Christmas baking

Between Christmas gatherings and Christmas traditions we've had plenty of excuses to make some sweet treats lately.  Here's a picture of Penny working on his first ever white chocolate Christmas tree.  The final product was posted on Facebook.  It looked awesome!  And tasty yummy too.

One of the first days of Christmas break we got out the gingerbread house kit and started assembling.

Such focus - all the candy had to be in just the right spot... before it got pulled back off and eaten!

The finished house - nice job guys!

Next up, a few days later, were the Christmas cookies.

These were no cookies you'd ever find for sale in a bakery - they were so over-the-top covered with icing and sprinkles that it was hard to tell there was a cookie underneath.

But the kids loved every moment of the decorating, declaring themselves "the best cookie makers ever!"  And perhaps some icing was enjoyed along the way too!

Snow and sleep

We got some more snow before Christmas.  It stuck around for several days, so the kids started playing in it and with it like it was normal: shoveling it, throwing it, packing it, etc.

Throw on a jacket and have fun outside!

A snow bucket pyramid.

And after all that time outside we've had several nights of sweet sleep.  Just so relaxed - couldn't resist a picture.

In the Christmas Play

Laine was in the Christmas play at church a couple weekends ago.  They did "Christmas in Reverse," telling the story of Christ's redemption of mankind from the very beginning, Creation.

Laine was a sheep, and she did a wonderful job!

They baa, baa-ed with the best of them.

It's been so fun watching Laine grow in her performance skills over the years!

Getting ready for Christmas

We've had several days of snow already - helping us get in the Christmas mood a little more.

Though it was barely enough to make footprints in, the kids still got out and attempted to play and sled in the snow.

We got the tree up - a two-day process, but it's finally done and looks great!

The kids were a big help in decorating and loved seeing their ornaments that we have gone to pick out together each year.

Sneak peek

We took our annual family picture on Thanksgiving day, which you'll get to see later.  In the meantime here's some pictures that were taken along the way...

Great Wolf Lodge

This past weekend our family took a short vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, KS.

The Lodge has an indoor water park, so we spent a couple days in our swim suits playing, sliding, and splashing.

Everyone had a wonderful time playing and tubing in the water.

And when we were water logged we enjoyed exploring the hotel, 

goofing around in our room,

and listening to story time each night, complete with visits from Wiley, Violet, and the other Great Wolf characters.

Looking forward to returning again in a few years!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year Penny's brother and sister-in-law, David and Christine, came to join us for Thanksgiving.  They are in the States for a few years while he studies at Trinity seminary in Pennsylvania, and we were so glad they made the drive to stay with us for the weekend.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Busch Brewery, a fun and unique St. Louis activity.

The kids enjoyed the tour too, especially seeing the Clydesdales and getting free pretzels and lemonade at the end!

After the tour I headed out to take my friend, Jen, and her kids to the airport.  They are moving to Florida, so this was the last time I'll see her for several years, probably.

Our paths have overlapped several times since we met in college many years ago.  Looking forward already to taking a beach vacation to their new home eventually!

Thanksgiving Chapel

Every year the girls' school has a Thanksgiving Chapel.  And each year the kindergarten and first graders put on a Thanksgiving play, starring the pilgrims and the indians.

Last year Laine was a pilgrim, but this year she got to be an indian.

She did a great job with her speaking part, and they sounded great singing, "Toom, tum, tum, tum..." and pounding their drums.

So proud of my little performer.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Cole in action

Here's a few shots of Cole, doing his thing...

Helping carry the backpack like a big boy.

Watching the tree trimming truck outside his window.

Chillin' on the couch with his Winnie-the-Pooh hat.

Such cuteness!

Happy Halloween!

Laine wanted to be an owl for Halloween.  Not sure where she got the idea, but I was fine with it, as long as she helped make her costume.

So she and Penny found a mask cut-out online and glued it to cardboard and taped it to some old glasses with the lenses removed.  Then, entirely on her own, she created an owl trick-or-treating bag, using real bird feathers that we had collected earlier this year.  I love her creativity!

Here's everyone all dressed up for the big night - owl, monkey, fire fighter.

We joined the Reels and went in their neighborhood, which is much more trick-or-treater friendly than ours :-)

Cole and Caroline - two little monkeys!

Pumpkin Carving

A busy couple weeks for our family with birthdays and Halloween back to back to back - here's the pumpkin carving process...

Scooping out the guts (look at Mead's face!)

Starting to carve

The finished product: big hungry pumpkin eating tiny little pumpkin!

Nice work, Penny.

Happy Birthday Cole!

Just six days after Penny's birthday we get to celebrate Cole's birthday.  And then Halloween!  It makes for a very eventful October.

Cole was very excited to open his presents

And the girls were excited about getting pictures with him on his special day.

Cole got some great new toys, so he postponed eating cake until after he had time to check them all out.

Finally we made it back to the cake - a Spiderman ice cream cake.  Penny made the cake, I did the decorating.

Happy Birthday to Cole...

He got all the candles... eventually.

His new drill and pattern set has been a big hit, along with his Rescue Hero action figures.

The next day I took Cole to his 3 year doctor appointment, which went well, with no health issues to worry about.  He is 40 inches (95% height) and 39 pounds (95% weight).  The doctor predicted, based on Penny's and my height and Cole's current measurements, that Cole will be at least 6 feet tall when he grows up.  Kind of crazy to think about that!