December

The beginning of December I found that we were able to head outside with just sweatshirts on.  In fact, Drake and I raked leaves all morning on Monday, then Leah and Drake enjoyed playing on the school playground.  Leah ended up finding a ladybug shell among the leaves.  I was a beautiful day, and I was loving it because it is so unlike the weather that I have ever had at the beginning of December.

Then on Thursday Heavenly Father blessed us with a little bit of home by sending a cold front along with a storm.  Friday school was cancelled along with all extra curricular activities, that included Caleb's basketball tournament. It has been a welcome break.  

Friday morning we woke up with several inches of snow.  

By the afternoon I don't think there was a part of our yard that didn't have a footprint in the snow.  

 This was our entryway at the end of the day.  A few towels with shoes all over the place.






One of my favorite traditions is whenever there is a snow day and the kids are home from school I like to make homemade doughnuts.  I use my Grandma Bowers' recipe as did my mother.  It sure brings comfort to those tummies that have been playing out in the cold all day.

We used a reward system called "brownie points" to help the kids know how many doughnuts they could eat.  Each time a child did their chore or was kind to someone they received a point.  How ever many points they had told how many doughnuts they were awarded.  It was great!  I had kids willing to do all sorts of extra chores.  Unfortunately the doughnuts ran out before the chores did.

I also love to make homemade hot chocolate on cold snowy days.  Everyone wanted seconds on that too.

It now feels like it can be Christmas.  We have the cold outside with warm treats in our belly.  Drake and I worked hard during the days this week to set up all of our Christmas decorations, so just another element added to make sure that Christmas can be on it's way.

 Thanks to Heavenly Father for allowing us to have a little home here in Oklahoma.