Treats for Neighbors

I saw this idea on some blog a couple months ago and tucked it away for Christmas this year. We are attempting to create a community within our little block of neighbors and have found that it's surprisingly not difficult to do. Everyone we interact with is super friendly and excited to talk to us when we visit, it's just that we have to actually make an effort to visit our neighbors and interact with them. It doesn't just happen. I am amazed that some of our neighbors have been here for 12+ years and never talked to our other neighbors that have been here since the 1960s. This past summer we had a cookout and invited all the neighbors that live close to us. This created an opportunity for us to get to know our neighbors, and for them to get to know one another. Our goal would be to have all of our neighbors over individually at least once throughout the year...still working on that!

For an excuse to visit our neighbors, I made these festive little red-velvet-cakes-with-cream-cheese-icing in a jar goodies :) We gave these little scrumptious delights to them and gave them an invitation to our Christmas eve/morning service at church. Of the six neighbors' houses we went to, four of them invited us in to talk for a while. Isn't that amazing? One of the ladies, whose husband recently passed away, came to our house on Christmas eve morning for our 2nd annual Christmas eve brunch! We were delighted to have her and hope to have her again soon! Another neighbor came over last night with her grandchildren to give Hannah a Christmas present! I am seriously shocked at how easy it is to create a community among people that are total strangers to one another. It just takes a bit of effort, consistency, and of course, prayer :) I'd encourage you to do it!

 

 

 

 

Christmas!

A few of these photos are actually before Christmas, but capture how much Hannah loved the tree :) She also has taken quite well to my hat....she's such a hat girl! My mom got to come down for a few days, which was quite delightful. I'm thankful the weather held out and she was able to travel down here! What a treat! I think Hannah is going to go into withdrawal from all this attention she is getting around the holidays. There seems to be someone to play with her all the time...

Hannah has become quite my little helper in the kitchen, and since she is getting more into pretend playing, we decided to get her a little kitchen set for Christmas. She LOVED it! We were so glad :) She hasn't stopped playing with the fork and plate in particular. They even went on a walk with Paul this afternoon...thankfully he saw the fork when it fell out of the stroller!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas at Thanksgiving

I think we are finally starting to get into a groove with celebrating Christmas at Thanksgiving. This year, instead of exchanging gifts with the kiddos, Kim and I decided to do crafts with them to encourage creating a memory together instead of just exchanging obligatory gifts. I loved it and think it will continue for years to come. We are planning on always doing Christmas cookies (who could resist), and then I will think up some other artsy craft to do with them. This year wasn't the most successful, since the girls could have really cared less, but Caden gave me hope that they'll love it, even next year. This year we made Turkey Cups and put sparkling apple cider in them...Caden was not a fan of the cider, to say the least. I actually don't even remember if I gave Hannah any. We had lots of fun decorating cookies and eating icing. Hannah particularly loves saying, "snowman," usually without the "s."

My dad has quite the collection of stuffed animals, one of which being a lift size white bear, affectionately known as "Monster Bear." On more than one occasion, we were bribed into taking Monster Bear home with us. Thankfully, those bribes were unsuccessful and we are still Monster Bear-less in our home. Don't get any crazy ideas....

Hannah has also been obsessed with Christmas trees. Something about the beauty and wonder of lights and ornaments just draws her into a trance. It's pretty cute.

I think I will have to post more photos :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween

Hannah got to dress up as an owl for Halloween! Yes, I made her outfit :) I'm sure there will be many more to follow. In my opinion, it's way more fun to make than to buy!

"Wwwwhhhoooo are you, Hannah?"

"What's an owl say?"

On Halloween, we actually had one of Paul's friends from college over that is in town this week. After dinner, we walked around to a few houses and then came back to hand out candy. Thankfully, it's almost all gone from the house!

 

 

 

Wilson Wedding Cake

Please see this POST for the full story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Piggy Back Ridin' for the first time!

I snagged this winter hat a a garage sale a few weeks ago...why is girl stuff so cute? Hannah still loves hats, in case any one was wondering. Lately, it's been this hat and the pink one Aunt Janice got her for her birthday that have been the "hats!" requested.

Last night we taught Hannah how to ride on our piggy backs. She was loving it. I think she's finally big enough that she can stay on for more than a second. Most the time she was actually somewhat hanging on by herself. Okay, that's lame. She needs lots of help learning how to balance still :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Fall Day in the Sun!

Last week, Hannah and I went outside in her stinkin' adorable little dress outfit to soak up the fall rays. It's been a while since we've had a photo session like this. Unfortunately, the sun was working against us, but they're still cute :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This proves that Hannah is Paul's daughter, if the eyelashes weren't enough --- here is the mouth!

Corryton Pumpkin Patch Happiness

Our 2nd annual tradition of going to a pumpkin patch on the first weekend in October was a success! Last year, on the same weekend, it was actually hot, while this year it was on the frigid side. "Record lows" were the accurate phrase. We had a lovely surprise and ran into 3 families from church while we were there, one of whom, I used to babysit for. WHAT A BLAST! We all rode out to the pumpkin patch together. Don't be deceived, the "pumpkin patch" is where they have thrown a bunch of pumpkins into the grass for easy choosing. Most were average sized, some were small, and some were surprisingly large. There was also a play area called "Backyard 40" for the little ones. The slide was "freaky-fast" and I could have stayed on that all day. Missing in the photos are the petting zoo and ginormous sand box. If we hadn't have just gotten back from the beach, we would have probably let Hannah play in the sand. Cleaning her up afterward just didn't sound like loads of fun. Thinking about it now though, since she wasn't wet, I bet it wouldn't have been that big of a deal.

Corryton is beautiful! It's north-ish of Knoxville, 20-30 minutes. Check out the photo of Hannah on the hay - look at those mountains :) I'll try to find a photo of Hannah at the patch last year and put it up --- then you can see how much she's grown! She was very sad to leave the pumpkin patch...just kept pointing to all the pumpkins as we got back on the hayride.

Must add that Hannah's FAVORITE part was at the very end when we walked through a corn maze....she LOVED playing in the corn! She's a northerner at heart!