Christmas 2010

Christmas has come and gone for another year and it has left behind a tornado of tissue paper, ribbon, scraps of wrapping paper, and more leftovers than you can imagine.  We had a wonderful Christmas jam-packed full of family, friends, a few parties, and more gifts than a person can imagine.  It started with the kid's Christmas program and Christmas Eve mass at church.  Mom and dad stayed Christmas Eve and did Christmas morning with us.  Then Jesse's family came Christmas afternoon and evening and we celebrated with them.  Here are a few pictures of all the festivities:

We visited Santa at his Candy Castle earlier in the week.

 

Jacob and Pa

Kaylee & Nana

Pa & Anden

Jacob with his new camera/MP3 player

My dad's sister gave him a very special gift this year.  She put their early home movies onto DVD's.  The kids thought it was pretty neat watching their Pa come home from the hospital as a newborn.  I enjoyed seeing my Grandparents as young wipper-snappers (as they would say) and we watched as President Harry Truman made a train-stop visit to Kokomo in 1948.  

Kaylee with Lily

Anden grunting as he carried his gift across the living room.

Anden with his Godparents ~ Aunt Jenny & Uncle Daryl



Kaylee with her karaoke machine.



Now we know where Anden gets it...

 

I hope all of you had a blessed Christmas! 

Merry Christmas From Our Family to Yours

St. Nick

St. Nick came last night and filled our stockings! 

And with him he brought our elf Evan! 

Welcome back Evan!  I've missed you! 

Maybe you can whip these kids into shape just in time for Christmas! 

~The story behind Evan the elf is that each day, Evan keeps track of all the good things the kids do.  Then at night he flies back to share these things with Santa.  In the morning, the kids wake up and search for Evan because hopefully he's hiding in a new spot... cause if he's sitting in the same spot as yesterday, that means he didn't have anything good to share with Santa and well,

THAT'S JUST NOT GOOD!~

Here's what we woke up to this morning! 

Just a little dusting, but enough to make me want to snuggle under my cozy covers this morning.

The kids were too excited though to dig into their stockings.

Thanksgiving

This blog cannot contain all that I am thankful for. Faith, family, friends, good health, a warm home filled with love... the list goes on and on. Rather than listing out all the things I am thankful for this year, I want to make it clear Who I will be thanking...

Psalm 69:30
I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with Thanksgiving.

May God bless you all in a beautiful, unique way that you would know God's love and peace in the deepest part of your heart.  May you be so overwhelmed by God's love that you would not be able to contain it, since it's meant to be paid forward.

And finally, speaking of paying it forward, here's a gift for you for the holidays...it's my sister-in-law Jennifer's Dutch Apple Pie recipe and it ROCKS! It's the kind of recipe that when it's pulled out of the box it has baking splatters all over it... you know its a good one when that happens!  It's UH-MAZ-ING.  Here goes:

Preheat oven to 375.

Brush sides and bottom of pie crust with egg yolk and bake till golden brown.

Mix: 4-5 C. peeled & sliced apples (I like Granny Smith the best)
1 Tbsp. Lemon juice
1/2 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp. Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon

Put mix in pie crust then take the following ingredients and crumble and put on top of pie:
3/4 C. Flour
1/4 C. Brown Sugar
1/4 C. Sugar
1/3 C. Butter

Bake at 375 until golden brown and bubble (approximately 50 minutes.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

18 Months

Anden, what are you up to at 18 months?

~You weigh 24 pounds 2 oz. and are 33 1/4 inches tall. 
You wear size 4 diapers and size 24 month or 2T clothes.
You only have 4 teeth but it looks like you're close to cutting some more on top. 

~You're crawling, walking, scooting, running, jumping, and climbling everything. 

~You are fearless.  So far you've managed to get over the babygate at your bedroom door, you can be found on top of the kitchen table at least daily, and we can't put the bunkbed ladder down because inevitably, you'll be up the ladder and in the top bunk in no time.

~You've started timing yourself out.  Yesterday you were standing up on your rocking chair and I told you that if you didn't sit down you'd have to go sit in the corner.  You got off the rocking chair and stood in the corner.

~You love to dance.  Anytime you hear music you start swaying side to side.

~You are still so lovey!  You love to give kisses and hugs to everyone.

~You say about 20 words (some of them are ball, book, dog, done, da, ma, milk, more, kitty, night night, nana, deer, baby) and make the sounds of a tractor, dog, cat, cow, and pig.

~Your favorite toys are Jacob's tractors.  I think we're going to have to talk to Santa and see if he might bring you some of your own... red ones of course!

~Your favorite foods are spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes, and bananas.

~You insist on feeding yourself... and other than being a bit messy, you're pretty good with a spoon!

~Most days you get up between 7:00-7:30 and you go to bed around 8:00-8:30.  You normally take 1-2 naps a day and sleep through the night unless you fall out of bed which happens every now and then.  Poor baby! 

~Still cute as ever... although you're getting to be more difficult to photograph. You think that everytime I whip out the camera, you need to snuff up your nose. Check it out... here's what I mean.

I can't believe you're halfway to 2 already!  Amazing!  We love you so much!

Pipsqueak

Just wanted to give a little update on Pipsqueak (aka Kitty.) 

His name really is Pipsqueak, but I can't stop calling him Kitty.

Anyhow, he's been hanging out mainly in the garage...

until today. 

I was in the basement and saw a mouse scurry across the floor.  I didn't even freak out this time... instead, I marched outside and brought Kitty in.  Kitty and I are getting along just fine!  Jesse on the other hand sneezed one time and gave me THE LOOK.  Too bad for him... I've been telling him for a few days I thought we had a mouse... he didn't do anything about it, so I DID!

