christmas cousins

we are currently in chicagoland celebrating the holiday season with matt's family. yesterday we enjoyed a belated christmas morning spread complete with eggnog and cardamom bread, followed by opening gifts. the guys then retired to the family room for an afternoon with the new Wii.

this is our kids' first christmas shared with a COUSIN on this side of the family! here's a few shots from the christmas pj's photo lineup --it was pretty funny trying to get all four to cooperate at the same time.

miriam's keen sense of taste

miriam has been coming out with some very interesting descriptions lately in regard to food...

after taking a sip of one of her daddy's favorite -- eggnog -- she described the taste as being like "a really bad donut hole." (never thought of describing it that way myself, but now that she mentions it...)

today at lunch she informed me that one of her cherry tomatoes tasted "JUST like a cheese puff!"

snowmatt

yesterday our neighbor helped miriam and levi build a huge snowman in the front yard. if you can't tell from the photos, it's probably about 7 feet tall. i keep having to do a double-take when i glance out the front windows because i think matt is standing out there. (not that he so much resembles matt, just that he's wearing his shirt.)

daddy the pancake man

i was surprised this morning when i excitedly said to the kids, "i was thinking we could make blueberry pancakes for breakfast today!" and they did not respond with the same enthusiasm. as the morning progressed, however, i figured out why they may have been a little disappointed and/or confused. i hadn't thought about the fact that it had been quite a long time since i had personally made pancakes, as this has become matt's saturday morning speciality. he's just about got it down to a science, and apparently i hadn't been taking notes. (i tolerate the kitchen; my husband sees it more as an art form.) from the moment i got out the first ingredient, miriam began chiming in: "that's not how daddy does it" and "that's not the pan that daddy uses." she was offering to help quite a bit, almost like "let me show you how we do this, mom." i didn't hear them complaining with the end result, however, but i may just leave the pancake-making to daddy from now on.

blood diamond

one type of movie that i love are those that deal with issues of social justice/social conscience and really make you think. we recently watched Blood Diamond, and first of all, i STAYED AWAKE through the entire thing! this is a true rarity, though it could have been partly due to my headache... (why is it, by the way, that EVERY Sunday i have a headache??) so anyway, it gets points just for keeping me awake. there are definitely some parts of this film that are not for the faint of heart, and i had to turn away at some points due to violent scenes. but overall i found it thought-provoking and eye-opening, with some very moving themes.

i wanted to quote one particularly profound moment here, through which i totally heard the voice of God speaking. a father comes face to face with his young estranged son, who had been taken and brainwashed by the enemy and now points a gun at him. i just love how he looks straight into his son's eyes, seeing past the hard exterior, and speaks truth straight to his heart. for me, this was one of the scenes that makes some of the darker parts of the movie worthwhile.

"you are Dia Vandy... you are a good boy. i know they made you do bad things, but you are not a bad boy... i am your father who loves you, and you will come home with me and be my son again."

click here to watch the trailer.

in memory of fall

autumn seemed to be especially lengthy and beautiful here in west michigan this year... or maybe i am just paying attention more, i don't know. as december rolls in today and the snow falls outside, i thought it might be my last chance to post a few more of my favorite pics of this past season from the dietsche household.