Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Day Jesus!  Yesterday as we were making all our foods for our Christmas celebration today Jonah was watching and asking what each thing was that was being made.  After a while he asked Jeremy who was bringing the cake.  Jeremy said there wasn't going to be any cake, that there would be pies and other goodies but no cake?  Jonah was puzzled and insisted that we needed to bring a cake and finally Jeremy asked him why.  Jonah's response, "Because it's God's Birthday!"

We hope you enjoy a blessed day with your family and remember The One who gave us the greatest gift ever--the birth of a Savior.

Katie loves to make faces for the camera!

Aidan's Turn!

Aidan Christopher 3 1/2 months

15 1/2 months

2 years 3 1/2 months

3 years

4 years

5 years

6 years

7 years

8 years

Sarah's Stocking Pictures!

Sarah Rose

3 1/2 Months

15 1/2 Months

2 yrs 3 1/2 Months

3 yrs 3 1/2 months

4 yrs

5 yrs

6 yrs

Snowy Day Pictures

It's snowing on Christmas Eve Eve!  Which means it'll be a White Christmas here because it won't get warm enough to melt by Christmas Day.  Yay!  The kids have been out playing in the snow for over an hour--they all seem to love it and have quite the stamina for playing in it.

Aidan found this footprint sticking up out of the snow and decided to pick it up...

and it actually stayed intact when he did!

Picture perfect snowflakes--something you don't see with every snow...

most of the time they are too fine or too clumped together to see the details.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them and really see the fine details.

Stocking Pictures-Katie

Katie Lynn

3 1/2 Months

15 1/2 Months

2 years 3 1/2 months

3 years 4 months

4 years 4 months

The queen of cross-eyes!  She loves making silly faces for pictures!

Annual Stocking Pictures-Jonah

Every year we take pictures of the kids with their stockings so show their growth.  Enjoy!

2007  - 10 1/2 months

2008 - 1 year 10 1/2 month

2009 - 2 years 10 1/2 months

2009 - Silly Face!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

Just before Thanksgiving break Sarah's Kindergarten Class performed a Brown Bear, Brown Bear play.  Sarah was the Purple Cat.  She was visibly nervous before it was time for her to say her lines but when it was her turn she did really well.  After her lines were said you could see her relax and enjoy it more.

Sarah and her best school friend, Kaja

This past Saturday night we had my sister's birthday party here and earlier in the day my kids decided they wanted to perform the Brown Bear play with their cousins at the party.  We already had Purple Cat, Striped Zebra, Pink Flamingo and Brown Bear and White Rabbit hats on hand and I helped them construct Blue Horse and Yellow Duck hats before the party.  We called the cousins to ask them to wear clothes the colors of their character.  It was very cute but poor Sarah messed up her line and couldn't recover, spending the rest of the play crying with her head in her hands.  After having said "Blue Horse, Blue Horse, what do you see?" in her school play that's what came out of her mouth in the cousins' play, only she was standing next to the Pink Flamingo this time.  Had I thought it through and remembered what she'd said at school we could have easily placed her next the Blue Horse for the second play as well.  I felt so bad for her. Katie, the White Bunny bowed out shortly before the play was to start--I'm really not sure why, as she is our little performer but she was very happy to sit and watch.

Seth, Sarah, Rachel, Avery, Jonah and Aidan

What a waste

As I mentioned yesterday we are in the midst of a major arctic cold front.  Currently it is 5 degrees and snowing!   Last night the kids were super wound up due to not being able to play outside for days and days.  I think I'm going to need to find an indoor playground and fast!

A few nights ago as we were getting ready for bed I asked Katie if she wanted to wear her "footie" pajamas since it was going to be super cold that night.  She had just worn them the night before, but this was her response, in typical Katie fashion, "Well...that would be a waste of all those covers," as she gestures toward her bed...

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let's eat Snow!

We have been in the middle of an arctic cold front for days and days now and it will continue through Wednesday.  The highs have been in the teens and when we awoke this morning it was only 5 degrees--tomorrow morning it's expected to be even lower than that. 


All day yesterday it snowed, accummulating several inches of fluffy, powdery fine snow.  Last night on a whim we decided to have a snow snack. 


After Halloween Jeremy had bought on clearance several bottles of flavored drink syrups, which he likes to mix with Sprite. 

First we scooped bowls of snow from our back porch.

Then added the syrups. Peach, Apple and Blueberry flavors.

Let's eat snow!

No Spookiness--Just Cuteness!

Here's our costumed crew!  I had a lot fun making their costumes this year.

Jonah chose to be "Pizza Pat".  "Pizza Pat" is a book that is an all time-favorite in our family. 

Sarah made the pizza, complete with a strap for Jonah to hold.

Katie chose to be an astronaut.  Thanks goes to Aunt Amy (who is a flight training manager for the real astronauts) for providing the NASA "meatball" patch and her own personal Flight Patch (we choose to use the patch from Amy's most favorite flight).  I made this costume out of flannel to keep Katie cozy and comfy.  I didn't have a pattern, but it didn't turn out to be as difficult as I expected.

Sarah's favorite animal is a flamingo so that was a natural choice for her.  I didn't have any kind of a pattern for this costume either.  I used one of Sarah's dress-up tutus, sewed it together in the back to creat a pointed tail and then sewed boas and large feathers to it.  The beak was a bit more challenging and took some trial and error but we were overall happy with the outcome.

Aidan's second favorite animal (after the moose) is a zebra and when we saw an idea for this costume in a magazine we knew it was a must.  It's made from black sweats, white and black duct tape and black and with craft foam.  I elaborated quite a bit on the stripes from what was shown in the magazine and also alter the ears (theirs looked like rabbit ears).  Apparently, Aidan was the talk of the second grade parents at school on Friday!

Here's the whole gang!

I have to say, I enjoy making costumes more than making birthday cakes!  I wonder if I could work out a trade-off with the kids somehow???  Probably not!