Sledding Fun!

We are definitely enjoying having so much snow this winter!


Saturday Bradley got in on the action and we had so much fun!


We even headed lacross the creek to the "big" hill! Although fun, we stil like our little hill in our backyard the best! Maybe that has something to do with the fact you get to the top twice as fast!

He loves babies!

Blake loves babies. This picture was taken at our last Christmas on January 8th. Lucky for him we have three babies in the family right now Macie (Bartlow side), Katelynn, and Teagen (both Wolter side) and in a couple months we'll have one more when Keith and Leslie have their baby! Everytime he is around them he just can't get enough of them. Even in Little Gym class if there is a baby visiting (a sibling to one of his classmates) he wants to go check on the baby after every skill! I think it's pretty sweet considering what a rough and tough boy he is! I know what your thinking, time for me to have another baby but I'm not ready yet!

Deliciousness (if that's a word)

Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls! The most amazing thing I've tasted in a long, long time! And I'm so proud to say I actually made them!

My cooking history is pretty much like this, no desire to growing up, forced to living at 4H House in college, got married, had to learn quickly! In comes my mom to the rescue who arms me with great cook books, all her tried and true recipes, and the encouragement to try anything! So I gave it a whirl and find out I like cooking. Not so much on baking though.

Fast forward 8 years and I now love baking and cooking both! I still find myself intimidated by anything calling for yeast though. But over Christmas I asked my mom to try making the Pioneer Woman's recipe for cinnamon rolls. I've had her cookbook for a while and really wanted to try them but again I was too scared because it had yeast in it. She made them and oh my, I knew I had to learn how or I was not going to get to eat these delicious things regularly!

So I gave it a whirl with her encouragement and whalah! They turned out awesome! I was so proud of them. Lauren loves them, Bradley says they are the best he's ever eaten, and Blake won't try them. That doesn't bother me though, that means more for me! Two days later I made an entire bath (only a half batch the first time) and now have a freezer stocked with these wonderful things! So if you are visiting my house anytime in the next year, don't be surprised if I whip these out of the freezer! They are divine!

Thanks Mom for being my cheerleader and to Pioneer Woman for this recipe! I no longer have a fear of yeast.

Little Gym Show Day

Blake wrapped up another semester of Little Gym following Christmas break. He unfortunately didn't get to graduate with his class as Lauren came down with the flu that day. But we were able to do a make-up and he was able to get his medal. He really has grown a lot this semester in his confidence of trying new things. He now will jump on the air track and jump off the balance beam by himself. These were both things that terrified him in the beginning of the semester. He looks forward to going so much and asks each week when we are we going to little gym? He also loves to get stamps at the end which he's proudly showing off in the bottom right picture!

Our Lady of the Snows

I dearly love to go see Christmas lights and I believe I've passed the "bug" on to my children. So this year we went to see the lights at the shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. Unfortunately we didn't make it before Christmas as I'd hoped but we did finally get there a few days afterwards. The kids loved it nonetheless. It was especially fun for them since we went with friends! Blake and Lauren enjoyed riding a camel and feeding the animals in the petting zoo. Next year I'm setting a goal to go to Santa's Wonderland in Eureka and Tilles Park!

Fun in the Snow!

We were blessed with a white Christmas (which I did not feel the same about when we were driving to church on Christmas eve - talk about stressful!). So we got the kids out for sledding and snow angel making. To Lauren's dismay we did not make snow ice cream due to having a dog now and the fear of contaminated snow. I have to remember to set a bowl out the night before a big snow one of these times! Blake really loves sledding and its so fun to hear Lauren and him giggle as they go down our "hill" behind our house! The only problem we have is our dog loves to steal Blake's mittens off his hands so I spend all my time chasing her around to get it back. We really need to work on obedience............

