Annual Christmas Cookie Baking Day

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We have many Christmas traditions that the kiddos (and their Dad and Mama!) look forward to every year.

Tate and Eliza count on these traditions already too!

A tradition that we have done for years and years is to have a cookie baking day and then deliver trays of cookies to our neighbors and police and fire stations.

THIS IS SO FUN!

I am thankful for Addie Mae who sided with her Mama in agreement that we could not do all of the baking on one day this year with so many little ones.

Our kiddos tend to be a smidge on the ambitious side, ahem.

Addie Mae made the oreo truffles when she got home from work Saturday night – to give us a head start!

Sunday after church we gathered everyone, including Auntie Gail, to make the monster cookies.

They are a BIG job, and with only one oven this year we knew it would take quite a while to bake them all.

Many hands make for light work!!

These two handsome men worked on our Sunday night snack dinner for us!

On Monday Kayla and the babies joined us to finish up our annual baking day – which now should be called our annual three days of baking!

We enjoyed baking and being together very much!!

This year I bought this pack of foil pans at Sam’s Club to use for our cookie trays.

We liked them a lot, and need to remember to use them again!

Good thing I write all this stuff down every year so we can look back and see what we did!

Blake and all of the kiddos, except for Eliza who stayed home with me, delivered the trays of cookies on Tuesday evening.

That is THE BEST part!

Our Annual Christmas Cookie Baking Day was a success again!

Christmas traditions bring SO much joy!!

What is your family’s favorite tradition?

Cards and Caroling

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Our church had plans to go caroling to two nursing homes this past Sunday.

We planned to join them, and Kayla had the idea that the kids should make cards to hand out to the residents after we were finished singing.

We go to River’s place once a week for lunch and a play date anyway, so we used our visit this past week to make those cards!

Isn’t River ADORABLE?!

I gathered some supplies to take to Kayla’s and also quickly looked on-line for some Christmas coloring pages so that it would be easier for the little ones to participate.

I was thrilled when I saw this Christmas bingo game board printable – the boxes would be the perfect size to cut out and add to cards!

This photo is of the one that Tate colored!

These kiddos embraced this little project, and before long we had around 40 cards!

We still had lunch and play time too!

Just look at these two little ladies.

On Sunday Auntie Gail joined us for the WHOLE day!

We all headed to the nursing home in the late afternoon.

We got there a smidge early, so we waited in the warm van.

What a blessing it was to sing to the residents!

While we were there, a nurse said that a certain resident was non-verbal – and yet he sang “Silent Night” with us with tears streaming down his face.

The mind is POWERFUL, you all.

We used to be part of a monthly nursing home ministry, and we all said over and over (once we were back at Twin Oaks Sunday evening) how much we miss doing that!

I think we have a new tradition to add to the Christmas season.

It’s a good one too!

There are just SO many ways to give!

Not just at Christmas time – but any time of the year!

Capturing the Moments

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I’ve got some snap shots of life to add to my little scrapbook!

My helpers – how I love them!

I made a green smoothie one day, but the blueberries in it did not make it look very yummy!

Our Pup, Sadie, is our best dog yet!

The kids and I made stir fry one night.

Tate calls this “my China food!”

We have been buying food in bulk to save some money.

So far we have nuts, gluten-free flours, honey, unbleached paper products, and oats!

We also have a freezer full of whole chickens and half of a pig!

SUCH a blessing!!!

Aren’t these boxes a hoot?!

It snowed, so this guy was out half of the night, as he is a snow plow guy this year.

It called for a super big coffee the next morning!

Maybe that is the size of his coffee everyday?

The snow is so pretty!

Even though we had a llllooonnnggg drive home in it on date night Friday night!

Blake took ALL the kiddos on some errands Saturday morning (I KNOW!!).

Tate came back to give me one last hug and said, “I know you are going to have some peace and quiet Mommy!”

Yes, I DID!

Christmas cards are starting to arrive!

They bless us SO much!

I worked in the kitchen all day Saturday, and filled this scrap bowl three times.

How I wish I had some animals to go and throw it to instead of putting it in the trash!

Here is the fruit of our labor.

A fridge full of yummy things.

The guys were cutting wood most of the day Saturday, but they are always glad to lend me a hand too!

The kiddos and I are going through the advent study “Unwrapping the Greatest Gift” by Ann Voskamp.

It is SO good!

One morning we learned about when Abraham was asked by the Lord to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac.

He obeyed, and trusted that the Lord would provide a way!

The lesson then asked the kids to list 10 things the Lord has provided for them.

I wrote them in the order they said them, and I think it is just the sweetest list.

The guys put up our swing set and our bird feeder while I was in Iowa last weekend!

We don’t have any birds coming to our feeder though.

I need to research what we can do to get them to!

Our afternoons always have an hour of rest.

My effort to rid of naps for Tate and Eliza was in vain!

They just cannot make it without them because of how late their nights are because of Blake, Grant and Addie’s work schedules.

Sometimes the boys enjoy an hour of a quiet activity during that time – but usually they head outside to run Sadie.

And there are more moments captured!

A blessed season!

Girl’s Weekend

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When us girls received an invite to a wedding shower that would be held in the Amana Colonies, we decided to make a weekend trip together to attend!

Of course, River got to join us too.

We left the guys to hold down the fort, and headed out Saturday morning.

It was only a four hour drive, so we only stopped once about half-way there.

Once we got to the Amana Colonies, we checked into our cute little motel room, and then headed out to walk around all the cute shops!

It was BEAUTIFUL!

And 57 degrees!!

We got some delicious coffee before heading back to our room to get ready for the bridal shower.

Besides the time with my girls, the time I that I had with River was SO precious too!

There are usually many wanting my attention all at the same time!

The wedding shower was so beautiful and meaningful.

There was a meal and gifts, but also a very special devotion and a time where we all prayed over the bride-to-be!

The next day we joined the bride-to-be and her family at their church for sunday school and worship, and then ate a delicious lunch at their home before dragging ourselves away for the drive back to Wisconsin!

I can’t remember the last time the girls and I had time to share our hearts like we did this past weekend!

Kayla and I both were more than ready to be home to our littles, but we enjoyed our girl’s weekend so very much!

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