Once There was a Snowman...

It's been snowing like crazy these past few days so we decided to take advantage. While Nate was shoveling the driveway, the girls and I started a snowman. It was rather shabby looking at that point. Nate came over with his tooth scuplting skills and created this masterpiece.

The girls and I decorated with carrot, black rocks, scarf and hat. We may have taken a few baby branches off the tree but they went to a good cause. Afterwards Nate went after the sidewalk and we girls made ourselves some treats. First we made snowballs from the falling snow and added lime and grape flavoring for some homestyle snowcones. Next we (read Katelyn and Sarah) ate all of the chocolates from the windows of our advent calendar. We finished off our sugar indulging with a frothy cup of hot cocoa and marshmallows. It was quite the morning to be sure.
Sarah couldn't part with her carrot (we found a suitable replacement). I guess they didn't just have straight sugar for breakfast.

Salt Dough Ornament FHE

Salt Dough Ornaments
1 C salt
4 C flour
2 C water
Adjust flour and water as needed to create cookie dough like consistency. Roll out and use holiday cookie cutters to create designs. Use straw or the likes to create hole for ornament string. Lay on plate and microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes to harden. Decorate with glitter, markers, paints, stickers. Allow to dry. Thread with string and hang on Christmas tree.
****For those really ambitious crafters add food coloring to different segments of dough and you can sculpt your own designs.

This has been a fun tradition my mom used to do with us when we were little. This year we used alphabet cutters, stars, bears, flowers, and hearts. It was an interesting concoction. The girls LOVED it and I think Nate was having just as much fun!

Ropelato Christmas Party

My Grandpa is headed to PA for the holidays so we moved our family Christmas Party up to the 5th. We had our delicious classic dinner of lasagne prepared by my grandpa and loads of fun with games. The kids dressed up for a nativity and we exchanged gifts. All in all a very fun evening. Thanks Aunt Dawn and Mom for all your prep work.

Opening Gifts



Nativity-(if you couldn't tell there are a lot of great granddaughters. My dad's section alone is 8 granddaughters to 1 grandson. Fitting for all the solo daughters and loads of sons from the generation before).

Get Together with Dental Buddies

Katie and Joey were in town for Thanksgiving so we threw an impromptu reunion at our place. It was fun to see how much the kids have grown and hear the updates on what's been happening in the last 18 months.

Amber (Cassidy), Stacey, Katie, Lisa
Cody, Nate, Joey, Spencer

Aubrey, Tucker, Cole, Will, Cassidy, Luke, Katelyn, Sarah