Fun in the Snow!

After it snowed the first time, there wasn't a whole lot of snow, but enough on the hill by our apartments so we could go sledding. So I took both kids outside. I set Sonya down for a second while I adjusted my mittens and since she had no hand control to catch herself (because of her mittens), she fell face first into the snow. Oops! She seemed to enjoy sledding though. Luckily, the kids are both small enough that all three of us could fit on the sled. It was so much fun!  

On the Saturday before the "blizzard" hit, the weather was warm and the snow was perfect for building a snowman. Caleb helped daddy (or maybe it was the other way around) make one! Then we had some freezing cold temperatures where we didn't go outside for a few days. Thank goodness that let up because Caleb really wanted to play in the snow. So we enjoyed the great outdoors again and let Sonya try crawling around in the snow. She's still not quite sure what to think about it, but she loved watching the cars drive by!

Daddy and the kids with their snowman

The snowman had HAIR!!

Sledding

Sonya wasn't too sure of the snow

Here she is checking it out some more...

Big brother with his sister :-)

And a partridge in a pear tree...

With a busy little girl and an active 4 year old, it's been getting harder to find some time to sit down and actually write a blog post. Usually I end up doing it one-handed like I am now so that I can contain my squirming baby. Otherwise she just gets into trouble if I let her roam. Either that or she follows me, climbs my leg, and whines until I pick her up anyway.

Christmas day is quickly approaching as my list of things to do grows. I keep seeing shows where they make these cute homemade gifts and baked goods. Spiced pecans and caramels... yum! We'll see how ambitious I get. We do have our tree up already and it will probably stay up through mid-January if not the whole month. I still have to get the Nativity out though. Hopefully I can do that this afternoon with Caleb. There's still some shopping to do and gifts to wrap. The holidays are so fun and exciting, but stressful too. We're going to be doing a bit of traveling this year -- not too far away, still in Wisconsin. We'll spend Christmas with my side of the family and then the end of December into the new year with Tim's side. I can't wait for Sonya to experience her first Christmas!! I broke down and bought her the cutest, little dress. It was on sale and I figured that she could wear it a few times at least, right?

Side note: I just got a box of diapers in the mail! hehe... Tim found that you could get a box of Luv's diapers through Amazon for cheaper than the Parent's Choice at Walmart. Plus, they delivered! Woohoo!! I'm loving all these packages I'm getting in the mail. Yesterday, I got my Goodbyn lunchboxes -- originally $25 a piece plus $7.95 shipping for each... only paid $2.95 for each one!! Now, I'm looking forward to getting my pictures and Christmas cards through Shutterfly. We'll see what else the mail carrier has in store for us in the upcoming weeks. :-)

Another side note: I haven't been taking as many pictures lately since our camera runs through batteries really quickly. For some reason, it doesn't like the rechargeable batteries either now. We charge them and they show that my camera has a quarter of a battery left, but they don't even turn Tim's camera on at all. *sigh* I'm not sure if it's the chargers or the batteries.

Finally ordered my Christmas Cards!!

Christ Wishes Religious Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Splish Splash ... I was takin' a bath!

What can I say? My son is a nut!

Sonya LOVES taking big girl baths!

Time to dry off!

A little bit of heaven on earth....

While Tim was gone on his work trip to Iowa, I decided to bake a cheesecake for him since his birthday is on Saturday. Let's just say I was a little intimidated. This tasty treat sounded like it would be harder to make than it was. Do I use the water bath method for baking? or not? I consulted my mother-in-law. It didn't really make a difference in taste, so I decided to forgo the extra "chore" and baked my very first cheesecake. Yes, it's as good as it looks!

The end result.... with a little chocolate drizzle..... 

delicious!

Christmas is right around the corner...

Tis the season to start getting those Christmas cards ready! I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we all know how quickly the time flies by around this time of year.

Some of my favorite Christmas cards were photo cards -- one year was of my son wearing a Santa hat; another was a family photo by the river. They both were so cute! I've always loved the photo card versions because they turn out beautiful and are a great keepsake for family members. Last year, I really wanted to do a photo card, but didn't have the time to design one. I wasn't prepared and kept procrastinating to the point that Christmas was over before I even got my cards out.Sadly, no one received a card from me except maybe a few close family members that we wouldn't end up seeing over the holidays.

As a busy mom, I think it's great that Shutterfly.com is offering 50 free 5x7 folded or flat holiday cards to bloggers and I plan to take them up on it. Their card selection is beautiful, I can upload and customize my photos as well as create personal captions so my friends and family will be reminded of what the Christmas season is all about. I can't wait to start working on my cards this year! Enjoy some of my favorite card designs: 

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… learn more: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

*Smiles*

My two children absolutely love each other. Sometimes Caleb doesn't like when Sonya is crying and interrupting his movie watching or diverting the attention to herself. Sometimes Sonya doesn't like it when Caleb pulls on her legs and arms like a doll and won't let her crawl places... or when she's standing by the couch and he ever so carefully removes her hands so she falls on her butt.

But then, there are the redeeming moments when they play nicely and laugh together. I love my sweet kids. :-)