Our Winter Wonderland

Catching the last of the December 2007 snowflakes..
Snow angel girl tasting them too!


Don't eat that snow!!

Our favorite cat friend came over to play in the snow too!

Happy New Year!

Our Gingerbread House

We had so much fun making this gingerbread house! (Thanks Holly!)

Also, a great book to read when making gingerbread houses:
This is one of our favorites!

Smiles For You...

Merry Christmas!!!

News Flash....

We just got rid of our land line, and have gone wireless. Jeff and I both have Verizon cell phones now. Jeff's number is the same number we've had for years. If you'd like my number, call Jeff and ask for it, or email me. For those of you who have Verizon cell phones, we can talk to you for free...Yay! We also have free nights and weekends.

Waiting For Christmas...

K fell asleep next to the Christmas tree!

J saw that I was taking pictures of her brother, and decided to "go to sleep too!"

Decorating For Christmas

We've been decorating our Christmas tree...and thinking of all of you! We have so many special Christmas ornaments that have been given to us through the years, and taking them out every year reminds me of where they came from. All of them have a story, or a person to go with them. K and J love to hear about them!

Some are hand-made ornaments from special friends for our first Christmas after we were married...
Ornaments from my childhood, some were wedding gifts, some from children I cared for...

A pinecone angel in all her splendor with her milkweed pod wings, and acorn head and playing her golf tee trumpet!

Treasures brought from special friends from far off countries...

Hope you are having a happy holiday season wherever you are!

So Much To Be Thankful For...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Perfect Pumpkin Muffins

My kids are always asking to make these!

Muffin Mix:

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

3 1/2 cups flour (I use half white whole wheat)

Add:

4 eggs

1 stick of butter

1 lg can of pumpkin

1/2 cup milk

optional:

These taste soooo good by themselves, but they are also great with chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, or apples!

Mix well.

Heat oven to 350.

Pour into Muffin tins(I use cupcake holders)

Bake for 25-30min.

Makes 24 delicious Muffins!

Serve by themselves, with butter, or cream cheese.

Christmas Shopping

One of the things we love to do every year before Christmas is order from the World Vision Christmas catalog. It's kind of fun to go shopping for anything from sheep, goats, and chickens to garden tools or medical supplies for a needy family. World Vision sends you a gift card with a picture and description of your "purchase" which makes this a great "stuff free" Christmas gift for the person who has everything!

When my son K was two years old, he said he really wanted to buy the little girl on the cover of the catalog holding a goat! He was so disappointed when I told him only the goat was for sale!

The kids have been having lots of fun poring over the catalog deciding what they want to buy this year. K (age 4) would like to get musical instruments for school children, and also clean water. J (age 2) really has her heart set on buying a hippopotamus for someone, but she just can't find it in the catalog! :)

If you would like a free World Vision Christmas catalog, or to view it online, go to:
http://donate.wvus.org/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpBuyRoute.jsp

Playing in the leaves

We had soooo much fun playing in the leaves! K got a little upset when I started raking them to the curb because he didn't want the town "vacuum truck" to come and vaccuum them!

Happy Fall!

Pooh Bear And Lady Bug...

Winnie the Pooh got to go to a special costume party at his AWANA club meeting this year, while our little lady bug girl stayed home and passed out candy with her daddy. She thought this was great fun giving "treats" to all the neighbor friends!! We had so many children show up at our door this year that we ran out of treat bags! Jeff told her that the candy was all gone, so we had to turn the light off. J ran and got her own little bag of treats that she got from the neighbors and begged Jeff to turn the light back on! She then passed out the rest of her candy to the kids that came to the door!


K came home from his party with a bag of treats that he happily shared with his sister.

In The Garden...

flower girls

and boys..

day dreaming

and dancing in the green grass..

and hanging out with Mom Bee and Grampy
Our happy little family

What a perfect day!