New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, we went to Dan and Dana's to celebrate with Brian and Doni K, and Brian and Steph F, and their families. The kids had a great time playing together, and the adults had fun playing Battle of the Sexes. We were home around 11pm.

Brian K horsing around with Caden and Eli.




















































Carly and Jackson were being cuddly with thier favorite blankets. (Jackson is Brian and Steph's youngest (2))

Happy Birthday Broc!

This morning, Allyson woke Broc up by saying, "Daddy, wake up - it's your birthday!" She was disappointed when he didn't wake up right away. (I guess he wasn't as excited about his birthday as she was!)












We celebrated Broc's 31st birthday this evening, by having chicken lasagna (one of our family's favorites) for supper and had Creme de Mint cake for a birthday cake.

Christmas Night

On Christmas Night, we got together to celebrate the birth of Jesus with my mom's side of the family. It is always fun to get together and see cousins and aunts and uncles that don't live close.
Here is a picture of my mom's immediate family.
















Here are some of the great-grandkids.














My cousin Jesse and his wife Melissa, and my cousin Tessa and her friend Ryan.














The little kids played bingo while the adults played Bunko for grab bag gifts.

Sunday School Christmas Program

Last night, we had our Sunday School Christmas Program.
All the kids did a great job. Caden and Allyson both knew their parts, and said them without any help. They passed the microphone to each other without any trouble. (What a difference a year can make!)
They sang 3 songs, and Allyson sang her heart out. Caden knew the words, but didn't feel like singing for all the songs. I was so proud of them!

Christmas Wedding

On Saturday evening, we were planning to have Christmas with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Wayne, but grandma was not feeling well (sending get well wishes to Gma Mary), so plan B was to find a sitter and attend a wedding at our church. The wedding was very pretty.
Here is a picture of the bride and groom at the reception. Congratulations Aaron and Kim!



















Here is a picture of Doni, Amy, and I. (Amy is the groom's sister)














Makayla watched the kids for us. The kids loved having her "come to play" with them. Neither kid cried or anything when we left (which is amazing for Allyson especially!) They loved all the attention that she gave them. They played Candyland, read books, and lots of other fun stuff.

Christmas Goodies

Here is a picture of the Christmas goodies that we made this year (excluding our gingerbread people).
We made Andes Mint Cookies, Dipped Ritz Cracker snowmen, Peanut Butter Balls, Peanut Butter Blossom cookies, and Peanut Clusters. Yum!














Also wanted to share a picture of Allyson with the whale that we made out of Pixos. She is pretty proud of it. We will work on Caden's tonight. I think he wants to make a helicopter (which is harder than the whale - wish this mom luck!)

It's Christmas Day!

On Christmas morning, Allyson woke up first, and then Caden. They were so excited to see all the presents underneath the Christmas tree.














The each opened their presents from Santa before church.
Caden got a Wall-E Leapster game and Allyson got a Pet Pals Leapster game. They also got a set of Linkin' Logs to share.



















We then got ready for the Christmas Day service at church. On the way to church, Allyson kept thanking us for all her presents (even the ones under the tree that she hadn't opened yet). She said "I love all my presents. Thanks for them." So sweet.
After church, we opened the rest of our gifts under the tree.
Allyson got a Bitty Baby from Americal Girl Dolls,



















Caden got the Geo Air High Flyin Airport. When he opened it, he said "This is just what I wanted."



















Both kids got a set of Pixos. The kids loved these and were so excited to open them. They begged every day to play them. (edited - I would not recommend these unless your kids are older - they are very little and take lots of time and patience. From a mom's point of view - not a very good gift - I can say that because I bought them!)














Out of all of their gifts, their Leapsters are by far their favorite gifts. Then it is a toss up for what comes next - Allyson loves all her babies, and Caden loves his trains and his tractors.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family.
We partied at Dana's house. (yes she was busy playing hostess this year - thanks Dana!)



















Caden received a Kenworth truck and you can tell by his face that he loves it.














Sam, Tyler and Eli also received trucks. All of them were a little different, but they loved them!














Allyson received a Hannah Montana doll and a necklace and bracelet.














Tessa received a wedding dress dress-up set from another party, but she loves it and doesn't like to take it off. Here is the veil and bouquet.



















After supper and presents, we played bingo. The kids loved it this year. They each won a prize pretty early in the game, and then Allyson kept telling me to win a prize again for her. I didn't do well on bingo this year - I didn't get a bingo on my card until the end.

Scrapbook Catch Up

Today, the kids and I went to town to get parts for Broc, and of course stopped to check out the after Christmas sales. We stocked up on wrapping paper (Transformers, Scooby Doo, Tinkerbell, and Littlest Pet Shop) - the kids helped pick them out. We also got a couple other good deals (for upcoming birthday gifts.)
When we got home, we watched Wall-E, and Horton Hears a Who movies. Neither one would receive a raving review from the Yesda critics. They will be brought back to the video rental store tomorrow without much argument.
During the movies, I worked on some digi scrapbooking. As you can see, I also updated my blog header. It was time for some new pictures.

































