Christmas Day 2008

Our Charlie Brown tree for the boys

Santa made the drop!

And the stockings were stuffed!!!!

Daddy and Fu's grand entrance

Sam's grand entrance

Sam and Fu check out Fu's new ride

I am Iron Man!

Pokemon action figures for Sam

Sam and Fu give daddy a new sports watch

***********

Christmas 2008 was a whirl-wind! It was a fantastic Christmas! So many went with less or without this year and I am so thankful that we could once again provide for our children and that Santa pulled another big day off. This was also the perfect season to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas as it felt so wonderful to be able to give rather than receive.

It was a little challenging being 9 months pregnant but all in all it was great. We were surrounded by family and friends in the days leading up to Christmas and were able to make new memories to hold close to our hearts. I am looking forward to next year's festivities and adding another little Baker to the mix!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Christmas Festivities

With the family now more spread out than ever, organizing Christmas was a little tough this year. We had lots of family plans to consider! We managed to accommodate everyone if we did have to break traditions a smidgen!

December 21st

We celebrated with mom and dad and my brothers and their children. In lieu of our traditional Italian dinner we opted for appetizers. It was very tasty and easy!!! The kids enjoyed spending the day together playing and opening presents.

Clayton as Santa

Chaos!!! And a very excited Sam.

Waiting is just so hard!!!

The girls..Isabella, Emma, & Madison

4 Generations of Tronco Testosterone (Scary!)

Dad, Papa (Joe Tronco Sr.), Michael, and Jameson

Sam and Fu love Muzzy's Ice rink

Uncle Nic-Nic a favorite of everyone's

Fu enjoying the labor of opening gifts

Shannon and Fu

December 23rd

We headed to the lake to NaNa and Papa's house for our annual Christmas slumber party. We enjoyed watching the kids play and open presents together. And we truly enjoyed our Christmas Eve brunch before going home!

Sam opens a present from Kirstin and Madeline

Fu tears into his presents with Daddy

Kirstin and Madeline get into their loot too

December 24th

Shannon and I along with the boys, enjoyed a quiet evening at Mom and Dad's. We enjoyed our traditional Italian dinner which was DELICIOUS and made Mini-Gingerbread Houses with Sam and Fu.

Fu and Daddy working on his edible masterpiece

Boppa joins in

TA-DA!

Sam spent lots of time on his...only about half done at this point!

Muzzy lends a helping hand

Then it was off to bed so Santa could come visit!

Christmas Photo

Exactly how many attempts does it take in the Baker family to get a decent photograph with 2 young boys and a husband that won't cooperate?

Let's see...

ONE

TWO
THREE

FOUR

Many thanks to my mom...the personal Baker Family photographer on most occasions. We laughed so hard looking at the pics that I thought I would go into labor!

Merry Christmas 2008!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love, What's Bakin'?

Merry Christmas from the Bunco group!
This year we decided to do a theme Christmas party since we had so much fun back in the Spring with the White Trash Cookout. Our Christmas theme was the "UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER". Needless to say, it was quite hilarious to see what everyone would come up with. Unfortunately, it was a small crowd due to illnesses, surgeries, new babies, and lack of sitters. But those of us who were able to rise to the occasion had a great time.
The Powells hosted in their beautiful home. We had great hors d' oeuvers and a white elephant gift exchange. Shannon and I were fortunate enough to acquire the lovely set of three Air Force Academy 24k gold ornaments that I was able to turn into earrings and a pendant for the evening.
I was VERY slack with the camera and did not get pics of everyone. So if any of the Bunco girls would like to send some to me (hint hint) I would love it!!!!
But here are a few of the good sports joining in the sweater theme...

Malcolm and Leigh...winning the award for most obscene
Mason and Jimmy...in their REAL clothes ;-)

Shannon and Brian...as a middle-aged school teacher and Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation

Shannon in his homemade light up sweater and me with my Cardinal pride sweater large enough to accommodate a small village of people and my pregnant belly

Neal and Trey as the ski-lodge couple showing off their winnings from the exchange

Followers

All your life you were told to be a leader...Well now I'm telling you to be a follower!
Blogger has added a new feature! Just above this post you can become a FOLLOWER of What's Bakin'? We'd love for you to click on it and become an official follower of our crazy lives!!! You do not have to be a blogger to follow us!
XO
CTB
and a shout out to my sweet cousin Emily for being my first "Follower"

The tree is here!!!

