Happy Birthday Todd!

Brogan is 1!

Happy 1st Birthday Brogan!

Christmas Morning

Mallory's Class Party

Mallory's class at school was adopted by a very generous couple.  They host all of the classroom parties for this very special group of kids all year.  I had a chance to sneak down to the Christmas Party that they had at a local church (guess the classroom wasn't going to be big enough). 

The kids were all very excited.



Santa Claus came to the party along with his elves.



The kids were spoiled with a large amount of gifts.

Mallory loved getting a new hat and gloves.

Each kid had their own stocking full of more goodies.

It was a pretty emotional time for me.  This couple spent a great deal of time to prepare for this party and spent a large amount of money.  The atmoshpere was so loving and the kids were all smiles.  To think that this couple chose to do this.  It was pretty humbling. 

Christmas Tree Lane

Visitors to our town during the holiday season are in for a treat in the evening when they see the brightly lit Christmas trees along two major avenues. Every year the City obtains donated cedar trees and places them in the front yards of homeowners. The homeowners light and/or decorate the trees as they like.  The kids and I have so much fun with our tree.  We can never get enough of it.

No Fear.

Todd recently placed a new liner in the chimney.   I'm glad it was a one-man job.  He would've had a hard time getting me up on that roof.  Like I've said before, it's nice having a husband who is a Jack-of-All-Trades.  It's more work on him, but nice on the bank account.

Moments when I didn't have my camera.

Some of the best moments in life happen when I don't have my camera. 

Thank goodness for the camera phone! 

I recently took the time to figure out how to download these photos to my computer.

Mallory with Big Hanna.

Matthew winning the sack race at Field Day.

x

Mallory at the track for her Field Day.

Mallory running in the foot race at Field Day.  Everyone cheered until she crossed the finish line.

Hannah's 1st T-ball Practice

Hannah tucked away in a corner reading a book at daycare.

Hannah riding, Sandy, the beloved horse you can ride for a penny at Ray's Apple Market.

Hannah's 1st Dentist Appointment

Hannah during her week with Clifford.  Her preschool sends Clifford home with each of the students and they keep a diary of their adventures. Clifford got to go to the Zac Brown Band Concert with us.

Zac Brown Band Concert in Wichita

Matthew opening his 1st account.

Mallory and Matthew playing a game of Go Fish.

Mallory working at Kuntz's Drive-In with the owner, Sandy.

Preschool Christmas Program

Winter Walk

The weather has been decent this winter.  It was nice enough the other day that we sent Matthew and Hannah out for a walk with Dot.

Trim the Tree.

Well, we finally got our tree up.  We thought that we had a bargain last year in the after-Christmas sales.  We bought a tree, dirt-cheap.  The only problem is I neglected the fact that the tree was 6 ft. and we have 12 ft. ceilings.  Our tree looks VERY small.  But a tree is a tree, right?

Hannah and Matt had a lot of fun unboxing the ornaments and getting them hung on the tree.

 

There were ornaments all over the living room.

Boxes everywhere!

We even got the stockings hung.

It was an evening well spent.  You might be wondering where Mallory was during all this.  She hung a total of 3 ornaments and then promptly fell asleep on the couch.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon.

Holiday Baking

It seems that we've run short on time this year for any major holiday baking.

We did make some fudge the other evening.

The kids loved helping out. 

We used the boxed kit from Carnation and it was very easy yet extremely delicious.

More Upgrades.

Todd recently came across a fireplace insert that burns pellets or corn.  He found it for a very good price, so we jumped on that deal.  We love it!  It does a great job of keeping the main level of our home nice and toasty warm.

My 1st Turkey

I have never prepared a turkey before.  Ever.  Till this year. 

We had purchased a turkey for Thanksgiving with the Frese-side. 

Well the gathering was cancelled because too many of the kids were sick. 

 So, we made the turkey anyway. 

It was easier than I thought and we were all pretty impressed with the results.

Another Project.

True to our style of ALWAYS having a project to do on the house, we decided to pour concrete in the basement.  You see, there was some finish up work to be done after the contractor put in our new wall.   It was a family job.  Everyone had a task to be done.

Matthew worked on moving the concrete around as it came down into the basement.

Hannah was my official keeper of the wheel barrow. 

Todd shoveld the first batch or so in and then headed to the basement with Matt.

I have no pictures to prove it, but I spent the afternoon mixing 26 more bags, moved it to the wheel barrow, and shoveled it down to the basement.  If you didn't notice......I said "I".

When the project was complete, we let the kids put some artwork in before the mix set-up.