Christmas Through the Years

My sister inspired me with her own pictures of her kids through the years so I made a collage of my own. It's so fun to look at!

We are not sending out Christmas cards this year so if I usually send you one, please know that I didn't cut you off my list! :) Hopefully, we will be back to snail mail next year!

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Christmas Cookies

*Okay, this is my 3rd blog post tonight so if you care to see the others, check out the ones before this...*

We actually thought ahead this year and realized that this weekend was the best time to make Christmas cookies. We sometimes forget that Brian's deer season is approaching and he'll be busy hunting on those weekends. I have no desire to attempt this type of baking on my own--if they were plain chocolate chips cookies, that would be fine. These take all day long!!

Adding ingredients and mixing the dough. This picture didn't show it but my beaters have a $2 garage sale sticker on them from my sister's garage sale years ago (I don't think I paid, either). I used my fancy kitchen-aid for the frosting, though--just so my Mom knows! :)

Cutting out the dough.

Nathan giving moral support to the decorating.

Everyone hard at work decorating and then sampling the cookies. I used a new recipe and I'm not sure I like it as much but the frosting covers that! :)

Snow!!

We finally got our 1st snow fall but it was pretty disappointing--less than an inch, I think. Still, it made everything look pretty and the kids were so excited!!

Hunter and Lily attempted a snow angel in this dusting. :)

Nathan got his 1st introduction to snow (I'm sure he doesn't remember last winter!). He just assumed it was to eat...

...and wasn't sure how good it actually was!

Christmas Decorating

We actually decorated in November but we've been busy with sickness after sickness with child after child here. Anyway, we got everything up in 1 day so I thought that was pretty good! I thought Nathan would be a nightmare with the tree because that little guy is into absolutely everything. However, he takes an ornament off now and then but mainly leaves it alone. It's amazing! :)

A rare picture of these 2 boys sitting nicely together.

Lily with her pink (naturally!) tree.

Nathan exploring all the new-to-him toys!

The boys' tree.

Hunter and Lily were a big help with the dusting before I set decorations out. Brian's in the background putting up our white tree that goes on the porch. I love that thing!

Samuel enjoying his room's decorations.

This was the last year we're attempting to have a child put the star on (as decreed by Brian!). Samuel was afraid of being up so high so he cried and then cried he couldn't do it and refused to put any ornaments on the tree. Just another fun family event! :)

This makes me laugh--Nathan is hanging on me, hoping to be picked up. This is my life! :)

The hard workers relaxing at last!!

Last Baby Month!

Well, it's here. Nathan is 11 months old today. 1 more month until the big birthday and I will no longer have a baby. Although, 1 year olds are still pretty babyish so I won't stop calling him "the baby" just yet. :)

At 11 months old, Nathan is b-u-s-y. Just today I went to the kitchen to grab my lunch (1st mistake), came back to the living room and he was standing on a chair, hitting the TV. I managed to not scream in fright to not startle him and grabbed him. Now my throw pillows are stacked on that chair so he doesn't climb up. We took him off baby food so he eats most of what we do (minus the things babies should not eat yet). He does well except that he keeps shoving food in until he almost chokes so we have to watch that.

He crawls, stands and thinks about walking but hasn't done it yet. We have a gate on the stairs, the portable dishwasher blocking the kitchen (even if I could keep the floor clean--and I can't--there's a door to the basement that makes me nervous), the bathroom door remains shut and until we can get Lily's vent attached to her wall, her door must stay shut, as well. Whew! Lots of Nathan-proofing around here! :) But it's a fun age and he's a sweet boy!

Visitors

My Dad brought my brother and his family over to see us tonight. They had never met Nathan so that was fun! Unfortunately, Samuel was not able to stay awake. He had been up in the night throwing up so he needed the early bedtime!

My brother Derek and his wife Melissa with Nathan.

Hunter and Lily with Derek and Melissa's granddaughter, Elizabeth. The kids had a lot of fun playing together for that brief time!!