Milk Chocolate Bar Cake

1 pkg. Swiss chocolate cake mix (or German Chocolate)
1 8oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 C powdered sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
10- 1.5oz milk chocolate candy bars with almonds, divided
1-12 oz container of Cool Whip

Prepare cake batter according to package directions. Pour into three greased and floured 8" round cake pans. Bake at 325 for 20-25 min., or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 min. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until mixture is creamy. Chop 8 candy bars finely. Fold cream cheese mixture and chopped candy into wipped topping. Spread icing between layers and on top and sides of cake. Chop remaining two candy bars. Sprinkle half of the chopped candy bars over cake. Press remaining chopped candy along bottom edge of cake. YUMMY!

Christmas at the Freemans

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas together this year filled with good food and fun presents. We are very thankful to everyone from our family who sent gifts and money to bless the kids with fun things. We are also looking forward to upcoming trip to the Dells that we are using some of the gift money for. Hope you enjoy the pictures...

Madison's Last Ballet Class

Now that's an icicle!

Finished!

Cookie Day

Cookie Day is one of our favorite traditions at Christmastime. We spent last Friday baking treats, singing Christmas songs on the radio and getting sugar highs from all of the sweet things. We usually pass these out to our family at church, but since the kids started getting sick the day after we won't be passing out the items the kids handled. Hopefully all of the things I made without their help are fine since I never got sick (Praise God). Anyway, even if we are left with everything we made it was a fun day that I wouldn't trade.

Celebrating Advent

For the four Sundays preceding Christmas and on Christmas Eve, our family celebrates Advent. We read Scripture and stories that speak of the first and second coming of Christ. We also light a candle each week and sing Christmas carols. Mitch and I have done this together since our first Christmas as a married couple. We would sing togther and laugh when we would get off tune. Its been fun to watch through the years as our kids have grown from just watching as we read and sang to reading for us and leading us in our carols. Its one way we try to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Baby its Cold outside

Our Tree

I love our Christmas tree. Its fun every year when the kids pull out their individual ornaments and remember what things they were interested in the years before. When I was a kid my grandmother gave me a new ornament every year. I still have several ornaments from her, my earliest is from 1980. She continued this tradition with my kids. These are precious memories of her that we will have for a long time. My mom and aunt have continued this tradition and we also give them one every year. It won't be long before we will have to get a bigger tree or have two trees. That's fine with me, the looks on the kids faces and the pride they take in each ornament is worth it to me.

Decorating the Tree

Getting our Tree

Random Pics

I have had the hardest time loading pics to blogger in the past month. Here are a few of the kids since Thanksgiving.