Staff Christmas Party

Jason's work had a children's christmas party this past Saturday at the zoo.  The kids had a great time.  We arrived at 1:00 p.m. and the kids were presented with a colouring/activity book and a bag full of goodies.  They served a lunch of pizza, chicken nuggets, veggies with dip and squares and cookies.  The kids weren't interested in eating and got to work decorating gingerbread men and colouring instead.

Ashton was very proud of his "gingie" and still hasn't eaten him!

After crafts, lunch and a little play about penquins the kids got a visit from Santa.

They also received a gift.  Bowen got a magnetic dart board, and Ashton got lego.  I was pretty worried about Bowen's reaction to his present since his brother got LEGO! 

He didn't disappoint!

I really try to teach my children to be gracious about gifts they are given - nothing bugs me more than a "bad" gift receiver.  I was actually quite proud of him he was pretty good about it, and lets face it he did get a way worse gift than Ashton. 


 He's actually played with it quite a bit since then and hasn't complained once.



We were babysitting our little nephew Dane that day and brought him with us to the party.  Ashton was very concerned that he wouldn't be getting a gift from Santa since he's not a child of someone who works at Aurum - so the night before Bowen gave up a car and Ashton wrapped it to give to Dane at the party.

I thought that was very thoughtful of the both of them.



I think Dane liked his new car!



Of course we couldn't leave without seeing a few animals.  We visited the hippos, giraffes, zebras, and the lions.  It was a fun family outing.  Merry Christmas!

Annual Visiting Teaching Luncheon

My VT companion and I had a luncheon last Friday for the ladies that we visit teach.  This is becoming an annual event for us and we really look forward to it.  We decided to do the exact same menu as last year as we have all new ladies we visit.  I made a chicken puff pastry, and Shelley brought a broccolli salad and a delicious chocolate trifle for dessert.

One of the fun parts for me is decorating the table.  I was excited to use my new dishes.

Shelley and I made chocolates last week so we had a box of chocolates to give to each lady.  I bought these adorable little place markers a while ago and finally got to use them.

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of any of the guests, but we all had a great time.  Lunch was really yummy!  The ladies we visit are so nice and we had a great visit.  For anyone interested in an easy but impressive dish this is the one for you.

Chicken in Puff Pastry with Bechamel Sauce

Bechamel Sauce

1/2           onion

1              bay leaf

3              cloves

3 tbsp       butter

3 tbsp       flour

2 cups      milk

                salt and pepper

1/4 tsp      ground nutmeg

Place bay leaf on sliced part of onion half.  Prick with cloves.

In a saucepan, melt butter and add flour and stir.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add milk and onion.  Cook for 6 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove onion.  Season sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg.               Makes about 2 cups

Filling

2 tbsp       butter

1              onion, chopped

1 cup        celery, diced

1/2            green bell pepper, or sweet red pepper, diced (I used a red pepper)

2 cups       chicken, cooked, chopped

                 salt and pepper

                 poultry seasoning

1 1/2 cups bechamel sauce

                 package of puff pastry (the recipe actually calls for crepes which would be great too)

1/2 tsp      paprika

Preheat oven to 400 F

In a skillet, melt butter and saute onion, celery, diced pepper, and chopped chicken.  Season with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning, then blend in 1/2 cup bechamel sauce.

Roll out puff pastry and cut into 4 squares.  Spoon filling in middle of pastry, fold over and pinch to seal.  Brush with egg wash and bake on a baking dish for approximately 15 - 20 minutes until golden.

Remove from oven.  Top with remaining bechamel sauce and sprinkle with paprika.



Sorry no sauce in the picture - I forgot to take a picture when we were eating.

This little luncheon is becoming one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  Hope I'll be able to continue having them for years to come.



Friday Weigh-In - Week 20

I didn't want too - but I thought I'd better get back on the scale this morning after boycotting it last week.  So after it is all said and done in the last two weeks I've gained ...

1 lb

Now that I'm accountable, it's time to get serious again and try to lose some more weight.  I am going to take the advice of a friend however and not stress myself out this December.  My goal is more to maintain what I have already accomplished, than to continue to try and lose each week.  I am however, going to start recording everything I'm eating again, and increase my activity. 

Today should be an active day.  I'm busy preparing my home and a meal for the ladies I visit teach with my VT companion.  Then later today Jason and I are going to try and finish up our Christmas Shopping with lots of walking in the mall.

