Top ten things we did while away from the blog.

1) Santa came through! We got our puppy! Thank goodness, because Little Girl worked so very hard to be good this year. Oh, we named her Goldie.

We love Goldie so very much you see.

2) Made Christmas cookies for EVERYbody...

using technicolored icing.

3) Little Girl got to go to her Daddy's house for Christmas and Momma and Papa got to spend a very quite Christmas alone. (Even though they spent it painting little girl's room the loveliest shade of lavender.) What a great Christmas memory, right?

4) Took a road trip to visit Grandma and got to play with our little cousin's horse, Baloo.

5) Got home and played in a foot of snow...

with Goldilocks, of course.

6) Got to see Aunt Gracie and Uncle Steven.

7) Had a great time skating with Gracie and Steven on newskatesthatsantabroughtus.


8)Helped Momma celebrate her 31st birthday. (That's right, she's not afraid to say it. It's just a number after all.)


9)Went sledding. Went fast. Got covered in snow.

Had a great time!

10) Celebrated Valentine's day at home. Momma made a fancy dinner, Papa brought the girls chocolates and little girl made valentines with LOTS of Glitter. LOTS and LOTS of Glitter... We're still picking it out of Goldilock's fur.

And there you have it... What can I say, sometimes life is so great you forget to blog about it.

Christmas Program

Last Friday was Little Girl's Christmas Program at school. Can You believe it? They actually sang Christmas songs!! Honest to goodness Christmas songs! At a Public school! Well, it is a Charter school, but it's still a Public School. And they sang Christmas Songs!

I love Christmas songs.

Triming the Tree

Due to a break down in communication between the Camera and the Computer, this post is two weeks late. Not to worry, the Camera and the Computer have resolved their differences and have rekindled their friendship.

December 1st, we put up our tree. (Assembled would be a better word, but putting up the tree sounds more "Christmasy". At least we don't have to water it.) Once we had it 'put up' and before we trimmed the tree we had some amazing turkey enchiladas. (My husband's idea. Great way to use up thanksgiving left overs!)

And little girl made a lovely little salad to go along.

Isn't the tree looking lovely?

Ta-Da! We put up all of our favorite ornaments, and had fun talking about when we got each one, who gave it to us, and remembering Christmases past.

I know, it doesn't have the tree topper yet, but we're waiting for Christmas Eve. A new Leader Family tradition.

A few days later, we went and visited Santa (Well, one of his helpers anyway). We asked for a Puppy. Yes, a Puppy. We'll just have to wait and see what Santa brings.

Thanksgiving.

We had an AMAZING thanksgiving. I spent the day bustling about in the kitchen with my Mother, my Sister and my Little Girl... What could be better? Later, we feasted on bounty from my Mother's garden, the most beautiful pies I've ever seen outside of a magazine (made lovingly by my Dear Husband), and the loveliest turkey I've ever roasted in my life (I was so proud). We laughed around the table until long after the sun had gone down and I decided that there are few things as lovely as a table full of loved ones.

It was wonderful. Just the way Thanksgiving ought to be.

Halloween, Birthday

Little girl went to her Dad's for Halloween. She was a Vet. She had a stethoscope, a clip board AND a stuffed dog. Cute! We missed her, but she so made up for it by sharing her amazing haul of candy. And I got to pass out candy to all our friends and neighbors.

Poor Papa was asleep for Halloween. (he worked very long hours that day) And I was a chimney sweep. I was going to be Mary Poppins, because, well, frankly, she's practically perfect in every way... except for the tights. I was just to tired to wear tights that night. So I was a chimney sweep. It was much more comfy. Did you know that pipe cleaners, broom handles, and black tape make lovely chimney brushes? They do indeed.


The next day was Papa's birthday. We invited Grandma Glenda, Grandpa Bob and Grandpa Bernie. We ate off of fine china and ate chocolate cake and Papa loved my scalloped potatoes and everything. It was lovely.


Misty...


And Tigger came too.


And little girl took silly pictures of herself.

Cabin Fever

We are sick. Coughing, fever, aches, pains... It is no fun at all. But there are sweet, warm things to drink, lovely jams for toast, pretty quilts made by grandmothers past and soft things for cuddling.

But. If only we could go out and enjoy the sweet, crisp, fall air. And it snowed Saturday and we couldn't go out and make snow angels. Most of all, we miss people. People to play with, learn with, to teach us, to laugh with. Oh, how we miss people. Sometimes it makes us sigh, sometimes grumpy, bummed.

At least we have our little family.

And Lamby too.

Lookit lookit!

We painted pumpkins for Family Home Evening.


Here's Papa's...


Momma's...


And Little Girl's.

And here's what Papa and I did Wenesday.

This is the biggest Deer he's ever bagged, and I got to help. (My very first hunt!) I must admit it was pretty durn exciting. I don't think I've ever seen my hubby so keyed up. Let me tell you, He was on cloud nine.

Anyway... if he neglected to call you and give you all the nitty grity details... I'd be really surprized. I think he talked to every male this side of the Rockies to share his joy. And of course every male was quite impressed.

(We do have more pics but they're kinda icky... let us know if you want to see them.)