I'm dreaming of a white.....

Christmas!!

Snow
Sledding
Frozen pond
Rosy cheeks
Family
Forts
Good food
Warm house
Card games
Celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus!

Nana and Papa come for a visit!

It's always a treat when Sean's parents come to visit and this time was no exception. Their timing was perfect. They got here before the snow fell and were able to make it back for their flight before even more snow fell. It was so special to have them here during the month of December. They were here to join in Stella and Ava's birthday festivities and they also were able to celebrate an early Christmas with us. They are a blessing to our family. They show an unending amount of patience (Papa enduring a daily, or hourly, game of "lets get Papa" which usually entails balls being thrown and feet being tickled, and Nana reading book after book and chasing Ava around the "loop" a million times) and love for their grandchildren and for us. Their visits always go by way too fast. We are so thankful for them and we are so glad they could come. We're looking forward to their next visit ;)

It's Party Time

The Birthday girls

Time for presents

A princess party wouldn't be complete
without a castle cake!




New clothes
Coloring books and pens
New shoes
Baby doll
Cute clogs
Bath toys
Books
and so much fun!

Stella's Six!!

6 things I love about Stella...
tender hearted
loves her brother and sister
desires to do what is right
wants to marry a prince
her love of learning and school
her ability to color a whole coloring book in one day

S T E L L A

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old

When I was one,
I had just begun.
When I was two,
I was nearly new.
When I was three,
I was hardly me.
When I was four,
I was not much more.
When I was five,
I was just alive.
But now I am six,
I'm as clever as clever,.
So I think I'll be six now
Forever and ever.
A.A. Milne

Happy Birthday Stella!

A year ago today...

... I looked like this (thank goodness for stretchy shirts!!). I was standing in my nephew's room taking a picture at 5:30am. We were ready to make our way to the hospital to meet our new baby girl. Stella and Jonah stayed with Aunt Kelli and Uncle Steve, and Sean and I headed out.

A year ago today, Ava Evelyn came screaming into the world at 10:10 am and what a blessing it was to hear that scream. She weighed 7lb 8oz and was 19 1/2 in. long. A little peanut compared to my other two.

A year ago today, our family of four became a family of five.

A year ago today, two children became three.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

We love you!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving has come and gone already. This past year was definitely a year with many things to be so thankful for. It's amazing to look back and see God's hand in it all - from Sean's new job, to Ava's health, to Andrew surviving a plane crash, to Tricia's wedding...there is so much to thank the Lord for.

We had a good Thanksgiving. It's always hard to not be with all our family, but all in all the day was good. Later, after we had eaten our Thanksgiving meal, Jonah said, "Thanksgiving was fun!" It is fun. It's fun to spend time with family and just relax. It also doesn't hurt that the food is pretty good and the desserts aren't too bad either.

Jonah tasting the "bird" as he called it.

Grandpa and him making sure it tasted OK.

We also managed to get our Christmas picture taken. It's nothing special. Pretty much just a picture where all 10 eyes are actually on the camera! It gets a little harder with each child. So in the next couple weeks some of you might see our bright, cheery faces come to you in the mail ;)
(p.s. The family picture above isn't the Christmas picture... if you were wondering. I'm going to keep you in suspense ;)


Oh, and if you're wondering what to do with a bounty of buns and some left over Egg Nog, I suggest you make French Buns (toast). It's gooooood. Even the Ava girl was saying "nummmm, mmmmmmm, nummmmmm, mmmmmmm...." the entire time she was eating! I also should point out I'm not a big fan of drinking Egg Nog (gag me, you couldn't pay me to actually), but bread dipped in it and then a little butter, powder sugar and syrup...I'm sold!

It's beginning to look (and smell) a lot like.... Thanksgiving!

This year I volunteered to make the famous Thanksgiving and Christmas buns. It's a step up from my usual offering of fudge ;) It made my house smell so good. It reminded me of the many years I would sit and watch my mom make them. I ran in to a few snags... forgetting to grease the pans, and having them come out a little bit browner than I would like. But it's nothing that a little butter and jam can't fix.

After mixing and kneading, the dough goes
in to the bowl to rise

Cover it up (I have no idea why, but that
is what my mom does ;)

The key to getting a good rise out of the
dough is a hot house...

...yep it was hot. Gotta love wood heat-
just open the windows!

The dough has risen!

Time to roll them in to little buns and
let them rise again

You see that hand?? Jonah is just like Swiper,
he's a sneaky little fox. He was asking me
all morning if he could have one...before
they were even baked!

After rising again they are now
ready for baking

Wa-la, finished!

Oh and of course I still made some
FUDGE

and some
Almond Roca....yum.

A Little Bit of Random....

• Tori came for a visit! We had a fun time. My kids love her. Jonah said the next morning, "I miss my big friend Tori...I wish she could stay forever and ever." The weather was great - no rain. We were able to make a trip out to the west side and see some of God's beautiful creation. I'm also happy to say, none of my kids got sick - hallelujah! Tori, unfortunately, has had a bad track record when she has come as far as my kids getting sick. But this time there were no children throwing up in the car, and no ambulances were called in the morning!I'd like to point out Stella and I have some sweet hair do's going on. I look like I'm wearing a football helmet, and well, Stella...not really sure what she's got going on. Just making sure you know that I know it wasn't a real great hair day for us.

• A little Saturday morning P 90 X... family style. I just did the 'Core Synergistics' dvd today and it kicked my behind, or I guess I should say it kicked my core...I'll be crying tomorrow from soreness!
  

• The beard contest is still on. When Tori came over, she got to our house before Sean got home. So when Sean walked in the door she was a little...shocked to say the least. It's still quite shocking to me too actually. I think Tori had it right when she said, "it's the Apostle Paul!" I laughed. February isn't too far away...sigh...

• Some signs that are ready for their homes... I can't begin to express how flattered and humbled I am that people are entrusting me to make them signs. It's an honor and I do really enjoy it, but as I have told many, I'm slooooow. I think that fact may have something to do with these three things that are in my house...thing 1 - Stella, thing 2 - Jonah and thing 3 - Ava :) So if you're willing to wait, I'm more than willing to make you one!
  

and a few more almost ready :)