A Horse is a Horse of Course of Course...

One of the special things we got to do while we were celebrating Christmas with the family made Christmas even more fun. Rachel was house/horse sitting for our family friends the Frasiers. When she was not feeding the dogs, letting the out every four hours, feeding the horses, breaking up frozen water troughs and checking on the house...she was was able to ride (weather permitting). One afternoon the weather was perfect for riding...so Papa, Jerm, Bek and Savannah...and yours truly...headed out for an afternoon in the arena. We really had a great time! I was a little worried the note to Santa might include a pony after this day, but who needs a pony when we can visit six everytime we visit Grandmommy and Papa?

A Birthday and the Luminaries

Saturday, December 20th is my baby sister Rachel's birthday. There is usually some sort of Christmas event on or near Rachel's birthday. This year we traveled to Hutchinson, Kansas to visit "Grandmommy" and "Papa" and the rest of the family for Christmas. We left on the 20th so we could celebrate Rachel's birthday and stay through Christmas.

Each year Hutch celebrates the season with a night of luminaries in the downtown area. We have been able to see this several years. However, this year it was FREEZING!!! We walked just long enough to see Mr. and Mrs. Clause. Here's to Rachel's big 2-0! Christmas here we come!!!

Promotion Time

December 19th is Jeremy's anniversary for promotion. This year marked year two for him, which meant a promotion was in order. I could not have been more proud of him. My parents made the trip down with Rachel to attend this special occasion. The girls were able to participate in the promotion too. Rebekah changed the rank on Jeremy's beret and Savannah ripped off the old rank so I could put on the new. There was a huge turn out! Chief Warrant Officer II Jeremy T. Welch...we are soooo proud of you!

Savannah's Home SWEET Home

December 17th was Savannah Kay's last day of school and Christmas Party. Savannah was ready-spagetti for us to come and participate. Jeremy was able to take the morning off and join us! Each child was given a bag of candy, graham crackers, icing and a plastic knife. We had a wonderful time, and her creation was PERFECT!

Hellllooooo Snow!

Today was the very first real "snow day" we've had in our newest location! We were all pretty excited because we haven't lived in a snowy place since we moved from Texas. It started snowing around 3 am, and it continued all day. I think we got around 4 inches. When the big kids got home from school we dressed up in our snow-gear and headed out for some neighborhood fun. I, of course, had the camera in hand. It was a great afternoon!!! Hooray for snow...it really feels like Christmas time now!!!

Me and my favorite fella

Snow tubing debut

The Daddys' doing what Daddys do

Snow angel...

Snow face!

Below: Toots in the snow...sporting a 1990 throwback, compliments of Auntie Rachel, who is now almost 20!

The Crew...

Christmas Cookie Time

One of our favorite traditions here at the Welch family home is to make our annual Christmas cookies. Jeremy says Christmas at our house is just like a Christmas card. He loves every little tradition we do with the kids. Might I add, that he is the most wonderful man to be married to because he makes it so easy to incorporate all those wonderful traditions...especially during the yule-tide season of cheer! Most of our traditions come from my childhood. Turns out there are a few perks to growing up in the Leave It To
Butts-ver household. My sweet Momma was the best Momma in the world when it came to traditions and especially glad tidings of Christmas cheer. Following her lead I have donned the Christmas trim and started a collection of Christmas books. We have an endless supply of "hot drinks" and many Christmas flicks to watch when the weather outside is frightful. Our Christmas cd collection continues to grow as has the twinkling lights that started inside our house and on our porch and now they appear on the roof-top!


Back to our cookie making...



I have the BEST recipe in the whole wide world for sugar cookies, compliments of my precious friend Kimberly Humphries. She shared with me the Crisco butter stick cookie recipe found on the label of the Crisco butter stick box way back in our days in the land of Aloha. We started using this recipe on a bright Hawaiian Christmas where we spread the Mele Kalikimaka cheer. It's been about 7 years now that we have used this same delicious recipe. I have to tell you...it is simply superb! So we put out a vinyl table cloth and got busy working on our cookie making extraordinaire! Savannah was of the philosophy that more is always better! Bekah made each of her cookies a complete work of art. Good news is we have plenty of cookies...bad news is we are completely out of sprinkles! We all had a great time...and yes, they do taste as fantastic as they look!

Each one of these cookies was carefully covered in sprinkles and each red hot was strategically placed!

Betty Crocker ain't got nothin' on this girl!

Even Maddie was in the Christmas spirit!

Nephew Wyatt is ONE!

December 2nd was the BIG DAY...but the celebration happened the Saturday after. We made the two hour trip to Wichita for the big party. I can't believe that precious baby is already ONE! I was still feeling a little weak, but nothing could keep me away from his little party. He really had quite the turn out. He is absolutely precious! I took several pics and just HAD to share!

PS...this could be the CUTEST little boy in the whole wide world!!!! Happy Birthday buddy! Auntie Lindz loves you sooo very much!