It's Tax Time!!!

I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone else that gets excited about tax season!

I do!

I love working on taxes,

I love being busy,

I like the challenge of the tax code,

I like talking to people.

My blog is up to date. . .

The laundry is done for today. . .

The kitchen is cleaned. . .

The basement is a mess. . .

The bills are paid. . .

Time for bed!

Play Time

At Grandma Betty's Christmas gathering,

Caleb got to play with Uncle Jason.

Caleb loves playing with Uncle Jason!

Uncle Jason reads to him. . . 

He climbs up through Jason's legs . . .

and back down again. . .

sometimes he gets stuck in the middle. . . 

Caleb gets to sit on his lap. . . .

and even slide down his legs. . .

(good thing he has long legs!)

And best of all, Uncle Jason listens to whatever Caleb has to say!

Snow Time

It finally snowed!

And by the time I got the kids all bundled up and ready to go outside. . .

there wasn't much snow left!

Caleb wanted to make a snowman . . .

boy was that a big disappointment!

He and Sarah did have a snowball fight . . sort of. . 

it was more of them scooping up snow to throw at Mommy!

The best part of the snow time fun. . .

The end is the best part!

Getting to go inside and get toasty warm by drinking some yummy hot chocolate!

With marshmallows, of course!

In the special Santa mugs!

After a morning of briefly playing in the snow,

warming up with some hot cocoa (as Caleb calls it),

the kids thought it would be so fun to go SWIMMING!

Caleb made a pool out of Sarah's twister game and all his blankets.

Then he went up stairs and put on his swim trunks!

He asked Sarah to join him in his pool. . .

I guess they have different opinions on what the weather is like!

My other sewing project . . .

Not only did I sew the kids Christmas pajamas (see previous post),

but I also found this really awesome idea for coloring/paper pad.

I sewed one for each of the kids, designed with their specific interest in mind!

Sarah = crayons with a crayon button

Caleb = baseballs with baseball button

Lainey = ladybugs with ladybug button

Matthews = crayons with crayon button

Olivia = Hello Kitty with kitten button

Bella will get hers when she is a little older and won't try to eat the crayons!

That's a Wrap Folks!

Well Christmas is over . . .

presents were all opened. . .

so now it's play time!

The kids enjoyed playing in our bedroom. . .

they made their own bed out of our pillows.

Sarah played her DS and Caleb was either eating or playing his Leapster.

What a great Christmas . . . the kids must have been extra good this year

because Santa definitely spoiled them!

Family Christmas

Here are the kids with Grandma & Grandpa Voss

Sarah got her very first sewing machine!  She loves it!

Grandma is giving Sarah her first lesson!

Grandma is a great teacher. . . .here is Sarah's first project

Grandma and Grandpa gave us quite a big surprise for Christmas.

We each had an envelope to open . . . each of us had a different word to the sentence.

Once you put it all together it read:

2012 Journey to Disney World

Love, Mom and Dad

The kids are so excited and ready to go!!!

The Canning Christmas was at noon on Christmas Day.

It was quite the large group this year!

This was Bella's first Christmas; we all enjoyed watching her play with her gifts.

Grandpa & Grandma Canning with the kids

Sarah got a ticket to see Beauty & the Beast at the Fox Theatre

and Caleb got a Radio Flyer metal wagon.

Sarah already went to see Beauty & the Beast (see previous post).

Everyone had fun playing with the wagons.

All the Dad's were giving their "little" girls rides on the porch.

Phil had an extra passenger though!

Merry Christmas!!!

"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!  Santa's been here."

~Sarah and Caleb

Caleb's big present from Santa: a John Deere Peg Pergo Tractor Loader and Wagon!

Sarah's big present from Santa: a Nintendo DS game system, cover and two games (Tinkerbell and Scribblenots)!

Santa also left Caleb a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Camping trailer!

The kids also got matching Razor scooters (Sarah's wheels light up pink and Caleb's blue)!

Daddy and Mommy's big present was a new surround sound system for the basement!

The kids loved opening their stockings to find candy, socks and an orange!

