Spoiler Alert - If you are a male in this family, you likely don't want to read this post until after we have opened presents!
In the sake of making this a homemade Christmas, Sylvia has been busy with her crafting time. Under the watchful eye of her teacher, the young apprentice hones her craft. Hopefully the finished product gives joy for years to come.
Since Trinity was over to celebrate her B-Day with Jamie, she was able to partake in a little craft time with Sylvia as well.
Sylvia carefully applying peanut butter to the pine cone (I think I may need to discuss with Jamie the fact that Sylvia is using a sharp knife for this task - but that is for another time)
Once the peanut butter is applied, some scoops of bird seed over the top will make a tasty bird treat.
"I can do it myself Mom!!!"
Dad also got in the mix when Sylvia and I hung our bird feeders with care... now we wait for the birds to feast on the tasty creation!
Like most of Minnesota, we got hit hard with snow on Saturday. Because of the crazy wind, it was hard to tell how much we really got, but it was between 16 and 20 inches.
Sylvia spent most of the weekend on this side of the window, mostly because of the wind chill factor. She did stay busy organizing the window clings.
While the front entry was shoveled out twice yesterday, there was a large drift covering the door again this morning. 
A view from the garage looking at the large snow mountain for the neighborhood kids to play on. They were busy digging tunnels and setting up their winter fort.
Even with my neighbor blowing out our driveway twice, it was still quite the exercise moving all of the white stuff around... I am quite certain I know what Santa is bringing this guy.
Sylvia is such a big fan of her Micky Mouse scrubs and ears... I think she wears her ears almost every night.
The first night we brought the tree home, she was helping out quite a bit. She was even unscrewing the lightbulbs from the string of lights. So much for the C9 sized lights. After she went to bed, Jamie and I swapped them out for the traditional sized ones.
Of course Sylvia gets her own 'baby' sized tree. Don't you think she is proud of it!??!?!?
Her "I'm really, really excited my eyes are closed" look was shown again tonight when she was DRINKING the ketchup from the little cup at Wendy's. I almost lost my dinner! YUK
Last weekend the family made the trip out to Cokato to check on the progress and do a bit of work on the property as well.
Inside in the living room - looking up into the loft. I love the hand rails and spindles which were reclaimed from an Ash tree that needed to come down to make room for the cabin.
Since the weather cooperated, we were even able to have a nice big winter bonfire (it did finally start on fire...)
Due to the mixed temperatures and heavy winds a couple days earlier, there were some really cool ice formations along the shore line.
Probably the same type of people that buy costumes for their dog!
underage drinking
Last weekend Grandma Charleen and Cousins Blake and Jared came to the house on Friday to allow Jamie and I to have a quiet relaxing dinner followed by a night of curling. What started as a plan for a bunch of inside playing turned into a fun snow-filled Saturday as well.
It looks like a game a hide and seek from Grandma found the kids all hiding behind the sofa in the living room
Kissing Cousins ?!?!??!
Blake helping out by cleaning off Grandma's car
Someone LOVES to play outside in the snow... I think that same someone loves to say "Cheese" to the camera!
Happy Last Day of the Workweek!
Do other kids play with blue tape or just kids whose parents get it for cheap? Next time Auntie Liz watches Sylvia she better have a scissors in her pocket just in case.
After trying to get a cute picture of Sylvia in the leaves, we concluded that she is not a big fan of leaves and more excited with the small pumpkin carving tools. Well, there is always next fall!
A post long over-due that has been in 'draft' mode for some time. Most of the others have already posted the details about the celbration, so we will let the pictures do the talking.
