Only one more day till Ben gets home from Training!

I don't know if Peanut Butter Balls are technically a holiday recipe but they sure cured the munchies for all of us at 10 am this morning. We were out of powdered milk and oat flour so I substituted crushed wheat cereal and flaxseed meal. Raw honey and organic natural peanut butter. It worked great. I rolled them in artificially flavored and colored sprinkles to atone for all the health benefits on the inside. The picture above is as deceiving as the finished peanut butter balls. Nathan was NOT serenely looking on. The camera only caught him in the middle of snatching the spatula and flinging ingredients everywhere, several times that is. :)

This afternoon, while Nathan slept, Hannah asked me if next time i go to the store, "could you get me some jello? 'cause my teacher at parkway was eatin' some and she wouldn't give me any. She said you need to buy me some. " So I said lets make some!

She then agreed to put on a Sunday dress and let me take her picture outside (Nathan was asleep). I want to learn more about this camera but for now i'm just trying to get the right song and dance combo to get smiles and personality. i might worry about lighting and special effect next year...or the next or maybe i'll never get to it. who knows. The ones of Nathan are from last Sunday.

I can't decide if he looks like my dad, my brothers or my husband...

Does he know how to pose our what? He was such a little honey today, giving me hugs and he brought me this baby early this morning while everyone else was still asleep wanting me to name the eyes, ears, mouth, etc. He's not saying any of those words yet but he's definitely got "uh-oh" down and I love it when he does the double uh-oh, "uh-uh-oh!" . His word for Hannah is "nanna" and he's got Momma, daddy and bye-bye and few others.

I've been so thankful for my kids these last few days even though I've felt really cruddy. I woke up Thurs. knowing something wasn't right and by late Thurs. afternoon I knew if I didn't get to the doctor, it would be a long weekend. Fortunately there's an excellent doctor here in Raymond. He's from Senegal (west Africa) and he speaks with a very thick accent. I liked him immediately because he took all the time in the world to answer my questions. It was also a plus that he's just up the street from my house and I was in and out of there with both kids, 2 shots and an antibiotic in 40 minutes! Sweet!

Anyway...thankful for my kids...Hannah has been fun these past few days, especially as the Christmas cards are trickling in. Usually the photo cards are the most fun. But this year, I was in for a surprise, Hannah has been asking me if she can have the cards with the nativity scenes, angels, shepherds, etc. It has been such a joy to explain these pictures to her. Last weekend when we decorated the front of the house with lights, I found in the Christmas box a small nativity scene with little glass figures glued inside. I gave it to her because earlier that day I had told her the story of baby Jesus. She was so excited about the little manger scene and literally carried it around the house and placed it around the house all week. And the Christmas cards have reinforced the story for her. Watching her experience the story for the first time has given me a new perspective.

A few of our best days in November...