He's hiding from Anden here... Anden's never done anything to him, he just likes to chase him around.  I think Kitty actually kind of likes it because if Anden stops chasing him, Kitty comes looking for him.

Jacob & Anden's Room

The boy's Case IH quilts are FINALLY done!  The gal that quilted them for me called yesterday saying they were ready for me to pick up.  When I got there today, she said several people who have come in and out of her shop have seen them laying there and asked if they were for sale... HECK NO!  Worked way to hard on them to do something silly like that!  Actually, I can't take all the credit.  Jesse's Grandma, who I adore, helped me put them together.  I can't wait for her to come over and see them!  She also made the valance you see in the 2nd picture below.  It's the same material as the backside of both quilts.  She's one of a kind!  So special!

Next up is having Kaylee pick out material for a quilt for her bed... right now she's got a quilt I bought at Target.  It's very cute, very girlie, and not what I would consider baby-fied... but I've washed it a few times and it hasn't faired very well in my washing machine.  I can't wait to see what sort of "tween" theme she picks out!

Happy 6th Birthday Jacob Andrew!!!

Little did I know that 6 years ago today, not only did Jacob Andrew enter into this world, but he brought with him dirt, dirt, and more dirt... INTO MY HOUSE!  I think he must have had it tucked in his 8 lbs. of rolls.  How many times have I asked him, "Jacob are your shoes clean?"  He always answers "yes," yet it's always followed by a trail of dirt on the floor.  And along with the dirt comes smudges on my windows, toothpaste all over the sink, messy toilets (won't even go there), and an endless supply grass-stained blue jeans with holes in them.  I wouldn't give it up though because along with all the mess came the most loving, snuggly, smiley, and kissable little boy.

Here he is before his party with the birthday sign Kaylee made for him.

Jacob, what is your favorite...

Food- chicken legs

Animal- bears

Color- blue

Sport- soccer

Icecream- Mint Chocolate Chip

Superhero- Superman

Toy- Case IH Tractors and Combines

Thing To Do- Play kickball

Subject in School- Math

What do you want to be when you grow up?- A bulldozer driver

A variety of pictures from his Birthday Party last night.

Annual Birthday Bash Hayride

Caden, Jacob, Connor, Landon, & Bryson

Katie, Lauren, Sara, Emma, & Kaylee

Lydia, Dakota, Jeremy, Tina, Isaac, & Sam

The Birthday Boy getting ready to blow out his candles

Connor, Bryson, Landon, and Jacob

Birthday Menu he made out a few days before his party.

Spring Mill State Park

Today we decided that it was too pretty of a day to spend around the house, so we loaded up and drove to Spring Mill State Park.  The kids all had a blast.  Kaylee loves being told stories and seeing how people (particularly little girls her age) used to live, work, and play.  She took a lot of interest in the clothes pin dolls, baby carriages, spinning wheels, and the schoolhouse at the Pioneer Village.  Jacob's favorite part was the mill and seeing how it grinds the corn.  Anden just enjoyed the freedom of getting to roam around. 

Jacob's self-portrait.  While we were in the Pottery Shop he told me that he needed my camera because he found something pretty he wanted to take a picture of.  He cracks me up!

Playing checkers in the tavern.



Jacob showing Anden how fun leaves can be.

My crazy kid.

My sweet kid.

My mischievious kid.

And finally, my absolute favorite picture of the day.

A Perfect Sunday

Today was a great day.  Started off going to church and we didn't have to take Anden out at all!  For some reason over the last few weeks, church has brought out the little devil in him!  He throws his cup, drops books behind our pew, and then all he wants to do is have Jesse & I pass him back and forth.  Not fun and needless to say, it's a little tough trying to concentrate throughout church. 

Anyhow, back to my perfect day... after making it through church with a perfectly behaved baby, we headed to a local hiking area.  The kids had a blast running through the woods, looking for deer rubs, picking up pine cones, acorns, and leaves. 

I love the anticipation of the Holidays and of course the Holidays themselves, but I do not enjoy the months of January and February... to me, January and February encompass so many germs, frigid weather, cabin fever, and did I mention all the germs?  Do I really need to remind anyone of our vacation to hell... I mean Disney World last January?

Whoa, back to my perfect day...I am so glad we got to spend today enjoying each other and enjoying the gorgeous weather. I'll be so sad to see it go!

Kitty

So this is attempt number 5,372 of Kaylee getting a kitten. 

Let's just say, for a variety of reasons

(most of which involved a vehicle)

Kaylee has not had the best of luck with kittens.

I sure hope this one works out!  She is so excited!

Soccer Tourney & Camping

This weekend was jam-packed with so much stuff that I don't even know where to begin!  We camped at Patoka with some friends and took part in their Trick-or-Treating around the campground.  Here's a shot of all the kids in our group.  See if you can pick mine out! 

Just in case you didn't find them, check out Daphne, Batman, and Eeyore. 

The kids also had their Soccer Tourney this weekend.  So proud of both of them and how much they improved througout the season. 

Kaylee's team won 2 of their 3 games in the tourney.  She ended up scoring a goal in both games today! 

Great job Kaylee! 

Jacob's team did a great job too.  They won 2 of their 3 games as well. 

Jacob scored several goals this season!  Too many to count! 

Here they are with their medals.  Awesome!

And here's our mini-sized soccer star!

Wordless Wednesday... A Day in the Life of a Farm Kid