Merry Christmas and Give-Away Winner

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebrating Christ's birth with friends and family. I am always so grateful for this time of year. There are so many reasons for it, but more than anything I love being with family. I was amazed at the peace I felt this year sitting at the dinner table at my in-laws' listening to all six cousins talk at once to someone and everyone at the same time. That is what family is. I am so glad to have most of my family here at the moment. Unfortunately most of the snow has melted and there is no sledding to occupy the kids time.

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I am sorry this is a day late ( I was enjoying my family's company too much to sit at the computer). I had eight names to draw from and the winner was Erika. Thank you so much to everyone who commented, I always love to hear from you. I hope you have a wonderful and blessed new year and I hope you are able to stay warm during these winter months even if you don't have an English Toffee Mocha to keep you warm. Snuggle up close to someone you love and stay warm!!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside & 1,000th Visitor Give-Away

Merry Christmas and Happy Winter Wishes! I hope everyone is staying warm this bitter winter season. I am, as long as I stay inside. I do hope we get a little bit more snow and some warmer weather for sledding while the cousins are here. Building snowmen is always a good way to expend some extra energy as well. What are your favorite outdoor activities during winter? I think Tank's favorite activity is 'fetching' the kids!

I also wanted to celebrate my 1,000th visitor to my blog so I have a surprise for someone. I promise it will be a good one, something to help keep you warm during these winter months. All YOU need to do is post a comment to this post and I will enter your name into the drawing for this warm surprise. I will draw the name on Dec. 27 and post it on Dec.28. So, please leave me a comment. It can be about anything . . . Christmas wishes . . . your favorite winter activity . . . just a note to say, "Hi."

***Oh, and you need to leave me some way of contacting you, like your email address or if you have a blog that will work too. Good luck!

***If you have not left a comment before, please click on the word 'comment' below this post and you will be directed to a page that will allow you to do just that. Thanks again for visiting us!

Matt and his ducks

Matt, Dave and Tank went duck hunting after school today. They wanted to get some hunting in before the bitter cold set in this weekend. Dave is pretty proud of his boy, he was dropping ducks left and right. Matt shot EIGHT ducks with one box of shells, according to his dad. This was only his second time hunting. We are pretty proud of him. He even helped his dad clean the birds with his new knife when they got home.

***Please note that they were well within their limit for the two of them. I didn't want to give any wrong ideas!!!

Snow Dogs

Jake

Tank

Maggie

Today it is bitter cold out, snowing and windy. Everything was cancelled and we got to stay home as a family. Cold weather makes for a very cozy home. . .5 people and 4 dogs!! It is too cold to put the dogs out for very long. They let us know when it has been long enough! Maggie is laying pretty low. I tried to get a picture that shows how pregnant she is, she is such a skinny girl that now that she is pregnant she looks normal. New Year's puppies are on the horizon, so I'm sure she will be looking pregnant very soon.

Gingerbread Part 4

More fun pictures. For some reason Gracie can't stand or sit next to her brothers today!

Can you guess which side Aaron decorated? How about Matt? Grace?

Gingerbread Part 3

It is very hard for me to let go of creative control sometimes, but I did really well this time. I gave them a tiny bit of guidance and then let them do their thing! They had fun. And they did a great job! I will say this was our practice round and I now know what I won't do next. I found a glue idea that is better than Royal Icing and we will try that on our next one. We had to wait way too long to let it dry.

Gingerbread Part 2

While we waited for the icing to dry overnight on the gingerbread house the kids rolled out gumdrop fruit slices to cut out and use on the house. It was quite the mess, but everyone had fun.

More pictures of Molly

MOLLY

Just a few pictures of our new puppy, Molly. She is a character. Tank (the lab) is finally getting used to her. When she first came home, he would run away from her. Quite a sight to see a 70 plus pound Lab running away from an eight week Gordon Setter. I am glad to see them getting along.

Tis the Season

Today we began preperations for the gingerbread houses we are planning on making. We had hoped to actually begin the project, but things don't always go as planned, especially when Mom has a headache and siblings can't seem to get along. We did do a few trees though and are ready to begin first thing Saturday morning. We are making a house for each of the great grandparents, I know they will enjoy the work the kids put into their project. Last year we made a gingerbread train with Dave's sister and the cousins, we had so much fun and it was a huge hit with the great-grands, that we decided to start a tradition. I love my kiddos and their creative and giving spirits!

Just couldn't wait any longer

As you can see, there has not been much snow around here. But my ski bunnies couldn't wait any longer to try their hand at down hill skiing on our small hills. I can't wait to see what happens when we have more snow. At least I hope we get more snow, especially before Christmas.