Family Christmas

On Friday/Saturday we had our family Christmas Eve and Christmas. We made a special trip to the mall that night to let Santa know we were leaving for IN and needed him to make a special trip in that night. The kids asked for : a motorcycle, truck, car, John Deere tractor, and a 4 wheeler. A pretty tall order.We came home and read the Christmas story and the kids got their new Christmas Jammies. Then we set out some cookies and the kids were off to bed. Sam said "Mommy do I really have to cover up my head?" (off the song "Santa Clause is coming to Town")
I thought that was funny. Then Santa's Elves got to work filling stockings and putting together very large toys that come in a surprising amount of small pieces.

All ready for the kids to wake up!

Opening the stockings was the highlight of the day. The kids and Troy loved it!

We had to wait until 12:00 for the batteries to charge on the tractor and the 4 wheeler, then the kids were off. They picked up how to drive very fast and Sam was even doing tricks.

Miss too cool wearing her shades.

The kids love their gifts and have been driving them everyday until the battery dies. It was a great Christmas!

Field Trip

On Thursday we got to go on a field trip to the fire station. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They got to see all kinds of trucks and the fire station. Darrell Wise is the Fire Chief and a friend so he gave us the tour. Sam getting to drive the truck. He was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see a fire which is the logical thing to keep at a fire station, but hopefully by the end of the tour he understood that they try and put out fires!
Maddie was ready to volunteer for everything he asked if they wanted to do. They got to put on gear, drive the truck, get up on top to see the gears that run the ladder ect... Darrell gave all the kids fire hats and coloring books. It was a great time for the kids!

The Nutcracker

As part of Madaline's Christmas gift we took her to see the Nutcracker Ballet on Saturday. She absolutely loved it! She stayed awake the whole time and actually got the story line. The only thing she didn't like was that Sam was not with us. (We really didn't think he would sit for a 2 1/2 hour ballet :-) ) She keeps saying "Next year Sam can come with us. When we do things we need to all be together Mommy, Daddy, Sam and me." I thought that was funny. We thought she would like to feel special and just get a night to herself.....never know about kids I guess.
She picked the Olive Garden to eat before the ballet. We also took her Christmas shopping at the Mall. It was a very fun night.

Homemade Ornaments

I got invited to a Christmas ornament exchange this year and decided to make something the kids could help with. We made applesauce/ cinnamon ornaments and then decorated them up. The kids loved it and I think they are going to do really well making sugar cookies this year!
The kids decorated theirs with glitter. We had glitter all over the house!

For the ornament exchange I did primitive star ornaments. They really smell good and look great on our tree this year...hope they look good on everyone elses! I got some really cute ornaments and some great ideas for next year from everyone else.

The big Tree

We managed to squeeze the big tree into the living room!
I just love Christmas time. The kids really enjoyed getting out all their ornaments this year and hanging them on the tree. It's just like unpacking years of memories!

Madaline got a new hallmark ornament with ballerinas that plays the nutcracker suite. She loves it.

Sam's new ornament was a John Deere lawn mower. He loves John Deere so he was very happy!

Oh Christmas Tree!

The kids decorated trees in their room this year. They love having them on and had alot of fun decorating them.Sam's is all cowboy stuff.
Maddie's has alot of bling on it. She said "This looks like a Christmas tree for a princess!" She has also been singing a little song she made up all week. It goes "Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, you've never seen the snow!" She is like a sponge with songs right now, she loves to listen to music and will sing a song back even if she has to make up her own words!

These two are going to make Christmas so much fun this year!

Happy Thanksgiving

Warning: this post contains lots of pictures! The good news is they are of adorable children so please enjoy! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my brother John and his family in South Carolina. We had never been to visit them and fell in love with the countryside right away. It's a very beautiful part of the country and we had a great relaxing time. Maddie and Sam saying "Happy Thanksgiving" in their Pilgrim hats they made for a school project.

These were the very cute place cards Jen made for Thanksgiving. I know she worked very hard to make everything nice!

John had smoked an amazing turkey and Jen had made a glazed ham. Oh man- the food was good!! We had leftovers for the rest of the weekend and enjoyed them just as much.

We had a full kids table and are very thankful for it!

Owen and Maddie playing dress up after lunch. They really enjoyed trying out different 'boy' outfits.

After lunch we took a walk downtown and saw the river and waterfall that runs through the city. It was very pretty. (Troy and I thought this was a funny sign to put in front of a water fountain) Kyndal loved Troy, she would come to me also, but preferred him. He loved this of course!

All of the kids on the suspension bridge that goes over he falls.

Troy and I on a different bridge. The weather was perfect the whole weekend.

Kyndal being 'all girl' in her tutu and with her cell phone. She was so good all weekend- such a sweetheart!

The next day John took us out to ride some horses. Troy got to ride by himself....

but John led the kids for rides. They loved it of course!

Maddie rode too, good thing mommy packed her cowgirl boots!

Even Kyndal got to get up on the horse for a photo shoot!

After the horseback ride, we drove to a state park and ate a hot dog lunch.

We took a hike there and really enjoyed just being outside.

Te guys took the kids fishing in the lake, but the fish weren't biting.

Kyndal loves being outside just as much as her brothers.

All of us and Owen. Gabe took this picture I think.

The next day we went to a very nice park that has bike trails and let the kids ride for a while, then we let them enjoy the playground.

Owen being a cutie. The kids really all got along great the whole weekend.

Gabe was great with the smaller kids and was a great example.

Sam is missing his cousins for sure this week. So glad Christmas is around the corner.

Maddie loved Logan and hung out with him most of the weekend. It was nice to have the older boys to play with the younger ones. We had a great time and look forward to going back some day!