December Birthdays- Mom's to Start!

Well Happy New Year! Now that it's 2013 I thought it would be a fabulous time to get caught up on my blogging from 2012! :)

December was a very busy month and there were so many wonderful things to celebrate! I will bring us all the way back to December 10! Mom's Birthday! My Mom, Carol,  was born in December and I truly think God knew that she would be the best "CHRISTMAS CAROL" ever! She loves CHRISTMAS, just like her mom always did, so its always been a fun time of year! She doesn't skimp on anything, as soon as the Christmas songs start on the radio station in November, she is jamming!! From decorating inside and out, to baking 10 different kinds of cookies, to wrapping the presents, she has a smile through it all!
We decided to celebrate her birthday by doing one of her favorite things in December- baking cookies!!!! Stanley and Everett were able to join in the fun this year too! I haven't baked cookies with my mom and sisters in a while, so it was fun to get back into baking the "Grandt" traditional cookies that my mom always had for us growing up! We didnt get as many made as we anticipated but we sure had a great time!

Here are a few pictures that help explain the celebration!

Everett was ready for the party! All Smiles!



Time for the party Hats!

Birthday Girl and her little Grandson!

Gina and her little Stanley!

 Jennaveeva and Everett!

Now the picture below gets a little explaining. So growing up in MN I used to love to suck on icicles that were hanging from the roof or whatever! Granted, now that I'm older, maybe they are not the best thing to eat, but I'm still alive and they are fun, so of course my kids will enjoy them too, if they like them that is! Anyway- I dont recall ever eating them in the house but maybe sometimes I could eat them in the house. HOWEVER,  for the most part if I did bring them inside, I ate them until my hands froze and then I couldnt hang on to them anymore-more importantly I usually had to
"eat them outside". Funny how grandsons change everything!! Stanley loves icicles, so I opened the patio door to get him one, and then my mom said, "Oh Stanley should we get you A MITTEN so your hands dont get too cold!" Now that is a nice grandma! So, now days the grandkids get to eat icicles in the house, with mittens!! Which I think its great- love seeing my mom love on her grandsons- its a lot of fun to have them around-they truly do bring great joy and make you feel like a kid again!


Stanley Eating his icicle.

BACK TO THE BAKING- So this year Gina decided to try to make ROSETTES- our grandma always made them and they were so good. We never really realized how difficult they were to perfect, so alot of time was spent trying to get the oil just right. We were thankful to have the internet right at our fingertips to google "why they were sticking to the rosette rod" but we never could figure it out, so here are a few of the pictures. Maybe next year?! :)

Mom trying her hand at it...

They looked pretty! :)

My attempt to dip the peanut butter cups-lets just say the chocolate was not cooperating!

Everett eating his banana like a big boy!

Mom is excited to have her grandson sitting by her on her birthday!



Cake time, and Grandma and Stanley were on the task of blowing out all 54 candles! Well we did let her off easy with just the number. :)

YAY! Stanley loves it when they all blow out!



Happy Birhtday Mom and her little Claus! 
 

One of the greatest blessings of moving back is definitely the time we have been able to spend with our families! Happy Birthday to the best mom ever!