Broc's Birthday

Happy Birthday Broc! I don't have any pictures of your birthday this year - since I know how much you enjoy pictures.
For your 33rd birthday, we celebrated by having Pizza Ranch (at home) and opened presents.
You started a new job a little over a month ago and are loving the job, but it certainly keeps you busy and are tired by the end of the day. Your birthday wish was to sit and relax in the chair.

Church Christmas Program

The Christmas program at church was about the nativity. Caden was a shepherd and Allyson was an angel. Both kids did great at the program. They knew their lines extremely well. I was so proud of my kids.

More Christmas

After church on Christmas morning, we opened presents with our family.
The kids had so much fun guessing what might be in each box.
































The kids idea for a gift for daddy was to get 3 Nerf guns - one for each of the kids and one for daddy. I didn't have many ideas - so we went with that.
All 3 were excited and had so much fun shooting the bullets all over the house.













The main thing that both kids wanted for Christmas this year was a Nintendo DS. Which is what they got. I love the expressions on their faces as they figure out what is inside. {Priceless}







































Yes - I was there too - and I did pass off the camera, but I will be giving Caden some lessons on picture taking with my camera. He tends to focus on exactly what he wants the picture to be - not what is going on. {oh my - I need to clean that mirror}

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Eve tradition is getting together with my dad's side of the family and having soup and sandwiches.
Before we left, daddy wanted to give the kids a present.
Since he is working at the John Deere store now, guess what they got...
































Amanda and Carly













Andrew and Caden (playing bingo - another tradition)













Family photo...

Holiday Baking

One of the favorite things to do after getting the goodies in the pan, is to lick out the bowl. Caden got the job done and enjoyed every minute of it.

My family Christmas

One of the best parts of this Christmas season is spending time with family.
My dad and mom













Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids













Allyson and Grandpa














The girls with their dolls and horses. They loved them!
























Caden got a new hot wheels track



















Eli with his ipod shuffle













Sam got a new gun













Tyler got a transformer



















After opening a few gifts, we had to take a little break and open up the boxes for the horses and dolls - the girls couldn't wait to play.













Opening more gifts - Carly had on her wish list a tractor and wagon...
Caden and Eli got sleds - they had a tough time getting them unwrapped because uncle Kyle did a really good job of wrapping them with plastic under the paper. Allyson and Tessa got clothes for their dolls.
















Mom got a bracelet from dad.



















Grandpa got a new shirt



















The big boys opening their stockings



















































Our family get togethers wouldn't be complete without the kids having a "Kyle pile".

Sleep Over

Caden and Allyson have been asking for quite awhile to have Sam and Tessa over to play. Well, this weekend, we got the chance to have them overnight. The boys had fun playing the Wii and the girls had fun playing dress up.

Santa Hats

We didn't go to see Santa this year, so we bought hats and took some fun pictures.






































This year, the kids have asked if Santa is real. Well - when you are asked that question, I am not gonna lie and tell them yes. We talked about how Santa is a person dressed up in a costume.

Nativity Scene

Allyson is so crafty and loves to draw, cut and tape. This past week when we were snowed in on Saturday/Sunday this is what she made with no help.
































I love the detail - she has in the far left - 3 wise men including crowns on each of their heads.
Next is Mary and Joseph, then baby Jesus in the manger.
Then right above the blue strip is a rocking horse for baby Jesus {smile}.
Then a donkey on the far right.
Wish I could keep this forever. It is the best nativity I have ever seen.

Christmas Goodies

Each year, we love to make goodies to share at our Christmas parties.
A few things we have made...
Pretzel hugs (or in our house they have become "monkey hugs")













A new one for us this year...
Oreo balls













a few more we are making today...
fudge, cut out cookies with frosting, cherry bing candy, and we can't make enough of the dipped Ritz crackers with PB.

Old Clothes

When we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family, we went through some old clothes from my grandma's house. A few things we found fun...
a hat that dad used to wear -













another hat - this time from when dad was a baby -



















Kyle and my dad both holding an outfit they wore when the were babies -