Too pretty to eat

That's the title of the recipe book for these Springerle cookies. My Aunt Patsy made them for Christmas and I was lucky enough to bring home an entire tin full of them and Lebkuchen! **I know the rest of the family will be jealous :)**

These are both German cookies and they are delicous!

Perhaps you've seen..

this very special movie. It has such a great message about giving. I was able to catch it on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and just wanted to share it with you.

Our Christmas

This year we had such an endearing Christmas. It was such a special time for our family. We are so thankful for the people God has placed in our lives. We were able to visit with alot of our family and a few dear friends that God has recently brought into lives. What a time to cherish!

These days I am lucky if I can get a picture of these two monkeys! They are full of energy let me tell ya!

Can you believe Emma is about to be 7!

What a little mess this one is :)

Nanny and Pawpaw gave the girls American Girl dolls this year. This one is supposed to be a little version of Emma. She named her Grace.

Lili got a Bitty Baby. She loved rocking her and loving on her.

Ready for bedtime! Looks like the dolls are sleepier than my girls.

Just a funny little side note, Lili loves to sleep on my old care bears pillowcase that I had when I was little and Emma sleeps on a floral one that I used when I was in college. I'm going to call these vintage haha! They are really attached to them :)

Mommy and Daddy's gift to Emma this year was a Nintendo DSi. She's been asking for one for a few years now and we thought she was finally old enough and responsible enough to have one.

Sporting her winter hat from Uncle Brad.

And enjoying a bike ride on her gift from Santa.

Lili loves loves loves Dora.

All dolled up in her new dress-up clothes.

She got a few Junie B. books to add to her library!

And these last few are from our family Christmas with Mike's side of the family. Santa came and handed out gifts to all the grand kids!

We hope you all had a blessed and joyous Christmas. What a wonderful time to be with the ones we love, and cherish the gift that was given to us on that precious night so long ago. It is because of His Gift that we can give.

It's storytime

with Mrs. Claus. Lili sat perched on her lap while enjoying "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".

It was a cold night at Santa's Village, so we were all bundled up to keep warm.

Mike and Lili waited to write a letter to Santa.

Looks like I may have another lefty.

Emma loved wearing these magic Santa glasses. She said all the lights looked like rainbows.

Working on her Christmas wish list.

Though Lili was not fond at all of these larger than life characters, Emma loved having her picture taken with Frosty and Gingerbread man.

An Early Visit with Santa

It's become a special trip that the girls look forward to every year! Together with a few of their cousins, the girls got to see beautiful Christmas lights, sip hot chocolate, and see the big man himself! Enjoying a wagon ride to see Santa!

There was a little bit of a wait, so what better place to sit than beside her Popi.

I was very surprised Lili actually sat on his lap!

The kids enjoyed their hot chocolate!

We are making such special memories with the girls. I'm so thankful for the family God has given me.

Our first date...

was 12 years ago at Auburn's Homecoming. So, this past weekend we packed up the kids and the car, dropped the kids off with their grandparents and headed to Auburn! This is a special weekend we look forward to every year.

It was the coldest homecoming I remember!

Afterwards we went to Toomer's Corner!

Pumpkin Pickin!

Nanny and Pawpaw came to town on Saturday and we took the kids to the pumpkin patch! The girls had a great time playing, petting the farm animals, and picking their pumpkins.

We started taking Emma to the pumpkin patch when she was just a baby. I can't believe she's already six and looking so grown up!

Lili found a special pumpkin just for her :)

This was probably Emm's favorite part of the day, getting to hold the kittens. I think one actually fell asleep in her hands.

Lili loved feeding the goats!

Fall Fest Night!

Getting ready to go to our church's Fall Festival!

Lili ~ the scarecrow, Maddie ~ the AU cheerleader, Emma ~ the cheetah

Emma was a scarecrow when she was Lili's age too. I had a great time making her outfit.

Lili and Mrs. Kathy, a couple of scarecrows!

Mike wore the hat most of the night, got a few interesting looks from people :)

Emma loves the cotton candy!

More fall fun!

I was so excited to get these pictures today from Michael's aunt! She captured some really great moments at our Fall Family Day!

This reminds me of when I was a kid! One of my favorite things to do was to climb the magnolia trees in both of my grandmothers' yards.

A pic of me taking a pic of the girls :)

Here we go!

Lili had so much fun on the hayride!

As you can tell......

Straw was everywhere (yes, I do mean everywhere ;) )