Sliding into the New Year!

Happy New Year!

2018 is off to an exciting start for the Baden Family. On New Years weekend, Grandma and Grandaddy delivered their Christmas gift to us - a playset! Not just any playset, though, a custom creation built by Grandaddy himself.

Grandaddy worked for weeks beforehand, and it was so fun to get pictures of his progress along the way. He did so much prep work - everything from selecting materials, to planning, cutting, treating and staining wood. Assembling the set was all that had to be done by the time they brought it here.

Jacob and Lydia were so excited to "help" build the playset. Except for the few times I made him come in to warm up and then to eat dinner, Jacob stayed out all day long!

After a long, cold day of working, the play set was finally complete! There's still a few things to do in the upcoming months, such as adding the roof and swing set, but for now the kids can go ahead and start enjoying the tower and slide!

While the crew was working outside during the day, I was working in the kitchen to prepare for Grandaddy's birthday dinner. I made turkey meatball parmesan with zoodles and birthday brownies for dessert. We're so grateful for Grandaddy and so thankful to celebrate another Happy Birthday with him!!!

Jacob worked really hard to make Grandaddy a birthday picture on his Magna-Doodle!

New Years

Originally, we'd planned to go to the Gentilcore's home for dinner on New Year's Eve, but an unexpected ice storm changed our plans. And I do mean unexpected! As we headed out, we noticed  every car coming towards us was creeping along with flashers on. I actually thought it was a funeral procession! But after I felt our van slide, we realized the road was icy. Very icy. We decided to turn around and head home. While we were sad to cancel our plans with the Gentilcores, it was the right decision. It turns out all the roads were quickly becoming sheets of ice, including 1-40 and I-26. Many people ended up in accidents or stranded on the side of the road that night. We were so grateful to make it home safely to ring in the New Year with Frozen, brownies, and Netflix's fake midnight countdown for kids!

Baden's Rockin' New Year's Eve!

We headed to Meme's house on New Years Day for brunch with Uncle Thomas's family. Its so fun to watch Jacob and Lydia becoming best buddies with Wade. They love him so much!

2017 was a good year for us and we're looking forward to many more adventures in 2018!