Cookies For Santa

On Christmas Eve we made some gingerbread cookies for Santa.

Just after I took this picture Kaleb (7) says, " I don't even look like I've been cooking!" Then he grabbed a handfull of flour and rubbed it into the front of his apron.

Here I am looking very cheesy.

Ha! And Levi after I made him look like he was cooking too!

Everyone loves a Parade!

Ian, Kaleb, Oliver and I attended the Meridian Winterland Parade today. Josef wasn't with us because he is still feeling sick, we left him in bed. It was fun, but cold. The boys collected quiet a bit of candy. Oliver ended up with a frisby,he turned it upside down and held it out like his own personal offering plate. "More candy please, sir?" Then we headed to Hasting's Hardback Cafe, sat on thier couch with some cocoa and watched the snow fall outside the big front windows.

Here some photos of us with our after parade glow.

Ahh! That blissful Christmas-y feeling!

Just For Fun: Gift Ideas

While perusing the Cyber Monday deals I found these must have gifts...

Come on you KNOW you want a pair!

For that Neat Freak in your life who is always wearing a baseball cap. I just love the tag line...turns your hat into another pocket!!

You can find this on Etsy.com! I think it is this seasons must have accessory (in the trailorhood that is!).

Just for Grandma 'cause she's old but she's not dead yet!

for the bacon enthusiast in your life...

Just for Dad

Thanksgiving Weekend

The Mitchell's had a great Thanksgiving weekend!! Did you?

First off we started last Monday night with a Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner at my SIL Heathers house, which was very yummy.

Then Levi got home Wednesday night, I picked him up kissed him goodbye and headed out for a Girl's Night Out singing Karaoke with my favorite girls Tanya, Tambi, and Stacey. We are never boring together.

On Thursday we ate our official Thanksgiving dinner at Golden Corral in Boise with Levi's parents. We love going there, this was our 4th year. It's become a family tradition and my most favorite holiday. No cooking, no cleaning, no huge grocery bill, and no trying to figure out what to do with all the leftovers. It's my low maintenance holiday and lets me focus on gearing up for Christmas, which we all know is the best holiday EVER!!

Early morning Friday, Levi and I got up early and shopped till we felt like dropping. Got a few good deals on Christmas gifts for the mini Mitchell's. We went out to lunch at Tucano's Brazilian Grill which is really yummy. You should go there, if you haven't yet. After lunch we were so stuffed and so sore from shopping we could barely walk out. We made it home in time to store the Christmas gifts in storage and pull out all the Christmas Decorations in anticipation of the weeks of decorating Levi's Dad does for Christmas.

 Nevada Wolf Pack cornerback Duke Williams #20 breaks up a pass intended for Boise State Broncos wide receiver Austin Pettis #2 at Mackay Stadium in Reno, NV on Friday night Nov. 26.

Joe Jaszewski / Idaho Statesman

Then we were off for date night  to watch the BIG game-BSU vs Nevada on a BIG screen. We even had matching blue and orange fleece pullovers on, it was cute. Still wish I had gotten a photo of that..Ah well ..maybe next game. Wow! What a game it was too! Nevada won which is sad for BSU. It was such a close game lots of tied scores, down to seconds in the game,  lots of suspense and Boy was it sad when we lost. Levi and I had a nice evening out though.

Saturday was another early morning as we headed to Boise with the boys to participate in the Boise Holiday Parade. The theme this year was Christmas Around the World. We were hoping it wouldn't rain, and thank goodness it didn't! It was really cold though and it snowed the whole time. A local homeschool mom hosted a Homeschool float this year. She organized it all and it went really smoothly...she is amazing!! We even won the Children's Choice award. It was cold, but fun...cold fun. I just love parades!!

Well now it is Sunday, Levi headed out early this morning to play with traffic and snow and ice for the next few weeks. I'm exhausted and am off to take a nap now. Ta Ta for now!

Fabulous Fourth of July

How was your Fourth of July? 

