Merry Christmas!

Christmas time!  Heidi and family are here from Chicago and we got to have them spend last night with us and Santa came to OUR house this year!  I will post pics later of that but wanted to post this one shot I got today!  I'm used to kids bundling up and playing in the cold and/or snow on Christmas Day.  Today, Kira, Evan and Collin played outside in their fleece pj's!  They played with shovels and the old Tonka trucks.  All their new Christmas toys are in the house!  Current temp is 53.  A beautiful day and a wonderful time with family.  Hope you are all having as wonderful time as we are!

Wedding cake!

Kimberly has a co-worker who was in a 'pickle'.  Her sister was getting married on Saturday and for whatever reason, the cake didn't get ordered until it was too late to get one.  Nikki really wanted her sister to have a cake (duh - what's a wedding without the cake?)  So, Kim said "I make cakes." And the rest is history!
(Did I mention this was on Wednesday?)

They found a cake they liked, sent Kim the picture and this is the result.... No, this is not the picture of what they wanted, it is a picture of what they got!  Except for the background and table, they look like identical cakes!

Everyone was delighted and Kim was so happy that it turned out.

Special thanks to cousin Maria for the wonderful yummy fondant recipe!  And, after we figured out how to get the fondant off the table and on to the cake, it was easy!  Only one disaster and voila!

The cake was a delicious, made from scratch, chocolate with raspberry filling.  The top was made with the kids in mind...It was made of marshmello treats!  It was a big hit!

Thanksgiving

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving - even though there was a hole in our hearts with Heidi, Shawn, Kira and Evan not there!

Phoebe had the tables set beatifully but Collin thought they needed a five-year-old's touch.  So out came the Legos! 
Nothing says Thanksgiving like Lego decorations!

 

You have to admit it, they DO add something!

 

Collin and Liam were the only kids there this year. 

And they were so cute that I had to get their pictures.

Seriously, could YOU have resisted?

 

This is my favorite of the ones I got with the boys and Poppa! 

Collin - being, well Collin!  (the bandage is covering where the stitches were from his meeting with a pole), Liam poking his big brother (they learn early to be pests, don't they?) and Poppa laughing at the sillyness that is little boys! 

(I think maybe he was having flash backs?!)

All in all a wonderful day.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family!  And for Lawson and Phoebe 'adopting' us - since they are Heidi's inlaws!  Little did they know when Shawn married Heidi that they were going to eventually have the lot of us to dinner!

Helping family

 

We (the whole bunch of us plus friends) helped Katie and Terry move their stuff from one office to another, much larger nicer one. EVERYone helped - including Collin. He worked his little tail off!  This dolly of product was quite heavy, especially for a 5 1/2 yr old but he insisted he could do it!  Problem was, the dock has a slope to it and the dolly started to get away.  I put down my camera and helped after I got the above shot!

(Nice of me, don't you think?)

Then he got it going back up hill and actually managed to get it into the other dock!  He did have a BIT of a problem at first, because as you can see by this pic - he was pushing on the boxes not the dolly.  Yep, we had to reload the end box!

Chicago weather

As you know, Heidi & Shawn are in Chicago for a temp kind of thing..... and after this AM, I'm sure it will be!  Katie is there helping out with kids and etc while Shawn has been sick.  She is NOT a fan of snow...so, she is not enjoying this!  She sent me this via text with a frownie face!  LOL

I teased her that she needed to get home to AZ before she got snowed into Chicago and she said I wasn't funny!  Strange, I'm pretty sure I AM funny!  :)