Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!

No snow for Christmas this year in Wisconsin - in fact it was super warm the day after we didn't even need our jackets. We bought a real tree this year...after two years of artificial we were just not loving the idea-besides the lights burned out in one of the sections which made the decision that much easier to revert back.

Here are some of the fun memories we had...

Savannah performing with Show Choir

Our front room before Christmas exploded - the kids did most the decorating and did a good job!

Savannah and I decorated this gingerbread house while watching Rudolph. She had a few Littlest Pet Shop friends visiting as you can see. The frosting bag was super hard to squeeze and I didn't have the strength in my hands to help her like I normally would due to HM issues, so there wasn't any snow at this house either LOL. (BTW this had to be protected from the dogs reach, however the day after Christmas we found it on the floor with the roof missing.)

I just love looking at the stockings hung on the mantle!

Savannah as the "narrator" in the church play

Savannah didn't know I took this picture, we were waiting for our church program to start and as she saw us sitting behind her, she stuck her tongue out at Jake as she often does. Sibling rivalry. Heh.

Here she is with her school's "winter" concert. (I call it the Christmas concert however, society seems to be evolving this time of year to "holidays" or "winter" but not around me.) We were way up in the balcony so this was a pretty good shot considering she didn't know I was trying to take a picture. 

Here are both 5th grade classes -  when seeing them next to the kindergartners it reminded me of them when they were in 1st grade. Next year they will all be in middle school. Boo to growing up!

We went to the Botanical Garden to see the lights...no snow on the ground but it was still pretty. Afterward we stopped for Starbucks. It was a great new memory...maybe even the start of a new tradition.

They are a botanical garden so I think they felt inclined to have the lights reflect what you'd see in the summer time. We still have yet to go in the summer time...but we will!

This was very pretty. Reminded me of the movie Frozen.

We had a visitor spend the week at our house. Sassy is our friend's dog and she was very energetic (as it was her first Christmas-yes she is a pup) and loved attention.

Ha. Ma and Pa and Muffers (against her will I might add)

Savannah was so excited to give Jake her present to him. They are remote controlled bumper cars - they enjoy playing with them together. I think it was a good idea and she was very clever to find something that he and she could do to spend time together. 

I often look back at years past and remember how sad and depressed I'd get after Christmas was over...it is interesting now that I have Christ truly in my heart that I don't get these feelings any longer. Out of everything during this time of year I am so grateful for the gift God gave to us of His Son. For without it we would have no Hope.

Merry Christmas!

Our little girl isn't so little any more!

Yep, it is getting more and more official every day. In big and small things. Our little girl isn't so little any more.

Here is Savannah's room before...

Yep, way back...

...then of course we had The Little Mermaid phase for a while.

And here is Savannah's room today. She picked the bedding, the rugs, and the curtains. The only thing we didn't do yet was paint...which I am hoping to do next year. We'd been talking for a while now that Savannah was getting too big for her bed and needed new furniture so when we finally had the money in the budget well that kind of made it a rush decision. We were able to find this used furniture for a great deal so we bought it right away and didn't really have time to paint.


As far as the small things go? I was reflecting back to the day Charlie cried when we bought Savannah her first Happy Meal. And just the other day I cried because she ordered her last.

Meuer Farm Day

Saturday we drove about an hour into farm country to spend the day with the Girl Scout Troop 4109. We started out taking a hayride and then had fun getting lost in the corn maze. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the farm was near Lake Winnebago - which I forgot to get a picture of. :(

Waiting for the hayride.

Here's an old creek on the farm property that is older than dirt - the farmer says it has crayfish in it. This would be fun to have in the back yard don't ya think?

They have a grove of Black Walnut trees. They looked pretty dead but this is because they fall early in autumn but bloom early in spring. We learned that the trees poison the soil and no other type of tree can grow in with them. I don't think I've ever eaten a Black Walnut.

We sat under these trees for a while as the farmer told us about the maple they collect. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Wow!

Savannah found a lady bug on the wagon.

Here is the side of the farm where they have the pumpkin patch and the slide for the kids. There was also a corn shoot where people could aim to hit targets (including the car) win string cheese.

Savannah's gettin' as tall as the corn these days.

Found this guy on one of the trails in the maze. 

Daddy and Savannah had fun answering all the clues that were given for the maze. We picked the scriptural Q&A clues. I think we did pretty good.

We had a lot of fun. I am happy to have made such fun memories. Happy Fall!