Christmas with the Bartlow Family

I hosted Christmas this year for the Bartlow side. We began finishing our basement in late October with the hope that it would be finished in time for everyone to stay comfortably. Unfortunately the shaw carpet people held everything up by not shipping my carpet in time! So we made due without the basement being done. Honestly it was a blessing in disquise because I underestimated how much time it would take me to get everything out of storage and get things settled in the basement! I'm so glad that project is finally done!Anyways, back to Christmas.



So the Bartlow family all came in on Christmas night. We all enjoyed relaxing together and watching Christmas movies while the kiddos played with all of the new toys in the house. The next day we opened gifts. Again the kids were royally spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa and by their aunts and uncles. We had a great time together!

Christmas Morning

We enjoyed our traditional Christmas breakfast (notice my attempt to make a Christmas tree out of cinnamon rolls) and then enjoyed gift opening. Lauren was thrilled to receive an American Girl doll that she has been wanting forever, Rebecca. She got several outfits for her as well so she had lots of fun dressing her up. Blake was thrilled to recieve a combine, red just like PaPa Bruce's. Santa brought lots of other nice toys but those were definitely the hits!

Christmas Eve

Christmas came and went so fast again this year. It was especially fun this year because Blake really got into unwrapping presents. He still didn't quite catch on to Eddie the Elf which visits our house each year the 12 days before Christmas but I'm guessing that will change this coming year. The anticipation of Christmas is so much fun with little ones in the house!



We spent Christmas Eve with Bradley's family. We opened gifts and then went to church. I always enjoy getting the kids dressed up for Christmas and Easter! Lauren's dress will probably still fit next year as it was a little big big on her. Blake's outfit which I bought in early November ended up being too small for him! Oh well, that's the way it goes when you buy their outfits early to have professional pictures taken!



The kids were spoiled by their grandparents and aunt and uncle again this year. Lauren's highlights were a pink guitar, a mp3 player, microphone and stand, and lots of arts and crafts stuff. Blake's highlights were lots of John Deere toys (very convenient to have an uncle work for JD) which he was thrilled about. The kids also got matching wheelbarrows (well one is pink the other is green) that they will get a lot of use out of once we put our garden out this spring.

Sugar Cookies

For the last four years Grandma Vernitta and I have teamed up to make a few batches of sugar cookies for the Christmas season. The year we made the cookies on December 5th and froze them until we needed them. It worked out perfect. Lauren has gotten in on the action from the beginning and now is quite a good decorator and an awesome helper. Blake wasn't interested and instead spent his time outside with Grandpa. Grandpa and Blake were great taste testers once they did come inside and gave their approval! Each year we've gotten a bit more adventurous with our decorating and this year we made our best ones yet. Unfortuantely I don't have any pictures to show of the final product! I forgot to take one. Maybe next year! Regardless, I'm quite sure that Santa enjoyed them because he didn't leave but a crumb on the plate Christmas morning.

Bartlow Thanksgiving

Brekin and Aaron hosted Bartlow Thanksgiving again this year. We enjoyed having all the kids together and actually got them to sit still for a picture! Thanks to Grandma Marcia for the new Pez dispensers to keep them occupied long enough to snap the picture. They are seated oldest to youngest right to left, I know a little backwards but it worked. So from right to left, Lauren, Addison, Brenna, Blake, Delaney, Braden, and Macie.

Thanks to Brekin for an awesome Thanksgiving!

A visit from the Tooth Fairy!

While in Disney Lauren discovered she had a loose tooth. Needless to say, lots of wiggling resulted in it finally coming out on November 21st. She was so excited to have the tooth fairy visit! "She" didn't disappoint bringing a $1 and a book, Pearl vs. The Tooth Fairy. Lauren was thrilled to have her name added to the chart in her kindergarten classroom and join the ranks of her many classmates who've already lost a few teeth. Since then her new tooth has emerged and I'm questioning where her little mouth is going to put all these new permanent teeth! I have a bad feeling braces may be in our future....... In addition to this new tooth she is also getting her six year molars in which are causing some pain. Thank goodness for Motrin!

