Last week we made some cinnamon Christmas ornaments.(my frind Sarah's children had made these too I belive the same day...great minds think alike right Sarah :) )

 My sister had made these a few years ago

and I hadn't made them in awhile so thought this would be a quick and fun craft for the kids to do. It is a really simple project. You only need 1 cup cinnamon to 3/4 cup applesauce. Some people put more spices in but cinnamon is all I have done. You just mix it together and then roll it out and cut the shapes out just like you do cookies. You can either let them set out for 3-4 days or bake them at 150 for an hour or so, turning them once. Make sure you poke a hole in the ornament before you bake them(I use a straw). Then when they are hard, you can put ribbon thru hole so you can hang it. We use it for our tree then after Christmas I like to hang them in closets....I love the smell of cinnamon.

 Rolling out the "dough" for our Chrismas ornaments

 after baking them the kids put ribbons on them

some of the cinnamon ornaments that we gave to our neighbors and then we hung some on our tree....they smell wonderful!

This past Saturday we "attempted" to take our Christmas family picture. We went to Fort Washington Park thinking that a picture at the Fort would be neat. Well we didn't realize how cold it was so the kids noses are running  and since they were cold they weren't too interested in taking pictures that day....so we will try again to take a family picture for our Christmas card but this time do it indoors :) 

And mommy wasn't paying attention to the color coordination either...orange, pink and red...ummm....yea we will be doing another picture :)

Lately my kids have started asking to bake things by themselves. They have always loved being in the kitchen with me "helping" me bake but recently they want to do it "all by themselves". I am still nervous with them around the oven and stovetop so I have had to think of things they can make by themselves. The one thing that I have found they can do is make waffles. So the other morning Madison made waffles for us. I had just bought Christmas M&M's for a recipe but instead allowed her to use them for her waffles. She was so excited and so were the other kids...M&M's for breakfast...wow...that never happens :)

 but don't they look so Christmasy...however you spell that word :) and they were delicious I must say!

This year we decided to get a real Christmas tree. We have had a fake one for the past several years. But this year after going to the shed we realized it was the home of TONS of stink bugs....something I was not bringing in the house nor picking each one out....so a real tree it would be this year...and not only a real tree but one we chop down...this would be our first time doing this. Our friends, the Bohac's were the one who came across this tree farm online so we decided to go together. The kids had so much fun running around and trying to pick "the best one". Even the adults had fun...think this will become a family tradition.....

 Matthew and Nathanael going in search for a tree....

 Hope and Thaddaeus keeping warm....

 the Bohac finding their "perfect tree"......

 and us finding ours.....

 not the greatest picture of us but oh well...this is our tree.....

 getting cookies and candy canes afterwards....

 had to bring the mini van so we could put the tree on top...don't know how we will get it on the top of our big van next year....

 Yep, I think we max out our little mini van :)

 decorating our tree....someone was very tired that night...it had been a very long day for him....

 of course had to drink hot chocolate while decorating the tree....

and egg nog, my favorite!

 the kid were enjoying putting up the decorations while someone was enjoying taking them down :)

 the kids favorite part is pulling out the train....Thaddaues was the conductor that night....

 Saturday Brandon, Kate, Dad, and Brett rode thru Cades Cove on their bikes, while the rest of us drove thru. Me being prego wasn't able to do it...wasn't too happy about that but will just have to look forward to next spring when I can go thru on bicycle....

 Ashley even got on a bike and rode for a while.....

 Brandon trying to scare the kids who were riding in the back of the truck

 taking a  break to eat and to allow the kids to play

 Uncle Brandon with Madison and Ty

 My newest nephew, Bradley, isn't he so cute! Love his cheeks

 again playing scrabble....

Skyler with his cousin Bradley

We decided to have "Christmas" on Friday night since we would not be seeing each other in December.

 Listening as Papa reads the Christmas Story......

 the kids favorite part...opening presents :)

after we opened the gifts we sent the kids upstairs to play with their toys and the adults were able to sit down and play several games of scrabble, a new family favorite.

 Years ago this outside amphitheatre used to put on a musical called "Christy". This was one of mom's favorite places to go during the summer. They performed 5 nights a week during the summertime. We would bring hot chocolate and blankets for those cooler nights and sit and watch "Christy".( It was NOTHING like the movie Christy that is out on movies  now.) This musical was beyond awesome....Now this amphitheatre is runned down and actually when we walked around what used to be the parking lot, is now overrunned by cows :) This amphitheatre hasn't been used in over 17 years.... An older lady who owns this area who we met , allowed us to walk around. This was one of the highlights of our trip...just walking and reminiscing those good times. We even went inside the barn that was there on the lot and we found a couple old filing cabinets. Now understand this stuff has been there for over 17 years! so you can imagine how excited we were to go thru this barn. We were hoping to find an old brochure of the program but instead we found some letters and stuff. It was still fun though.  

 A letter that we found written by one of the people that performed in "Christy"

 Yes we were trespassers but we had permission :)

 Going out to eat as a family...with 11 kids 8 yrs old and under ...crazy I know but actually that night the kids did very well and we were able to enjoy the meal :)

Papa's three granddaughters