Every Christmas morning the kids come down the stairs and head right to their stockings. We were SO GLAD that Amanda was able to stay at home on Christmas Eve so this tradition could continue with all of our kids for yet another year (and hopefully many more to come!) …

Every year my mom comes up with some creative way to give out her presents. This year was no exception. Here Josh is helping her figure out what needs to be done (LOL). This year everything was wrapped several times with the last couple of layers being wrapped in newspaper.After …

This is the 18th year that my dad has played Santa Claus. The kids have all grown up knowing the story of St. Nicholas and they have always known that Grandpa is Santa Claus. Below Tim and Nathan are watching for him to come. We have this down to quite …

I have several recipes that call for bacon, but I always dread making them because the bacon is such a pain to cook. I’ve tried several methods. 1. A long time ago I had this microwave safe dish for making bacon. It had grooves in it so the grease would …

I’m sorry I don’t know the name for this appetizer. I don’t even really have the recipe. Our pastor’s wife made this yummy appetizer one day last summer when they had us over for dinner. First. I started with a special plate! I received the CUTEST snowman serving dish from …

We like to stretch Christmas out for as long as we can (LOL)! A few years ago we started celebrating Christmas with Tim’s folks on the Sunday before Christmas since Christmas Eve became too hectic with both of us playing for so many services. This year I didn’t have to …

Emily with Tim’s mom, Grandma Jean (above). We played a few quick games of spoons and then some GOLF! FUN FUN! Below, Skyler is showing Nathan how to work the automatic card shuffler. Looks like they’re contemplating something (LOL). After Nathan got tired of playing cards he brought his play …

One of the restaurants we like to eat at was having a drawing for a big Christmas stocking full of toys, candy, gift cards, and everything else you can imagine. While we were there eating one night the waitress gave each of the boys a card to fill out to …

My birthday is a week before Christmas. There are a lot of candles on this cake. Too many to count, imo and they generated enough heat to warm my always-cold hands! I know some of you will ask how many candles there were so I’ll just answer that now by …

I think Nathan is the only little one I know who looks “FORWARD” to go to bed. In fact, he watches the clock when he’s tired and it doesn’t matter what the actual hour is when the little hand gets down to the 6 he says it’s time for bed. …