Meeting Little Amanda

After many weekends of us being sick we got to go meet our newest member of the family. Little Amanda Hipps. It was a two hour drive to Michael and Sarah's so we stopped in West Point to get some lunch and Dad had a few things he had to do.

 Dad dropped us off at the local McDonald's to get lunch. Well we got lunch before he came back so we spent about ten minutes on the curb waiting. Luckily for us it was a nice day and wasn't very cold.

 While we were sitting the we got a little bored and started digging around in the rocks. John found all theses Christmas light that must have lost there string. It was okay it kept him occupied for a little while.

 After a few bathroom stops and missed turns we made it to Micheal and Sarah's

Melanie, Caroline, and Rosie had a game of dress-up going right after we got there.

 I got to do my favorite thing...hold little baby who isn't super little any more. I can't believe she is already a month old.

 Proud Auntie Becca

 Uncle John

 Emily and Josh came about an hour after we got there. They had already met little Amanda but we still let them hold her. :)

 Auntie Rosie

 Grandpa

Abigail was staying with Michael and Sarah to help out after sweet Amanda was born. I was more then happy to see her. 

Thank you Michael and Sarah for having us. Hope to see y'all soon.

Welcome To The World

Amanda Abigail Ruth Hipps

Born about 3:30pm on December 30th

She is 8lb and 8oz 

22 inches long 

The Zoo

For our December field trip we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. We stopped in Blair to pick up Leah and we met Trina and her kiddos in Omaha.  

Little Daniel loved it. He could barley move from one animal to the other. He really wanted to get his hands on this bird that was walking around in the jungle. He almost did but it got away just at the last second.

While we were picking up Leah I was giving her a hard time about how I wasn't on her wall. And she told me that we didn't have any nice pictures of us. So I got Laura to take this picture. Now Leah will have me on her wall. :)

Such cute people!

Lexi loved the aquarium. We didn't get any pictures of her but she loved it.

Trina and the kids left early because they were tired, but we were so glad they came. :)

After Trina left we hiked down to see the giraffes.

Being fascinated by the giraffes 

Photo-bomb 

The traditional picture for Mom.

We had an amazing time. :)

Well Project

Our well stopped producing water quite a few weeks ago but I am just now getting around to blogging about the fixing of the problem. In order to get out well going again we had to dig a whole new trench and lay some pipe. The whole process took about a week.

We rented an excavator and called Michael to come and run it. He came and was here for a day and a night.

Micheal did a really good job and got the job done well. 

John

Even though there were a lot of very excited things going on outside we still had school that need to be done. We did get a break to go out and watch the work, when we brought the boys lunch.

After Michael finished the trench we had a cave in. Dad and Ben thought up a plan and the next day they set to cleaning it out. They ended up attaching an old flywheel on to a long board and pulled it with the tractor. It worked but it took a few tries.

Our cousin Aaron was up for the visit and was great having a few more hands to help.

Part of the trench

We had to speed up when this beautiful storm came up. 

Working together to get stuff up before the rain.

The pipe laid and the rock down.

We got it done and we have abundant amount of water. Praise The Lord

I never really thought about it.....

Well with Christmas around the corner and all the bustle about the tree, ornaments, manger scene, where the third wise man should be placed, lemon or holly for the table decoration. and in all that stuff we tend to forget the real meaning if Christmas... Jesus was born into a living form for us. Us. that's something to think about. he came for every crooked slime-ball sinner just as much as he came for me and you. i tend to forget the little clay form laying in a clay manger on a little table. when the more "Pressing" matters arise. I find it easy to forget that Christmas is really a miracle. when excepting Christmas has a babe been born from a virgin? I don't even know where to start looking for such a miracle! so this Christmas forget abut the placing of the : tree, ornaments, and the third wise man, and remember the real meaning of Christmas.
P.S i chose holly ;D merry Christmas!!

              

Happy Birthday Benjamin

Happy 18th Birthday Benjamin!!!!

Random Facts about Benjamin

• He is one of the best mechanics I know
• He is really good with little kids
• He is super strong
• He loves snitching chocolate-chip cookie dough :)
• He is very handsome 
• He knows how to give really good advice
• He is an amazing big brother 

Happy Birthday Dude!!!!

I love you 

My Cake Making Obsession

So I kinda have a baking obsession but especially cakes. I  love making cakes and experimenting with them. I have had many epic fails but I have had a few successful cakes. :) I made this chocolate cake for John's 8th birthday. 

 It turned out beautifully 

The Recipe

•  2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup dairy sour cream
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1 cup of water
• 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 2 eggs
• 4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate melted    

Then came the frosting, I  have tried many times to make good frosting but I have had more fails then I have had successes. This frosting, however, turned out amazing :) 

The Recipe

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate chips 
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar  

Tada 

I added Hersey's Chocolate Syrup on top for decoration 

Happy Birthday Boy!!!

He liked it

Banana Cake

 I made banana cake out of old bananas that we had. I didn't like it because I am not a big banana fan but everyone else did. :)

I forgot the recipe...sorry

 I made frosting for it as well but I lost the recipe for it too. Again sorry.

Tada 

And that is my baking obsession!