Okay.....Is this JUST WRONG......

OR do babies just put EVERYTHING in their mouth??!!??!!

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of Mia reaching for the wine bottle.

Not a single drop passed into this babe's mouth!

But it really did make for a funny picture!

This past week I watched Guy Fieri make a tasty looking german meal

called Jagerschnitzel with bacon and mushroom gravy.

He also made a homemade german dumpling and roasted carrots to go with it.

I decided to try it for a late lunch/early dinner today.

Here is the link for the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/jagerschnitzel-with-bacon-mushroom-gravy-jager-hunter-recipe/index.html

It turned out pretty delicious.

Well, at my house you can't have a german meal without a german

wine.  So I opened up a bottle of Piesporter and put it on the table with

my very favorite centerpiece.....MIA!

Mia is at the stage where she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.

Okay....it's a little scary that she knows that the top of the

bottle is where she needs to put her mouth.

Wonder where she learned that?!?!?

On Saturday Mike and I and Jenny, Rafael and Mia celebrated our

last holiday party of the season at Glendale Glitter and Glow.

Historic downtown Glendale decorates the town square with millions of

lights for the Christmas season.

It is truly beautiful.

The weekend after new years they bring in lots of hot air balloons which

are tethered down, but they are lit up with fire.

This looks so Awesome!

It is fun to watch them blow up the balloons and then heat the air.

It is super crowded, but everywhere you look there are smiling faces on

old people and young people.

Kids are running around and dancing to the many bands that surround

the square.  It's just great family fun!

Mike and I with our sweet baby granddaughter at Glendale Glitters.

Another one of our favorite holiday traditions is when

BERT BOMBS THE NEIGHBORHOOD



Here is our neighbor Bert pouring the last layer of

Grand Marnier on the B52's

Rafael and Mike toast

Tammy and Jenny take the shot

Gail and Bert with the B52 tray.

So here is how this tradition started.....

Quite a few years ago on a Christmas day I was busy

preparing for my parents arrival later that day.

One of my "other" neighbors called and YELLED at ME

because Mike was cutting the grass on Christmas day!

It upset me SO MUCH!

I had to take something over to Gail and Berts after this call.

They were busy playing games and having B52 shots with lots

of family.  They offered me one and somehow I was not so upset after that!

A new tradition was born!

Lots of things going on..........

The last couple of days have been busy ones

filled with family and friends and QUILTING!

This past week I finished up a couple of quilts.

This one belongs to Liz............

This is a close-up of a corner of Liz's quilt.

She chose a bear from Anne Bright's quilting patterns.

And a moose for another corner.

This next quilt belongs to Deb.

Close-up of one of the side setting triangles.

The inspiration this design came from

Kim Stotsenburg's "Just Leaf it" quilt design book.

The January meeting of the Friday Night Quilters

was held at my house last night and it was a fun-filled evening

starting with making pizza.

Here are Kathy and Katrina getting started.

We had some beautiful show and tell last night.

This quilt, made with Kaffe Fasset fabrics, belongs

to Katrina. It was a real beauty!

Cheryl is displaying a quilt made by Dolly's

11 year old daughter Kelly. Kelly designed, pieced,

and quilted this little quilt to donate to Ami Simm's

Alzhimers Art Quilt Initiative. This little ladybug quilt raised

$100 for this cause. The person who bought the quilt

requested that it be sent back to the maker since it was

her very first quilt. What a sweet story!

After Show and tell we all went downstairs to

make a little project.

So that was Friday night...........Saturday morning

Mike and I went on a little 4 mile hike in preparation

for the 15 mile hike he has signed us up for in 2 weeks.

Yikes! I'm a little worried about doing this!

After the hike we pushed back most of the furniture

in the living room and moved a bunch of it out to the

back porch for a little Family Jazzercise!

My daughter-in-law Jen is working really hard to become an

instructor and needed some students to practice on.

WELL! She got some pretty challenging students and

she did really awesome. I think she'll make a great instructor!

Our neighbors Bert and Gail started a holiday

tradition several years ago. We call it

"Bert bombs the Neighborhood"

He makes us a B52 Bomber.

They are pretty yummy!

Bert.....the Master Mixologist!

See the 3 layers?

Bert and Gail........cheers!

Happy New Year from Mike, Brian, Rafael & Tammy!