Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas

and a very happy new year!!

Hannah always though she was a princess

Hannah was so excited when I told her this idea of "The Princess and the Pea".   She could not wait for her turn to get on this huge stack of mattresses.  When the time finally rolled around (after what she thought was the LONGEST photo shoot) she could not hold still.  She loved every second of this shoot.  And it made it even better when her friend Caroline showed up!  Angela and I had so much fun thinking about this photo shot and she was kind enough to let me barrow her large stack of hand made (by her!!) quilts.  It really made the picture.
Here are a few from the shoot.

medium List

Hannah as been so concerned about the naughty and nice list.  The other day I asked her what list she thought that she was on.  She told me that she was probably on the "medium list"  because she is not good all the time.  I tired really hard not to laugh, because she was very serious about it.  Come Christmas we will see what she gets.....a big chunk of coal ( I found some at Walmart!!) or a strawberry short cake set.   What will it be?!

On to other good things...... Hannah got a rock tumbler for her birthday from her Uncle Jacob and Aunt Robin.   Little did we know that it takes 4 WEEKS for complete the "tumbling"!!  After about 14 days of listening to the rocks tumble, tumble, tumble..... (there was a lot of tumbling)  Hannah decided that she had enough waiting.  We took the rocks out and rinsed them and this is what they look like!!  They are so pretty and Hannah absolutely thought that it was worth the wait.  She has been busy making necklaces and rings for friends and family for Christmas.  She is in rock heaven!!

(wish I got a picture of the "before")

I got out my tri-pod the other night and took some pictures of our tree ornaments.  I know that you were really wondering what was on my tree this year! ;)

Do you think he likes candy?

This little guy loves to give hugs, and he is so fun to hug, especially when he is in his fuzzy pjs!  His cheeks in the last picture just kill me!!

20+ inches of Snow!!!

Really need I say more?!  I can't believe it!  Church was even canceled,  and the snow plows were taken off the roads because of the wind and and snow conditions.  I might not make it one more day stuck in the house with my kids!  I juts might go crazy!!!

Here is our back yard, notice how deep the snow is around our trampoline!

 The view from our front door.  Now that is a big drift!

It was a lot of work to dig out our drive way.  You can see how much snow we got by looking at how high it is on Kurtis.  That is after 3 shovelings(and a wonderful neighbor with a snow blower)! 

I dug out some snow pants from our winter box for Porter.  They were perfect!  He was dying to go outside. Porter did not stay outside for long, because all though it looks warm out it was freezing!!!  The high was 2 degrees! 

My litte guy was so happy to be out of the house.  I love his smile.  His whole body gets happy!

I had to add this last picture of Caleb because it is so funny!  Caleb loves to be outside working along side  Kurtis.  I love how he wears his ski goggles.  I love that his front teeth are going in.  I love this happy boy.

( I was just informed by my dear husband that school has been canceled tomorrow..... HELP!!) 

A lot of snow

When it snows here is really SNOWS!!  We got dumped on a few nights ago and tonight we are supose to get 6-10 more inches!!  My kids are exploding with excitement, me I am dreading it!  Why you ask?
Now let me educate you on on a MN winter:

1.  the snow WILL NOT melt until at least march....yes, you are allowed to cry with me. 
2. a lot of the time it rain/hails then snows.... we are talking a lot of ice, everywhere.
3.  the snow is no fun to play in because the snow is in layers of ice, snow, ice, snow (you get my point)
4.  you step outside and your lungs feel like they are going to expolde, due to the -40 degree windchill
5.  ... need i say more?!  It is dang COLD!!

My two older kids have braved the cold, fluffy-non mold-able-snow, and ice for the past few days.  I could not help but take a few pictures of them all bundled up.  Porter also experienced the snow first hand.  He put his little hand right in it.  Poor guy, did not know what he was getting into!

This is what our fire place normally looks like.  Notice the Binky at the end, Porters contribution. 

My Christmas advent calender

My sisters-in-laws found a great pattern for this advent calender.  It took me forever to get it done, but I did it, the day before December!  I love the way it  turned out, love everything down to the little brown pom-pom!  Here is the pattern if you want to make it for next year.  (We changed the pattern just a bit, but the ornaments are so fun and easy patterns.)