(credits: template by shineangel, papers and elements by Amanda Dyken)
Yes - I am still working on getting the rest of our Christmas events posted. Hopefully this weekend.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!























Here is a picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits right after church.

Family Christmas

Despite the snowy weather, and blizzard warnings, (wasn't as bad as they foretasted) we celebrated Christmas with my family on Saturday evening. We had a delicious supper of pork loin, cheesy potatoes, strawberry romaine salad, corn and lots of other good food, including Dana's cheesecake and goodies for dessert.














Later we opened gifts. Allyson got a baby on the go set from Tessa,














and Caden got a tractor and wagon set from Eli.














Both kids got a Leapster from Grandpa and Grandma.




























The kids loved all their gifts. We all received stockings from mom and dad. They had lots of useful goodies in them, including slipper socks for the girls, homemade salsa or spaghetti sauce, lotion, chapstick, etc. The kids each got a recordable gift card holder - you push a button and hear grandpa saying "Merry Christmas!" The best part is each one had a "pretend" credit card in them. The kids loved them.

And More Snow

This morning we woke up to another couple inches of snow. This time the wind was blowing - so all that light fluffy stuff from yesterday and today was blowing around - making it hard to see.
We did some holiday baking - Andes Mint Cookies, and Peanut Butter Blossoms.



















The kids helped me start baking, and then Caden went to watch a movie, (Underdog) and later they both went to take a nap. (We have my family Christmas party this evening)
As I was baking - I received a phone call saying that our church was canceled for the am service. Well, I guess they are planning ahead - the gravel roads are drifting shut (definitely need 4 wheel drive to get through) and they predict very cold temps (below zero for a high!) Brrrrr!

Snow, Snow

On Friday, we woke up to around 8 inches of snow. It warmed up a little in the afternoon, so when Grandpa Rick came over with the tractor to clear our driveway, the kids got dressed to play outside for a little bit. (Our snowmen from last week are still standing - and from the looks of the forecast, they will be for awhile yet.)

Traveling Nativity

A local church puts on a traveling nativity every year. Broc and I first started going to this when we were youth group sponsors at our church (around 6 years ago).














This church does a great job. They give you a number as you walk in the door, and then you go into a large room and wait until your number is called. They have hot drinks and sometimes some sort of snack to eat. When your number is called, (you are grouped with a couple other families) you go to the designated area and are led outside to get on a horse pulled hay wagon. There are several different stops along the way showing different scenes from Jesus birth. One stop is Mary and Joseph on the donkey traveling to Bethlehem.














We took the kids this year and they enjoyed it. We were surprised when we got there to find my Grandpa, Grandma, and cousin Aimee there. It was neat because they were only a couple numbers ahead of us, and we able to take the ride together.

Snow Much Fun

Today, the weather was beautiful. The temperature was in the 40's so instead of housecleaning, laundry, and naps this afternoon, we played outside in the snow. The kids had a great time. They love to make snow angels and sled down our little hill. It snowed earlier this week and we were pretty disappointed on Tuesday when we couldn't make a snowman. Today the snow was perfect for snowmen. Of course we had to make 2 - one boy and one girl. Here is the finished product.


















I have to mention that after the pictures we were getting ready to go inside, and Allyson took the carrot out of her snowman face. I wasn't watching what she was doing, but a couple minutes later, she showed me that she put the carrot on the other side of the snowman face - so that when we look out the window at the snowman - we can see their nose.

Busy, Busy

I know, it has been an entire week since I have posted. I have good reason. I am busy making Christmas cards, and working on Christmas gifts. Hopefully this coming week will be better.
I wanted to share a few things that the kids have said in the past couple days.

Caden and Allyson love the cartoon Max and Ruby on Nickelodeon. Today when it was starting, Allyson said, "Max is always doing something naughty." "I'm Ruby."
Caden said, "I'm Max."

Another thing that I thought was cute. The UPS truck was on our yard this morning, delivering a package. Allyson said, "Mom, there's the dog truck."
I asked her, "why do you call that the dog truck?"
She replies, "because it brings treats for dogs, and books for daddy."
She is very right. The UPS truck driver always has treats for the dog, and has been bringing books for daddy for work in the past week. (Little does she know that today he delivered one of her Christmas presents - easy for me to not have to explain the package!)

Santa and Sleigh Ride

On Thursday evening, we went to visit Santa. Both kids were excited. Caden went first, and was so busy telling Santa what was on his list, that he didn't even want to look for the camera.
Later he told me some of the things on his list were: trains, Spiderman, bugs, and helicopters.



















Allyson really didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, but did take her turn.
On her list were: a baby doll, and princess stuff.



















After we visited Santa, we saw they were giving sleigh rides. Our friend Dave was driving the tractor that pulled the sleigh and Broc's boss Tom was helping with the sleigh. We had a fun ride. It was really cold, but the kids enjoyed it.