

It was choir night ... a small group today ... 

practising our songs for our upcoming concerts ...

when all of a sudden ...

the choir started singing Happy Birthday ... 

I was looking around to see who we were singing for ...

then realized it was to me ...

The group decided to surprise me as some of the members...

 were not able to make it out to the house...

I was so touched ... !!! 

Thank you to all and all your lovely birthday wishes ... !!!

So Much Snow ...

November 29, 2014

Oma & I arrived back home from Houston on the 27th ... had a great trip ...

Friday the 28th ... I spent the day outside  ... enjoying a beautiful day ...

gathering greenery to decorate the front deck for Christmas ...

It started to rain Friday night and I mean really rain ... along with a wicked wind storm ...

so much that I was outside until 10:00 pm ...

digging trenches ... diverting water away from the house ... 

there was a river flowing down our driveway ... !!!

Then the temperature plummeted and the rain turned to snow ...

this is what I woke up to on Saturday morning ... !!!

It was so beautiful ... !!!

I was debating whether to get on the tractor and plow the driveway or not ...

unsure of the conditions under all that snow ...

concerned about the ice ...

As you can see ... I did go out and play in all that snow ... 

it took me all day to clear the driveway and parking area around the shop and house ...

AND 

it was a good thing I did venture out ...

as this was the night of my surprise Birthday party ... !!!

(my guests were happy I cleared the way for them)

Off To The Zoo ...

November 25, 2014

We decided to spend the day at the Zoo ... perfect weather ... sun was shining ... 

Daigen and Nixon loved looking at all the fish in the aquariums ...

The boys had fun running thru the caves and in a tube crawling thru the aquarium ...

then outside sitting on a frog ... Nixon holding on ... not to sure about this critter ... 

We enjoyed a nice lunch sitting outside ...

then continued thru the zoo enjoying the larger animals out and a bout ...

The boys stopping to play the drums ...

then took this picture of them behind a Christmas wall ...

This was nearing the end of our day ... 

Nixon wanted to get on the lion ... but by the time we got there ...

someone else had taken ... a zebra was the next best thing ...

Daigen just wanted to sit and relax ... we had a full day of  activities ...

it was time to go home ... !!!

This picture was taken on the morning Oma & I were leaving ...

before going to the airport ...

It was a short amount of time with them ... 

but action packed and wonderful to visit with all of them ...

We had a great flight back to Spokane ... then travelled home the next day ... !!!

Thank you Ian, Kendall, Daigen and Nixon ...

it was fun ...

We're hoping to see you in our neck of the woods ... soon !

Love

Oma & Grandma ... 

xoxoxo

Fun and Games ...

November 23 & 24, 2014

We usually played games in the evening after dinner ... 

Daigen loved playing with the marble track ... and playing Hide and Go Seek with Oma & I ...

We tried to get Nixon to hide on his own ... but that did not work ...

he would still be in the same room ... maybe behind the couch ... 

and once we were finished counting ... he would jump up and say "Here I Am" ... so cute ...

The Unknown Child ... !!!

Kendall found these beads ... that absorbed water ... (I think they were to hold flowers)

but it was good therapy for Daigen to touch these jelly type balls  ...

We tried to go to the park most days ...

the walk did us all good ...

the boys loved swinging and sliding and running around ... 

Nixon was right into either playing the Bongos or playing his guitar and singing ...

This game  of Bed Bugs was a hoot ... not sure how young children can play this ... 

it was almost impossible for any of us to capture these little bugs ...

jumping all over the place as the bed vibrated ... !!!

We were still finding bugs on the floor the next morning ... !!!