Little Baker Girl

It's becoming clear to us that Haylee loves to "bake." Just give her a bowl with a tablespoon of flour and sugar in it, and she'll be busy for minutes.

Just don't take her away from "baking," or this toothy grin soon disappears....

Snowman Party

In our family, we've joked that Jack gets his love of snowman from both of his grandmothers. Both women have an incredible number of snowman in their Christmas decorations. So, it was no surprise that Grandma LaVine wanted to throw a snowman party for Jack and Haylee. We headed up to their place for the whole day. The kids had a wonderful time, as did I. It was a nice break to get away from the house and away from the dozens of items staring at me from my to-do list. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa L!

The house was covered in snowmen. I couldn't even take pictures of them all. :)

She had a snowman craft for the kids. (This is Haylee's new smile for pictures. Gotta love those teeth!)

Haylee has really taken to snowmen herself. She calls them "snowies."

Grandpa L. had set up a great electric train, and he and Jack looked at it for probably over an hour, total. They made up stories about what was going on inside the train. I'm thinking we're going to have to invest in one soon. It was extremely popular for the three year old. (And yes, those are snowmen poking their cute little faces over the train.)

Grandma even had them bake snowman cookies. Haylee was into it, but not quite able to be involved in the actual process. So, Grandma gave her a bowl and some margarine to which Haylee added pecans. She thought it tasted great, and I had to finally pull her away from it. You can probably imagine that I was not the popular one for a while...

To round out the snowman extravaganza, Frosty the Snowman was on TV the other night. So, we got Jack in his snowman pajamas, set him up on the couch with his favorite snowmen and enjoyed an old classic. Rachel even got in on the fun.

Oh, and we enjoyed the numerous cotton balls that Grandma sent home with us for a snowball fight. They sure are fun to pick up when the snowball fight is over. :) No, seriously, such a thoughtful and fun party for the kids.

Giving Thanks

It's been over two weeks since Thanksgiving, but it's never too late to be thankful right? We had a wonderful time with members of both sides of the family this year. There even was a blanket of snow to beautify the landscape. Here are a few things I'm thankful for this year:

I'm thankful for a great husband whom I love and who loves me enough to....

...still throw snowballs at me. (If you know Chad, then you understand this statement...)

A healthy, lively family.

Healthy, fun kids who make me smile daily.

Two sets of wonderful, loving grandparents.

An involved, loving and fun dad for our kids.

Wonderful family and friends (many who were not with us on Thanksgiving Day and therefore, are not pictured in this post). :)

A mother and mother-in-law who show great hospitality (from whom I'm trying to learn...)

And I'm most thankful for a God who loved us enough that he sent His Son to us to save us. The Perfect Gift we remember during Christmas time. Which is approaching faster that I'm ready for....