I have a question...

One thing I absolutley love about Christmas is sending and receiving Christmas cards. Steve teases me and says I just like to feel popular, but I really do just love to see everyone's pictures, read their holiday greetings and hang them up in my house for a couple weeks. BUT, to get Christmas cards, you need to send Christmas cards. Last year we didn't send any. And, we even had a brand new baby. It kills me. But I rationalized that almost everyone I would be sending a card to would see the exact same picture on our blog.
So this year I am undecided and time is running out. Tell me people, are you sending cards or have blogs and Facebook taken away the need for one of my favorite Christmas traditions?

The Most Wonderful Time

Well, since I've had a Christmas background for over a week, I thought it was about time to post something other than Halloween!
Fall was great....
and now Winter is here! (these pics were only ONE day apart!)

We're busy getting ready for Christmas and all the craziness, but this IS the most wonderful time of the year! We love it! There is nothing better than sitting in a dim, cozy family room with a brightly lit Christmas tree.

And this little elf looks like Santa because she LOVES toothpaste! (but hates brushing her teeth!)

Halloween

I LOVE taking this picture before trick-or-treating every year! Here is Snow White, Cinderella, and Cinderella's Wicked Step-Mother (she loved this dress but her dad has convinced her it is way more fun to be something scary for Halloween so she is NOT a princess!)

Snow White was definitely into it this year. She loved the candy!
I surprised my girls when they got back to our door by dressing up as a princess myself! (Yes, that is my high school prom dress. Elie loved it!)

And I am banning myself from the rest of the candy...

...tomorrow :)

Princess Party!

Our little Cinderella turned 4 and has been looking forward to her Princess party for months!This was the special guest at our party.... who entertained all the princesses with songs, a story, games, and balloon flowers!

My castle cake wasn't perfect, but all that matters is that Elie LOVED it! She kept telling me that the whole time we were frosting it!

Happy Birthday Elie! We love you so much!

What we've been up to

I haven't been blogging, but there have been plenty of other things keeping us busy!

Katelyn is playing soccer again this year and she is quite the little defender with the most hustle we've ever seen! Go Sprites! We enjoyed Conference weekend with Steve's family and Brandon and Monique visiting (though we were again reminded that we are WAY too old to stay up until 3:00am anymore!). The fall leaves were gorgeous!

Katelyn, Elie and Bradyn taking a walk with Nana between sessions--love that fall air!

Today it was my turn to teach preschool about the letter N so I dyed some pasta and we made Noodle Necklaces! I think they turned out so cute!

Birthday Girl!

Our Bemma Babers is 1 year old! I can't believe it! She is so incredibly sweet and we love her so much! She is walking all over, has 6 teeth, says Hi, Dada, Mama, All Done, LOVES her "EI EI O book" (Old McDonald) and all animal sounds (she can do dog, cow, and horse). The cupcake tower cake-- it didn't hold up for very long but it was cute! Thanks Ashley for the recipe to improve the cakemix-- it was amazing!

It took her a few minutes but she finally got the hang of it...

Sweet girls! (Nothing like a ton of sugar before bedtime!)

So Domestic

A few weeks ago my wonderful Mom and I drudged up our domestic skills and she taught me how to can peaches and pears. She got the most delicious peaches from a local farm and we are still enjoying them!

P.S. My oven is finally fixed! Thanks Dad-- you saved us a ton of $. Bring on the chocolate chip cookies!