Gingerbread...

Every year on the weekend 

following St. Lucia day,

we make Gingerbread houses.

It is a special little thing

that Daddy does with the kids.

We always get a little kit so the pieces 

just have to be glued together 

{with the glue gun...way easier!}

then the kids decorate away!

The making of the gingerbread houses

in a big deal at our house...

Our hope and goal with all the little traditions we

celebrate every year,

is that someday when our children have 

their own families,

they will continue with these traditions.

~

Love all these special moments and memories...

St. Lucia Day!

Every year one the biggest 

highlights of the Christmas season,

is celebrating

St. Lucia day...

 

We celebrate with a big fancy 

breakfast in bed!

Elsie wears a white dress and a shiny crown 

on her head...

{she wants candles, but probably not for 

quite a few years yet!}

James was the

Star Boy..

but refused to wear the star boy hat...

and refused to let me take his picture at all! 

But he did help carry all the food into the

bedroom...

and did a perfect job!

This is my favorite part of 

the breakfast in bed!

We started this tradition of breakfast in bed when

Elsie was Angelina's age...

and she made just as big of a mess as 

Angelina did this year!

Such great memories...

Our "fancy" breakfast was 

buttered toast,

mandarin oranges,

jello,

and snowman peeps.

The kids loved the breakfast...

the buttered toast was their favorite since 

we never ever have toast!

And we ate it all on the fancy china plates 

with the china cups.

~

Such a great little holiday memory...

Christmas Crafts...

I'm just so darn slow with posting lately!

Anyhow, 

back to Christmas...

for the entire month before Christmas we

did Holiday projects...

one night it was 8:00 at night and

the kids were still up 

painting their little projects!

  James has gotten so patient and into projects...

he is very creative and does whatever he feels is right.

 Elsie has become the opposite...

she is SO into Pinterest and striving to make 

her project look 

"just like the ones in the picture!"

Love to watch them both create their own,

unique masterpieces...

Enjoying the Holidays...

Several times during the Christmas season,

I loaded the kids up in the car,

took along a bedtime snack and 

 drove around looking at all the 

Christmas lights!

They never tire of looking at the magical lights!

One house in town even had a fun little 

cutout to go stand behind...

So it was only natural that we pulled over,

climbed over the knee deep snow pile and 

pose behind the cutout for a picture!

Basically, we do about anything for a 

good memory!

Outside Play...

I swear,

this winter has been the coldest winter ever!

We have had the very few days that have been 

above zero!

Yes, we do live in northern Minnesota,

but we typically only have a few 

super cold days...

not several in a row...

and by super cold I mean,

almost -30 for a high!

basically we have spent this winter inside keeping warm!

When we do have a rare day of 
being nice enough to go out and play,
we take advantage!
Angelina loves to be outside...
she can hardly contain herself and just 
smiles and babbles the whole time!

Jon was home for a whole week during 

Christmas...

and we had big plans to go sledding and

ice skating..

But, Elsie could hardly walk outside due to her 

hurting nose, dizzy spells and headaches!

We did have her go out for a little bit to get 

some fresh air and sunshine!

James could live outside if we let him!

As soon as it snows out a little,

he is begging to go out and 

shovel the sidewalk off!

His "job" this year is to

"help" papa Wayne with the snow plowing...

I guess he works the 

"blade" as he calls it,

and he takes the job pretty seriously!

Angelina is so easily entertained outside.

One day,

I simply stuck her in a pile of snow up to her waist...

and she squealed with delight and simply 

ate some snow!

As soon as the weather warms up

and Elsie's concussion/whip lash is better,

we have big plans for this winter...

some ice skating on the little rink 

daddy made in the yard 

and at Grandma B's house...

and some sledding on a couple different hills...

and tubing down the big ski hill

a few towns over...

big plans for this cold winter!

Christmas Magic...

Christmas is by far,

my most favorite holiday...

There is just something so magical about the 

entire season!

We sleep by the light of the

twinkly Christmas lights from the 

day after thanksgiving till after new years!

We only listen to Christmas music...

we try to watch only Christmas shows...

but Little Chuck and Duggars usually win out!

We wear Christmas clothes...

Christmas hairbows...

Eat Christmas cookies for breakfast...

{okay,only a few times!}

Its almost a little sad when the Christmas season comes

to an end...

St. Nicolas

Every year we celebrate 

St. Nicolas day...

The kids love celebrating some of the feast days!

The night before St. Nicolas day,

the kids put a shoe out so 

St. Nicolas can fill it with little treats!

This year they chose to go with a 

cowboy boot theme!

St. Nicolas filled the boots full of fun little candies...

which they ate for breakfast as soon as they

saw the shoes!

