November and December Recap

I know I am not alone when I question, "Where did the last 2 months go?!" No matter what I do to prepare, the holiday season always goes by in a flash. I have a lot of catching up to do in every part of my life, but especially here. This post is just a quick update on the happenings of the Landes crew over the last few months.....

Even though the holidays bring an abundance of extra little things to do and get done, I made sure to take time to do some fun activities with the kids, like making Turkey cookies.


We took our leftover makings to Arkansas and let the kids make them again with Kylie and Kenzie.

We always decorate for Christmas at our house before Thanksgiving. We want to enjoy the tree and decorations as long as possible.




We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Arkansas with Gabe's family. We go to see a lot of the family and enjoy the beautiful weather while we were there. The kids had a wonderful time playing with their cousins especially some older cousins they don't usually get to see very often. They made cookies with Ma. played in the leaves, and as usual took many rides on the golf cart and 4-wheelers.

Making Turkey cookies

Gingerbread cookies with Ma

Leaves

Leaves

And more Leaves

Isaac REALLY wanted to see the turkey on a platter uncut, just like he has seen in the pictures. He was thrilled.

Caleb's first tractor ride. He wanted to drive.

My sweet daughter, Julia Anne Elizabeth, on Thanksgiving Day

Julia and Sarabeth being artsy

Gabe, Caleb, and Nathan

One family tradition we have is to make our own ornaments each year. We make a family ornament and then each child gets one. We just pick something that symbolizes what was "big" in our lives for that year. Last Christmas we were not able to make our ornaments so we caught up this year making two family ornaments and two for each kid. That's 8 new ornaments! I was so proud of us for actually finishing this year. We always have such a good time doing this together. Quite a memory builder!

We didn't let Caleb paint, but we did let him hang his ornaments.

The Singles Bible Study that we host on Tuesday nights had a Silly Sock Christmas party. It was funny to see the guys come in girlie Christmas socks. We ate an abundance of food, stuffed ourselves silly, then laughed at everyone while playing Catch Phrase. Fun night!


We slowed the crazy holiday schedule one day to make gingerbread houses. The kids got quite creative, especially Isaac. He made a chimney, a bench, and lots of plants and flowers. He even hid a Lego man inside his house. Julia put candy all over her house then just couldn't stop herself with the icing. She said she was making it snow. Well, it looked like a blizzard blew into town!




Gabe's Mom came to town the Tuesday before Christmas. We stayed busy cooking, entertaining, being entertained, going to the SA Children's Museum, more cooking, and lots of eating, laughing, and more eating. It was a good week!

Caleb loves cows, but this one frightened him. He had a death grip on me.

I'll write a new post soon all about our Christmas celebrations, Isaac's 7th Birthday, and all that in between! Ya'll come back!