getting my christmas bake onnn...

last year, mum was away and i stepped up as the "goodie plate maker" in her place. (see linked blog post for recipes) however, there was such raving from the boys at dougs work when he appeared with the plates, that i thought i had better make them again this year. so the baking began and has taken up some what of my time last night and tonight.

my only change this year was to add chocolate rocky road (a packet of chocolate melts, a packet of chopped pink and white pascall marshmallows, a cup of peanuts and two chopped up turkish delight bars) and mars bar slice. yum yum yum. hopefully they will be received just as happily this year. 

clearly it's worth the time it takes and i can see why mum has kept it up all these years. now she's back though... will i? haha. luckily our trays have different things. 

christmas sunday family photos

christmas sunday (what we refer to the sunday closest to christmas as) was today! i love it! it's our excuse to wear red and green (because let's be honest, any other time of the year you'd just look like a total weirdo) and take a beautiful snap of our family all together.

we snuck out to the temple with a friend as soon as sacrament was over and amazingly enough the kids even co-operated and we got this beautiful shot. so happy with it. :)

and this! what an absolute firecracker of a kid. that smile is amazing. she makes me laugh every day, so much and so often. we truly are blessed to have her in our lives. i think this may actually be my favourite photo of her ever. it just shows every single bit of her huge personality.

joseph was only too happy to smile for us too. (thank goodness my children are photogenic or I'd be one disappointed mother with a camera haha) i am in love with his little reindeer bib, was an absolute perfect purchase for christmas. 

just for good measure, one more pic of our little family. ♥

merry christmas to all our friends and family

with love from the kendalls x

he's 10 months!

this babe is 10 months old. how does this keep happening? i know we are meant to enjoy them while they are babies... but how can we enjoy this time that is just rushing by at a crazy speed. yikes. oh well. another month, another shot in his corner of our brown couch, looking happy as larry... or is that happy as joseph? he is such a sweet, happy boy.

he loves to crawl around the house, looking at everything and his new thing, playing with the doors. although... he has managed to swing the doors closed once or twice and got himself stuck inside a room with him too close to the door to open it again and get out... that's when i hear his little baby voice calling for his mama to come and get him out! 

earlier this month, you grabbed hold of a table leg and just stood up! no walking yet, but you're definitely wanting to get up and stand with those chubby legs of yours. you also cut three teeth on one day... no wonder we had a little grumpy pants on our hands. not cool.

we love you baby joseph and are so excited to watch you grow and explore!

the road to bethlehem 2014

on monday we went to the seventh day adventist road to bethlehem for family home evening. each year the sda church in canning vale puts on a walk-through nativity for those wishing to celebrate and remember the true meaning of christmas. we went last year also and it is a wonderful experience... walking the road with guides, visiting the marketplace, the shepherds and the inn - before arriving at the manger to see the baby jesus. 

we went with a big group of friends from our ward and nearby... but when some pulled out at the last minute, we were able to quickly get hold of jared, donna and the kids who had tried unsuccessfully to book. what luck!

the road to bethlehem has become so popular in recent years, that to be able to attend, you need to book prior to arriving, or wait in a line until some of the standby tickets available for each session become available. it is free of charge, but you can book online here. they generally become available around the end of november and the three night it operates are around 15th of december.

and it is so, so worth going! there is so much effort made to ensure that the sets and actors are realistically represented. it's so wonderful to know that a church makes such an effort to keep the true meaning of christmas upheld year after year... free of charge. 

the kings harlots...

a sneaky selfie with my eldest brother

at the inn

my sweet niece emma with the nativity donkey. what a gorgeous picture!

and baby j all rugged up in mel and aitu's stroller, that neither of their girls wanted to stay in haha! very convenient for him. 

as always, hungry jacks for dinner afterwards... as it is directly across the road. winner. definitely one of our family's best christmas traditions... if you haven't been before, make sure you remember for next year! it's 100% worth it.

they're home/ my birthday

i got the best birthday gift this year... my parents got home last night!!! it is so nice to have them home and safe and all the grandchildren are loving it too. my eldest brother and his children came to our ward today and we all sat together as one huge family... then home for birthday lunch.

i got a selfie stick from a friend who knows i appreciate ridiculous gifts and doug and i were cracking up giving it a try when everyone left. classic. i don't know how keen i would be on using it in public... (how embarassing right...?) but it was a crack up here at home. selfieeeee!

my beautiful best friend jen also gave me this amazing hand made clutch. she actually made it for her handmade store to sell online earlier this year and over the months that have passed i have continued to hint that if it didn't sell that she should give it to me for my birthday. i like it so much that i even told doug to buy it for me! then at dinner the other night, lo and behold i unwrapped my gift and there it was. as subtle as a brick eh. hahaha.  

doug bought me a new purse (mimco! squeee) that's a beautiful deep green with cutout stars all over the top layer of the leather, and a new dinner set. both very happily received, my husband knows me far too well!  

it was a perfect birthday. especially having my little ones to cuddle. i can't get over what a sweet baby joseph is, especially when he asleep snuggled up to doug like this. 

♥

reindeer noses

i spent one night this week making a special gift for my primary children to give to them all after singing time on christmas sunday (what my family has always referred to the closest sunday before christmas as)

i have seen the idea of reindeer noses on pinterest quite a few times and loved it... so wanted to make my own. i hunted around a little and found this gorgeous free template over at overthebigmoon.com (thankyouthankyouthankyou!!) which was exactly what i had in mind (i love it when you find exactly what you are after!) so had them colour printed at officeworks on some light card, popped 8 malteasers and a jaffa (for rudolph of course) into a cute little polka dot bag and got to work with a stapler. 

i could not have been any happier with the final product and i am sure the kids are going to love them! cheap and cute, can't beat that!

lemon glazed cheesecake

i made a deal with a friend of mine, that if she came and did my hair for my work christmas party this year that i would make her some form of baked goods, of her choice. she chose lemon cheesecake, so true to my word... here it is. google found me a great recipe, which i knew i was safe with, as it was from the coles supermarkets website, meaning for once all the ingredients were available in australia! yay! 

it was a bit more in depth (compared to some of the other simple cheesecake recipes i have seen/made over the years) as it's a baked once, topped with lemon glaze, that gives it that beautiful sunshine yellow top. taste though, was a+ and i am certainly filing the recipe away for future reference. christmas day perhaps? yum yum yum. you can find it herehttp://www.taste.com.au/recipes/sunny-lemon-cheesecake/2042d51a-7415-4eed-856f-e23a1a4a1681.