Disney - Part 2

We attended Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on Friday the 19th. It was definitely Bradley and my most favorite thing of our trip. It was simply amazing! Seeing Christmas lights on the castle, snow on main street and just experiencing the joy of Christmas through the eyes of children was magical. All you could eat sugar cookies and hot chocolate were a nice bonus too! The rides were not crowded at all and so we were able to go back and do many of our favorites at Magic Kingdom that night as well. Lauren and Blake thoroughly enjoyed the fireworks display and the parade.



Our third character meal was at Akershus at Norway in Epcot. We had attended here in 2008 and it was our favorite then. This time did not disappoint either. Blake was much more receptive to the princesses than the other characters I believe because he could see their faces. He even was brave enough to join in the "parade" around the restaurant! Lauren was thrilled to have bonus time with Ariel her favorite princess of the day! Later that day we enjoyed riding Soarin and the evening fireworks show over the water. Lauren loved Soarin so much she rode it twice. I look forward to when we return in a few years and Blake is old enough to enjoy it as well.



On our final day we took in Downtown Disney and enjoyed time at the Lego store as well as the other Disney shops. We finished with lunch at Earl of Sandwich which was delicious! I wish we had one in St. Louis!

Overall an amazing trip. It was so good for the four of us to have a solid week together. I was very proud of Bradley for putting the laptop away and really enjoying time with the kids. I enjoyed having a nap every day and the special memories we made with the kids. The only bummer of the trip was that I got sick with a respitory bug the first three days and then finally got antibiotics. The last four days of the trip were great after that!

Disney Recap - Part 1

We had the most amazing vacation November 10-17 at Disney! This was our second family trip but the first for Blake. I was pregnant with him when we went in 2008. We picked a great time to go as it was not crowded at all. We went over Veteren's Day so Lauren only missed three days of school which was great. Disney was all decked out for Christmas so that was an added bonus. I definitely want to go back for Christmas at Disney again! Blake did great for his first time flying too. I was nervous though because after ten minutes into the flight he said to me "I get off plane." Luckily he hung in there and the man sitting next to us was very patient and understanding!



Our first day at Disney began with breakfast at Chef Mickey's. It was my favorite character meal of our three. Lauren loved every moment of it but Blake was not as interested. He was scared of the characters when they would come close but liked them from afar. Luckily by the end of the week he warmed up to the idea of getting close to the characters.




Riding Dumbo and the cars was a highlight for both kids. Blake still asks almost daily to go ride Dumbo. Of course Lauren loved the parades and well everything about out vacation except the fast rides.....



Lauren agreed to ride Space Mountain with Bradley. I used the rider swap option and got to ride as soon as they got off. Needless to say Lauren was done with roller coasters after that. She was really scared! I felt bad for her. We made up with it though with a less scary ride of Splash Mountain which she loved!



Our second character meal was at the Crystal Palace. Great fun dining with Pooh and Friends.

One thing we did differently this time around was to stay at a non-Disney property. We stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek and thoroughly enjoyed it. Having a two bedroom condo, a playground, and five kids pools was awesome. And we got to see the fireworks at Epcot everynight from our 11th floor condo! We were actually inside the Disney gates but the property isn't owned by Disney. We had a rental car also which was great! I loved the flexibility we had to go outside the parks to eat and to come and go from the parks as we pleased.

Happy New Year!

Well 2010 has come and gone. It went by so fast! I know it sounds cliche but it's so true when you have kids. I am so bummed that I fell behind from mid-November on and didn't keep up with my blog. My goal for 2011 is to update at least once a week. Let's hope I can do it!

2010 was a great year full of many, many blessings. I'm so thankful for my wonderful family and friends.

Stay tuned as I hope to update this week the last six weeks of 2010. It's been a busy one with our vacation to Disney, Thanksgiving, our basement finishing project (my biggest time drain), and of course all the preparations for Christmas! It was a memorable six weeks but I'm glad it's behind us.

We spent our NYE with my mom moving furniture to our basement! Thank goodness for her help and muscles, we couldn't have done it without her!

Here's to a great 2011!