Wintertime Fun

Well, it's that time of year, when you put up your 5 trees (yes, I said 5), decorate your house with wreaths and lights, and start working on your wintertime family traditions.

One of our family's favorite traditions is the return of our elves, Nicholas and Ella.  They always return after Thanksgiving and always bring lots of cheer to our house....and sometimes quite a mess!  

They must have needed a warm shower after their cold arrival from the North Pole

At least they have good hygiene!

Nicholas and Ella decided to make their own letters to hang on the kid's walls

Nice to know Santa makes time for schooling for Nicholas and Ella.

Apparently our house needed more decorations. Thanks guys!

Caleb loved finding Ella on top of his Christmas tree in his room!

Elf Art!  Each elf made beautiful artwork for the kids!

Nice stenciling!

They even had a playdate in the Barbie house...and made themselves quite at home.

Mini Marshmellow Bath

Starting the day off right with some whole grain cheerio's!

One morning we found them in Daddy's office, which was covered in post-it messages.  Below the elves was a present!

What could be inside?

The elves surprised the kid's with a Gingerbread house.  So of course, we had to make one!

The next day, the elves added a few more decorations to our Gingerbread house.  Now it's even better!

And for the past 3 years, I have enjoyed a Mommy-Daughter after hours art night at my school. Each year, Kenzie makes me a holiday plate.  In a few years, I will have a complete set, homemade.  Mackenzie knew exactly what she wanted to make this year...a Gingerbread house of course!  

What better way to countdown the days until Christmas, then with a countdown chain?  I thought it might be a little frustrating for Caleb, but he was all about it!  He practically did the entire thing on his own!

And we love cuddling up and watching family movies together on cold nights.  While Daddy was out of town for the Buckeye Big 10 Game, Nana and Grandpa brought us some take-out and we enjoyed watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. And to for dessert, Grinch inspired floats:  Green sorbet and sprite. 

And my all-time favorite tradition, is decorating the house.  

And you MUST go sledding when you have a SNOW DAY!

Looking forward to many more Winter Memories! 

Thanksgiving 2013

We are so blessed and thankful for many things, but most of all for our family.  We are surrounded by the most loving and supportive family.  I truly don't know what we would do without them.  We enjoyed an early Thanksgiving with the Buzzard crew.  As usual, they went all out with Beef Tenderloin, Grandma's noodles, cheesy potatoes, salad, fruit, and more! We enjoyed lots of laughs and were entertained by all the Buzzard Grandkid's, 6 in all.  Afterwards, Grandma and Grandpa hosted a sleepover.  Me, Jeremy, Caleb and Owen bunked there.  Kenzie, Kaylee and Ella headed back with Uncle Buzz and Aunt Kate. I'm not sure who stayed up later, the girl's or the boys?! One thing is for certain, there was lots of late night fun!  The following morning, we headed to Kaylee's basketball game.  It was so fun watching her, Maryn and Eily play their hearts out.  Then we headed over to Owen's 4th Birthday party, Spider Man themed.  It was the perfect weekend, full of family fun and a reminder of why we should all be thankful.

 

Thanksgiving week came and with it came some bad weather.  As a result, my sister Melissa and her family of 7 had to cancel their trip.  We were beyond sad, especially my kid's as they couldn't wait to have a 4 night sleepover with their cousins.  It was too quiet without them, but we tried our best to make it fun anyway.  Grandpa made the most amazing turkey, and the girl's were in charge of all the sides.  We spent the day together in the kitchen laughing and cooking, and the food was amazing! After dinner we drove out to see Great-Grandma Monty, who spent her first holiday at Willow Brook Christian Center.  We brought her pie (and lots of noise) and enjoyed sharing the holiday with her. Over the long weekend we also went out to see a movie (Frozen),visited Santa at the Mall, and enjoyed some family time together!

  

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Fall Festivities

Who doesn't love a good Fall hayride and excursion to the Pumpkin patch for some fun? Well, these folks do!  Grandma and Grandpa Buzzard came down a few weekends ago for some Fall Fun!  I'm not sure who had more fun, the kid's or the Grandparent's?

If pumpkin carving doesn't scream "Fall" I don't know what does.  Mackenzie was all about the process behind deciding what her pumpkin was going to be, how to execute it, and doing the majority of it on her own.  Caleb on the other hand, was not going to be persuaded to stick his hand into a cold, wet pumpkin with nasty orange goop.  Nope, not going to do it.  That worked fine for me, as I might have a slight love-hate relationship with the whole pumpkin carving process.  Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of it, but I could do without the goop dripping down the island and the slimy pumpkin seeds covering the floor.

...and this little cutie lost her front tooth the same day!

Each Halloween, the kid's daycare has a costume parade, trunk-or-treat in the parking lot, and classroom party.  It is a much anticipated day and the kid's always have a blast.  This year, Nana and Grandpa joined the event along with Grandma and Grandpa Buzzard (which was a total surprise to the kids).  As if eating cupcakes at 3:00 in the afternoon isn't a treat enough, having both sets of grandparents there was like hitting the jackpot!

   

Following the daycare festivities, everyone headed back to our house.  We warmed up with chili, and lots of yummy goodies before heading out into the cold, wind, and rain to go Trick or treating. 

and...pictured above is my little chef, who LOVES to help me cook.  This year, she asked if she could make her own cake with NO HELP!  Bless her heart, days before, on a busy day after work, while preparing dinner, she made this cake entirely on her own.  (She even sketched it out before, notice the sketch in front of her as she perfects her icing!)

Unfortunately, I took minimal pictures...did I mention it was cold, windy, and rainy?  Oh, and I might have had an umbrella in one hand and a hot cocoa in the other...sorry camera).

Oh, and I almost forgot...to really get into the spirit of Halloween, you have to start it off right, with a proper breakfast and lunch.  Duh!

And after crashing from weeks of too much sugar, and beggin people for candy, it's time to appreciate what we have.  Onto Thanksgiving.  And this year, we decided to make our own "Thankful Tree".  Mackenzie is either has a genuinely thankful heart or really enjoyed this activity, b/c she glued on about 20 leaves the first night alone!  Regardless, it is something I hope to do each year as a reminder of all of our blessings!