Fun little memories...

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Not a Baby Anymore!

Lately baby seems to be in a big rush to grow up!

She watches the kids and tries to be 

like them!

Lately she has been whining because she wants to sit on a

stool next to the counter like the kids!

Clearly she missed the memo on

staying my little baby forever!

~

She is at a fun age now though.

She loves to wear crowns,

lots of sparkly necklaces and bracelets,brushing her own hair.

she loves her baby doll and 

giving her babies bottles.

And she loves to play cars with her brother!

~

These past 2 weeks though,

have been a nightmare with her...

she is working on her eye teeth...

and good heavens they have altered her personality 

like no other...

she has major

"throw yourself on the floor and scream fits"

and she hits and throws.

Not an ideal personality!

With any luck these eye teeth will

pop through soon and our 

sweet natured little girl will return!

Thanksgiving...

I'm going way back to 

Thanksgiving..

just because I want to document this in 

our Life Journal.

~

Every year Ted and Ceara host 

Thanksgiving at their house.

And its always a fun time!

This year Grandma B and Patrick were supposed to come,

but couldn't at the last minute...

but Patrick still took all the guys 

grouse hunting...

sounded like they had fun!

 

Every year we are on 

Pie Duty!

The kids and I mix up a double 

batch of homemade pie crust.

We use Grandma B's recipe...

with lard!

{the only time of the year we use lard!}

We make Apple, Pumpkin, blueberry and Strawberry.

The kind we don't make is the 

pecan...

we don't do anything with nuts...

so we make the crust for that pie and 

have someone else make that one!

Ceara assured me she loved

Hummus so much that we should get it from Costco... 

She was slightly surprised by the size when 

I brought it in the house!

Ceara loves Thanksgiving...

but not the traditional thanksgiving meal...

besides the normal fixings,

this years specialty was 

Corn Chowder and Fried Pickles!

Both were very yummy and

with any luck will be served again next year!

Wearing the traditional 

Thanksgiving Bib.

I made that bib for Elsie when she was Angelina's age...

and all 3 of the kids wore it for their 2nd Thanksgivings...

love those special little things like that!

This year my Grandparents were able to

join us for dinner too!

Because this year was such a small group of people

for Dinner,

we all went bowling for a little added fun!

The bowling alley had a little arcade,

and good grief,

we spent a small fortune there!

That was James first experience with an arcade,

and he is quite hooked now!

I never bowl anymore due to my back...

just watch.

This time was so fun and relaxing to watch because 

baby was sleeping the whole time!

We stayed up late.

We love having a good time as a big ol family!

Then we went home and planned our big 

black Friday shopping adventure.

Then we cancelled it all and just shopped online 

and stayed in our pjs till noon!

Then we went to the Fish House parade...

then decorated for Christmas...

then kept an eye on Marissa and Emma while 

Grammie brought Papa Wayne to the ER

for stitches on his finger...

{he got it cut with the chain saw}

Then we ate left over pie and watched 

Elf by the light of the Christmas tree!

~

After all Thanksgiving is the kickoff

to the Christmas season!

...New Year...

I'm a little slow with my

"happy New Year...its 2014" post.

We've had a rough start to the new year...

in the first few days we dealt with,

colds, teething, loosing teeth and concussions.

Now that all of that is on its way behind us,

this year is on its way to being a 

fantastic year...

 

Here's to a year of 

adventure, laughter, memories, learning,

exploring, love...

We have grand plans, dreams and goals...

welcome 

2014...

Broken Nose...

We had quite an exciting 

Christmas Holiday this year...

The weekend before Christmas,

Elsie fell outside on the frozen cement and 

broke her nose!

Within 2 hours of her breaking it,

is had swelled up so much she couldn't even 

breath out of it!

We brought her to the ER for xrays

to make sure all was okay.

 

The day after she broke her nose,

she looked tough, but not too bad.

The day after that,

wowza...

2 black and blue eyes, 

 black and blue and swollen nose,

eyes so swollen they looked like slits.

She was in rough shape!

~

For the first week Elsie had a 

head ache daily.

Then loss of appetite, insomnia, change of moods...

so she was also diagnosed with a 

concussion!

we are now at 3 weeks since she broke her nose...

and she is still dealing with all the

concussion symptoms.

The Doctor said it still could be several 

months before all the symptoms go away completely!

She is one tough little cookie! 

~

The hardest part for her is that she cannot 

do kick boxing or sledding or 

any rough or physical activity

until all the symptoms go away.

Poor girl...

this might be a very, very long winter!

Just remember...

Never ever,

under any circumstances,

run over cold icy ground,

with hands in pockets!