Christmas Blizzard 2009

To Grandmothers House we go

Christmas Day Blizzard 2009.

Both Luke & Robyn's and Jacob & Christy got a tractor escort to make it to MiMa and Pops house. Luke and Robyn were the first to get to this huge drift on the road that was totally impassable so Pops came to the rescue and scraped them a path to make it through. An hour and a half later Jacob and Christy arrived and the drift was again impassable and it required a chain to get them through.

We are thankful everyone made it safely.

"Merry Christmas"

I didn't have a chance to say it before- so I'll say it now ~ MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I choose to say Merry Christmas- not Happy Holidays, not Seasons Greetings just Merry Christmas! Afterall, our Savior was born on this day to save us all!

It was a memorable and very white Christmas for sure. More pictures to come soon.

I believe!

Santa wrote back- no joke. He did.

{Seriously- I have no idea who wrote this letter- I have "heard" that the bank where we sent Santa's letter from writes back- but I am not positive.}

It's a sweet little letter! I believe now more than ever! Thanks Santa!

The envelope was addressed to Audrey (I covered up our address) and the postal code says NORTH POLE.

seven months

Seven things I love about Isaac Christian:

1. his mouth ~ it offers so much expression

2. he's just a chill baby ~ he is RARELY, RARELY unhappy

3. he loves to put his head on my shoulder and just lay there ~ oh, I love this!

4. his belly laugh ~ it's just the best!

5. the way he attacks things when he's hungry

6. his sleepy song ~ the song he "sings" when he's going to sleep

7. how he watches his sister

2009 Christmas Card

Santa

My scrap pages of Audrey & Isaac meeting Santa and then Audrey's letter to him and then taking the letter to Santa's mailbox downtown.

After the Greenery

After the Christmas season is over and the greenery needs to be put away - I take all the pictures off and onto a ring for us to enjoy throughout the year. Here's the past two years worth of pictures- it's fun to look at all the growing families and changing faces! And not to mention- this is a good time-consuming, free toy for your children to occupy their time with!

Santa's Message

Gina gave a great link to this Santa site and Audrey LOVED it; and Chris and I had a great time watching her get so excited as she was listening to Santa talk to her.
http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/63a4c93b9dd8eff5a3c1d0642f94a829

Who will make the greenery?

One of my favorite parts of this season is receiving Christmas cards & pictures in the mail! Audrey and I open the letters and look at the pictures and go over who is in the picture- she loves this. Then we hang each picture on the greenery around our Christmas tree. I love this and our guests love this as well. It's so much fun to look at! So... who will make our greenery this year? Several of you already are hanging with care and we just love looking at you!

{Stay tuned to see what we do with all those sweet pictures after the Christmas season is over}

Baby food- start to finish

I have a lot of people ask about making baby food (since that's all I did with Audrey) so I thought I'd inform/enlighten/bore/annoy you. (however you want to look at it)

This was the food I started with Audrey ~ so I decided to do the same with Isaac.

Sweet potatoes ~ on a pan. Stab holes in them. Don't forget to line your pan with foil. (I forgot)
Ice cube trays. Nothing fancy.

Potatoes in the food processor ready for the mash. I added formula to them to make them smooth and more liquidy for a baby.

In the trays, ready for the freezer.

I put plastic wrap on each tray and place in the freezer. I like to make enough of one food to last awhile- this saves time. Most likely this will be all the sweet potatoes I'll need.

Once they are frozen, pop them out just like an ice cube and put in a plastic freezer bag. When it's time to eat- just pop out how many cubes you need and place in the microwave on defrost. Or you can have them sit at room temperature for awhile.

{now to my favorite pics}
This was Isaac trying them for the first time. As you can see he LOVED them! (not exactly)

That was then- this is NOW

Friday, December 4th:: I took this picture because these two leaves were the ONLY two leaves left on this big bush outside my kitchen window.

Today, December 8th ~ 2:50pm:: an amazing blizzard we are having and it's not done yet.

Thanksgiving Part II

Here's pics from Thanksgiving with Chris' side of the family:

Eating with cousins Garrett & Ashton.

Window opening. Audrey's favorite part was the live nativity set (sorry, no pics) - this was just really cool and I'm so glad she latched on and remembered this the most- because afterall it's the most important part of this Season.

The one fountain on Main Street.