a yummy new favorite....Chocolate peppermint cookies!

Christmas is my favorite time of year!! I love the gift-giving, the music, the memories and the aromas of this beautiful time of year!! And, these cookies are simply amazing! They will definitely be added to our Christmas favorites! They are too good not to share!! Hope you enjoy them too!! Hoping you are having a wonderful holiday season!♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My professional taste testers :)

Woods/Rittenbachs/Stromberg day-o-fun! ♥

Each year, I am honored to be a part of capturing the fun in this clan of fun people!! This year was a warm, gorgeous day! Love hanging out with all these beautiful faces!!

 

MONSTER BIRTHDAY BASH!!

We celebrated Ty, Clara & Addie's birthdays Monster style this year! It was so fun to prepare for the party together! I love everything about birthday parties!! Here are some photos that capture some of the day!

Fargo family ♥

Yesterday I spent part of the beautiful day taking photos of a long-time friend and her gorgeous family! Carrie was the first friend I met when I moved to Maple Grove in 5th grade! Now, I have a 5th grader, who I hired as my assistant for this photo shoot! :)  Thank you, Chris and Carrie! What a fun day!! :)

A new adventure

Tomorrow marks the start of a new adventure with my four kiddos. After many months of them asking me, hours of prayer, talking with other mamas and just enough conviction in my heart, I am going to be homeschooling them this year! This is my face when the boxes of curriculum arrived:

I really did want to cry the first time I opened them. But, now I am excited. I AM scared, but I know that the time with them will be blessed and our relationships stronger than ever. As a mom of four, there just hasn't felt like there's enough time to be the kind of mom I want to be to each of them. The mornings were crazy getting out the door before school, and with them not getting home until 4:20...something just needed to change.  I'm committing to a year. I'm going to give it my all and make learning as fun as I can. I cannot wait to watch them grow and also to learn with them! They are so excited and it warms my heart. Below is a letter Kyla wrote to me when I finally made the choice to take this leap. It will forever be a treasure to me.
So, I'll also be blogging about our journey :) Here's a lil tour of our dining room that we have transformed into our school room!

 

 

 

Kyla's letter to me ♥

 

 

 

 

I love these four so much it hurts.

Now, I'm smiling. Not because it's all organized and placed neatly on my shelves. I'm smiling because God has called me to something I'm scared of.  I've done some pretty scary things in recent years, and this is no small thing. But, I know God's blessings in this will be greater than I could ever imagine....just as He proves to me over and over again in this crazy ride of life. God is good.