****SnOwMeN***

After our last snowstorm Allie and Kelsie decided to build a snowman. This is how he turned out...  kind of a sad little guy! The hanging banana is supposed to be his mouth! A snowman only a mother can love! They had a great time making the little guy!

I found a picture of these cute snowmen made from candy bars on a friend of a friends blog. I immediately knew the girls and I would have to make some. So this weekend we did and they turned out great! They are made from a giant candy bar with a glove for the hat and a tic tac nose. We embellished them with ribbons and buttons I already had. We put a label on the back that said, "We hope the warmth of the holidays melts your heart...not your snowman!" The girls are giving these to their friends and teachers. 

I ♥ SnOwMeN

~OuR ChRiStMaS hOuSe~

OuR hOLiDaY GreeTinG ~ 2009 ~

At our house we are not doing a big fancy Christmas this year. It's giving us a chance to focus on the real reason we celebrate Christmas. We are so grateful for all that we have. We have wonderful family and friends! Red still has employment and we are all healthy. We have a cozy warm home and the gospel of Jesus Christ. What more could we ask for? And...our cars are running and I have new tires! 

See the list goes on and on......

MeRRY ChRiStMaS!

mY CaRaMeLs

I just posted the recipe for my caramels...I've been making these for YEARS every Christmas! It's become a tradition at our house. Give them a try, you can do it!


♥ I've been catching up on a few things so check it out down below if you'd like. :) Thanksgiving, Halloween & Kelsie's birthday!

Our "Charlie Brown" Christmas Tree!

Our last Christmas in Colorado Springs we decided to be like the Griswalds and cut down our own tree! Our neighbor had done it for years and always had the most BEAUTIFUL tree! She assured us it was easy and only $10 for a permit so off we went. As we were traveling up the mountain road there was a sign that stated you should have chains or four wheel drive to continue on up the mountain. NO worries we moved forward in our chainless mini van. It seemed like we could keep going forever... and the kids were getting antsy so we found a good place to pull off the road. Hiked around for a little bit...none of the trees looked like my neighbors big, full noble fir. Pretty soon I could see that we were going to be leaving treeless so we just hacked down this tall scrawny tree and went on our merry way! I didn't think it was that bad until I was trying to put the lights on it...and realized there really weren't very many branches! (Note the lights hanging down in the picture!) Even then I didn't realize how bad it was until I found this picture from Kelsie's blessing day recently. WHAT A HORRIBLE TREE! I am just cracking up that I even let it in my house! And we took a picture in front of IT! I remember my family making fun of it and being a little irritated...I guess they didn't understand my sentimental attachment since we CUT the tree ourselves! So...the other funny part to me is the picture of us when we actually cut the tree. Again I have to say, What were we thinking?? Look at our attire? The saw? The newborn babe? (Yes, that's a real baby!) The two year old? These are all things that might make some people think twice before heading up into the mountains to cut down a tree...apparently not us! I'm glad we did it now...these pictures make me LOL! Kenna's face is seriously my fave.

P.S. One thing thing that makes this even funnier...in another life I've been known by friends and family to be VERY picky about our Christmas tree. I even used to make Red drive to multiple tree lots to find the PERFECT tree! WHATEVER! Sometime I'll have to post some pic's of our "perfect" trees. They are not nearly as memorable! I'm glad things don't have to be perfect at my house anymore. :)

ThAnKsGiViNg 2009

We hosted Thanksgiving in our home this year and had about 25 people for dinner. My parents drove here all the way from South Carolina and we had a blast! It really was fun. Red's family also came and everyone brought a lot, which made it much less stressful! Although I do have to say that my rolls did not turn out which has never happened and really ticked me off and stressed me out! Figures....Thanksgiving they don't turn out for some reason! I'm still not fully over it. Still, it was a great day, playing games and spending time with the family. Thanks everyone for all the great food and fun! We are so grateful for both of our families and all they do for us. We are truly blessed. Friday, we went with my parents and Scott and the kids to the movie The Blindside. We loved it! We spent later that evening with some good friends and went to Avery's baptism on Saturday. It was a good weekend!

hApPy HaLLoWeeN!

Okay...so I'm a little behind! We had a really fun Halloween this year. Very low key. We went to some fun parties, enjoyed festivities at the school, carved pumpkins and ate a lot of soup and of course too much candy. Tanner was that scary thing with the mask, Allie was Lucille Ball (she never let me fix her hair!), McKenna was a vampire and Kelsie was a witch or a cheerleader depending on the day! Halloween night we watched Twilight Zone the movie...super weird!

mY BaBy tUrNeD FiVe!!

Waaay back in October, Kelsie had her fifth birthday. I had planned on finding a few more baby pictures to add to her digital scrapbook...but that has not happened so I just completed it with what I had. I can't believe this girl is five already. Turning five is like becoming a 'big girl' to me...so I am a little sad. Lucky for me she will always be my baby! Kelsie relishes in being the youngest and is definitely spoiled and loved by everyone in the family! She has such a fun personality and loves to be the center of attention! Her primary teacher recently told me she will probably be a student body officer when she's older. (I think that might be a little premature :)But, that kind of explains the kind of personality she has! I love her and I love her energy. I even love her little lisp and kind of wish she would keep it forever. Kelsie loves hanging out and playing with her big sisters and adores her big brother. Happy Birthday sweet girl! A little late..... So glad you are in our family! Above are a few of the scrapbook pages I did for Kelsie and below is the eight page album.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook