New house for Christmas

Mom's club Christmas Parties.

Santa: Hi Cookie. What would you like for Christmas?

Cookie: ( long pause) I don't know. Santa, Surprise me.

Cookie says all the time that she is going to marry Jakers.  Her Barbies are named Cookie and Jake. It's sweet. I try to tell her that she can't just tell him they are getting married, that she has to wait for him to ask her and give her a ring. She got a spider ring for halloween and told me it was for Jake to give to her... oh boy. what are we in for? 

Love ya, Sara. So glad we are friends.

This is our Mom's club board. We had a fabulous dinner at El Tesoro. So glad to have mom friends...

Birthdays. birthdays, birthdays.

Freckles- I'm embarrassed about how long it has taken me to blog about Freckles's birthday. It was September, but it is finally up now. check out: Freckles turns 12

 Tuesday we celebrated cookie's 4th birthday. She took pink rice krispie treats to school to share with friends. Then after Sister's band concert, we headed to cookie's favorite restaurant... Chick fil a. We had nuggets and played on the playground. then her friends Jake and Cade came for icecream. All she asked for for her birthday was a penguin... so almost all of her gifts had a penguin theme. It was perfect. smile.

We were able to celebrate with Appa and Poppa for Charli's birthday this year! We celebrated over thanksgiving weekend at the Hampton Inn in Salina, KS

Satanta

Thanksgiving with Mendy! I finally made it to Kansas and it was a fantastic trip.

A bike ride around the town of Satanta to see the sights. This was the kids' school. We loved the playground

We took the kids bowling and had a blast! It was Cookie's first time.



We went to the family farm to see the minature horses and animals. It was so peaceful. Our highlight was seeing the donkeys walking along the road. We had no idea where they came from and they were plenty friendly. This is a pic of my new friend...

We love these guys...

We were able to visit Boot Hill in Dodge City. It was great to step back in time with our Sasparilla and enjoy the little town. We saw it all and spent ages in the gift shop. It was a fantastic day.

Thank you Howe's for having us! We love  you.

so thankful

This year Thanksgiving was at the community dinner sponsered by Applebees and the Salvation Army.  It was the only place serving food in Salina, KS where the girls and I met my parents. They served over a thousand meals that day for a free-will offering. Some people could pay and some people couldn't. It was one of my favorite Thanksgiving meals.  We are all so blessed and I am just so thankful for my family and for enough food to eat.

pumpkin

the lake

One of the best things about motherhood is seeing the world through their eyes.  We got to spend a ton of time in the water while we were in Indiana this summer. Freckles loves poppas lake. She learned to dive for the first time off the back of the boat. She loves swimming, tubing and skipping rocks. 

 Cookie learned to get over her fear of water. She quit wearing her swimming wings and started jumping in. I loved watching her conquer her fears and love the water. I love these two photos. This one captures cookie with her cousin, Mia.