Just "writing this down"

I sing with my kids...in the car...loudly. We have a great time on our rides each day.

Sydney likes to make up her own lyrics. Today's song was "Christmas is coming, christmas is coming" to the tune of Fere-Jacues (sp?). She also likes solos, and often tells me to quiet down so she can start "her concert"

Not to be outdone, Daniel is getting into the act too. He's working hard on Twinkle, Twinkle, and loves "the cry song" otherwise known as Santa Claus is coming to town. We belt out Jingle Bells and Hey Diddle, Diddle..too. He likes it with a rock-n-roll, head banger kind of beat...

These are times I don't ever want to forget...

Santa Train!!!!

Huge shout out to Megan Platenik for telling us about this. It was a huge hit for our little guys!!

Everyone waiting at the station:

Our gang waiting patiently - it was COLD!

Here he comes! To be honest, the cheer from the crowd as the train pulled up made me absolutely weep. It was 200 kids just cheering with pure joy. I got emotional :)

In our seats and ready to go:

Daniel talked to Santa, but didn't want a picture on his lap (surprise - not!)

In an actual surprise, Sydney didn't want a picture with Santa either. Not sure why, she's usually up for any photo opp..

Christmas is coming!

We got our tree...

Santa came through the neighborhood on a fire truck.....

And our daddy made our house look truly beautiful.....

I LOVE the christmas season :)

The beginning of the end.....

of diapers that is.. Daniel tinkled in the potty for the very first time today.... Talk about a huge milestone!

For his sake, I'm not including a picture :)

The naked chef

makes turkey cookies for thanksgiving! Luckily her dad is good on assignments and went to several craft stores for a turkey cookie cutter and several other target stores to track down candy corn after halloween (not an easy feat) for the tail feathers.

Happy thanksgiving everyone :)

6 Years!

Today we've been married 6 years. When we got married, I had this brilliant idea that we'd come back to our chapel each year and take a picture on the steps. A "then and now" vision if you will. Well it's taken us 6 years. But I'm pleased with our little family photo shoot this morning.

Then:



and now :



Now plus two :)



And then just our two:



Special thank you to brother in law Andrew - I know it seems like taking these pics for us wasn't a big deal, but it was the realization of a vision, so it means a lot....We have so much to be thankful for in our lives, and these pictures capture truly precious moments...

Cooking, Cooking, Cooking

Since we had the whole weekend free, I somehow focused on food - I'm looking for neat new things to make for the holidays. So I tried a new cookie recipe and did a thanksgiving dinner dry run.

I'm lucky - I got help with the cooking:



And the cleaning: