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Because Kitty is....

The other Rozelles

On the other side of the ocean live some people that I think are rather splendid....however, because they live on the other side of the ocean, we see them very rarely. Communication is not exactly the forte of either one of us soooooo, when I come across some pictures like this, I have to share them=) I give you, the 'other' Rozelles....

My brother Lincoln, his wife Sheena, their daughter Layla, and their son, Elijah.Layla is cute little 3 year old, just 2 weeks older than Jesse! And Elijah is a baby doll who is now 1 year old! They live in Scotland where Lincoln grew up and where Sheena is from.
Our family misses getting to be around them more, especially since they are the only cousins our kids have on my side of the family! The first time we met Layla and Elijah was last May when our Rozelle family all got together back in Maine....here are some pics just to reminisce=)

The little girls in matching dresses, thanks Grammy!
Lincoln and I....the last time we posed for a picture like this was probably on the little "Europe" trip he and I went on to Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany back in 1999....with no radio=)
Cousins playing together.... And the four generations!
Then one of my favorite pictures from that trip that I hadn't seen before a few days ago....Layla and the 'fiddleheads'=) If you don't know what they are, you probably aren't from Maine!!!

Lincoln, Sheena, Layla, and Elijah....we miss you all very much. Some day soon maybe we'll have another Christmas like the one of four years ago when we ALL got together here at my house. In the meantime we wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS - hugs and kisses to my niece and nephew!

C-C-C-OLD Weather!

As I write this it is 26 degrees out and feels warmer than it has for at least a week. We were down in the single digits for days on end, and thankfully, got some snow to show for it as well=) So the kids bundled up this week and went outside....it didn't last too long as cheeks soon got red and noses began to run and toes started to go numb! Just the same we did have fun for the little bit of time we ventured out, most of the time!
As usual my kids were quite the fashion statements in their layers of hand me downs....Jesse is wearing Alana's old boots, Alana is wearing Logan's, Logan is wearing Zach's (!), Zach is wearing his dad's, Monica is wearing mine. Yay! Another year of not having to buy everybody boots=)

Posing for pictures wasn't the only thing that went on outside....Since installing our wood stove (given to us by the Bergs and recently installed in our basement) there is a new chore around our house that involves chopping, stacking, and hauling wood.Then of course there's throwing snowballs=)And hauling your younger siblings around in a sled....except, for some reason, it was really heavy to pull and while Monica started off strong....
she didn't make it that far!Logan was the next to make an attempt -but he didn't make it very far either=)

So we called in the big guns and Alana and Jesse got one turn around the yard courtesy of Daddy=)
It was lots of fun!

The kids weren't the only ones to have fun - Boomer is made for the snow and loves to be out in it, especially if the kids are out there with him.

We love our new puppy!

So, by tomorrow I think we will venture up above freezing and probably in another day or two the snow will melt and it will be brown and muddy for a week=) Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!

The Gingerbread Project

On Monday afternoon Jenna and Rachel went to the grocery store, bought a list of ingredients, got in their car, and came to our house. It was project time!!! We were feeling creative, energetic, and in a holiday mood. What was the project you ask....why a full-fledged gingerbread house!! So we pulled out Martha Stewart's instructions and the work began=) Aren't you just excited thinking about it? Little did we know....

The first step was making the gingerbread cookie dough and lots of it! Next we had to chill overnight, but we settled for 30 minutes outside in the 5 degree weather.

Next came the rolling out of the dough....

And since we could not get our printer to cooperate and make us a copy of the templates at 200%, I pulled out my ruler and made up some for us to use.

In order to have the full effect we also wanted to make some trees to add a special touch to what we envisioned as the perfect little house=)

Once all the shapes were cut out they had to bake (and re-bake) and cool once again. This was the first point where we started to wonder if things weren't going exactly according to Martha's perfect plans...

After that was when the fun work began as we decorated several of the shapes before actually putting the house together.

Then we made up a sugar syrup that was supposed to be used to make the windows, as well as serving as the 'glue' to hold the house together. Here I am pouring the syrup, which is supposed to harden very quickly, into the window openings.

Next we started sticking some pieces together...ok, so most of the sticking together was done by Rachel and Jenna and here they are working on the chimney.

We really did still think it would get kinda fun at this point, once we were putting it together, even though the hour was getting late and we were starting to drag....we still were trying to hold on to some hope that this project would be a success.

But as the pieces started to crack, and the windows failed to ever harden, and 'someone' ate one of our pieces, and we kept having to use more and more cans of beans to hold the house together....we got a little weary....and silly.

Jenna, little trooper that she is, did not give in and kept at it, finishing the project when the rest of use were SO done!

By the time she put the finishing touches on it was 9pm...we had started at 2pm.

"Oh Martha, where did we go wrong?!"

And the FINALLY finished product....if someone comments saying it looks cute, I will roll my eyes!

Although we may have gotten a little tired of the process these two little kids enjoyed every bit of it that they could get their hands on. As we were working on the templates we realized we'd have plenty of dough left over to make some cookies and gingerbread men so that is what Alana and Jesse worked on....After chatting with Aunt Helaine, getting their aprons on, and stools in place first, of course! (*These next two pics are just for you, Helaine=)

Alana enjoyed making the cut outs, Jesse enjoyed munching on the dough=)

And I'll close with pictures of my two little cherubs=)

Despite it all it was time spent with friends, and thankfully with friends who stayed chipper despite our trying ordeal=) We finished off the evening watching "It's a Wonderful Life", which was a relaxing way to end the day!