Hey folks! Things are pretty jolly around here. I did the baked goods for my friends big vendor sale yesterday! None of us sold much but we met lots of sweet gals and had a great time. In lieu of baking up another storm of baked goods for neighbor  gifts I got home last night, made up baskets for neighbors and friends and we went out on a little family delivery drive.  I was worn out! I was disappointed to not sell like I did at the Embassy sales but glad that I can skip the other baking day!   Seth was a rock star this weekend while I baked and was at the sale. I came home to relaxed happy boys last night after an afternoon with daddy. Did I mention he did tons of dishes, helped with meals and even was talked into some taste-testing. What a guy.

Last week I was doing my yearly search on what fun advent gifty things people are doing. I love our open the window advent calendar and our evening devotionals. We will keep those from yr to yr but some year when I have oodles of time and a little extra cash I want to do something like this for the kids with bags containing little notes and sweets…

via

via

via

via

Aren’t they cute?!

I found this recipe for Winter Minestrone (Barefoot Contessa) while I was pintresting advent stuff. It is a rainy chilly day here so we are snuggling down for afternoon naps and when we wake up I will make this soup and we’ll decorate our gingerbread house. Seth confessed he doesn’t have the patience to survive another gingerbread house project so we will surprise him with our finished product and frazzled nerves!