Skiing

Skiing at Sipapu.

This is Brock's first time to ski!

Brock and Cory.

Brock and Christi.

Grant, Jack and Will

Crissy and Mitchell. 

Brock and Mitchell.

Cory's Family -

Cory and Christi

Will, Grant and Brock.

Will, Holly and Grant.

Holly Grace and Crissy.

Crissy and Family.

John and Crissy.

Mitchell, Holly Grace and Jack.

(Charlotte is still too little.

She stays at the cabin with Grammy & PawPaw.)

Holly Grace.

Do you measure up?

It is a tradition when we are all here together

and involves each grandchild-

the measuring!

Everyone has their own color for marking.

PawPaw likes to keep things interesting!

He grabs whatever is handy to use.

Can you tell what it is?

Top to bottom:

Jack

Will

Holly

Grant

Mitchell

Brock

Charlotte

And now, in no particular order:

Mitchell

Holly Grace

Brock

Jack

Will

Charlotte

Who?  What?

Grant - back on track!

Each one grew about 1/4"!

But they are growing in other ways, as well.

They are showing such incredible traits of

kindness, laughter and love.

Edible Crafts?

The kids love making crafts and eating,

so what could be better?

The question?  "In what did the Indians live?"

The answer?  "Teepees!"

Will and Brock are very serious.

Charlotte and Mitchell have fun.

Jack is very precise.

Grant and his almost constant smile.

Pretty Holly Grace and her teepee.

Frosted sugar cones decorated with frosting tubes!

Beautiful Teepees and great dessert!

Next question?  "What did the Pilgrims wear?"

"Pilgrim hats!"

So, we made Pilgrim Hats from chocolate stripe cookies

and chocolate dipped marshmallows!

Fun and yum!

Last question?  "What do we eat on Thanksgiving?"

Answer?  "Turkey!"

We made Fruit Turkeys!

Jack and his Turkey.

Holly Grace and her Turkey.

Charlotte and her Turkey.

Mitchell and his Turkey.

These are great with PBJs!

Scrapbooking Friends, Beware!

Sunday morning it was just too cold to play outside, so we decided to put together scrapbooks from Halloween.  All thirteen of us were at Crissy's house that weekend and we had a memorable party.  Nani Dot came for the festivities and we took lots of pictures.  I took out a loan (just kidding, Dave Ramsey!) and had copies made for each grandchild, bought orange 3-ring binders at Office Max and printed scrapbooking pages from familyfun.com onto cardstock and punched them.  Forgive me, Creative Memories, but these kids just aren't yet ready for your intensity!

Brock

Charlotte

Mitchell

Holly Grace

Will

Jack

Grant

The scrapbooks are great, but...

playing with cousins is the very best!

Will and Jack.

Charlotte and Grant.

Will and Brock.

Let the fun begin!

Family arrived Saturday afternoon for a campfire cookout!  

Campfires are always fun and always require showers afterward and jammies.. and then a little game with Grammy.  It is just like playing pick up sticks, but we use pixy sticks.  The rules?  Everyone gets a turn until they get one pixy stick without moving any of the others, then two and up to six per player!  

(Sometimes we need a little coaching.)

(Sometimes we need a little encouragement)

(It is a good spectator sport, as well.)

When all the sticks are gone... we eat the game!

And everyone is a winner!

Holiday Recipes

We are in the mountains this week with Cory, Christi, Will, Grant, Brock, Crissy, John, Jack, Holly Grace, Mitchell, and Charlotte - YES - thirteen of us!  We are loving every minute of having our entire family together for a few days.  There is lots of activity in the kitchen and I thought it appropriate to share some of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

Cranberry Salsa recipe

1 pkg. of cranberries
1 bunch of green onions
2 jalapenos
1 cup cilantro
Chop above in blender or Quisinart
Add:
3/4 cup sugar
juice of 1 lime
1 T. olive oil
Serve with Frito Scoops

Walnut Honey Butter
½ c. butter or margarine
½ c. honey
¼ c. chopped walnuts
Cream butter and honey. Add walnuts.
Makes 1 cup.

Pumpkin Butter
1 C Pumpkin
1 C Plain or Vanilla Yogurt
1 t Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 C Powdered Sugar
Stir well and refrigerate up to 5 or 6 days

Snow Stoppers?

Not show stoppers, but snow stoppers!  Yes, they are 2"X2" pieces of angled metal attached to the roof to slow down the melting and sliding of snow off the roof.  Mickey made and attached them this weekend.  We are hoping that they will be very effective in protecting the gutters and not allowing the huge piles of snow to grow all winter along the front and back of the cabin.  
We spent a wonderful weekend there getting ready for our very special guests - family coming for Thanksgiving week!  Surely we will have some "show Stoppers" then.  I will let you know about them.