Cookie Baking by Briana

We have had quite the winter weather this January.  This past Sunday, due to the weather, our church services were canceled.  Briana, having extra time on her hands, decided to peruse through my recipes.  She found a recipe for Amish Raisin Cookies, and she made cookies from scratch for the first time.  She did a great job and the recipe is a keeper!

 

Great Job, Briana!

On Monday evening, while I was away, my daughter Briana made a cake from scratch for the first time.  After I arrived home, she made the icing and iced it.  She did a great job!  It was delicious.

Happy 13th Birthday, Alex!

Wow!  It is hard to believe that we now have three teenage boys.  Thirteen years ago today our third son was born.  Happy Birthday to a self-disciplined, studious son with quite the sense of humor!  You bring laughter to our home!

Alex waiting to open his gifts.

Alex with his Wacky Cake with Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting.  Despite complaints from siblings, he stuck with his first choice for the cake.  

Alex posing with the gifts he received.

Snow Covered Beauty

Due to the extreme cold temperatures that we have experienced yesterday and today, all our away from home activities were canceled. It has been wonderful to have two extra days to spend at home around the fire!

According to the weather forecast, our beautiful snow will undoubtedly be gone by the weekend.  So I braved the cold and ventured out to take a few more pictures before the thaw!

Snow-covered creek bed with the sun shining through the trees.

A snow-covered squirrel's nest near the top of the tree.

Blue Sky!

Maple Tree

Oak Tree with a few leaves still hanging on!

Mailbox - no mail so far this week.

Hoops, anyone?!

Sunset through the trees!

Winter Wonderland 2014

Today we enjoyed a family day at home due to the winter storm that brought at least ten inches of fresh snow.  It was a beautiful, snowy day with the temperature hovering between 32 and 34 degrees.  We spent several hours outside this afternoon taking pictures, building a snowman, building snow forts, throwing snowballs, and shoveling sidewalks.  

Tomorrow is supposed to bring temperatures so frigid that it will be impossible to go out and play in the snow!  They are forecasting a high of -11 degrees and a lo of -17 degrees with a windchill of -39 degrees to -44 degrees.  Yikes!  

Tonight I spent time figuring out how to blog pictures after being unable to blog them through Picasa as I had done in the past.  Yeah!  Between my husband and myself, we got it figured out!  Enjoy!

Our Home!

The woods and creek behind our home.

The woods behind our home

The bird feeder my Dad made for us many years ago!

The boys in the woods throwing snowballs and Briana sledding down the hill.

The girls sledding.

Jeff throwing snowballs at the boys!

Curtis

Samuel

Alex

Briana

Julissa

I love the expressions on the girls' faces in this picture!

Samuel giving Briana a push start on the sled.

Curtis, Alex, and Julissa standing behind their snow fort!

Samuel standing behind his snow fort!

Briana preparing to throw snowballs! She was on Samuel's side.