snowed in

we are snowed in. i guess enough people wished for a white christmas that it happened. it started snowing about 10 a.m. before that it was sleeting. i let my kids go out earlier when it was snowing, but the snow was mixed with the sleet. my daughter said, "the snow is stinging me!"

we have continued to get snow throughout the day and our possible travel plans for tomorrow are on standby. as my daughter says though, "no worries mom!" they were dying to play in the snow, but the wind is so biting so...

i let them bring snow in the house.

a warm bucket of water is on the kitchen table for when their hands just get too cold. they played with this for about an hour and i didn't even have soggy gloves, socks, and pants to take off them!

however, my son can't wait to go outside to build a snowman. with snowdrifts right outside our house being about 3 ft. high, i don't think that will be a problem.

i couldn't sign off without showing you a couple of our favorite ornaments on our tree (that we put up this past sunday!).

boomer sooner!

pistol pete

if you are snowed in, what are you doing????

she's 5

oh she's five. i can't believe my baby daughter has turned five. it's inevitable - i know. she will continue to grow and there's nothing i can do about it. oh that God has given her to our family for these last five years. they have been wonderful. she's our sunshine. she brings a light to our family that no one else has. her giggle is contagious. her humor keeps us laughing and smiling. her vocabulary is interesting and made up. her love of animals, babies, and her family is never ending! she's tough and she can keep up with all the boys.

you can read about her arrival - it was so God's perfect timing. her take on things always gives you a fresh new perspective. i looked back through pictures of her and i fell in love with her all over again.

of all four family members in our family, she is the most different in personality and temperament. it's amazing how God looked at our family and said, "they need a little bit of this and that" and poured it all into one little girl. Thank you God for always giving us what we need and want.



I love HER!!! Happy 5th Birthday!!!

if you have a special memory about her, you can leave it in a comment. just remember to please not use her real name or i will not be able to post the comment. thanks!

easy bake-r

we purchased an easy bake oven for my daughter for her birthday. did you have one of these when you were a little girl??? did your sister bake you little miracles from her oven?


i never had one and i had gone back and forth on whether to get her one. some people said they never played with their and some said they loved theirs. i decided she would probably love it. they haven't changed much. the clock still says 12:30. my sister-in-law, c, gave my daughter her own chef's hat and apron and more easy bake oven mixes.


we finally got a bulb for the oven and we were off. my daughter put on her apron and chef's hat and she was ready to go too.

we decided to make the white cake with chocolate icing to start.

time to spread the cake into the seriously small pans that have been coated with pam - which does not make it easy to "spread".

of course we can't forget to lick our the bowl.

even brother helped with the spreading of the "cake".

next we slid the cake into the preheated oven.

we can hardly wait the 12 minutes it take to cook it by the 100 watt bulb!!!!

finally it's done! now it has to cool off.

we have to make the chocolate icing to go on the cake. yum!

carefully spread the icing on the cake. our cake fell apart, but do you think my daughter cared? nope! she was just so excited she her cake in her oven.

i didn't actually get a picture of the final masterpiece. however, she made another cake for the officer. here it is.

i foresee a lot of baking in her future. maybe she'll be a better cook/baker than i am. here's hoping! :)