A Great Weekend

This past weekend I had the awesome priveledge of going on a Ladies Weekend Away with my friend Lanee. Our gracious husbands gave us the nod of approval ( Thanks also to Brians parents who came up to help watch the boys) and off we went to do some shopping, relaxing and eating.

We stayed at a conference center.

It was very relaxing and quiet...mostly because we did not have any children with us!!!!

We had breakfast at this little hole in a wall cafe. It was good and gave us the energy that we needed to wander the malls in search of deals.

It was a real blessing to be away and enjoy some time with a good friend.

Oh, yah...Plus the Packers won the SuperBowl!!!!!!!

Let it Snow!

We got a few inches of snow the other day, and the boys and I were able to get out and enjoy it with some friends!

Ethan had fun for a few minutes and then was ready to go in....not much for the snow I guess.

Kaden loved every minute of being outside...

we could hardly get him to come in for hot chocolate!

The whole gang......Ethan was in a bad mood.

Note: He is sitting under the deck!

Apart from enjoying the snow, the boys received some jammies in the mail from their Great-Grandma......two lucky little boys!

Another Christmas Gone!

Unbelievable...Christmas is come and gone again! We had a very low key Christmas this year. We were able to stay home and spend it as a family. Very relaxing!

The boys opened there gifts. Ethan got a Thomas Lego set

And Kaden got a batman lego set

I know what your thinking...where are these boys' shirts....well....normally they aren't wearing pants either...but we made them put some on for the picture

We were also able to spend time with Grama and Pops.

They came up and spent an evening with us.

Then we were off to Brian's parents for the Espenshade Christmas

Brian with some of the kiddos

And we also celebrated Uncle Sherwoods birthday...it was a great time!

Birthdays

As a child, December was always a busy month for birthdays. My mom's on the 13th, mine on the 17th and then my brother on the 27th. I can't remember a time when we didn't have a "shared" celebration, combining all of our birthdays and throwing one huge party. For the most part it was a lot of fun (as long as it wasn't combined with Christmas!) So it was really interesting when I met Brian and he said that his sisters birthday was the same day as mine.....now that's shared!

So today I want to wish my Mom a happy birthday from this past week

Happy Birthday to this young lady who celebrates with me today!

And then to my cute little brother who will celebrate later this month

My Baby Boy!

This weekend we will be celebrating Kaden's 5th birthday!!!!!

Where does time go.......

Hard to believe that 5 years ago tomorrow Kaden looked like this!!!!

And now...this! What a big boy!

Happy 5th Birthday K-bud!

We celebrated with some friends yesterday.

We had a lot of fun decorating sugar cookies.

Yum, Yum

Tonight we will go to the Etown parade and then tomorrow on his actual birthday celebrate with Grama and Pops and some family!

From Thanksgiving to Christmas

Another Thanksgiving come and gone. Unbelievable, Where has this year went???

We had another great Thanksgiving.

So much to be thankful for....food, family and most importantly a God who loves us and cares for us beyond our comprehension! What more could we ask for!

We spent the day at Mom and Dad E's. The boys were sporting their turkey hats that they had made a the library a few days earlier! They are definetly two little turkeys!

Mom and her apron and what is left of the turkey. What a great cook and host.

All the kids

And that was Thanksgiving and just like that we move right into Christmas.

Black friday we avoided the crowds and headed to a tree farm to get our Christmas Tree. Grama and Pops joined us for the adventure as we searched and searched for the perfect tree. We loaded a horse drawn trailer and set out on the quest.

As always it is fun to pick out a tree!

Nine Years!

It is unbelieveable how fast time flies!! On the 10th Brian and I celebrated our 9th anniversary!

Grama and Pops watched the boys for us so we were able to get away....do some shopping, watch a movie and have a nice meal out! It was a lot of fun!

Happy Anniversary My Love!