I've heard of "Purple Mountain Majesty"

But since I love pink SO much the mountains decided to put on a show just for me!

More Snow Fun!

Madison likes to kick back and relax.

Then there is Tyler, once again out looking for a fight.

Show him how it's done Grandma, send him running for the hills....

Or the trees  :)

And of course there MUST be a snowman

Words from Mr. Snowman: HEY!  Will someone tell that boy to stop eating my nose!

Will someone please help that poor girl with that cake of hers!  It just keeps on growing and growing.  Grab a fork and a knife and dig in, her arms are getting really tired!

Grandpa's know how to fight!

So after years of practice, not to mention a slightly larger bank account than children,  my Grandpa was more than ready for a snowball fight this morning!  Although Ty did look quite menacing, he was no match for Grandpa's know how.....or his snowblower!

You do have to give Ty credit....he sure is a stubborn boy, or maybe he is just determined to win.

A bit of Christmas at my house.

Here is a peek into my house at Christmastime........Of course there's more, much, much more, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

Welcome to my Holiday Haven!

Look at those amazing wreaths! I just had to make them last year, since I only had one lonely wreath that I had made for our last house's single front door, but when you have French doors you have to take advantage, right?

Watch out for that Mistletoe hanging in the entry way, Just to the left of the doors and the Mistletoe, my bedroom, I know, perfect placement.

And then there is my precious Rudolph! My grandma painted him FOREVER ago. He hung in her house for years while I was growing up. There is a music box behind him, you turn his nose to wind the box and then he plays.....you guessed it~ Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! I know too cute! Well she passed him on to me a few years ago and I display him proudly every year! I'm not sure why I got him out of the 26 other grand kids, maybe it's because I was the first to give her great-grand babies!

This year she painted this cute little advent count down! I know I'm spoiled and I love it. This year she gave me that as well as a handful of hand painted ornaments I'll post later.

Now I have to hurry home and get more snapshots of my Christmas world to share with all of you......

Can you imagine stockings hung by the fireplace with care, well, I guess you can see those if you squint past my mistletoe. How about newly created Christmas art projects fresh from a First grader's backpack! And My grandma will surely be making a repeat performance, most likely a few times over......

I can see it now, that eager gleam in your eyes, for now I'll let you dream of sugar cookies with frosting and sleigh bells ringing, and children singing......

My love affair with a tree!

I have this tree at my house, it's right in the middle of my view of the water and the mountains. At first when we built our house we thought about cutting down the tree, but I've found that I've developed a love for the darn thing. I don't know how many pictures I've taken of it but here is a sampling. No matter what time of year it is, I always seem enchanted, and just can't resist taking a picture, or two, or 500.

How can you not love that tree? It never ceases to amaze me at the beauty that we have here all around us! I even found a way to get my kids and my tree in the same shot! I'm thinking we might be keeping that tree around for a while, if I were to ever get rid of it I'm sure that I would instantly miss it!

Fudge Anyone?

Every year at Christmas time I make fudge. It's what I do. My mom taught me, her mom taught her. Us Heywood women, we make people fat! It a science, I don't even time the sugar and milk anymore, I'm pretty sure I've done it in my sleep. Here's the picture process, if only you could feel the burn through the pictures of the boiling sugar/milk/chocolate combo...My one secret, the further it flies and the more it burns when you turn on the mixer, the better it tastes!!!

In all fairness, every year when I make my fudge I usually end up throwing out the first batch, it ends up as a big ball of really thick frosting like substance.....one of the guys at work today suggested that I make brownies and spread the opps batch on top. Last night I went through ten pounds of sugar and ten pounds of chips, when you do the math and figure in some of the other ingredients I had 20-25 pounds of fudge in my house last night. Today, not a single piece, I get it out of my house as fast as possible, that way I don't eat all of it! Hmmm, maybe I see my first blog giveaway coming on, I'll keep you posted <-- he, he, posted! I'm too funny!

First Snow of the Year! (And Gingerbread Houses!)

Here it is the first snow we've seen this season, and of course it's Saturday night and we have early church but you have to let the kids play right?



And of course Sunday morning they want to play again. being the mean mommy that I am, I told them this was breakfast time and they could choose, to eat or to play, that was the question. They chose playing, and I packed a snack for church :) this is what we were lucky enough to wake up to.....
After we got home from church it was time to make Gingerbread Houses! The kids had a blast. Note Ty's lack of clothing, first thing he does when he gets home: strip. The boy loves to be (nearly) naked!

Andy with a baby!?!

I saw this picture over on Mia's blog. It's her little brother. I instantly thought of Andy! Wierd!

Well Lindsay, now you know what it'll look like when he's lounging around with your guy's many, many little ones...... ;)

New Atomic Bond Discovered!

Why is it that if you are using Super Glue to put two pieces of plastic back together you, at best, have a fifty-fifty chance of it working, BUT, if you happen to rinse out a bowl of not entirely eaten Cream of Wheat in the sink and possibly forget to rinse down every dish that was in the sink (Yes, there are always dishes in my sink when Ben is gone.) the is a 100% chance of discovering a new atomic bond?

Last weekend I made that proud discovery! Who new that there could be a transfer of electrons between a single grain of Cream of Wheat and ANYTHING it happened to land on. Most elements aren't so care free. If I remember right an element will only bond with another element if they BOTH have free valence electrons. Seems to me that Cream of Wheat is completely indiscriminate. Stainless Steel, Copper, Plastic, Glass, Wood, Enamel, and Melamine. All of these seem readily available for sharing precious electrons with Cream of Wheat. Even with out some sort of Catalyst like heat, cold, or chemicals. Don't worry, I have also discovered the way to un-bond the seemingly loving connection that Cream of Wheat has with EVERYTHING! Are you ready? HOT, soapy water and time. Oh and you still have to do a fair share of scrubbing. Make sure however, that you get all grains removed before putting dishes that have been bonded to into the dishwasher. If you don't the bond will be permanent and irreversible!

Consider yourself warned.

Can you tell I enjoyed Chemistry in high school?

Who remembers Mole Boats? Where did that nail go? And how come Mr. Birkenfeld never saw our amazing (should be) prize winning boat? Has anyone else been immediately disqualified like us?