a snowy, crafty, christmasy, sort of weekend!

this weekend we were delighted to have a quiet, snowy, very christmasy feeling weekend! on saturday, we made our own christmas ornaments and baked a ton of sweet stuff!!! we had gone in search of our annual christmas ornaments, and were very disappointed in our options....so i decided we were going to attempt to make our own ornaments. the boys had a blast, we ended up with a snowman, 7 stars, 3 candy canes, a jingle bell, a king cobra, a tiny dolphin, and some other items that master grady made, that i'm a little unsure of exactly what they are!! the boys were very proud of their creations, and i was a little impressed with their patience and attention to the project!! that evening we had our annual christmas baking evening! shawn manned the chocolate station, i was in charge of peanut brittle, fudge, and christmas cookies, and the boys were the masters of the peanut butter, and of course the official taste-testers!! everything turned out very scrumptious, and is sure to add at least 10 extra holiday pounds!!!! on sunday morning we woke up to 3 inches of freshly fallen snow....on saturday, it had flurried off and on, but saturday evening and night, the snow really fell! we had to get a bright and early start on sunday morning because shawn and i were teaching children's church, so there was no time to disrupt that beautiful snow fall before church, so as soon as we got home, i took a picture, and then the boys played in the freezing cold snow for at least an hour! last year, grady would not have lasted 3 minutes in the snow, without tears, but this year he was happy to be rolling around in the fluffy, white stuff! the boys tested out the new sled that nana and joe sent a few weeks ago, they rode bikes in the snow, and even tried to scrape all the snow off of the mazda! shawn and i watched our little snowmen frolic in the snow, from inside the warm and cozy house!! today, gabe had a late start due to the super icy roads, so we decided to paint our ornaments!! they did a great job!! this was our first painting project done inside the house, and i am pleased to report, there is only paint on the ornaments!!! these are by far and away, my favorite ornaments yet!!! they are so much better than any of the ones i found at the mall!!! yea! memories!!!