A Squeaky Christmas Treat

I saw this little project on a morning show several weeks ago, and thought it would be fun to do with Will. He loves helping with just about anything in the kitchen, so I figured this would be right up his alley.

For those of you who may be interested in giving it a try, it's super easy...here's the "recipe."

Ingredients:

- Semi-sweet chocolate, melted

- Hersey Kisses (I used Hugs with the milk chocolate & white chocolate)

- Maraschino Cherries (get the ones with stems...I accidentally purchased ones without stems, so our poor little mice are without tails)

- Sliced almonds

Directions:

Melt the chocolate, dip the cherries into the chocolate and immediately place the Hersey Kiss against it to make the head/body, and then add the sliced almonds to make the ears. Then use a toothpick to dip into the melted chocolate, and make the eyes and nose of the mouse.

Winter Snow Song - Audrey Assad with Chris Tomlin

The music & lyrics are so beautiful...love this song.

1 Week and Counting

We are thoroughly enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas around here. Will has been anticipating this for months, and has been convinced since August that he's been seeing Christmas lights while driving at night. Thankfully the time is finally here, and we don't have to keep explaining to him that Christmas is still several months away!! I love seeing the anticipation on kids faces, though...makes me wish I was a kid all over again.

On a couple occasions we have gone through McDonald's drive-through, picked up dinner and ate it in the car while driving around looking at lights...Will thinks that's pretty much the coolest thing ever (especially when Daddy takes him, because he'll even get them a chocolate milkshake to share). Christmas songs are pretty much playing around-the-clock at our house on Pandora, and even though I'm way behind on my shopping, I think I have my to-do list sorted out...somewhat :/

I finally got my Christmas cards off in the mail, and even though you won't be able to see the full effect of the metallic paper I printed them on, I included the file so you could have a sneak peek at the card :)

Thinking back to this time last year when we were still in the hospital with Will after his scary seizure ordeal, we are so incredibly grateful that we are not spending our week before Christmas in the ICU! We praise God for 2 healthy, growing boys, and although our life seems somewhat chaotic at times, we are falling more and more in love with Will and Graham every day. We feel so blessed that the Lord chose us to be their parents, and pray for another healthy year for all of us! The older we get, the more we realize what a gift health is, and not to take it for granted.

On that note, we are praising God for another blessing...we're expecting baby #3 next summer. I'm almost 12 weeks along, and glad to be entering the 2nd trimester. I haven't been too terribly sick, but moreso with this pregnancy than the previous 2. I'm ready for my energy levels to pick up again as well, but other than that, I can't complain. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself that we're going down this road for a 3rd time, but I have to keep reminding myself that Graham will be close to 2 at that point (21 months, to be exact), and that stage should be slightly easier than where we're at currently. Right?! (gulp).

Merry Christmas, everyone! Enjoy your time with family and friends, travel safe, and share pictures when you have them :)

Summer Days at the Lake

Anyone else already singing the Winter blues? Don't get me wrong...I love this time of year with all its gatherings with family and friends, and I even enjoy the occasional snow, but I'll never be a fan of the bitter cold. I get cabin fever way too quickly during these winter months, and dream of Summer days spent on the water.

Looking back through some of our pics, I realized I never posted some of my favorites from our time spent at Dave's parents cabin. We love the days at the lake, and always make great memories there. The first photo is of one of the boys' favorite activities while there...going for a drive around the lake in the golf cart.

Hurry back, summer...hurry back!

Will loves helping Grammy by watering her flowers. When I took him out do so on this particular day, he wanted to pick Grammy a flower, so I had to capture it :)

Brother love ;-)

I love this shot...it looks like he's driving a hard bargain with me from across the table.

He's also very serious about his corn-on-the-cob.