I *LOVE* Pizza Night!

One of my favorite family traditions is PIZZA NIGHT, which we started back in 2002. Every Saturday Night, we make a couple of homemade pizzas with whatever we want on them. Everyone loves Pizza Night because everyone loves pizza, (and so everyone gets dessert). And, as you can see, it's extra special when Pizza Night and Valentine's Day collide!

Here's what the kids have to say about pizza night:

K: It's the most deliciousest night in the history of the world!
B: Pizza is so good that I can't believe my eyes when I see it!
C: Mmmmmmmm!

We've experimented with a lot of different things - like BBQ chicken, sauteed onions, garlic chicken, spinach, peanut butter (it was a Thai recipe), and even artichoke hearts (better than it sounds!). We've had a few disasters - burnt crust doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to though. And we've gotten into a few ruts - how many weeks in a row can you actually eat pepperoni pizza anyway? But we still always look forward to Pizza night. Yay for 7 years of Pizza Night!

Christmas Carriage Ride

We are always up for new adventures and giving things a try. This year, we heard about carriage rides a couple towns north of us, so we decided to check it out. It was so much fun! There was hot chocolate and cookies for us while we waited our turn, which only was about 10 minutes. Kelsie, Brandon, and Caleb were so excited to see the horse and get on with the ride. We learned that the horse, Windance, was 2,500 pounds and loves cold weather! The driver took us around the downtown shopping district while we sang jingle bells (how couldn't we?!) and listened to the cloppity-clop of the horse's hooves. It was cold, but the blankets and sitting close together kept us warm. At the end of our ride, we were able to pet Windance and get a few extra pictures. We really enjoyed our special ride and are already looking forward for next year when we can do it again!

Sitting in the carriage.

We love this!

Petting Windance

Santa Came to Town!

The Holiday Season is not complete without a visit to Santa! Kelsie and Brandon were very excited and couldn't wait to see him. Caleb was pretty nervous and didn't want to go near him, but did keep a very close eye on him. We were the first people in line to see Santa, and got a few extra minutes with him before other kids came. It was perfect! Brandon brought a toy to show Santa what he wanted, in case he didn't know what it was. Kelsie couldn't decide on the one thing she wanted to ask for this year but gave Santa lots of good ideas!

Gingerbread House

Thanks to Wally's sister's recipe, we were able to make and amazingly easy gingerbread house from scratch this year. We had lots of fun putting it together and eating all the candy. Caleb thought all the candy was for him, and only him. Once we showed him how to put it on the house, though, he decided that was alright too. Kelsie and Brandon enjoyed decorating it and piping the frosting all over the place for the candy. We've been able to have it out for all of us to enjoy, some a little more than others, but it sure was lots of fun making it! I love all these fun traditions this time of year!

They are so proud of their work!

Caleb's favorite part of our gingerbread fun!

No house is complete without a candy cane shooter on top of it, compliments of Brandon!