Christmas Cheer!

Recently we spent a lovely evening catching up with friends at a good old fashioned gingerbread house party!

Some of the lovely friends

First things first, there were adorable babies present

Very adorable, and very new in this case

Our hostess, Kiki, had everything ready, including pre-cut walls and roof panels

and all of the fixin's to spruce up a home

No joke, this was CJ's fist taste of sugar...he was literally shaking and couldn't keep still

Ah, and then the competition began

That's my creation on the right, I ended up having to lighten the roof panels...in case you didn't know, necco wafers and spree are heavy

Here they are coming off

And here are a few shots of my finished creation, notice the architectural details, the skylight, marshmallow supports and licorice trim.

the pretzel rod and the unfortunate cookie-man are actually supporting the roof and wall...hey you use what you've got

home, sweet home

and here was one of the competition...mid-century trailer...or a purse, you decide.

dreaming of a white Christmas

While up late finishing laundry, I looked outside to discover that everything outside had been tucked beneath a bright white sheet of snow. Have you ever noticed how quiet it is when it snows? Especially when it's falling, it seems to absorb all of the little noises that are normally present.

Looking from our front door...I didn't expect that we were going to see snow until the week after next when we visit family up in Alaska...who knew.

You can't see any of the weeds under the lovely white blanket. :)

Things that happened last Sunday

Our friends, the Flynns, loaned me their egg basket! It's the perfect size to collect eggs from our chickens. Thanks Flynns!

Later we had dinner with our friends, the Ritters and Dornays. Yes, the men cooked in very fetching aprons.

very fetching aprons

unknown talents were revealed

about half a second later one of those apples bounced and rolled over to my feet

I think she's trying to be nice to him...but it looks like she's poking his eye. :)

I couldn't resist adding this one

Thanksgiving - Part 3

Our final stop of the night was with our favorite B family! We ate, played cards, and games, and ran around with all the B kids and had just a great time all around.

R.B. vs. turkey...the turkey never had a chance.

E vs. the Ham...you can't tell from this angle, but he massacred that ham. :)

All of the kids got into the act, including the teens...but they could only help with foods that coordinated with their outfits.

You can't tell, but T.B. is wearing a mashed potato colored shirt under her jacket. Honest.

E with M.G.B.

T.B. with M.G.B.

G.B. (who wasn't eager to have her picture taken) and her aunt T

W.B....cutie-patootie

A sweet kiss from M.G.B.

And all smiles afterward

Thanksgiving - Part 2

The second stop on our progressive thanksgiving was with our my sister in-laws in-laws. They are always so gracious and make us feel very welcomed and loved!

The lovely guests at the lovely table

E and Row, one of them had just gotten up from his nap

Miss O playing peek-a-boo

Miss O likes to dress to-the-nines for all major holidays...and minor holidays...and banking holidays...and days that end in "y"

If you didn't guess before, Row was the nap-waker-upper...prematurely obviously. Poor guy, the holidays can be a very stressful time.

Thanksgiving - Part 1

Our thanksgiving was filled with fun, friends, food and lots to be thankful for! Rather than type lots and lots of words, I'll let the pictures (okay, and the captions) do most of the talking.

We started with our friends, the Wilsons, in Maple Valley.

We took a walk down to the Cedar River with Aiden, Cael, Anne, Katie, Roger, Sante (the black lab) & Melvin.

The rain held off all morning and we had a great walk down a very steep hill...that we had to walk back up...to a pretty view of the river.

Wet dogs are happy dogs

Lots of little fishing houses along the river, this statue was at one of them. I'm not sure which saint it is. This was pretty high up on a large tree and you can see water stains on the wood.

Cool things to look at

crooked trees...cool

swing made out of a tire that looks like a horse...cool

very sweet little bird house...cool

Aiden was not impressed with my picture taking. If I remember correctly his words were, "Dop taten piturs!" Then I showed him this one, he laughed and we didn't discuss it again.

Okay, the "safety doggles" were my favorite. :)

Aiden found a treasure!

No, wait, two treasures!

Cutie-patootie Cael...on the swing made from a tire that looks like a horse...still cool and now super-cute.

Ever see a picture of yourself from behind? My reaction was a quick scream followed by "really?!" Yeah, so where's the turkey, gravy, potatoes...and don't forget the pie.

And truly the strangest sight...a giant Keebler elf peeking out of a tree stump. I'll end with this, because what could possibly follow it?