Hope it was very patriotic and full of family, fun, and gratitude.

  painting by John Trumbull, 1817-18

Ours was great! 

We had a lazy morning and slept in. Then we met Levi's parents and Great Grandma and Grandpa Kidd at the Golden Corral in Boise for Great Grandma Kidd's birthday lunch. After we were sufficiently stuffed and managed to roll ourselves to the car, we we headed over to Levi parents to play some card games, like Killer Bunnies, and BBQed. The boys love to eat Grandpa Mitchell's BBQ.

Oh look here he is...remember it is not the size of your BBQ that matters, but how good the food tastes!

Here we are LETTING Levi win at Killer Bunnies.

Then we headed out to The Dairy Queen in Meridian to watch the Meridian Speedway fireworks from their parking lot. It was a really nice fireworks display. Twice as long and bigger fireworks than the God and Country Festival display we saw on Wednesday.

I was thinking while I watched both firework displays,had any of them been tested over Lake Havasu, where my Grandmother and Great Grandmother live. So, Grandma you are not so very far away in thought as you are in miles.

Aren't they cute? They were even cuter a few moment later, all asleep in the car.

So glad Levi was home for this weekend!

Fireworks

You may be a redneck if... your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.  ~Jeff Foxworthy

 

Wednesday night we got together with a few friends and went to watch the fireworks show put on by the God and Country Festival in Nampa.  We all such a great time. We found an empty spot on a grassy hill in front of Mercy Hospital. It was still warm out when we arrived and the cold damp great felt great on my feet. I walked barefoot as I took Ian to the gas station across the street to go to the bathroom. There was a energetic game of soccer being played near out blankets. You could say we were just barely outfield. We had a few balls fly over head. The small kids, like Oliver, ran about and danced while waiting for the sun to go down and the show to begin. We waited and waited and waited as the sun sang lower and lower and we grew chilly as the sun withdrew itself. We waited well past the 10:20 pm scheduled start time, the children growing tired and then hyper. I had to make one more bathroom trip with the kids and just as we reached the restrooms the first firework exploded in the sky. "Hurry!" the kids all shouted as they used the restroom in lightning speed, afraid they would miss even a single glorious explosion. We ran back across the grass covered hill, passing families on blankets and chairs, their faces lite up and stretched to the sky like sunflowers. Safely on our blankets, we too craned out necks upward and watched expectantly as firework after firework erupted and shot into the night sky with wild bangs and pops. Just like anything you wait a long time for, the fireworks ended much too quickly. We gathered up our belongings, hunting in the dark cold grass for missing flip-flops and trash. We marched back to our car full of excitement and wonder.  What a lovely evening and we even avoided all the traffic leaving by taking a back route!

 

 

Hope you had a blessed Easter!

Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there.  

~Clarence W. Hall

 Happy Easter from the Mitchell Family!

 

Birthday Ice Cream @ Baskin Robbins

I had no idea we had a Baskin Robbins by our house, see how unobservant I am!

It is very important to know where the nearest Basking Robbins is. You never know when you will need some ice cream. I am partial to the Rocky Road and the Bubblegum.

Lucky for me I have well informed in-laws, who took me and the boys to our nearby Basking Robbins for my birthday ice cream.  If you don't know where your local Baskin Robbins is you can find out here. Ours is really cute and they always have fresh cut flowers on the tables, not those yucky dust fake ones you see so much these days, but beautiful fresh bouquets of flowers. Very impressive.

I got a Banna Split but it's more like a Sundae with bananas as I get it with all vanilla ice cream, and only fudge topping. 

Josef and Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell got scooped Ice cream cones.

Ian got a Snickers Sundae.

The younger boys got clown icecream cones. 

Aren't they cute, we had to photograph them fast before they were eaten.

Kaleb's was almost gone by the time he got his picture taken.

 

Grandpa and Oliver.

Did you notice the fresh bouquet of flowers in the above picture?

Thank you for the birthday ice cream Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell!

It was very yummy!

A Wordless Happy Birthday to Me!