One, Two, Three... Sing to Me!

Emma turned three on the 27th!!

Church was canceled because of the snow storm, so we got to celebrate together all day.

Emma picked what we ate for each meal (cereal for breakfast, scrambled eggs and cake for lunch, and pink popcorn for dinner).


She got her much anticipated "Dora" cake.

And she had fun opening her presents

Each time she started opening a gift, Dennis would ask "What is it, Emma?"
She would tease him and say, "I'm not going to tell you..."

What a girl!

At age 3, Emma...
likes to play with her new doll
plays pretend with Sarah all day
wants to be Mommy to Andrew
loves Dora the Explorer
has a natural talent for puzzles
enjoys coloring and painting
is very affectionate and loving
runs away to her room when her feelings are hurt
and keeps us smiling

We love our Emma Mae!!

once there was a snowman!

On Christmas Eve day, it began snowing.

It kept snowing
all day

The first snow of the season is always magical
especially in Oklahoma
Sometimes there never is a "first snow"

This is the first time our kids have ever truly played in snow

The girls LOVED it

Andrew did not

He wanted to be held so his feet wouldn't touch the scary snow

We made a snow midget

and had a snowball fight

S N O W

Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas!

Christmas has come and gone

It was wonderful

We made doughnuts togetherEmma and Sarah helped with the icing

We all helped with the eating



Santa came
after staying up very late
some might say it was past 3:00 am

The children had fun

and memories were made

Merry Christmas!!

'twas the week before Christmas...

and all through the house...

the tree was leaning, and curiously bare at the bottom

Santa's helpers were baking

the kids were bouncing, jumping, and sliding

and riding Eeyore like a horse (wait... what?)

and the family was posing for the annual Christmas pic!

what we've been up to

It's December... hooray! We've been having a great time decorating for Christmas, having my mom visit for a long weekend, watching classic Christmas movies, and counting down the days. Every year gets more and more fun with the kids getting older and understanding more about what's happening.

I always love decorating the tree as a family... it is so
festive
chaotic
magical
and
lovely

What good is a John Deere tractor ornament if it doesn't get some good play time?
(I bet no one else can claim to having at least 10 tractors on their tree)

And who knew that Joseph from our "Little People" nativity drives his own tractor?
(Andrew knew it, I guess).

My mom helped us make mini gingerbread houses this year.
Sarah did so great making marshmallow snow.
Andrew wanted to pick all the candy off.

And Emma licked to her hearts content.

This past weekend, Dennis was in charge of a fund-raising chili dinner for the local Rotary club. He started out by bringing home:
50 lbs. of hamburger
3 huge bags of onions
and more tomato sauce and diced tomatoes than I've ever seen.
I couldn't resist snapping a picture of him with the 6 gallon bucket of chili.
This wasn't even half of it!
P.S. That's a man-sized bite if I've ever seen one.

Other than helping here and there with the chili, my job was to make 10 dozen chocolate chip cookies. I had a very cute "helper" taste-testing the 5 lb. bag of chocolate chips. It was a thankless job, but Andrew was happy to do it.

The more we get together, together...

Dennis and I have NEVER had Thanksgiving at our own house. Since we got married, we have taken turns on which family to spend the holiday with, but this year we decided to stay home. We thought we would eat with some friends, but luckily Dennis's brother and his family came to visit us. Everyone had a good time... eating lots of food, going on a double date with Russ & Melanie, making homemade pizzas, playing at the park while "the Mommies" had some time alone, making bread, and playing games. It made a great long weekend!

I always do something yummy for my part for Thanksgiving, whether it is rolls, veggies, or pies (lots of pies). But, having dinner at our house made it my job to do it all. I was excited and a little nervous to tell the truth. I planned it all out, wrote down every detail of when and how long everything needed to be cooked. I am happy to report that it all turned out scrumptious, if I do say so myself - turkey, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, and 3 pies (chocolate cream, pecan, and pumpkin). Can we have Thanksgiving again this week?

Emma & Sammie

Sarah & Caleb

Andrew loved his sweet potatoes and roll. Don't pay attention to his purple Dora cup - what do you expect with 2 older sisters?

She is her mother's daughter - we both think the rolls are the best part of the meal!

These kids have so much fun together...
Aren't they cute waiting for the prayer before breakfast?

Everyone got to "decorate" their own personal pizza. This is always a hit on those days when everyone has played hard and is ready to eat!

Silly Andrew... here he is being a goof before he biffed it again and got 2 more bruises on his forehead.

The whole crew:
Corey (2), Sammie (4 1/2), Sarah (4 1/2), Emma (almost 3), Caleb (3 1/2), and Andrew (20 months)

Thanks for visiting Hunger family!