Christmas Week 2014

Merry Christmas to you all!!

What a fun week the Werner's had leading up to Christmas Day!

We got a bit of snow a couple of days before, but nothing stayed on the ground.

Beckham loved the snow, even though we could not find his gloves!

Hudson, not so much!  He kept his hands in his pockets and wouldn't touch the snow!

He came in to get warm, then I asked if he wanted to go back outside...NO!

They sure do love Santa Clause!

Grandma brought a Gingerbread House Kit for the kids to construct!  Unfortunately, not all of the parts made it through the plane ride in one piece!

Everyone still had a great time decorating it!

The roof was the main piece that did not survive, but the girls decorated it anyway and called it a puzzle!

All of our finished pieces!

We had a fun dinner with our McMullin relatives again this year!  It is so fun to be together with family and also to see how much little Kienan has grown!

We had lasagna!

And an awesome Ceasar Salad made by the girls!

Natalie made the best dessert!  It was a Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar on the bottom, then layered with Oreo Cookies, then covered with Brownie Mix and baked!  Oh, my heavens!  It was delicious!

The boys loved having their cousin Kienan over!  Can you believe that he is almost a year younger than them?!

After dinner we had an awesome dance party!  Beckham loves to show his moves on the dance floor!

We are a pretty happy bunch!

But where is Hudson?

He took advantage of everyone else being occupied with dancing, and climbed up onto the table to help himself to Ice Cream!

Caught you, cutie!

On Christmas Eve we celebrated Randy's 30th Birthday!  Oh my goodness, I can not believe the sweet baby boy who made me a Momma for the first time is all grown up!

Randy is not picky about what dessert we choose to celebrate with, so we picked this giant Apple Pie!

Hudson just wanted to make sure it was ready!

And here is everyone right before I sent them up to bed!  Randy and my Mom and I still had lots to wrap and assemble!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

New Beginnings

I love writing my blog, but I love reading other people's blogs better!  In fact I spend an inordinate amount of time window-shopping the internet (because, let's face it, I don't surf!) looking for blogs to read about all sorts of information!

FAMILIES

I love to read about other people's families.  I love to see lots of pictures of kids, pets, relatives!  I love their stories and their fun!


BABIES

Who can resist looking at baby pictures!  I especially love it when I find a blog of a new mom, and then I go back to the beginning, when she first found out she was pregnant!  I love to read all the stuff she thought it would be like and then read about what it really feels like to be a mom for the first time!  That never gets old!


RECIPES


Can you guess?  I love to eat, and I love to read about eating!  'Nuff said!


HOUSES


Is there anyone out there who doesn't like to look at pictures of House Tours?  I can not get enough of them!  I like to see before and after photos too!  Love, love, love those!!


Also give a shout out to Love Stories, Day in the Life posts, ANYTHING DIY!!!


So why does it seem that I don't really ever post anything like that on my blog?

I don't know either!  So I am getting ready to make a change!  Yes, folks, I am taking my blog out for it's own MAKEOVER!  Are you sitting down?

New Name!

New Ideas!

New Pictures!

NEW LOOK!!

I am going to add new tabs to the top of the blog...at least 5 new tabs!!!

So sit down, buckle up and enjoy the ride into 2015!!!

December 2014 - Week 2

I love this time of year so much!  Even if there isn't any snow, even if I haven't got everything I planned done,
                   or baked,
                               or wrapped!

I am still so happy and content to just enjoy the lights,
                                                                           the sounds,
                                                                                     the feeling of Christmas!



So here was our 2nd week of the Best. Month. Ever!

Hanging out in a laundry basket, must be so cool when you are 2!  

Must be even cooler when there are 2 of you! 

On Friday night we hosted a Christmas Party for the girls enrichment program.  We had about 20 kids show up, from the 8th, 9th and 10th grades.  It was a really fun night!  Everyone brought goodies to share and pairs of brand new Christmas socks to donate to Children's Mercy Hospital!

