Christmas Cheer

 The photo above and below are a perfect
depiction of our holiday break!
Crazy moments, calm moments (and a lot of in-between!).
I was fortunate to take several days off of work
to spend time with the boys.
We had a nice balance of activity and staying home.

 Our first snow-dusting looked so pretty on the clubhouse.
It was the first year we decorated with lights!

Big Santa makes his appearance every year;

the kids have fun sitting on his lap (saves us a mall visit - ha!).

Tyler's face is saying, "I'm asking for a phone, 

but I know I'm not getting a phone."

 
Christmas cuties.
Drew tipped his head over to Tyler.
Totally worth the photo!

  We moved our Christmas tree into the living room.
Drew was not sure about this because it meant bending a ritual,
but he agreed it felt more cozy.
Yes, an Iowa State jersey!

We hope you had a restful, wonderful Christmas.

The Joy of Baking

Peppermint, salted carmel, gumdrop and ginger.

The taste of the holidays!

We had a couple of weekends of spending

most of the day in the kitchen, baking up a storm.

... and cleaning the tornadic aftermath!

 Tyler and Maddie handled the construction of the houses.

The frosting was so weak - we almost added real glue : )

A couple of years ago I made a gumdrop tree.

It's simple and whimsical - perfect for kid hands to master!

(sugar "snow" in the jar, of course)

I am a popcorn fanatic.  

The pic below is a bit of heaven.

You can't say Paula Deen without saying one stick of butter.

We tried something new ... melting hard candies.

One idea was to melt lifesavers into a cane or wreath

and it's a completely edible ornament.

Let's just say I don't have any photos of those masterpieces.