Sledding Fun

Our ECFE program had a sledding party on the hill at school. They had hot cocoa and the large muscle room open inside for the kids to take a break and warm up.
We had so much fun, and I was thrilled to go sledding for the first time in years (thanks to my new knee).
Here are our highlights:

Jackson with his best friend Aaron and his dad helping them getting to go down the hill.

Mommy and Jackson on our sled ride together.

The dads getting ready for the sled race.

Racing down the hill- they were all smiles and giggles the whole way down.

A New Year

I have been thinking that I would like to have some sort of post that I do weekly to keep me blogging on a regular basis. My friend Erin suggested that I keep track of all the money I save through dicounts and freebies. She is always laughing at me, in a good way, for my sale and coupon combinations, and at all the contests my husband signs up for resulting in many free items or entertainment.
I also read on Elizabeth and Sarah's blogs about project 365, where you take a picture every day of the year. Before my surgery I took a lot of pictures when I was keeping track of all the things we did, and I really enjoyed it. I thought this would be a good excuse to do it for the entire year. I have created a new blog for those pictures and will post a link on my blog.
I would also like to do something to share my knowledge and ideas of fun activities, places and events. I am always trying to find new and fun things to do and keep us busy, and I love to share them with others, because it is always nice to have a new and fresh idea.
I haven't completely figured out how or what my ideas are going to look like, or even how they are going to look on my blog,but I hope to soon. I am looking forward to adding more to my blog and our stories.
Happy 2009 and all that lies ahead!

December Highlights

All of our December celebrations are over, so here are a few highlights from the last few weeks.

Christmas brought us baking and the fun of frosting and decorating both cookies and gingerbread houses. It also meant lots of family along with new toys and games to keep us busy during our whole two weeks off from school.
After Christmas we had birthday celebrations for my sister Laura, Paul and Paul's dad. We enjoyed celebrating with them and ate plenty of birthday cake.
We had a fun New Years and look forward to all this new year has in store for us.
Happy 2009!

Our Gingerbread House

After much anticipation, we finally made our gingerbread house. I bought a set this year that had all the cutters and directions to make one from scratch. We decided it would be fun and were up to the challenge, and set off on making our own homemade gingerbread house. It was tricky at times, but thankfully I had a few extra hands with Madison and Sam over. The candy decorating was the best part and we all had a great time making it.
Here are what all four sides looked like- it turned out great!
Check out the cute little gingerbread men we made to go with it- they even fit through the little doorways.

Pretend Library

We discovered a new playtime activity the other day that Jackson absolutely loves-
Play Library.

We set some books up on display on the fireplace

Found a lamp and an old gift card for the self-checkout and a library card

Then checked out books until his heart content!

Try it, we had a blast.

Sled Fun

With the first significant, plowable snow yesterday, we thought we had better get out and enjoy it today by testing out the sled. I pulled Jackson down to get the mail, and then we tried out our little hill. It isn't the greatest for sledding, but we had fun and that is what counts.
Jackson was so excited, he has been talking about sledding every time it snows even a little. It only took him a few times down to figure out how to keep the sled going upright by shifting his balance. Once he did, it was great fun and he didn't want to come in. We are looking forward to much more sledding as the winter continues on. I may even have to go myself this year with my new knee.

Ready to go at the top

Making it all the way to the bottom for the first time

Expression of pure delight on his face on the way down

Thanksgiving Prep

After much anticipation it was finally time to make our Thanksgiving pies. I love making pie, and make everything from scratch, from the crust to using a fresh pumpkin. Jackson was thrilled to participate in the whole process.
Here are the highlights from the last two days of our pie baking:

Prepping the pumpkin to bake in the oven

Using the pastry blender for the first time to make the crust

Time for a cookie break in between pies
(notice the cookies are decorated with a number and as a turkey)

Cutting and peeling the apples
(this is the greatest kitchen gadget)

The finished product-
Pumpkin and Apple pie
We can't wait to enjoy them for dessert on tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!