First snow!

I couldn't wait to put up our snow pictures!  This morning as I headed out the door for the gym I was greeted by snow.  I knew then that I would have some happy kiddos!  Once breakfast was done we bundled up.

And hit the great outdoors.

The twins decided that the trampoline was the place to eat, throw, and enjoy snow.

I decided it was a good time to wear the ear warmer I knit.

And after a lot of pleading Kellina decided it was a good idea to make a snowman.

Melia jumped on the snowman band wagon pretty quick.

And the cat?  Well, I don't know what he decided.....but I am guessing he will stay inside most of the day today.

A Christmas sweater.

I got a text from a friend recently who said she had the cutest Christmas sweater for her son and was hoping to get some pictures of him in it.  Jumping at any chance to practice my skills I was thrilled to help!

Little Calvin was the perfect subject.   Form getting set up.

To playing with his trucks for a photo dad could enjoy.

And even when we put him in a basket!

Until we tried for the brother shot.

I still think it's cute though!  If you have a cute sweater or kids and want a photo, let me know!

Cocoa Bar 2013

This idea was totally stolen by a friend who was inspired by Pintrest.  You can see her cocoa bar here!  After I read here blog I decided I needed to cuddle my kids and build some memories.  Jeff picked up a movie and a couple toppings.  And bam! We had a cocoa bar night!  I really love the biscotti you see in this picture.  If you want to try them you can get the at Haggens or order them here.  Jeff's boss's wife makes them!

The girls even put on a little show while we waited for the water to get hot.

The girls really loved being able to make their very own perfect cup.   Melia's creation.

Kellina's cup

And I really enjoyed practicing with my speed light!  Then we all enjoyed watching movies together.  I think this may have to happen every year.

Recording memories

I recently went through this blog and read some of my old posts.  I remembered why I started this blog.  To record memories that I would other wise forget!  It was a lot of fun and inspired me to share a couple things that are happening now that I want to remember later. The first comes from Isaiah.  He was an early talker and loves to be verbal.  He recently decided he doesn't like his tear drops to linger and wants them wiped away.  So after he has cried he always comes up and says "Mom will you wipe my eye drops away"  It makes me smile every time!

Then there is Caleb.  He has always had his own language.  No, not one shared with Joshua.  Just his own way of taking.  He likes to fill in the gaps with garble.  Lately when I ask him to pick between two things he has to do eeny meeny miny moe.  But his version goes like this.  "eeny meeny mo mo, catch a little toe toe" then he picks. Caleb also happens to be the boys who still doesn't say all his letters the right way so when Venus was pointed out to him in the night sky he was very excited.  "Look it's penis".  I love the way my kiddos make me smile with simple words!

 

Baby Winston

I took these photos several weeks ago, but after editing just a few my computer died!!!  I still haven't finished all the way, but thought I would share some of my finished photos.

A fun side note; the hat in the photos was Joshua's when he was a newborn.  The hospital gave us a light colored one and a dark colored one.  Caleb always wore the dark and Joshua always wore the light.

Costume Party Time!

So, every year my family does something different for Halloween.  We can't seem to commit to what we like best.  Well, that's not true.  What we like best is dressing up in all sorts of costumes and getting a lot of candy!  This year my mom went all out with more of a party then normal.  She felt inspired by a craft book she got a while back.  She had themed food.

She had grand-kids in costume.

And a daughter who even dressed up this year. 

It was really a lot of fun. We noticed that this year mom and I were a stark contrast.  The evil witch from Mirror Mirror and a Fairy Queen(or Tinkerbell depending on who you asked).  We decided a cute picture to demonstrate was needed and thank goodness we had Ursula the evil sea with to round things out. 

Yeah my sister-in-law really had an amazing costume because her sweet baby got to be Arial! 

Caleb really wanted all of us to by from movies and by the end of the night even if it wasn't intended we were all movie characters!  This year poor Melia spent her night on the sofa dealing with Strep throat, but no worries she said she had a good time with dad.  And please forgive my photos, they were all on my ipad because my camera was forgotten.....

Corn maze redemption!

So, I shared with you all about my not so happy corn maze.  I decided today to share about the redemption of corn maze happiness.  I decided this year to head to The Farm.  If you have never been it is so very worth the drive!  The maze has a map!  And it's the state of Washington!

And all the paths are real roads!  And there are two bridges!

And there are cities marked with historical info!

 And there is a map!!

Besides all the greatness of the maze there is also tons of way fun stuff for you to spend your day doing.  And boy did we do it all!  Our day in photos.....

A small side note ...Caleb got a corn kernel up his nose and couldnt figure out how to "blow" it out.  From the reaction of staff he may have been the first ever visitor to do this!  They were nice, just stunned.