The Gingerbread House

I wish I could say this was an annual event, I plan to make it so, but truth be told this particular gingerbread house kit was 3 years old. Oops! O well we had tons of fun anyway, and hopefully mom will get her act together for this to be an actual annual event!

Isaac's side. Mom helped with the front. Owen was our quality inspector/ taste tester.

Seth's side and back.

My Isaac

Proud as ever of his preschool gingerbread house.

For his preschool Christmas program they made a book into a play. It was really cute, and yes I did get it on my camcorder this time, which is why I don't have any still pictures of it. Oh well, he was a bear, and he and other animals found a mitten a boy had lost to keep warm in until the bear (Isaac) sneezed everyone out. The boy who lost them found them again, one all stretched out. The end. The kids did great! And afterward I got a pine cone Christmas tree decoration made with love by Isaac.

Isaac's Birthday Extravaganza

Yeah, after 364 days of anticipating another Birthday, it finally arrived!

Lucky boy got an awesome birthday cookie from his Primary Pres. and a Chinese Birthday cake (or so we are calling it). Story behind the Chinese cake is that for Isaac's birthday dinner we went out to a Chinese buffet, we happen to have a coupon for a cake on your birthday. So tu-du. . . we got this lemony yumminess with a candle in it. He loved it. We even sang the "Happy Birthday" song in the restaurant with our waitress.

Now on to party preparations!

These balloons, and many more just like these were on the trampoline for one of the carnival like games we had at his party Saturday morning. A few had a little prize inside them to find.

We had 3 other games, two involved bean bag tossing and one not pictured was a ring toss. The kids got candy/ prizes for every success, thus filling their own party favor bag! :)

Did I mention it felt like we had a million kids? Isaac couldn't leave anyone out, he has such a kind heart! He was so excited, running from one game to the next, from one friend to another.

As always Grandma and Granddad came through with a gift. A favorite even though it was not a toy, he got a booster. Bye bye "baby car seat" on to a big boy booster. He was so excited, we had to call right away, and he was still talking about it weeks later.

All in all it was a fabulously fun day for a big five year old boy. Here he is after all the friends have gone, doing just what he wants with a few of his new favorite things! Side note one day I explained what being addicted means to Isaac, and he has let me know several times since that he is addicted to the wii.

Great day, Great kid! Love you buddy!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo Happy Birthday!

O Christmas Tree

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Bring On December

Hale. So there you have it, it does get cold enough in here once in a while for precipitation to freeze mid air. Dave also joined in the fun of jumping on the tramp in ice cold conditions. The boys were not so brave (dumb). :)

Priceless to me!

I was stressing about getting the family together for a picture for the Christmas card, then decided I didn't need more stress in my life! So I simply used our family picture taken pre-Noah. I then dressed up the little dude, put him down on the couch and snapped like. . . 3 pictures. Got on line and made our Christmas card!

I really liked the results, and how easy was that! No stress!

On to the neighborhood Christmas Celebration! Here we are in an incredibly long line of a tunnel of lights to see Santa and Mrs. Clause. Some kid kept making half the lights go out periodically which did not help me get the picture I wanted, 2 out of 3 isn't too bad I guess.

The wait is over! Was it worth it??? Well based on the looks on their faces, yes! :)

Merry Christmas!

Turkey Day

Ah, Thanksgiving. Of coarse there was a 10 k involved for me, and football for the Hubs. Then since we didn't eat till late, we got the lights up and there may have been a nap in there.

The group. We were at the very end of this very large table, and our good friends came too. I make no bones about it, Thanksgiving is the day I throw any and all notions of dieting out the window! At least for the big meal.

And lets not forget Seth's edible Tee Pee, he made in school. He has been learning all about Native American culture in school and wanted this to be our center piece for Thanksgiving. He did actually eat it, after it has sat out for a week or two. Good mom I know! No he did not get sick!

Yeah! Happy Thanksgiving folks, now on to the crowning holiday of the season: Christmas! :)

Isaac's Performing Debut

Ok, so mad I did not have my camcorder for this performance! It had me rolling! The lyrics were so cute, and the actions so funny! I hope the line up of pictures do it some justice for you.

Turkey song: (or bits of it)

"Ten little trukeys are we. . . "

"Slept all night in a tree. . . "

"When the cook came around we couldn't be found. . . "

Feast Song: (pieces only)

"Pudding Pie, ten feet high. . . "

"We were all much thinner, before we came to dinner, me o my. . . "

Maybe it was a "you had to be there" kind of thing, but once they "gobble, gobble, gobbled" with their heads a shaken' and those orange turkey legs a flyin' o boy!

Loved it! Good job Is! And thanks again Ms. Laura!

Owen's Birthday Extravaganza!

These pictures are backwards, this is morning of Owens Birthday, but since Daddy couldn't be there for the day of we celebrated the day before with some good friends of ours. Owen worked hard on getting those 3 fingers up!

And those three fingers up! Not like it matters though when you ask him how old he is, he will generally say two or four, while holding up 5 fingers. :)

It is my goal in life to always capture the moment of huffing and puffing, and blowing those candles out! It's a favorite of mine! And by the way, that cake was sooooooooo delicious! Martha Stewart I am not, but at lease it tasted good! I usually do the box variety for kids' birthday, but found this recipe and had to try it, so glad I did! And the stars were a big hit.

Thanks again Grandma and Granddad, we love getting mail, especially from you!

Love you O Bear!!!

Happy Birthday!

Family Fun, And Some Geese

The Geese.

It is always fun to look up when we hear their honking and see them land here practically in our back yard.

The Boys.

Another successful Family Home Evening. I was activity, we made a thankful tree. The boys really surprised me with their depth of gratitude. Dave and I thought they would be saying things like toys etc. . . but I was pleased to hear they were thankful for things like their home, Jesus, food, family, and friends. And after this picture I was thankful for the automatic timer feature on my camera!

Noah

Just a shameless little post to remember how cute my little baby is. We will dedicate this one to Grandma, who is beside herself with longing to hold him! :) He loves you too Grandma!

I am really hoping I can plug him up with the binkie enough so that he will forget about his fingers! Wish me luck!

We love those first smiles when it is new to him and us! Worth every effort!

Happy Halloween! Boo!

Of coarse you have to carve pumpkins at some point in the fall. So here we are getting our jack o' lanterns ready for the front porch. I don't remember why Seth is the only one in his jammies, but I can tell you he sure loves to be in jammies.

Here is my scary pirate getting ready to go to pre school. I was jumping for joy when I opened our costume bin because a pirate is all Isaac wanted to be and last years costume was tight last year. I forgot I had in fact shopped the clearance after holiday sale and nabbed this baby! Yeah for happy children, and cheap costumes!

I transformed this bear costume in to a lion when Dave and I only had Seth and wanted to be a Wizard of Oz theme Seth's first Halloween. Yeah for cute babies and free costumes!

This is Seth at the door of his teachers house, (as Superman for the 4th year in a row, his choice!). What a good sport to let me take a picture while trick or treating!

Sadly I did not get a close up of Owen, but this is him on the end as a pirate. He was a clown for a neighborhood party we went to (and didn't get any pictures at either). Dave and I also dressed up for that party. He was a hippie and I was a fairy.

It was a great year for candy! The scariest part of this Halloween is the cavity potential! And with no insurance that is very scary in deed!

BOO!