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We just finished stuffing everything into a big box to ship off to Alex, who’s down in Lima Peru for the second Christmas in a row.

We wrapped a bunch of little gifts for him and his companion, added all kinds of food that he can’t buy in Peru, and jammed in a variety of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (I even found one of those huge packages which has two half-pound cups.) Unless he gives some away to his companion and the kids and families he visits, he’ll end up with a sugar rush through mid-April.

It’s kind of a bummer not to be with him for Christmas (again), but we’ll have a chance to talk with him for the third time since he left. I know the stuff he’s doing is important and worth it. Merry Christmas, Elder Schroeder.

It’s from concentrate. Or not.

Part of a conversation with Kyra today:

Thank you, mom, for raising me to talk proper English, so I can laugh at things like this.

I have our tickets…

I’m cranking away on my seminary lesson, and decided it was time for a snack. We don’t usually have “snack foods” around the house, so sometimes a bit of creativity is required. Today I ended up with popcorn, butterscotch chips, and a glass of orange juice.

Surely that’ll get my brain shifted into high gear!

Yesterday we had a photoshoot (long story, but it’ll all become clear when our Christmas card comes out) and Zack was really hamming it up. He used a hair dryer to get a little more “body” in his hair, and then gave me a few poses. He was absolutely hilarious because he was so serious.

This is one of them, which seems to capture his thoughtful side.

Now that Kyra’s back home for a few days, I’ve had a chance to break out some board games (no one else around this house plays against me, so when she’s away at college my games sit in the closet gathering dust). After soundly defeating her in a couple games of Dominion, then trouncing her in Canasta, she brought the fight back to me tonight in a game of King of Tokyo.

With her health at 1 (barely alive) and in danger of losing in the next turn, she took a huge chance and rolled for stars. Amazingly, she managed to end up with six 3’s to score six stars for the win. Unbelievable.

Queen of Tokyo!

I don’t even know what was happening here.

Today Laralee and Kyra spent many hours in the kitchen, although it’s my suspicion much of that time was talking instead of cooking. Regardless, we had a wonderful opportunity to sit down together and enjoy a great dinner.

The homemade rolls were amazing.

We even enjoyed some nice candles (yeah, I was in charge of table decorations).