Another Family Christmas...

When we got back from Florida,

it was a winter wonderland.

 We did the Brown family Christmas and

it was a blast.

 Evie loving up to her Uncle Oliver, fellow Razor lover.

 We opened presents then the kiddos bundled up and they hit the hills.

 All the older cousins together having a blast.

 I know, I know, maybe not the safest, but only the dads drove

and kept it slow.  I can't say the same for when all the older brothers 

started pulling each other around...it got a little crazy.

 We had a new face to the crowd and were missing a few,

but all-in-all, it was a wonderful Christmas.

The only thing that would have made it better would

to have had everyone with us.

I can't remember a better Christmas.

We are blessed!



Our Quiet Christmas...

To our amazement, the kids slept in until 7:30!

Needless to say, Zach and I were happy to get the extra hours.

 All the kids got new sleds from Santa.

 Evie got a guitar for Christmas,

which she hasn't put down since opening.

 I got a beautiful ornament made by Oscar for the tree and

wait for it....

 a beautiful candle holder from Josephine.

It's a favorite:)

 It snowed and snowed on Christmas Day so

naturally, we turned our driveway into a sledding hill.

Zach couldn't pass up the chance to put a ramp on the bottom:)

 We spent hours outside and enjoyed the day.

 Evie was the biggest dare devil of the them all...

no surprise from this mom.

 My Christmas was amazing-

I couldn't have asked for a better one.

I feel so blessed to have my family with me.

Here's Evie rocking out to her version of Jingle Bells.

From our family to yours,

We wish you a very Merry Christmas...

The Savior is born!

 

One of our family Christmas celebrations...

took place in Florida this year at my sisters.

We all had a wonderful time.

 My niece Nora just loves Zach...when I say she loves him,

I mean she LOVES him. 

She did warm up to her Auntie B though so I left a winner.

They waited to decorate the tree and light it(thanks Meg and Bri)

Zach is usually in charge of putting the lights on the Christmas tree

so my wonderful sister had to wait to have a lights

 for about two weeks until we got there.

 A bunch of us went to the Zoo and had a great time.

 We got a chance to feed the birds...

 which was a little frightening when they landed on you

and you weren't expecting it.

 Needless to say when it started to turn into a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds,

we got out of there.

 We went on rides,

shared lots of laughs, 

 and even a couple of screams.

The cousins had so much fun together. 

 They even got to feed the giraffes.

 We had a great time swimming in the pool. 

I think we all went in at least once a day.

 We did our annual cookie decorating.

And these cute girls whipped up the frosting.

We all had a wonderful time

and logged some great memories.

Thanks Megan and Brian for letting

our crazy family invade your home for almost a week.

I just feel so blessed to have the family I do!



We went into the woods...

on a Christmas Tree Hunt!

 So when I got home from picking up the kiddos from school,

my adorable husband was making hot chocolate for our Christmas tree hunt.

It was pretty frigid, but hey, we live in Wisconsin so that's life, right?

 Evie immediately found this tree and said, "This is the one I want!"

Maybe just a bit too big:)

 Josephine found this one and thought it was a prospect.

Maybe just a bit too tiny.

 We settled on this one...well, the top of this one anyway.

And it was just right.

 Zach cut it and because it was so tall,

it got hung up in a couple of others on it's way down.

But we got it down safely and trimmed off the top and...

 here it is- I think one of our best ones yet.

 The kiddos got busy decorating it.

After we got some extra tinsel at the store,

the kids and I made the star(a tradition)

And Oscar got to hang it this year.



Happy Belated Thanksgiving...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

My mom had come out to help me out because I

had about a week of vertigo.

I don't know what I would have done without her!

Reducing stress is something I'm working on now:)

My dad drove out to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.

 We had a wonderful meal at our house..

 It was decidedly the best Thanksgiving dinner my mom and

I had ever made.

 Normal people often take naps after a feast,

but Zach brought out the big buck for my dad and I to practice on(with our cc pistols)

 We had a great time and I must say,

I think I get my shooting ability from him:)

Then Zach and I went hunting Thanksgiving afternoon,

where I shot a numb-buck(I've already canned the meat)

Then we headed over to my in-laws for dinner there

and had seven pies to choose from for dessert...it doesn't get better than that!

What a wonderful day!