Dinner and a Movie...Family Style:)

So...what do you do on a satuday night when you have 3 kids, no babysitter and hours to go until bedtime????

CALL YOUR COUSINS!!!!!!

that's right!! one of the benefits of living 10 min from your family is getting to have a spontaneous pizza and movie night together!

last saturday we enjoyed some great hang out time with our anderson cousins. there was lots of pizza, cookies for dessert..and a dora movie that actually allowed the adults to converse for a solid 30 min!!

TV bugs...

chocolate chip cookie dessert/picnic on the floor
adult conversation...ahhhhh...

little miss c...getting ready for bed!

but...enjoying some cuddle time with britt first:)

All Dressed Up...

here are a few pics of caroline in her christmas dress...

sure has been fun dressing up a little girl around here:)

sadly, my camera battery died on christmas eve, so i don't have many great christmas pics to post!! hope you enjoy the dress shots:)

not to be left out of the limelight...here are my two boys in an "action" pose

what you do when its too cold to play outside...

yes..this was self-constructed by bd and j w/out my knowledge

yes...they did use every single cushion in the family room

and no...i did not intervene.

this bought me a good 15 min. to fix dinner...

hey, i'll take what i can get!!!:)

Birthday Fun

this year marked ben turning 31...not quite the shindig we had for his 30th, but here are some shots of our family celebration! i had made him tiramisu...his favorite dessert, but about 1/2 through the day realized that was not going to fly with my little ones. they kept asking..."what kind of cake are we making for daddy? a dora cake? a star wars cake? what do you think he would like? when is his party?"

so.....i broke out a high class yellow cake mix with some store bought frosting and the boys went to town decorating with all kinds of sprinkles. they made certain their dad got a "real" birthday cake....

finally...a little miss c posing for the camera

the last pic is for mom w....

caroline was recently introduced to the little cherub movies!! :) she loves them....thanks mom!!

Winter Wonderland

our family sure enjoyed this day after christmas snow!! here are some shots of the family sledding at the pond in our neighborhood. the boys had a blast, and caroline wanted to be right in the middle of it all as well. christmas pics will follow...

O Christmas Tree

this was our second year joining the anderson's in what we hope will be an annual tradition!!

we took off saturday morning for boone with one goal..

CUTTING DOWN A CHRISTMAS TREE!!

it was equally as cold and windy as last year, but we had a great time on the hayride..picking a tree..there was even some horseback riding which ben david bravely attempted!

finally, we enjoying some yummy pizza together!

that evening (pictures are in reverse order of occurence:)...our family had a great time decorating together...a first for us. it was fun to see the boys into the ornaments and picking out which ones were theirs. we have some great homemade ones from our cousins over the years, and many from great aunt geraldine as well. there are even some that were ben's when he was little!!

the evening was complete with christmas pj's, homemade sugar cookies (courtesy of ben) and eggnog!! there is even picture of the boys "clinking" glasses and saying "cheers!!":)

it was a fun start to the season of advent as we prepare for christ's coming.

(p.s....be sure not to miss the previous thanksgiving post!:)

lots and lots and lots of sprinkles.

one of ours hiding amongst the trees!

hayride to pick a tree

hiking to the top

Thankful

after a long hiatus from blogging...i am hopeful to get back on the bandwagon with some pictures of our family! the holidays will surely help with that:)

we started off our thanksgiving day with the traditional 8K turkey trot race! we missed the andersons this year, but despite their absence and the rain that fell lightly throughout the race...we had a great time! ben pushed the boys and i pushed c...it was a great workout in preparation for our yummy dinner that night!

we headed over to grandmommie and poppie's that evening and enjoyed a delicious spread together. it would seem that caroline was hogging the camera much of the evening...so not many pics of anyone else!

we had a wonderful day and feel so blessed by the lord's provision in our lives and this special time to be with family.

the bird:) worth the wait!!!

drew..working on a puzzle (before caroline decided to "help" him)
"cheese!!!"

borrowing the stuffed pumpkin for play

grandmommie in action!

help yourself!