Sugar cookies and Duck (and quail) Hunting!

Interesting combination isn't it?  The weekend before Christmas we headed down to Y-town for a little sugar cookie decorating and duck hunting. The men had a successful duck hunting extravaganza and we were very successful in our cookie decorating endeavors, which was surprising to me since we have a one year old, but said one year old decided to take a REALLY long nap which let us get a double batch all decorated. She woke up just in time to 'help' and especially enjoyed the green frosting! Liam made beautiful cookies this year and labeled a few with an 'L' so we'd know which ones he decorated.  He also learned how to frost- what a talented baker!!  We ended up with seriously adorable adorable cookies. The next day we baked some eggnog snickerdoodles and cherry chocolate shortbread, both of which turned out great! I'd say we had a successful weekend!

All ready with the sprinkles!
















Papa cleaning frosting off the floor.








Taking a break to rock




Quails! (PS- strict supervision was enforced here.)






And little Miss learned to fold her arms for prayer-- sweetest thing ever!

Fall Leaves!

One lazy afternoon, we finally blew out leaves into a pile because they FINALLY all fell off the trees.  We knew Liam would love the experience of playing in them, but we weren't too sure what Addy would think.

We were right- Liam loved it and Addy wasn't sure if she liked it. She thought she might, then she thought she might not, but overall I think a good time was had.  At least I got super cute photos, right?

26!

On December 4, I moved to the second half of my twenties and turned 26. :) I had a super nice birthday and received gorgeous Christmas stars for the window, a bike helmet and bell, the perfect Seven Jeans, and sweet cards from my kiddos. One of the most special gifts was the Nutcracker that i bought for my mom when I was in Germany.  She gave it to me to have because I never bought anything for myself in Germany. It's so beautiful and something I will cherish forever. I also got the yummiest Ariel ice cream cake-- sort of a tradition for me.

Here are a few photos of me opening presents and eating cake with the kiddos. Thank you everyone who made my day so special.








Addy loved the frosting.

Happy Birthday, Peyton!

On December 1, my sweet nephew Peyton turned 2! He had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party and my sister, mom and I had fun creating a clubhouse cake for him. Turned out pretty amazing didn't it?


We tried to get a shot of all the kids in their Mickey hats. It was hilarious watching us try to get a decent shot. Here are the few of the shots...Pretty cute kiddos!








And Posh lil Addy looked pretty darn cute.



Happy Birthday to the sweetest little nephew a Titi could want!

Polar Express!

In year's past I had heard about other towns having a Polar Express on their local railways and was always very envious. As you well know, we love trains AND Christmas around these parts, so it sounded like so much fun. When I found out that the Virginia Truckee Railway was putting on a Polar Express this year, we jumped on it, and boy am I glad that we did because they sold out very quickly. I told my mom that that was what I really wanted to do for my birthday this year, so the Friday before my birthday, our little family, my mom and dad and Heather's little family went together.

They encourage children to wear pajamas just like in the book, so that we did. I think my kids are pretty darn cute in their Christmas jammies.





The train was decorated SOOO beautifully. The whole experience exceeded our expectations. We all got golden tickets that the conductor punched wildly!  We also all got hot chocolate and cookies and got to enjoy those while they read the story over the loud speaker and showed us the photos. We road the train to the North Pole and we looked out the windows to see elves dancing and of course SANTA!  Santa boarded the train at the North Pole and gave us all special jingle bells.  It was very special and very neat.  The kids, especially Addy, LOVED the jingle bells. We even had a special visit from the 'spirit'. He told Izzy to keep that ticket safe in her show, so she did.  After we finished the ride, we sat on Santa's lap and got a group shot.

































A blurry pic of the North Pole:












WE made some seriously amazing memories and I am sooo glad we had the opportunity to ride the Polar Express!

Skype

We finally got with the 21st century and downloaded Skype so that the children could talk face-to-face with Grandma and Grandpa. They are LOVING it and have so much fun showing them their new tricks and blowing them kisses and giggling like crazy. It's very cute and a neat way to see relatives that are far away!  The other night Liam wanted to show them our Christmas tree so we skyped in front of it to show them. So fun! Addy still mostly just wants to press buttons, but she blows lots of kisses to Grandma and Grandpa!

Duessel has Arrived!

Liam was very excited to see that Duessel had arrived a few days after Thanksgiving. He turned his milk red and left him a few snowman peeps, but only after he had sneaked one!



 
We've been having LOTS of fun with him so far this year.  He has lots of silly things planned for us, so stay tuned...