TREE LIGHTING

I LOVE spontaneous. It always seems like the MOST fun happens when you just sort of ROLL with it :) Last Saturday night was the annual tree lighting in our little town at our little library. (Last Year)

It was SO fun to have friends this year, to show up a little late so we were not FREEZING and to have Santa come ON TIME! :) 

Taking it all in...

JOY!

After seeing Santa and watching him plug in the lights, the crew (PLUS SKY! :) all came back to our house for some venison stew (and pizza for me and the kids ;) It was impromptu, so fun and one of the best times!

He may LOOK unsure but he was really PSYCHED about getting this stew again. :)

Liz brought a PAVLOVA... and oh how I love it! With her fresh and homemade LEMON CURD! YUMMMM!!! I do LOVE it when my PG friends have a hankering for something and I get to reap the benefits! :)

 

This pic is for her brother... he didn't know he was missing out on meringue :) and he does LOVE a good meringue cookie :)

of course since it was a late night and had them all jazzed up on sugar and friends it was just CRAZY but so so SO much fun!

I love my friends and what a great time was had by all!

She does this to HERSELF...

Our little redneck... :)

Wordless Wednesday: Sisters

Are there still those out there who DON'T think my gals look alike? I mean REALLY?? :)

 

Miss B ~ 15 Months

Minnie ~ 13 Months

The Annual Hunt for the Christmas Tree

If you click HERE you can get to all the past years... I may have mentioned it a time or two before but I am not big on CHANGE or DIFFERENT or not doing what "we've always done" but CountryDad always tells me that change is the only thing that is constant and that you can count on.

 

So this year it was different. It was the first time in I *think* 9ish years that we did not bring Daws and Sky. SIL L and I tried to make the calendars work but we just couldn't... we won't talk about my shed tears or the disappointment and just move onto the taking small children out in freezing cold temps to do manual labor....you know... the FUN stuff.

All before the crying ensued... from the "big one"...

Little one LOVED every minute... including the part where her sister begged and pleaded to push the stroller "BY.MY.SELF." and ended up tipping over little sister, stroller and herself. Only one crying... "big sister". I went to pull Miss B from the "wreckage" and all she did was say "Uh-OH. Uh-OH!" while she pointed at the tipped over stroller. Fun times I tell yah, fun times.

My loves

Doing the manual labor... :)

the ONLY reason I think she GOES to get the tree... well... other than the part where she's not old enough to stay home alone yet and I can still wrestle her into a 5 point harness.

and really... what would the annual hunt for the tree be without the annual TREE TIPPED OVER IN THE LIVING ROOM picture?

AHH... CHRISTMAS. I love tradition!



How we spent last week...

I know it is Sunday, blogging has been down which I hope you know by now means living has been UP... ;) We spent most of last week right here at HOME... it was nice... and then we all started spinning around looking at each other. Good thing my girls like to go go go as much as Husband and I do but I have found that we also need to "practice" staying HOME just to be content... course having visitors helps :)

cookies and milk as a post-nap snack help too!

and babies that still nap on you...which is the positive way to say she woke up crying in her bed after only an hour....

Miss B's first time with finger paints....Remember Minnie's first time?

Wonder how it tastes :)

more fun with friends....

and time at home... WELL-SPENT!

Minnie's 4th Birthday PARTY!!!!

About 6-8 months ago Minnie saw in the drawer under my oven that I have a Wilton flower cake pan. She decided then and there that she would have a FLOWER cake for her birthday and once she makes up her mind... well... that's it. ;) I'm a sucker for a theme so I just took it and ran with it, though truth be told, I didn't run QUITE like I usually do when it comes to party planning :) kept things pretty low-key this year, small crew and easy snacks.

 

Turned out PERFECT for our girl!

 

Minnie designed the cake herself. I asked her what colors it should be, made notes and then created what I hoped she wanted :) she was happy... that's what I was going for :)

She picked the menu, fruit, chips and salsa, Snickerdoodle cookie dip and some veggies... 

 Favors were little flower water bottles for the girls (cars and a robot for the three boys :)

and the ONLY thing she REALLY wanted for her birthday party... a piñata :)

8 kids 5 years old and under and they had a BLAST! :) It was chaos but a FUN chaos :)

Maybe my fav. pic from the day... these two... :)

CAKE TIME!

piñata time!!

 

FOUR years these gals have been friends.....

 

and it feels like just YESTERDAY

September 2011

 

 PRESENT time!

A VERY happy, VERY blessed, very SPOILED by friends and family FOUR YEAR old!!!