Happy Holidays...

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has safe travels over the weekend and has a wonderful Christmas. The kids and I built the first snowman of the year this afternoon and had a really nice time doing it. Hoping to get some sledding in over the Christmas break too!

Miley is ready for Christmas as well. The groomer decked her out with bows today after her haircut.

Happy Birthday Taylor and Dad...

Happy Birthday Taylor!

A few weeks ago we celebrated my niece Taylor's birthday. Due to the snow storm, not a lot of those that were invited were able to make it. Luckily there were still a few of us willing to brave the storm and had a nice visit.

Taylor with all of the webkinz that she got as gifts.

Showing off her new ring.

Dad had also passed a birthday a few days earlier, so he and Taylor both had cakes.

Kendra, Taylor and Lexi

The adults played cards later in the evening.

You can see who won and who was the sore loser. :)

Happy Birthday Rick...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear Rick...

Happy Birthday to you!

Have a great day honey. We love you!

Melissa, Lexi, Will and Miley

December happenings...

The first two weeks in December are so busy. To quote someone at work, you have to "hit the ground running" once the first of December hits. Now that mid December is coming, we normally have a day or two to breath and then finish up all the last minute items before Christmas comes.

The tree has been trimmed...(and that big hole fixed..lol)We took our first ever family Christmas card...The first snow storm hit this past weekend. The kids loved playing in the snow a few hours before it got really nasty and windy at Grandpa's house.Will had his daycare holiday concert. He looked so handsome. :)Will and his girlfriend Abbie. Seriously, could they be any cuter together?Abbie played the part of Frosty during the concert. Too cute!We made our annual trip to the mall to see Santa.Lastly, decorated the house. Didn't get a lot of new decorations this year, but I stole an idea from my mom and put a few poinsettias in this Christmas box I had. I really liked how they looked in there.I had this Santa and trees, but when I went through some of my mom's decorations I found the house and love how they look together.I found this new frame in a little craft shop on our girls trip over deer hunting. Just love the frame and I think the photo I chose works perfect in it.This frame I didn't buy just for Christmas, but it is something I recently purchased. I was trying to find a frame to put this picture in. It is of mom and dad on the night they got engaged. I love how the colors from the picture and the frame look together. I did order new stockings this year. Thought they were really cute.

Now...on to the wrapping. :)

Home for the holidays...

This is a post I did last year in December. Sure do miss you mom.

I love going home for Christmas. My mom always has the house decorated so nice and with so many little details. It is so much fun to walk through every room and find what she has done new for the season. We were there for the weekend, so I thought I would take some pictures of her decorations.

First, there are always several trees with the main tree being in the living room. (not the best pic)

This one is between the dining room and kitchen and is mom and Lexi's special tree that they decorate together every year.This one is in what we call "dad's bathroom". It holds ornaments that he has gotten over the years that have a a policeman theme or a race car theme.This one is in what we call the Family Room. It has actually been upgraded this year and has new ornaments.Some other photos of mom's special touches...Since we were all there this weekend we took some family photos. (thanks Jamie)

Happy Birthday Dad...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear Dad...

Happy Birthday to you!

Hope you have a good day!

Love ~ Rick, Melissa, Lexi and Will

Individual Style...

This past weekend I brought back a little tree from my mom's house and after picking up one more, let the kids decorate and put the trees in their rooms. Lexi picked out decorations that matched the color of her room..aqua, green, pink, etc. and Will picked out race cars, snowman dressed as policeman, Toy Story ornaments, etc. They turned out really cute as you can see below.Lexi added the tree to her favorite Christmas decor which is all the Christmas bears my mom gave us over the years and a snowman collectible set we received from Rick's mom over the years.

Will posing with his new tree and a few of his decorations.