Merry Christmas

What an absolutely wonderful day we had. I came down this morning and the girls were sitting at the window, talking about how beautiful the sky was. We didn't have a white Christmas, but you sure cant complain about this...



After a quick breakfast,


We opened our presents.
The kids got everything they asked for. Because they didn't ask for much. The kids get three gifts each. Paige asked for missionary biographies. That's it. She was surprised when she opened all 13 books that she asked for. She also got a rip stick (that I'm sure she is going to break a leg on) and a lap desk. Courtney got a stable for her Shleicks, a puppet, and sea monkeys. Yes, I said sea monkeys.
The boys got the puppets they wanted (the doctor and the pirate), Legos, of course, and bathrobes that were NOT AT ALL impressed with.




I lied. They didn't all get everything they wanted. Grace has been asking for a chicken. She just doesn't seem to understand that you can't raise chickens in town. Unless maybe you kept them in the house.
But while I was shopping for the other puppets, I found a really cute chicken one. It's not quite the same. Bit it's as close as we're going to get to the real thing.

We headed over to Amy's and saw the REAL chicken.




The entire visit went by and as we were getting ready to leave, I realized I hadn't taken one picture. So I snapped one on the way out. I played a few games but not at this table. I haven't learned how to play euchre yet so they stick me at the kiddie table.
Just kidding. I really dislike euchre. So I played a few games of Uno with some 6 year olds and then a magnet game (cant remember the name) with some teenagers. I had a lot more fun.




Then off to my Dad's. I made sure I remembered my camera for this visit. My sister, Pam is here from Florida. My Mom mentioned that all her kids and grand kids would be all together for the first time.
Forgive the poor photography, Mom had the camera.
Kidding.
Me, Kathy, Jim, Pam



And with all the kids



Wheeew! What a day! We're all beat!

Courtney's Birthday

Finally! After a few weeks of illnesses and weekends with already too many plans, we finally had her party. Nina and Aliyah were able to come over early and they spent some time sledding and playing in the snow. It was much too cold for me, but they didn't seem to mind it much, they never wanted to come in.





I made the best cake ever!



Nina cuddling with Lily



"Hey! That's my seat!"





After a long, fun night, Tony and Courtney drove Nina home. The little kids were tucked in and Paige and I enjoyed a few quiet moments. We put on a show (can't even remember what it was) and took out some craft projects. It's not often enough that I get to spend good one on one time with my kids. Or, I thought it was one on one time. It turned out we weren't alone.


I will have to remember... when you take a picture of your children being naughty, they know you think they're funny. Then it's just a little bit harder to get them to take you seriously. Was it worth it?
Oh, yeah.

Is this winter already?

This late bloomer was caught off guard, too.
We had such a beautiful fall, so warm. We certainly can't complain about the snow now.


Forgive me for my lack of posting. I know, Kathy, you've been waiting for some kid pictures, and all I give you is a frozen rose and some blurry backsides. I promise, soon enough, I will share some in focus, non artistic photos. But right now, these will have to do. I'm a busy woman, you know

Have a happy Thursday!

I love two year olds

It only took a minute for Grace to jump down from her chair and walk across the kitchen, throwing spoonfuls of applesauce onto the floor. She made about five or six little piles in a trail around the table before I noticed what she was doing.
"Whatcha doing, Goosie?"
"Feed... nipe...eat it...I do it!"
In case you don't speak Gracie, that means she was feeding the snipe. Well, of course, what else would she be doing?

For the rest of the afternoon, we kept finding little spatters of applesauce here and there that we missed. And every time, we would say "Ahh! I stepped in snipe food!"
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The reason we don't allow toys at the lunch table...



I'll leave you with a riddle complements of Joseph.

What continent rhymes with underwear and starts with a D?

Give up?

... Delaware

Yeah! the tree is up!





Why do I enjoy our Christmas trees so much?



Because the kids so enjoy throwing the ornaments up there and it looks nice no matter how they do it. Because the smell of pine floods our minds with sweet memories of every other past Christmas seasons. Because when the sun goes down, we can turn off all the other lights and enjoy the beauty and the ambiance of the flickering lights. And...

Cause it's just plain fun!

Is there a better way to spend the day?

Happy 2nd of December

We started up our month on theme blog again. It has only been sitting there untouched for a year. Hey, we're busy ladies.
Go on over and check it out. I will be posting the pictures from our advent countdown. Read two posts down if you don't know what I'm talking about.
Here's the link :)