Can't Silence These Lambs

Love to Bake

These boys love to bake! Well.....it might just be that they like to lick the bowl and the beaters, but either way when I say it's time to bake they run at the chance to help. This night we got a litle silly and I let them sit up on the counter.

Below is when we made Grandma and Grandpa's favorite to take to them....upsidedown pineapple cupcakes! They are delicious

I learned a new recipe the other day, a dairy free cupcake for Alex. You just use a dunkin hines cake mix and mix in sprite - that's all. It's delicious, and Alex loves it so that is a plus. I also found that they sell a small cake mix that only costs 92 cents, and makes 12 cupcakes. So that is an easy dessert when I need one to take somewhere for alex. I try to always take Alex a dessert anywhere I know there is going to be dessert for Max, which actually happens more often than you'd think. I'm glad this is one more option I have now.

I made my famous Kentucky derby pie for Thanksgiving. I plan to make it again for The Lamb Christmas this weekend.

turned my back for a minute and Alex got into his cupcakes!!! This is what they looked like minus the two on the floor and the one in his hand. That little toot. I kept them like this and still had him eat them that weekend. I mean after all he's two and I dump them in a bowl and he doesn't know the difference :)

We got these from Akins. I made them for Christmas in Russellville this last weekend. Alex loved them! Another Dairy free dessert option for little Al.

A sweet surprise gift

The other day Mike said he wanted to take Max for an errand to Walmart.

They came back and Max had a gift in his hand. He gave it to me and said Merry Christmas mommy. It was a new mat. We decided to use it in the kitchen in front of the stove. Isn't it so cute? I thought it was a really thoughtful gift from Mike and just perfect. I love how it has our names on there too. Mike said he found it on a black friday special. I love it.

Day with Bekah

Matt (Mike's brother) had Bekah last Saturday and needed to do some Christmas shopping. We told him it'd be a great day for her just to hang out with us and the boys. We don't get to hang out with just her very often since Matt normally just runs his errands when he doesn't have her.....so we were excited when we got to opportunity to have just her so we could spoil her a little. We had fun spending time with her. Her and Max get along great, and Alex and her are starting to work on their bond too :) I told Bekah - welcome to the world of having a baby brother. Its giving her good practice for when her half brother gets here in May. Thankful for our alone time with miss Bekah boo.

Alex wanted her to carry him around, bekah didn't mind

She drew this picture for me, isn't it the sweetest thing

playdough time!!! These kids loved playing with the playdough that day. Bekah is so good with it too.

Time to build a "MiMi fort" and play in the living room

She let me get a picture of her in front of the tree and presents

Our fun day with Bekah!!! We told Matt we'd do it anytime. Can't wait to spend Christmas with the Lambs with her this weekend.

Advent Bags

If you have been following the blog, a month ago you read my post about the new Advent bag tradition I started. I think it was a fun tradition that we will do again next year. I've actually already bought some surprises that I found at the holiday clearance at Hobby Lobby! The boys loved having a bag to open every day. It really helped Max how many days were left until Christmas. Max would say, 5 more bags mommy means 5 more days! The best thing about the bags was that it gave them a daily reminder of what the season is all about. We read bible verses, learned new stories from the bible, we learned new songs like this little light of mine when we lit the candle and Amazing Grace when we got the flashlights. We also did acts of kindness like when we gave the mailman a thank you note. One of my favorite nights is when we went Christmas light looking as a family and Max and Alex chose which houses we put a Thank you note in for their hardwork on their light display. The bags also had fun surprises like candy, or games, or crafts. I'm excited to say the tradition is one we are going to keep. I'm looking forward to seeing what new ideas we come up with through the year and how we change up the bags next year. Below I took some pictures of the boys getting their bags, doing the activities, or opening their daily chocolates.

Our Advent Tree in the dining room

We did pretty good on our advent goals for this year. One thing we did was take the boys to Walmart, and pick out a boy named Micheal that needed our help. He wanted clothes and a remote control car and soccer cleats. Max and Alex learned that night how to help other people in need. We also took a meal to the Ronald McDonald House in Mercy Hospital, and the boys helped us carry the food in. We also hosted a Neighborhood Christmas party and met new neighbors and gave them all a gift of a new ornament for their tree.