This year we decided to get 2 trees. We thought the boys might like a little Charlie Brown tree to decorate and put in the den. Also, I feel like we don't get to enjoy the big tree in the living room because we are seldom in there as a family. So we got a little one for the den, where we spend most of our day. The boys were super excited about the colored lights and being able to decorate their own tree.

I take the same picture of Shannon every year coming in the door with our tree! Here we go for 2008...Tree #1 for the living room

Sam decorating the little tree
Fu helping out...I love the lack of rhyme or reason to the placement of ornaments.

I don't think they did such a bad job! I'll have to add some finishing touches ;-)

More Christmas to come!!!

We have Elfed ourselves once again!

Once again the Bakers have been Elved!!!
Check us out here...
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/Z33FL0L289OjN7rZQkzr

It's that time of year again!!!

All of our hard work is about to come to fruition! The 2008 Junior League Holiday Market is upon us and I am urging all of you to come out and support our cause. All of our proceeds go to the Smart Matters Program benefiting the children of Richland School District One. It's a fantastic event lasting 5 days. Our kick off is a Black Tie Preview Party on Wednesday, December 3rd and an extra-special shopping night on Thursday December 4th as a Ladies Night Out and Wine tasting (which I happen to be one of the chairs for). Oh and dad's band is playing for the preview party...The Sensational Epics! Click Here to find out more or to buy tickets!

Thanksgiving 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2008!!!!

From What's Bakin?

My precious pilgrims!!!!

It was only fitting that I be the Turkey!

After a typical Thanksgiving morning of the boys eating blueberry muffins and drinking hot chocolate and watching their mother singing and dancing and living vicariously through the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, we packed up the car with a corn casserole, apple cobbler, brown gravy (...I don't do the parts) and two of the cutest pilgrims you've ever seen and headed up to the lake. We celebrated with NaNa and Poppa and Nana's side of the family. And as usual we ate too much and had great conversations while visiting. The boys enjoyed seeing their cousins and had to be hog-tied and dragged out!!! When then went to Muzzy and Boppa's to top off our already stuffed selves. We had a very low-key but very nice Thanksgiving and talked about all the things for which we are truly thankful!
What amazing blessings we receive each day in the smallest ways. I pray that God will help each of us to stop and notice each one and not take them for granted!!!

Happy 60th Birthday, Muzzy!!!

On November 6th my Momma turned 60! We decided to do a low-key dinner out so we could conserve our energy for a semi-surprise 60th birthday party on November 8th. She knew we were doing "something" but had NO idea what! Dad, Shannon and I were able to pull off a delightfully PINK party for my mom. Pink is her favorite color so that's where the theme came from...

Muzzy's PINK invitation

Muzzy PINK grandbabies

The whole gang!!!

Mom and Dad with Michael, Kristin, Jameson, and Isabella, Clayton, April, Madison, and Emma, Nic, Me, Shannon, Sam and Fulton and Baby #3 due in 1/2009
The greatest task of the night was getting my brothers to wear pink...but I proved to be successful!

Mom with her sisters

Aunt Judy, Mom, and Aunt Laynie

Mom with her sisters and one of her brothers, Robert (a.k.a. "Uncle Bubba")

Unlce Phil couldn't come :-(

We feasted on a fantastic dinner!

I prepared Chicken Picatta, Orzo with steamed asparagus and peas drizzled with olive oil and topped with Parmesan cheese. We also had a beautiful spinach salad with warm bacon dressing!!!! YUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMM!

The sweet little boys

The sweet little girls

I set pink tables

I baked her favorite....Chocolate Cake and topped it with pink flowers and I made cupcakes for the kiddies for easy access

The kids truly enjoyed the festive atmosphere and celebrating with Muzzy.

And they all pitched in to blow out her candles!

My biggest boo-boo of the night...I forgot her pretty candles!!!! So we had to use a hodge-podge...oh well!

Muzzy opened gifts ranging from beautiful to practical to down right crazy...silly string and fake bling??? It was great!

Modeling her fake bling

Mom & Dad with Michael, Clayton, Nic, and Me

It was a very special night for an extra special person! Everyone LOVES Muzzy. She always goes the extra mile for everyone. I thought a celebration was in order.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUZZY!!!!