An old tradition ... Candy Houses

When I was a kid we had a family tradition of making 'Candy Houses' at Christmas-time.

We make our houses out of cardboard and cover with icing (snow) and then load them up creatively with candy. Gingerbread houses are a bit unstable and a lot of extra work so we always design cardboard houses since the icing always covers up the houses and you never see the gingerbread anyway.

This year we made candy houses with Lee's parents, Papa and Grandma who had never made them before. What fun for them! Aunti Heidi is the expert house designer - she's got lots of experience with candy. Her house was an energy saving Eco-house - ya' think she watches too much HGTV???

Cooper loved putting the candy on and attempting to pulling it off and sneak a bite. Lee was meticulous with his house. Allie simply jumped happily up and down in her jumperoo and watched us. Ever wonder what to do with all that Halloween candy??? We save our candy for our candy houses. Looking for an inexspenvisve fun family tradition... Candy Houses are so much fun and not as messy as you'd think. We toss them after Christmas.

Our finished masterpieces!

Christmas Card Pictures

Don't you love getting Christmas cards that have pictures in them! I sure do! I just love to see how much friends and families have grown and changed through the years. I actually kept up our Christmas card photos of friends and family on the wall all year. I read somewhere to make a flip book of all your Christmas card photos and as a family pray for one of the families in your book each night at dinner. I think we will start to do this so... if blessing start coming your way it just might be that you were in our prayers and God agreed.

However, I agonize over sending out Christmas card photos. I know that I shouldn't. But ... it is just so hard to get a good picture one worthy of being "THEE Christmas Photo". Cooper's good smiling days are over (for now), he is very interested in being behind the camera looking through the viewfinder. "I see" "I see" is what he says. Allie has to be in just the right mood.

We only have one picture of the 4 of us so we thought a Sears Photo Day was in order. WOW - what an ordeal. Matching but not too matchy clean clothes for everyone, a scheduled appointment at just the right time of day when everyone is happy, not hungry or not ready for a nap. So we get to Sears and wait 50 minutes for our 12:30 appointment. By this time Alllie is ready to eat and Coop is on the verge of a nap. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! The stress . . . So we don't get any pictures of Coop and Allie together and only a few of the 4 of us. So I schedule another appointment and not so politely remind them that we waited nearly an hour - Lee rolls his eyes in agony that we'll have to do this again in 4 hours after naps and afternoon snacktime. He is a trooper and I just love it that my dear husband goes along with my crazy Christmas card photo ideas every year. Usually my sister takes our picture or we run to get in place for the instant digital.

So ... now even more than before I appreciate Christmas card photos in which all the kids are smiling or not smiling because I know the frustration.

I will not go into the demise of our visit and photo with Santa. You can see for yourself!

I was smart to not make Lee go with me to another photo op. but I told Heidi it was her turn. I don't think she was thrilled but I've got a really cool sister and she was a huge help.

Thank you God, Christmas Card Photos are over until next year.

(This statement was truely and non-sarcasticly said in my evening prayer)

It's Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas . . .

Christmas! How fun it is to begin the festive season and teach kids the traditons that we love. Everything is "cool" to a two yr. old at Christmas, our Allie-girl just loves to watch Cooper get excited and maybe chew on something new. Eyes light up with the glimmer of christmas lights and a train around a tree in the house - what fun! Mom and Dad sing and dance around as we all listen to Christmas songs! Did you know Buble' has a new christmas CD! But our favorite is good ol' Bing Crosby. A little stable with animals, angels and a baby Jesus - it's a new story to be told and re-told.

It's got to be because of Jesus that we are a bit more joyful, a bit more thankful, and a bit more generous at Christmas time. Enjoy the wonderful time of year as you make your Christmas prepartions and celebrate Jesus!

Happy Thanksgiving . . .

This thanksgiving has turned out to be an interesting one. Shaw had to leave early Thanksgiving morning for work and Lee got off the day after Thanksgiving. So what are Heidi, Michelle and Cooper and Allie to do? Thanksgiving just seems like a family day. Despite the many invites from friends in town Heidi and I yearned for an adventure. Why not visit our cousin, Amanda and her family in Pensacola, Florida for the day. Amanda and Jason only live 3 hrs. away and we always tell each other we'll visit more. What a perfect opportunity! Please pray for our safe traveling. Happy Thanksgiving!

What 5 things are dear to you?

Hurricane season has been officially over for almost a month. Around our house we look forward to Nov. 1st because we know first hand how devastating a flood can be. I have been hurting for the families who have lost their homes and belongings due to the fires in California. When Hurricane Katrina hit we like many others didn't pack our sentimental belongings because we had just evacuated a few weeks before from a hurricane that later was down graded to a tropical storm. Packing and unpacking takes a lot of work. We just didn't think Katrina it was going to be a big deal. We were very wrong. This got me thinking that if I could do it over again or if I had warning of an natural disaster what would I rush in the house to take with me? (Children, animals, and photo's are of course a given)



Here are the top 5 things that are really important to me that I would rush in to save ...

1. A little card from Lee that I have framed. It came with a dozen

roses on our 1st month wedding anniversary.

2. Lee's mom painted Cooper and Allie an original watercolor piece for their rooms. I'd grab both of them.

3. Heidi my sister made and had Cooper give me this card on my 1st mother's day. I often look at it and pray for the kind of man Cooper will become.

4. My wedding dress! My wedding dress was almost destroyed by Hurricane Katrina - mold, mud, and it just smelled terrible. However, a dear friend secretly salvaged it and had it restored for me. Yes - it was a tearful day. I will not make that mistake of leaving it behind again.

5. These 3 crosses that my mom designed the layout - Lee made the frame.

Just reminds me of God's love.

I wonder what 5 things are dear to you?

Allie-girl you're 9 months old!

Allie just turned 9 months old. We call her Allie-girl around our house and I don't know why. What a little blessing she is! Her favorite pastime is laughing at Cooper and being pulled in the wagon for our daily walk. I can't quite figure out her personality yet. Sometimes she loves to be right in the thick of Cooper's play and other times she just screams when he comes close to her. Yep, she's a girl. Cooper even says, "You're OK Allie!" when she is too dramatic.

She isn't thrilled about eating from a spoon, she doesn't have any teeth yet, she isn't interested in crawling or rolling around so there's not too much to report. I guess she'll decide in her own time when everything's about to happen. However, she's is pretty content little girl and not too high maintance. Can't believe that in only 3 months we'll celebrate Allie's valentine birthday. We love her so much!

Oh Rats!!!

Lee has just built a beautiful new deck. However, something else has recently enjoyed the space under our new deck - a family of Rats! I have seriously debated as whether to blog about this but after some consultation it's a "go". So if you are squimmish you might just want to skip this post.

Late one night Lee saw a rat eating Duke's food. So then the challenge was on . . . we can't have nasty rats living in our backyard beneath our beautiful new deck. It just made me shiver thinking about it. Of course all the rat catching had to be done while Lee was home - no way was I going to be taking dead rats off of the traps.

Amazing how guys get a thrill out of the man vs. nature stuff. Lee was particularly proud of the 2 header catch. Even Cooper has alerted us to the family nearby: "I see mouse" is what he said one day. We've been catching only little baby mice recentlybecause we hope we've killed all the adults. We've been at it a week and we know we are gaining on them!