January 2016 snow storm ....

More pictures from the snow storm

can't help it......biggest snow I can remember

at our house we ended up with about 15 inches

and snow drifts of 18 to 20 inches

the snow drifts piled up at the den doors

the first thing we needed to clean up the next day

the patio wall just about buried

and up to the bottom of the patio rocking chairs

we constantly had clothes hanging up to dry

and wet boots, gloves, hats and socks

and always a dog ready to come in

Ziggy and Pippa Lou were the only ones

that had snowballs hanging off of them

even putting hair conditioner on their underside and legs

didn't help that much

and even though Pippa Lou had a lot of fun playing

in the snow she wasn't always happy when she needed to tinkle

those 2 large humps to the right of the picture

are our lounge chairs....totally covered

looking out from the garage

where do you put all of the snow! haha

I love taking a picture of our house in the snow

so pretty

our Christmas cards this year were our house in

the snow but done in a watercolor

see the icicles there.....well half of them are real and

half are from Christmas! That's right.....Johnny had not taken

these down yet and now they are covered in ice

Digging the cars out

later......

Christmas morning 2015 .....

really late posting Christmas morning

Jacquelyn, Bucky, Declan and Avery Grace all came for

Christmas and spent the night

this might just be the last Christmas they do that

and it was the first Christmas that our son was not with

us for Christmas morning

And Nicole and her crew were home so we visited them

later on Christmas day

So I think this is the beginning of some new traditions

for Johnny and I

Next year might just be me, Johnny and the dogs

and then we go visit everyone 

here's Avery Grace and I a few days before Christmas

I think we were going out shopping

She had some precious outfits for the holidays

this was her Christmas eve outfit

Declan putting cookies and milk out for Santa

please ignore the honey whiskey bottle sitting there

we didn't leave any out for Santa but I think

grandpa had a little bit of that

Jacquelyn and Bucky

Bucky, Jacquelyn and I being silly

Avery really had a fun time opening presents Christmas morning

and Declan was enjoying all of it!

taking a wagon ride around the house

Mimi and TT gave Declan a bike for Christmas

and with the usually warm temps, it was perfect for taking

it out on a test ride

Jake and Kayce came over Christmas morning and I took

no pictures :( they stayed a while and then needed to

head over and visit with Kayce's family

Jacquelyn and her crew headed out around noon

to have some Christmas time with Bucky's family

While they were gone Johnny and I headed

over to Nicole's to have Christmas with her, Tyler and the kids

went home, some family came by, kids back over

and we ate a little dinner.

Christmas day sure is fun but it will also just wear you out

and then everyone sleeps so good that night totally

worn out but with a lot of happiness in your heart

later.......

Making cookies with Declan .....

about a week before Christmas Declan, Jacquelyn and I 

made sugar cookies

This is the first time that he has really helped make them 

before he just decorated

but he has always been afraid of my Kitchen Aid mixer

it's just too loud for him

so when ready to use it, I told him that I really

needed his help and he came running in to the kitchen

ready to help grandma out

here's Declan rolling out the dough

notice the missing handles on my marble rolling pin

I dropped it on the floor and the wooden handle just split open

I have a basket full of cookie cutters and he wanted to 

use just about every one of them

I held him up so he could transfer them after baking

to the cooling racks

I had read that putting the icing in those condiment squeeze bottles 

would make it easier for little ones

here's a tray of some of the cookies we made

Jacquelyn did most of the decorating

sure did have fun with him!

later.....

More snow pictures ...

here are some pictures from Friday

here's the start of the snow

just a little bit later.....

about a hour later....

Jacquelyn and Bucky came to spend the night

they live in an area that frequently loses power so with

2 young children, they just don't like to risk it

here's Jacquelyn shoveling a path for the dogs

they shoveled the front porch and walk way

the first of many times of shoveling it

and then we hit the point of just not bothering anymore :)

the evening snow looked even prettier with the patio lights on

later.....