Me and the kids on Christmas morning!

Wearing the pajamas that I made!

After all the presents were open, it was time to play!

Of course, Daddy had to show the kids how it's done!

Brandon thought he was showing Caleb how to ride,

but Caleb surprised both of us and took off with it!

Then Sarah flew by Daddy to show him how it is really done!

Of course, he only left the tractor for a few minutes . . .

the rest of the morning was spent playing with the tractor. . .

loading and unloading. . .

hauling and scooping. . .

running into walls . . .

backing into furniture. . .

well you get the idea!

Sarah wanted a turn to drive too!

Both of the kids definitely love tractors!

I finally got everyone to sit down for a delicious breakfast!

I served Great Aunt Maxine's sausage and egg casserole, butter braid and oranges!

It was yummy!

Then back to the games!

Caleb loves playing his new Hungry, Hungry Hippo game from Santa!

Sarah and I played Twister (also from Santa) while Brandon installed the surround sound system,

but no pictures were allowed to be taken while Twister was being played.

It was finally time to go to Grandma and Grandpa Canning's house!

But we couldn't leave without Sarah's new DS!!!

I had such a great morning watching the kids open their presents and play with each other.

But my favorite moment was sitting down to breakfast and eating the oranges!

As long as I can remember, Santa has always given me an orange in my stocking and we've always served them for breakfast along with the sausage casserole.  I remember Grandma Kay always cutting up our oranges and sprinkling sugar on the top of the orange.  I don't think it would feel quite like Christmas without oranges, sausage casserole and my family sitting at the breakfast table together!!

A Very Special Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas with the Voss family on December 23rd this year.

This gave us the chance to have a nice and quiet Christmas Eve at our house.

Brandon left work in time to meet us to go to church with Ken and Susan.

When we returned from church, I finished up dinner while the kids made reindeer food!

They measured all the ingredients and mixed it all together!

We took the reindeer food outside and sprinkled it on the front lawn . . .

it must have worked because the kids had a big surprise on Christmas morning!

Dinner was wonderful - Ken made the turkey and gravy.  I made mashed potatoes,

Grandma Kay's special stuffing, Sarah's favorite carrots and rolls.

We enjoyed fresh baked Christmas cookies and fruit for dessert.

After dinner we played games with Sarah and Caleb played with his tractors from Uncle Jason.

After Grandma and Grandpa left, Sarah made a few things for Santa!

This one reads: "I Love you!  Come into my room tonght plase  Santa and give me a hug."

This one reads: "Merry Christmas Santa. Love Sarah"

So beautiful!  After such a fun evening, we finally got the kids calmed down enough to go to sleep!

Cookie Baking

I had a few extra helpers this year!

Matthew, Olivia and Lainey were here to help (or to distract Sarah and Caleb . . .

it just depends on how you look at it)!!!

Their favorite cookies were the sugar cookies!

I rolled the dough and Grandma supervised cutting the shapes!

Matthew, Caleb and Olivia lasted about 5 minutes - give or take!

Sarah and Lainey lasted a bit longer - a good 30 minutes.

Caleb enjoyed helping me mix all the cookies . . .

we made Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip, Devil's Food, Gooey Butter Cookies,

Candy Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Pretzel kisses with M&M's, and Sugar Cookies.

Sarah and Caleb were the official decorators! 

We mixed and baked all the cookies the first day;

the second day was all about decorating!

Look at his intense concentration. . .

He loved decorating with red hots - I think he ate as many as he used!

Grandpa Ken was our taste tester . . . .

I believe all the cookies met his approval!

The kids' mess. . . I mean decorating area. . .

It was all worth it. . . look at these beautiful cookies!

They were so very delicious!

This was an awesome recipe!

These are the pretzel kiss M&M . . . so good, quick & easy!

This is one of my favorite days during the Christmas holiday season.  I remember growing up when my Grandma would come to our house and bake all day with Mom.  I remember the smell of all the delicious cookies baking and Mom trying to find enough Tupperware to store all the cookies.  I hope my kids will be able to enjoy the same memory of me and my Mom!