Nine Months

Grace Olivia is so much fun! She's crawling like a pro, pulls herself up to stand, eats many solid foods (bananas still being her favorite), plays pattycake and peek-a-boo, dances, turns the pages in her book, babbles incessantly, sometimes wants to be permanently attached to her momma, and is still charming everyone she meets. She also is a lover of bath time, whether it be in the tub or in the kitchen sink--

I'd love to post a bit about her first Christmas and our family trip to Tennessee over New Years, as well as the new Deterding family homestead, so I'll get to all of that as soon as possible.

I'm Still Here

Is everyone still out there??

I'm here...on Steve's work laptop...

I'm still waiting for our desktop computer at home to be hooked up to the world wide web...

I miss you...

Grace is SO MUCH BIGGER than she was in my last post with pictures...

don't give up on us...

We're In!

Many boxes are unpacked, drawers are filled, it's feeling like home...
and sometime soon I'm going to have reliable internet service and I will post pictures of our new house and our big girl who is practically NINE months old already!

But first I have to unpack the linen closet, wrap one last Christmas gift, unload the dishwasher, sneak down into the cellar to throw in a load of dirty bibs (yes, I now get to do laundry in a cellar with an outside entrance...more about that topic later), get Grace up from her nap, try to find Steve's famous Christmas sweatshirt (worthy of a picture; more about that topic later), charge the camera for Deterding/Parkinson family Christmas tonight, and brush my teeth.

We're Moving!

We're moving on Saturday to a 160-year-old farm house in Annapolis, right behind Annapolis Area Christian School's middle school campus. We're so thankful for God's provision of a larger home closer to the place where our social life is! The house needs some touch-ups and new paint, but we're planning on being settled in for Christmas! Here's a quick pictoral tour~

Back to packing...I'll be sure to document the move if I have a free hand to hold the camera...

Sibs

I had a mini photo session this weekend with these two and their parents...fun! It was for a family Christmas card, but why not nab a picture of some sibling love and silliness while we were at it?

Dee's Christmas Sugar Cookies

My late grandmother, Dee, had a great crispy sugar cookie recipe that was passed down to my recipe box. I'm making some tonight while listening to Nat King Cole's Christmas album, and it really feels like Christmas at the Deterding house.

I thought I'd share the feeling!

The recipe, short and oh, so sweet:

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla to the shortening mixture; mix well. Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix well. Chill. Roll out on a floured surface. Cut with 2" cookie cutters then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake on greased cookie sheets in 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

The Hunt

We went on our second annual Christmas tree outing with friends from our Bible Study and their kiddies! Here are some scenes from the tree hunt.



(don't even THINK about cutting down a tree behind this fence)