Groundhog Day, 2012 Edition

I am really, truly working on a blog post or two all about Carrie's 16th birthday.

Really I am.

I've just been a little sentimental about it all, so I'm taking it slowly.

Very slowly.

So...maybe by July I will be able to post pictures and tell what we did.  :)

Until then, I decided that I better blog about our life right now.

If the rest of the year flies by like January did, then it will be 2013 before I get around to posting anything.

February!

This is one of my most favorite months of the year! 

It seems to be a bright month.

Maybe because the sun is in just the right position to shine brightly and warmly through the back windows of our home.

Maybe because there are no leaves on the trees, so the sun reaches the corners in our home that it doesn't during other times of the year.

Maybe because there are so many really fun holidays!

In all honesty, Groundhog Day is one of my favorites!

I tune in early in the morning to watch the fun happening at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

I love all the celebration and hope that one day I can be there to be a part of it all.

Seriously!  It's on my Bucket List!

Until then, we celebrate here in our home several thousand miles away...

Matthew is mimicking our groundhogs.

And here is the 2012 Gaggle of Groundhogs!

Gaggle just sounds good.

I actually googled it and found out that groundhogs are loners, so they don't have a name for what a group of groundhogs would actually be called.

Come to think of it, I never have seen two groundhogs running around together.

Breakfast time!

This year, we also made a Groundhog Mix.

We are going to the ice rink this afternoon to play Broom Ball with our homeschool group.

Since we are supposed to take a snack to share, we decided to make something that goes along with our Groundhog Day celebration.

Peanut Butter Cap'n. Crunch, M&M's, and Chocolate Groundhog Cookies (a.k.a. Teddy Grahams).

Funny thing.

As a kid, I was scared pretty badly by a groundhog. 

I wrote about it last year in my Groundhog Day post.

I just have to wonder when my attitude and affections changed, because now when I see Phil come out of his oaken stump, I just ooooohhhhhhh and aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

The kids do too.

We're  an oooooohhhhhhhing, aaaaaaaahhhhhhhing bunch sitting there by the computer.

Enjoying six more weeks of winter,

Noodle-Making Day

I find myself behind again.
If I don't make a conscious effort and decision to blog, then the days just go by without a single picture or word posted.
I don't like waiting until "on down the road" to blog about what we're doing, because there is a good chance that I will forget the sweet things that were said...the funny things that happened...all the stuff that this brain really wants to remember but doesn't.

But then, sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Here are pictures from Noodle-Making Day 2011 (the day before Thanksgiving) at Grandma's house.
I won't even venture to guess how many years we have been doing this.
Lots!

"What's the first thing we do?" asks Grandma.

"Wash hands!"

This is Matthew's first year of being a noodle-maker.

He needs a button or a hat or something.

William is the flour-sifter.

Carrie and William just jump right in and begin making the noodles...

while the little boys wait for their turns at rolling and cutting.

It would be really interesting--and overwhelming--to know how many noodles GG has made in her lifetime!

Matty is anxious to get his hands into the flour and the dough.

Warming up the rolling pin while Grandma gets the flour ready...

Josh and his rolling pin...

Matthew did a great job of rolling out the dough!

Josh has been at this for a few years now.

He is very confident in his noodle-making ability.

William LOVES knives.

It doesn't matter what kind...pocket or kitchen...he just loves knives. 

I think that GG is telling Josh that he needs more flour...

and checking on Matthew' progress.

Ooohhhhhh...knives!

Now for cutting the dough into noodles!

Demonstration

Guided Practice

Oh, the concentration!

"Check out this longest noodle!"

"How 'bout this one?!"

"Mine's the winner!"

Off goes Matty with the Noodle Bowl to the Noodle Bed...

I think the noodle-making is getting to him...

There are some thick noodles in there!

Grandma calls them dumplings. 

Tic Tac Toe in the flour?

With knives?

I had to make the last picture of this post one from Thanksgiving Day.
William walked right into Grandma's house and began stirring the noodles.

Enjoying noodles...thick and thin,

Cookie-Making Day

There are some things that I just didn't get around to blogging about during the holidays.
This is one of those times that I don't want to slip by and become a non-memory.

I think that this might be the last Christmas in which everything is all brand new for Matthew.
He doesn't remember any Christmas celebrations from the past, so every time we did something, it was all brand new to Matthew.  I love that!

Making Christmas cookies was one of 

those brand new activities.

Look at that concentration.

You can tell he's concentrating because his tongue is hanging out...just like his Papa B and his Grandpa Pete.

I think that what Carrie captured in this photograph is Matthew poking a piece of cookie dough 

into his mouth.  

Once he tasted it, he wouldn't stop eating it. 

 I think that he liked the dough better than the baked cookies. 

William would also tell you that the dough is his favorite part of Christmas cookies.

Josh is carefully observing everything before jumping in and cutting his own cookies.

That is so Joshua.

He is a very cautious little guy.

Although, I don't think that I can call him 

a little guy anymore.

Just look at him! 

He doesn't need a stool anymore 

to reach the top of the island!

I must direct your attention to Matthew's sneaky
"under William's arm"
reach for a hunk of cookie dough.

Is it possible that this is William's fourteenth Christmas?

This is my Grandma Bellman's cookie recipe.

She used to make the cookies and then frost them in yellow, green, blue, and red frosting.

More rolling, cutting, baking...

...and eating!

You better stop eating that dough, Mister!

"Dough?  What dough?!"

Oh, what a happy day Cookie-Making Day is!

Until the cookie dough becomes Play-Doh!

"Stop playing with the cookie dough, Mister!"

(No Williams were hurt in the making of these cookies.)

I'll just bet you that Josh is thinking, "If I can't play with the dough, then I'll play with the powdered sugar."

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Speaking of monkeys...

Ahhhh...the finished product.

Here is one that William made especially 

in honor of Pastor John.

It's all decked out in Purdue colors.

Another year of cookie-making in the books.

So...until next Christmas...unless, of course, we pull out the recipe for Valentine's Day.

Cookies dressed in pink frosting and red hots are mighty pretty!

Enjoying cookies,