Gingerbread Barn

The girls and I got excited when we spotted a Gingerbread Barn at the Tractor Supply store so we bought it and came right home to start on it. It looked so cute on the box, with gummi horses, pigs, sheep, candy cane fences, etc. Well, ours didn't turn out quite as cute. I couldn't get the barn build. The pieces cracked, parts slid around and wouldn't stay put so the girls each got a few pieces and went to town on them. It actually worked out better since they each had their own to work on and I didn't have to worry about them breaking it. And it sure tasted just as good :)

oh McFarm!

Kelsey's version of Jingle Bells

jingle all the way

oh McFarm it is to ride

in a ho ho open sleigh

hey!

Sis' BIG day!

Sis has waited patiently for her time...

December 11, 2010 was her BIG Day!!!

Everything went smoothly, everything was perfect, and she looked beautiful!

Congrats Sis and Chris!

Rehearsal dinner at Fricanos. Taylie tagged along with the

wedding party for feeding reasons :)

This was our ride in. They look excited don't they?

The van was full with 5 kids, and somehow we

hardly heard a peep out of any of them. (thanks to Parent Trap)

Wish I had more pictures, but my dad took a LOT so I at least get some of his! :)

Here comes Santa Claus!

Last night was Christmas in Colon. Area churches, restaurants, stores, offices, gas stations, and pharmacy had various things going on. We went to a cookie walk, got free hot cider, doughnuts, appetizers, signed up for drawings and got our family picture taken. Then they closed down the street for the parade. Small town means SMALL parade. This was the longest they've had in awhile and it lasted a whole 3 minutes :) After the parade everyone headed to see Santa at the library. Every year Macey and Kelsey have cried when they have seen Santa and this year they were actually really excited to see him and enjoyed sitting on his lap. Macey asked for a Princess oven, and then after Santa mentioned how she looked like Rapunzel with her long hair, she then wanted a Rapunzel dress. Kelsey asked for a jewelery box and a Snow White dress. Taylie was the last to go and she wasn't happy to be on his lap. She stopped crying after a bit but was happy to come back to mom. Hope Santa still brings her something! :)

I brought the smaller cheap camera along for convenience so the pictures are quite blurry.

Keeping the "Santa" idea going is getting harder every year. Mace is full of questions of "Why did Santa have glasses on this year and not last year?" Then we saw Santa at Walmart today as we were shopping and she asked, "Why does this Santa have dark brown boots on and last night he had black boots on? He doesn't have glasses and he's bigger!" Then when watching the video above, she noticed the lady steering the horses and said, "I think we know that lady! Why would she be with Santa?" The questions are endless and I am not doing the best job of answering all of them because she somehow finds a flaw in my answer everytime.

So Thankful

Here are a few things I am so

very thankful for this year:

my husband

my three girls

a healthy Taylie Mae

no more colic/acid reflux

the opportunity to be a stay at home mom

Jason's job

the small town of Colon

our cozy home

good friends & family

coffee

pumpkin pie creamer

our computer

hip2save.com

online shopping

my minivan

heated seats

Amish stores

my camera

slippers

Since Jason had a basketball scrimmage at 6pm, the night before Thanksgiving, we decided to come into Holland in the morning. This year we decided on a bit more relaxed atomosphere with heavy duty paper plates and cups done buffet style. I think the guys were happy to be able to eat in front of the tv and it make a lot less work for us girls to clean up and more time to sit and chat :)

We decided to put up our Christmas tree on Saturday afternoon. The girls could hardly wait this year.

Even Taylie got in on the action.

Posing so nice with their new ornaments from Grammy.

As soon as we got the tree up, Kelsey ran to the window and said, "I don't see the snow. Why isn't it snowing?" She thought that since the tree was up, it was Christmas, and there's suppose to be snow for Christmas. Looks like she will have to wait a bit for the snow.

I am excited to bring out the Christmas music finally! From now until Christmas we will be listening to it while we eating breakfast together every morning. Somehow that became tradition last year and they've been asking for it since summer.

