Winter and Christmas 2009

The winter storm we received a week before Christmas...

Danny just HAD to take this shot to compare the difference between his battle with the snow vs. Matt's battle with the snow... we can see who won and who was utterly defeated!!

This year we were blessed with a white Christmas. A VERY white Christmas. The weekend before Christmas we were hit with over 22 inches of beautiful snow... it made decorating the house for Christmas really memorable and festive!

Danny had to go out and use the snowblower every few hours just to be able to keep up with the falling snow. Each time before he finished there was already an inch or two on top of what he just plowed!

Could the house look any cozier??

The kids made the most beautiful gingerbread houses this year.

Ryan outside with our faithful dog Ginger...

Danny showing Ryan where to shovel

And Ryan working so hard and diligently at shoveling... he is ALWAYS willing to pitch in and help with whatever, and he is never afraid of hard work. Proud of you Ryan!!

Hannah's 12th Birthday

A couple weeks ago (yes I am behind) we celebrated Hannah's 12th birthday! She invited a couple of friends over and we went down to an art studio where they all made a beautiful glass piece - called "glass fusion" - it was so much fun. This picture shows what a beautiful young lady Hannah is becoming... Danny and I are so proud of the sweet, generous, modest, kind, humorous, compassionate girl she is. She is a young lady with many talents, but she remains humble and sweet to the very heart...

Here she is working on her glass piece

This is a piece that Jacob did

Ryan's work of art

And this is Hannah's - she made a very cute dolphin! The finished pieces turned out absolutely beautiful after fusion...

Hannah with her friends Cassidy, Isabella and Abigail

After the art studio we went to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner - what fun that was! A great fuss was made over Hannah, embarassing her to death...

The WHOLE family was there - even our "often missing" college student and his girlfriend Sherry!!

I think Hannah had a great time!

This is Hannah's birthday cake - SHE made it with fondant, and spent literally hours creating a gumpaste shape for each person at her party. One of the girls broke her foot before the event, so there is even a pair of crutches on the cake!

On the day of Hannah's actual birthday she decided to try ice skating. Ryan was injured so Jacob (ever so faithful and sweet) went skating with her! It was sooo cute and sweet - they hadn't been skating for a while, and I watched at the edge of the rink, hoping to get a picture of them as they came around the circle. I waited, and waited, and waited. They NEVER made it around the circle! Both of them were so funny - they just couldn't do it! I know that my brother with his 9 hockey-playing star children would absolutely laugh at us - but hey, skating is not our thing!

She may not have skated but ain't she a cute, stylish skater???

Happy Birthday to my darling sweet daughter! You are God's gift to me in so many ways and I am sooooooo grateful for you and your wonderful, happy, outgoing personality!! God bless you in the year to come sweetie!!

Ryan's Thanksgiving Cake

I made a pumpkin cake for Thanksgiving this year (by the way - this is our family's new favorite cake!) and we had decided to experiment with using fondant. Well, Ryan did such a wonderful job - he rolled it out, spread it, cut the leaves, and decorated the entire cake! Hannah made the acorns on the top - and the whole thing was just beautiful!

Using fondant is very much like using edible play dough - this is why I think the kids like using it and decorating with it.

Ryan did an awesome job! This was a perfect Thanksgiving cake!

Deer Hunting

Here is Jacob loading up all his shotgun shells as he prepares to go out and hunt for the first time. Matt was never interested in hunting, so it was a strange feeling for me as a mom to watch my son go out and be excited about it! Killing Bambi's mother!! No, just kidding Jacob. I really did hope and pray that you would get one...

Here he is - all dressed in the proper gear to go out and shoot!

This is the view of the farm from one of the fields the guys hunted in. The hunting party included Danny and two of his brothers, his Dad, and Jacob and two of his cousins.

And the lucky one of the day was Steve! He got TWO BUCKS within minutes of each other! I know that Jacob was excited to see this, even though he himself didn't get one. Buck Fever has struck my son and he will hunt again until he gets one!!

Boys Weekend with Dad

Every fall Danny takes the boys away camping or to stay in a cabin. This year they stayed at a cabin up in the Catoctin Mountains. They seemed to have a wonderful time with Dad this year!

They went to Danny's parents farm to practice shooting a gun and scouting out the land to see where they wanted to hunt when hunting opened. This would be Jacob's first time hunting...

Grandaddy showing Jacob how to use a shotgun...

And Ryan, faithfully and patiently watching, knowing that someday it would be his turn to do this! But not for quite some time.

My own little "Jim Brickman" !!!

I finally convinced Hannah to let me record her playing my favorite song... (actually, she recorded it herself for me and shut the doors so that I couldn't hear her!!) Anyway, I am VERY proud of my little piano player! One of my favorite things in the world is to hear Hannah play for me...

A memorable anniversary...

Well, my husband did it again! He surprised me with tickets to see Jim Brickman at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore. Up front, middle, I can see their faces seats. I was so blown away! Jim Brickman is one of my favorite artists - he plays piano so beautifully... but that was only the first part of the surprise.

That week, we had sickness in the house, and Ryan was very sick with the flu. I wasn't quite sure how to tell Danny that we just might need to give the tickets away, but he and the kids absolutely insisted that we couldn't miss this night! I knew something was up, but I had no idea...

He had arranged a basket of goodies....

FOR THE LIMO RIDE!!!!!!!

Now I had never been in a limo before, and I was quite surprised when I went to the front door, and a man in a tux and top-hat had a red carpet from my front door to the limousine... I just was speechless... now I understood why everyone was so insistent upon our going! And I was truly glad we were able to go. Ryan had started to feel better after MUCH PRAYER (I am sure now that Danny did some serious praying that day! haha). We rode in style and snuggled and snacked all the way to the concert, and back. We were so enjoying the ride we almost bagged the show and just rode around Baltimore!

On our actual anniversary, one week earlier, the kids and I had gone up to Danny's office to surprise him by "decorating" his office with balloons, flowers, chocolates, candy hanging from the ceiling, and signs hung all over the room meant to honor and call MUCH attention to my wonderful husband!!

This sign was on the door to his office...

Thank you Danny for such a wonderful anniversary! One of my VERY favorite ones!!!