The girls were so excited and really worked hard to create a beautiful evening.

I ordered pizzas and provided the drinks!  Everyone brought goodies to share...

but I forgot to take pictures of them!

The boys enjoyed the pizza before the guests arrived!

Unfortunately I got so busy talking with the other parents and also just enjoying all the wonderful friends my girls have, that I never took another picture!  So sad, but then we all had a great time just being in the moment!

Saturday morning, after Ava Marie's rehearsal and between errands, I tried to get some work done in my office.  I was working away and kept hearing the doorbell ring.  I finally got up to answer it because NO ONE else was getting the door!

RING!

           RING!

                      RING!

                                RING!

Here is what I found as I was opening the door!

They thought they were so funny!  RING-RING!  GIGGLE-GIGGLE!

They are so lucky that they are so cute!!

Sunday was Ava Marie's 7th Birthday!  All of the girls had a dance show at Union Station!  Wow!  It is so beautiful there!  The whole place is decked out with the best decorations around!  And there is a great big stage in the Grand Hall and all of their dance troupes performed there!  It was spectacular!

Afterward we handed out cupcakes to the girls in Ava Marie's TiniTainers dance troupe!  Mackenzie made them and they were sooo yummy!

We also took a couple of photos in the extra large Santa Sleigh!  Beckham had enough by then, we had been there almost 3 hours!

After Ava Marie's special dinner of Chipotle Chicken Burritos, Ceasar Salad and Ice Cream she opened her gifts.  I think she is looking so grown up now!  She wears the same size as Madyson Claire!  But she is still my baby girl!

I said, sit down on the fireplace so Mommy can take a picture of you, 

and both boys did the same thing!

She was so excited about a package of pencils!

And lastly, I just love how my fireplace looks with everyone's stocking hung!  It makes me so happy to see all their names up there!  

Mackenzie announced that we can not add any more children to our family because we can't fit anymore stockings across the mantle!  But then Katy and Madyson said, Oh yes we can!  And they proceeded to take them down and show how they could move them closer and also hang them staggered and even hang some on the upper part of the fireplace...

I just love how my girls can find room, not only in their hearts, but literally in our home for more!

Well, you never know...I see some spaces that might need filling too....

                                                              to be continued....................................................

Thanksgiving Preparations

At our house we have a special way that we prepare for Thanksgiving.  We like to plan it all out and make it last a few days...not the food, the preparations!  My Mom flies out from San Diego, usually about a week in advance, but this year she didn't arrive until Monday night...so we had to start without her!

We start on Monday, or as we refer to it , Potato Day!

Everybody peels potatoes!  We peeled and cooked 20 lbs!

Then we make mashed potatoes and put half in plastic gallon bags to freeze for later!


Tuesday is Pie Day!

This is it...my only pie picture, I am not sure how I missed the pies.  And they were really good!  These are Homemade Apple Pies, with little hearts cut out of them!

Wednesday is Turkey Day when we cook the turkey!

Grandma is the Turkey expert!  And she even brought her own sewing kit to sew up the turkey after they stuffed it!

Sewed it right up!  And I have pictures!

Grandma was a great supervisor!  And Katy is really good at stuffing a turkey!  I am so happy that my girls are learning these things at such a young age.  I didn't learn to cook a turkey until I was 35 years old!!

Even Ava Marie was learning how to stuff the turkey!

Almost done!

Ava Marie is so proud of herself!

And who can resist a kiss from this fella?!  No he didn't get to stuff the turkey this year...but he is my little turkey!!  Kiss-kiss!

And here is the finished Turkey!  Wow!  This was such a juicy, moist turkey!  We removed the stuffing, carved the meat and put it all away for the next day!  Then I just put the meat in a 9 X 13 pan and fill it with broth and then cover with foil and put in a low heat oven for an hour, then it is ready to serve!