snowy smiles

This week our piece of earth caught a little snow. I must say that as I watched the first flurries float to the ground my heart was fluttering with anticipation. I felt my insides warm with happiness of the cozy reminders of my childhood winters. The way I used to sit upon the heat vent and cover myself with a blanket and hog all the heat as it entered the room. Or, how I used to sit in front of the TV wrapped in a blanket sipping hot chocolate. Let's be honest, I never sipped anything. I was and am one of those people who just, bottoms-up,  every time. I just chug til done. I don't know how to sip anything.
I'm an all or nothing girl in every drop of  life.

The snow brought me smiles and had me thinking about many smiles I've enjoyed. Here's just a few...

This year we made Christmas trees. We skipped the idea of Gingerbread houses and went with this simple idea of frosting ice cream cones. LOVED IT. I think this could be a tradition.

The tree near the front is the one I made for Anna. The one in the background is Matthias's creation.

Time to eat.

Love that frosting face.

Matthias found the Firefighter suit his Grandma made for his big brothers back when they were small. He spent some time running around in this and I smiled and watched and reminisced.

One Saturday morning I came down to Clayton taking apart his air soft gun. This kid loves to take things apart. I just smiled when I saw his work strewn across the table.

This year my secret Santa has been helping me out all around the house. I keep finding my work done. It's definitely a bigger than life smile when you see work completed.

Anna sucks on her thumb. SMILE. I know everyone is going to tell me I shouldn't be happy about this and then you'll tell me how bad it is for her teeth and she'll need braces and then you'll tell me that it will be so difficult for me to get her to stop. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the way her small thumb fits inside her mouth and brings her such happiness. It's just adorable to see her. PS. None of my boys sucked their thumbs and as of now 4 of the 5 need or needed brace work so it won't surprise me when she needs braces too.

Love my snow man in this adorable hat!

This kid loves to play in the water. One morning he was frustrated that the sleeves on his shirt were getting wet. I suggested he push the sleeves up. He came up with a different plan and I smiled when I saw how he resolved his problem.

Did I mention she sucks her thumb and it brings me big smiles?

Saw this sign while I was out with Tony. I just smiled.

Anna smiles too. And I must say she does it quite often.

I didn't post any pics from when my sis was in town. But you must know that her little guy brought me big smiles.

You can see here that he brought my little girl smiles too.

And some more smiles.

This week I got to watch my BIL graduate from the University of Houston Magna Cum Laude. I love that the University streamed over the internet the entire ceremony. Isaak loves his Uncle Jon and sat and watched  right up until Jon walked. We cheered from our house and smiled with absolute joy for his great accomplishment.

I painted Anna's toenails and relished in her femininity. This is a big step for me. I always feel a little awkward with womanhood. Anna's toenails are adorable.

Speaking of Anna. Jeff Seivert came to our home this week and took pics of Anna. I can't pic just one that I love but I'll post a couple here that I'm sure will bring you smiles.

I love this pic of her holding her Daddy's finger.

This morning our heat went out. It's that time of year. It's okay, Kjel worked some magic and it's running again. I smiled when I met him in the basement as he worked. After he got it working we went upstairs and sat on the couch. I found us a blanket and we spent at least 30 minutes alone. We just sat next to each other and enjoyed the quiet, together. I'm glad I have someone to love.