Be sure to check back next week to see how I'm doing!

Primary Christmas Activity

Yesterday we had a Christmas Party for the Primary children in the ward.  We had the kids come to the church from 9:30 - 11 a.m.   We started by making 3 different crafts.

They painted a little tree ornament ...

Made a nativity scene out of popsicle sticks, buttons and wooden cut outs ...

and made a reindeer candy cane ...

We sang carols and played a couple of games.  I had wrapped a chocolate santa in layers of wrapping paper and the kids took turns trying to rip the paper off while wearing mittens.

The relay race was a huge hit!  Before running to the end of the gym and back each child first had to put on a hat, scarf and gloves.  It was pretty fun to watch!

Then we had a visit from Santa (my hubby) who shared the "True Meaning of Christmas" to the children.  Explaining what all the symbols of Christmas really mean.

As the theme this year in Primary was "I Know the Scriptures are True" we as a primary have been making a scripture chain.  Each week if the children have read their scriptures they could add their name to a paper chain.  We put the chain up on the wall and took a picture of the children under it.  I'm going to send it into the Children's Friend magazine to see if we can get it included.  It would be fun for the kids to see themselves in the magazine. 

We finished up with hot chocolate and cookies.  I think the kids had lots of fun and learned something too.  One more thing to check off my list that is completed this Christmas season! I'm sure grateful to my family and great counsellors who helped me so much.  I couldn't do anything without them!



Choco-LOTS!

It has been a super busy and very productive weekend for me.  It all started bright and early Friday morning with a great friend and her two girls coming over to make fondant.  I'll admit I was a bit nervous as I've never made fondant without my mother being within arms reach.  First batch went off without a hitch and we were thrilled.  Then we hit a bit of a speed bump - had a couple of batches that turned to sugar (never happened before), but after an emergency call into my mom, and diagnosing what we may be doing to cause it, we were able to complete 3 more batches. 

I must say they turned out gorgeous.  Soft, creamy and just the right texture.  We were so excited!  It was a long and tiring day, but the results were great and our kids had lots of fun playing together.

After Shelley and the girls left I pulled out the ingredients to make cookies for the Primary Christmas Activity on Saturday.  I tried out my Christmas gift from one of my visiting teachers - a small scoop!  I'm always saying I'd like a small ice cream scoop to make cookies with but have never purchased one.  It worked awesome - making uniform, perfect cookies every time.  Thank you Vernetta!

After the Primary Party (see tomorrow's post)  Shelley and the girls came back over to roll and dip the fondant.   The kids were a huge help, I love that Ashton is interested in participating.  He loves to roll and actually does quite a good job.

Then the dipping began.  As this is my third time making chocolates this year (I was going to blog about chocolate making at mom's but I forgot my camera) - I must say my dipping skills are improving.  I just need to work on the consistency.  If only I could get them all to look like these ...

The three in front - ALMOST TOO PRETTY TO EAT!!!

The girls getting into it!

Then my boys decided to help.  I was hestitant at first so I let them try dipping the coconut ones.  Ashton dipped it into the chocolate and dropped it into the coconut, then Bowen would cover it in coconut and put it on the cookie sheet.  They did a GREAT job!  I was so proud of them.  Ashton then went on to dip a couple of the maple walnut chocolates and even put a little swirl on top!  I guess if I don't have a girl to pass down the chocolate making tradition too I'll just teach it to my boys!

We had so much fun with our friends and hope it becomes a tradition for us to make chocolates together.  Also, if you're not already my friend you just might want to be - just saying - we've got alot of chocolates to give away this year!

Friday Weigh-In - Week 19 - NOT!

So I'll just say it - I Didn't Weigh In Today!!  I'm had a crummy week, been having a bit of a pity party (don't worry I'll snap out of it - I always do), and I didn't feel emotionally prepared to weigh in today.  Okay, the emotionally prepared part is being a bit dramatic, but I just didn't want to face another disappointment this week.

So I made the decision that it was not in my best interest to see how much I weighed today.  This in no way means I am giving up on my goals, or that I won't continue to post my weight loss efforts.  It just means I'm taking a week off.  I'll finish my little pity party of one, pick myself back up and start again.

Next week I'll be back with a positive attitude and I'll be ready to tackle my weightloss efforts head on! 

ps.  Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated!