Sophia Genevieve has arrived

I have still to meet my new little niece but here is the beautiful girl my sister just had yesterday. We are so thankful for both mommy and baby safety and health.

Newest family photos on our new property.

Back in November we had our family photos taken up at the new lake house. Since we will be moving there we wanted to capture our first moments up there as well as to use for our holiday cards/we've moved cards. We had a great time together and Traditions took some great photos of our family (even caught some video of the kids - I only wish I could of posted even more, but here is a small sampling of that day.

Have a wonderful Christmas with the ones you love most and may you be blessed endlessly this new 2011 year.

Much love from our home to yours!

Snow Day for Edwardsburg School Kids

This is our first canceled day of school for the kids and they were so excited. Will said he is going to play in the snow all day until it gets dark...that lasted 2 hrs and then he came in wanting hot cocoa. They are now watching Polar express and with the 9" of snow we got it is feeling a lot like Christmas. It is a fun day here - wish you could be playing with our family.

Nutcracker

This past weekend I took the boys to the Nutcracker with Mema, Aunt Felisa and Garrett. We had a great time together watching the show. Our boys couldn't stop giggling at the man in tight white tights. They thought he must be uncomfortable. That got us laughing but the funny thing you could hear giggling all over every time this man would turn around...adults and kids. After words we went to DeBrands and had some amazing chocolate treats and the boys got to make smores.

Christmas is in the air! I love this time of the year!

Hot Cocoa for Sale

It isn't the time of year to be selling ice cold lemonade outside so I talked the boys into selling hot cocoa instead with a twist...Any money they make will go to the food bank. They agreed. So we made our sign, got the items around they would need and made hot cocoa. They headed outside...

45 minutes later the sun had set and them made 75 cents. They said they want to try it again this week.

Here are some of their photos of selling hot cocoa. By then end Will was getting cold and grumpy but was determined to stay outside.

Holiday Baking

Every year the four of us sisters get together with our kids to make holiday cookies. This year we were missing Felisa (flu) and Garrett. It is always so much fun to see how excited they get to make their own cookies and us mommy's let them. It gets a little messy in the kitchen but it is such a memorable time together.

Leman Thanksgiving

Jon & Shannon hosted the Leman Thanksgiving for our family. It was a wonderful time together and we got to meet the newest baby cousin Ethan. The kids had a great time playing with each other but when it came to taking their photos together they loved teasing us moms. They made it hard - I giggle just thinking of them.

Crossgrove Thanksgiving

Jake and Felisa hosted the first Thanksgiving in their new home. The food was wonderful, the guys liked the football game, kids had fun playing and Felisa and I enjoyed hanging together.

Dunbar Thanksgiving

Our Dunbar Thanksgiving kicked off the entire weekend and it was a lot of fun. We rented a trolly to ride around down town Fort Wayne to see the lighting of the Christmas lights. It was very rainy and cold but inside the trolly was lots of laughter and great memories made. This kids and adults had a great time. When we got home dinner was warm and waiting which was a great thing...we were hungry!

Kindergarden Thanksgiving Feast

Papa came to town to celebrate Will's Thanksgiving party at school. It was a fun time with each other and we were so thankful for Papa joining us. I not sure if we left with more food in our tummy's or all over Papa and Mommy's shirt. Grace wouldn't eat off her own plate - only ours and with her hands. Will had fun running back up to the tables to get more turkey for Papa and desert for me.

We love you Papa!