 I cut this "days till Christmas" out of felt and it took forever!!!  Will never do that again!  I do like the way that it turned out.  I made this pocket for all the stories that goes with each ornament.

 The finished product!

Always behind

never ahead!

We had such a fun Thanksgiving.  We are lucky enough to have family close by to spend the holiday's with.  After 5 years going without on most holidays, it is nice to have some family to share it with!  We traveled to the cities to spend Thanksgiving with my brother Jacob and sister-in-law Robin.  She cooked a yummy meal, and with just a little help from we put on a beautiful dinner.  The kids had fun playing hide and go seek, soccer in their unfinished basement, and xbox.  The adults had fun chatting, eating, and playing games.  And of course what would Thanksgiving be without Black Friday!!!  The best day of the year!!!  Robin and I had a blast shopping, stealing some great finds and getting a little lost!!  (wink, wink)  All I can say that it is worth getting ALL your Christmas shopping done in one day! (I get all excited just thinking about it!)

We also had Tangled birthday cake for Hannah's birthday!  I had fun making it and Hannah about died when she saw it!  

My 5 year old - Hannah

Hannah likes the smell of:: yummy soap, princess body wash, cookies in the oven, and flowers

Hannah likes the taste of:: cookies, muffins, brownies, lemons, meatballs, and soda

Hannah likes the sight of:: butterflies, Christmas trees, stars, crayons, snow, animals, grandma on the    computer and glitter.

Hannah likes to hear:: bee's buzzing, the oven, Taylor Swift, birds and mommy reading
Hannah likes the feel of:: fur, blankets, warm fire, kittens, and grass.

Hannah had a great birthday.  We went to my brother and sister in laws house and had a party.  We ate a Tangled birthday cake.  And saw the movie Tangled.  I was a great birthday.  Hannah can't get over the fact how big she is now.  5 years old.....a whole new world.  Not a toddler any more, a big girl.  We love you Hannah.  xoxox

one FANCY birthday party!

It is nearly impossible to not fall in love with the wonderfully written Fancy Nancy series, and after reading it you may find it hard to resist the urge to add a little more extravagance to your life. For Hannah's 5th Birthday Party we decided that the most spectacular way to celebrate was dolling up and going Fancy Nancy Style. 

Our party consisted of a lot of fuchsia (a fancy word for purple) and exquisite (a fancy word for fancy) ensembles. I had so much fun planning for her party. We picked out lots of pink and purple Ribbon, Streamers, balloons, flowers, fingernail polish, fancy food and Pink Cupcakes. As all our little Fancy Nancy's arrived we decorated party bags with sparely stickers and markers. Next we went to Charm School, where they learned to curtsy, to walk with proper posture with books on their heads, to drink with their pinkie fingers lifted and learned some fancy vocabulary and French words. Then we escorted them into the Ooh La La Salon for their glitter hair, sparkly eyes, finger nail polish and lip gloss.  And of course you can't go to a tea party with out Accessories!!  They all got long gloves, mini tiaras and necklaces, so Posh!   Then the girls were escorted to the pink and fuchsia tea party!  They were all dolled up and we enjoyed a very fancy luncheon of flower and bunny shaped sandwiches, fruit and yogurt Parfaits with fancy umbrellas, carrots and olives with frilly toothpicks.  We served hot apple cider as our "tea".  I purchased all different tea cups at Savers for 49 cents.  Each girl got to take theirs home with them.  They felt very special! The kids loved it...especially Hannah!! We ate fancy Pink Cupcakes topped with Tiara's.  We opened presents and it was already time to go home!  All of the moms were nice and let them play the last game, pin the jewel on the Tiara.  We covered their eyes with a pink boa!  Hannah is still playing it today!  I don't think it could have gone any better....the girls all left wanting more, loaded up with their Fancy Accessories and a Fancy Nancy Coloring pages.

It was a success and we has so much fun doing it! 

One of the girls found these cute photo props that I just made!  I think that it is so funny that half of the girls chose the mustache!  I love this picture!  (now you can see how small my little studio is!  They did not all fit!  Oh well!  :)

We celebrate Hannah's real birthday on the 24th.  We are going to see Tangled and go to Mall of America! Isn't it fun being a girl!

more than the world

I feel so blessed to have these 3 little people in my life.  I love them more than anything in this world.

I took these pictures just in time.  It snow the next day.