Christmas In Review

Dad helping with the tape.

Sooo excited for her play cell phone!!

Rock Band music! Country!

My present!!! I sooooo wanted one!!! Thanks honey!!!

Cowgirl Jentree

Bakugan set--he was super pumped!

Playing with the zhu zhu pets set up.

Going to bed

Christmas morning



Tearney and Kit. She was elated!!

You know you are officially modern when your two youngest children "talk" to Uncle Brent in Minnesota via the computer. He was able to watch the kids all open gifts and participate in the family Christmas. Technology is amazing!

Our very own Rock Band!

Christmas Party!

We went to our daycare's annual Christmas Party on Monday night. Pat and Gary always make great food, and have all of the families come for a fun evening. They also have a "special" visitor come every year. It is fun to watch how they will all react.

No crying this year from anyone!!! I think that was a first since we have had kids!!! Santa also hands out presents along with bags of candy. We had a wonderful time again this year!!

Gingerbread House Contest

We borrowed this idea from Renae, and decided to have a Girls vs Boys Gingerbread House decorating contest. We had loads of fun, and there was quite a bit of trash talk going on during the process.


Everyone establishing their game plan:

Girls moving right along:

Boys getting into their game:
Derek is competitive even with gingerbread house decorating!!!


Now, it is your turn to vote:


House "A"


House "B"

Tearney's Christmas Program

Tearney's Christmas program was this past week. She has been SOO excited for it, and has been practicing her songs all month long!

She was asked to be the helper for another student in her class. They both get along well with each other, and it was pretty cute watching her help out her classmate.

It was so fun to watch! Their programs are one of my favorite activities to go watch. Now, it is officially Christmas Break!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!

This was the view looking out our front window during the snowstorm on Tuesday (I got a little bit of our Christmas tree in it too). I don't remember the last time we got this much snow at one time. It finally feels like Christmas!!
The kids were begging to go out all day, so we bundled them up and out we went. The girls were down the street at a friend's house, so we were down to only four.

The boys wrestling in the snow and tried to have snowball fights. The snow wouldn't pack so well, but it was great for the wrestling.

Jentree thoroughly enjoyed the snow. She kept laying on the floor and telling us, "I want to go do this!" (She was making snow angels). She finally got her wish, and made about 5 of them in the yard.

Mylee just enjoyed walking around in the snow and picking it up and tossing it. She thought that was pretty funny, and giggled quite a bit out there.
They didn't last a terribly long time, but they sure had fun! The girls came home later, and they had been out playing too, so everyone got their snow fix! Even better--2 snow days!!! Ahhhh....life is good!!

Wrestling Begins

Tanner and Calder began the 2009-10 wrestling season a couple of weeks ago. Their first tournament was this past Saturday in Hillsboro.

The boys getting some coaching from Dad.

The girls doing what they do during the long days at tournaments. We found a good spot in the gym--the filming platform! It was a great space to spread out and color and play on.

Tanner getting his very first pin ever!! It was even against a previous state medal winner. Tanner was pretty excited afterward!
Calder wrestling his first match. He moved up to the older age group, so he has a pretty tough bracket this year. He did well against some experienced kids.

Hamming it up for the camera. It looks like we will be going to a few new tournaments this year in addition to the three we went to last year. The girls have gotten pretty good at yelling for their brothers from the stands! You can tell their fan section from across the gym when the girls all get to yelling!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was full of great food and was lots of fun. Brent came from Minnesota and Derek and Gina were there. Jo went to spend the holiday in Ohio with Sue, she was missed, but I am sure she had a great time with all of them.

Eating Thanksgiving Dinner--YUM!!

After lunch, we rode Grandpa's 4 wheeler. It's a good thing it has a hauling rack in the back!!
Playing games. Indian Poker was loads of fun. It especially helped when Tearney walked into the room and recited out loud the card each of us had. Thanks sweetie--I would have lost that round!! Sooo funny!

Even Mylee got this game figured out!

Gimme Some Heat!

Stub and I decided to try to save some money this year on our heating bills. They get pretty scary in the winter time!! Ouch! Besides, it is never really very warm in the house, so that just adds insult to the injury! :-)

This is the newest home improvement item:

We put in a pellet stove a week ago. It isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but it sure works. It has now ran 24/7 since last Friday, and we have only ran our heater two times. Once, was for a brief bit while we had to clean the ash box (you have to turn it off and let it cool for one hour). The other was the night it snowed for some heat upstairs. The downstairs has stayed a constant 68-70 degrees on the middle setting.

I LOVE being warm!!! Woo-Hoo! Plus, when we bought it, we got a gift card that will cover a whole month's worth of pellets, so you can't beat that!

Happy 4th Birthday Jentree!!

What a beautiful day for Jentree to be able to celebrate her special day. It was absolutely perfect outside!!! In the low 70's, and the air smelled of crisp, fall leaves. She played in the yard for most of the day, and told anyone who would listen, "It's my birthday! I am 4 today!"

So cute!!

Showing us she is officially "4!"

Loving being sang to by her brothers and sisters.

Blowing out the candles!

Oh the excitement of being 4!!

In her favorite present of the evening--her Supergirl costume. However, she is upset again that she cannot fly with this costume. She is just convinced that she is getting faulty costumes that are "broken!"
All in all, a good day! Plus, K-State beat KU, so how much better could her day get?!