Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

So we have been hit hard in Indiana with some wonderful, winter, snowy weather. The girls headed out to play in the snow, we met up with the neighbor girl and went sledding down the driveway. Syd, the thinnest child on the planet, played for a while and then begged to go inside. It snapped a few photos to comemorate the day. It was really nice to see the stuff. The picture of Scott is after he completed the drives and sidewalks. He started at 7 a.m. this morning, I wish I loved blowing snow as much as he, however, I am thankful that I can get the mini van out if I desire to go out! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

Christmas Cookie Extravaganza 2007

Here they are the official pictures of our cookie making done with the hen party. The girls had a lot of fun. Sydni went to bed hopped up on sugar. Sophie just enjoyed being with the girls. It was another night of memories:

While They Sleep

While You Sleep

While you sleep

the world marches on

The T.V. blares, the computer drones,

my hands are busy, preparing, collecting

while you sleep

marches on, marches on

Your face at ease

your mind far off dreaming

happy places, smiling faces

your body charging as you sleep on

while you sleep

marches on, marches on

Your beds snuggle you

safe and warm you rest

blankets of your happiness surround you

while you rest the world

marches on, marches on

Christmas Traditions

Ali over at {a} has a post about Holiday Traditions. I thought this would be a wonderful place to put our family traditions. Starting at Thanksgiving we'll move through to Christmas:
1. Thanksgiving day we all go to my Grandmother's home. She has a creek and woods behind her house. The girls love to go on a hike after dinner with their cousin Amy and my mother. This has been a tradition for many years.
2. The day after Thanksgiving we put the trees up. We have a decorative one that goes in the family room. It goes with the decor of the room. We place a "family" tree in the living room. Last year I did a picture tree. The girls chose pictures from the boxes and we taped them to card stock and hung them on the tree. This year we just put up the ornaments that we have collected over the years. It is very lovely. We also decorate the banister and entryway of the house. We turn off all the lights and play Christmas music real loud. It's magical!
3. Around the 2nd week of December we get the hen party together and have a cookie making night. We all bring the ingredients for two different kinds of cookies. Last year we did 104 cut out cookies because we tripled the recipe. (Why did we do that?) We all walk away with tins and canisters full of cookies. They are especially nice to take to an impromptu party on a festive tray.
4. Christmas eve- we go to service all dressed up and full of anticipation. We then go downtown to see the Santa Claus on the side of the building. We usually get our picture taken, and if we're lucky we see Old Saint Nick himself. We spend some time at Scott's parent's house visiting and then my mom spends the night.
5. We place our stockings on the mantel and every year he fills them and leaves them by our bed. He usually leaves a note about how much we have grown!
6. On Christmas morning we get up and open gifts and have a breakfast together. Then we bask in our Christmas glory!

Just thinking about Christmas and traditions gets me excited about the upcoming weeks. Can't wait!!!!!!

Indiana Basketball at Its Finest!

Tonight was the last night of "Little Hoopsters." Eight weeks of fun basketball for students in K-2. This is Sophie's second year. Really it is just for fun, and the trophy! Sophie enjoys all things active. I hope she will continue to have this attitude throughout adulthood.

Just Goofing Around

The sisters spend the Saturday after Thanksgiving playing in the playroom. They finally came out for lunch. One looked all decked out in her plastic princess wear. Yes, they are still in their pajamas, and it's lunchtime. Saturdays around here can be very lazy!

I love the sisters, they can play so nicely with one another and they can fight like the worst enemies, but they will always be sisters.

It's Spooktacular...

Here are some very scary pictures of some very scary witches. We had so much with the neighbors. We had so much candy! Daddy went through it all and stashed some chocolate for the grown-ups.

Off to School

I know that these are old pictures but I know that you would like to see the girls on their first days of school. Sophie, 7 now, is in the first grade. She has a lovely teacher that goes to church with us. Sophie thinks she is just the greatest ever! She is learning to read and write and is asking us to read everything to her. We don't, tough love says to make her sound it out.






Sydni, now 5, is in her last year of preschool. That's right, my baby will go to Kindergarten next year. She is excited mostly about riding a bus. She is rapidly learning her letters and their sounds. She wants to read badly! Lately her interests have been these wonderful Golden Books:




She also loves all things ocean, we read about dolphins and sharks. She loves school and we are so pleased that she loves it!