Here's an idea for you! I made these shirts for the girls the other night. I cut the girls' initials/name from some material that I had in the house and just used fabric glue to glue it on some of their old shirts that are normally worn as under shirts for layers. Now they can be worn alone as well! I might start thinking of more things to glue material to to make it unique and more fun.

4 Months

Taylie turned FOUR months today.

She has learned to blow raspberries.

Once she gets going, there's no stopping her.

Mace is thrilled she is able to carry her

sister around now! (while mom is watching!)

Thanks to Grammy for making some fancy bibs for our big drooler!

She almost always has a sister by her side.

She loves our reaction when she squeals REALLY loud.

Just recently, she's getting more aware of

what faces she recognizes and which ones she doesn't.

She is stubborn with the bottle. Will take it from mom, but not dad.

She loves to look for daddy when she hears his voice

in the room and then will "talk" to get his attention.

She likes to eat a lot during the night again...went

from sleeping 7-8 hour stretches for awhile back

to 3-4 hour stretches. I think she's growing :)

Starting to not like it when we walk away from her and are out of sight.

Horrible, just horrible napper. We're talking 15 minute naps at times.

Close to rolling over, but not quite yet. She grunts

as she gets on her side but can't quite get over.

Still working on finding her thumb consistently.

Just some updating

sorry the formating is all messed up, I can't seem to fix it.

What we've been up to:

A trip to Chuck E Cheese as a family.

Movie theater to see Ramona (free movie of the day!)

Still eating lots of Halloween candy.

Buying diapers at the Amish store for $3.99 a pack.

Eating frozen meals from a frozen meal party.

Girls are still passing around a nagging cold.

Kels is recovering from her impetigo,

ear infection, urinary tract infection, and strep.

Mace can't get enough of school.

Taylie has been drenching at least 3 outfits a day in drool or poop.

PICTURES OF MACE:

Wearing her lovely mask she made at school.

I can hear her laughing in this picture :)

Our family portrait.

PICTURES BY KELSEY:

Kelsey the photographer. I need to get a picture of

her taking pictures, she now gets down on one knee because

that's what photographers do.

You never know when she'll have the camera.

And no that's not Taylie in my arms.

I love her pictures because they really capture our life how it is right now.

TAYLIE MAE:

Taylie has been so much fun lately and has some

serious chub going on in her cheekers!

Her new favorite activity.

Trick or Treat

Friday morning the girls got to dress up for the Halloween Storytime at the library. They listened to pumpkin stories, worked on a puzzle, made a ghost, had snack, and got a fun purse full of goodies. We came home packed up our suitcases and took off up north. Stopped in Dorr for just a bit and saw the costume parade at sister in law Lisa's school, then went to Laurie's (Erin's mom) house to get Macey's costume. Since last Halloween Macey has been wanting to be Dorothy so Laurie was kind enough to make her a costume...it turned out great! Then to Brenda's we went to show family the girls' costumes. We enjoyed pizza, salad, and other goodies. It was a full house and the girls had a lot of fun receiving lots of goodies. Thanks everyone :)

We slept at Brenda's that night and enjoyed a breakfast at McDonalds before heading back to Dorr to celebrate Halloween. I am sad I didn't even take pictures of the girls with Merek who was Bam Bam :( The girls went with Grammy to church for trunk or treat and to play a few games before we rushed home to trick or treat in Colon, which started at 4pm. We made it just in time and the girls made out quite well with candy. I'm always surprised at how busy it is in our neighborhood with trick or treaters.

Up until Friday, Kelsey kept saying she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty and we have the dress so I was planning on that. Friday morning came and she changed her mind three times before heading to story time. She ended up wearing a different dress up dress we have...possibly Thumbelina? Then for trunk or treat she wanted to be a tap dancer in a sparkly silver leotard and tap shoes, then when we got home she quick switched to another princess dress with sunglasses :) The girl likes change I guess. (glad I didn't buy her a costume)

Taylie was a pea in a pod. (a costume Brenda bought YEARS ago on clearance from Meijer...remember Bren?) Notice her pink headband so no one would call her a boy.....last year Kelsey was called a boy TOO many times in her pumpkin costume.

Hope everyone else had a fun Halloween!

We're ALL enjoying the candy over here :)