Christmas 2012

~ Christmas 2012 ~

 

We spent Christmas at Nana & Pa's house this year, so on Christmas Eve before we drove up, we let the kids open a couple gifts.  Here's Kaylee showing Anden her new Kindle Fire.

 

 

 

Decorating cookies at Nana & Pa's house on Christmas Eve

 

 

Christmas Morning...

 

Kaylee with her new American Girl doll, Caroline.

 

Anden wanted 2 things... a sword and a hoppity ball.  Doesn't take much to satisfy this boy!

Split household...

 

We were so happy to get to spend part of Christmas day with my nephew Ben and niece Abigail.

 

Ben gave the kids a sled... hoping to get GOOD use from it this year!

After dinner, we drove home and spent Christmas evening with Jesse's side of the family.

 

Here's Anden with his Godmother and Godfather, Aunt Jenny & Uncle Daryl. 

They gave him a very cool barn for all his animals. 

 

Kaylee with her Godparents, Uncle Josh & Aunt Jenny.

 

And Jacob with his Godparents, Uncle Jeremy & Aunt Brooke.  Gotta love it!

 

And here's the whole family!

 

So blessed to be able to spend the day with ALL our loved ones!

October 2012

Raking leaves in the backyard

 

 

Halloween 2012

Kaylee's pumpkin was a bat flying through the moonlight

 

Jacob's pumpkin was the IU logo (go figure)

 

Anden's pumpkin was of a cat

Our Summer... A Race

This summer has felt a bit like the Kentucky Derby...

Right out of the gate, we were off and running and we did not stop...

The week after the kids were out of school, Ben, my amazing 14 year old nephew from Michigan, came for a visit.  He stayed with us for a week.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures during the week he was here!  Shame on me!

June was full of camps, camps, and more camps...

Jacob's 4-H Day Camp

Kaylee's 4-H Camp

Kaylee's Girl Scout Camp (no pictures, after 3 days at 4-H Camp, Kaylee only lasted a day at Girl Scout camp... I really can't say that I blame her though!)

All three kids had Vacation Bible School

And finally, Kaylee's Basketball Camp

July was full of THE FAIR!  Need I say more?

The first weekend of August, we were able to make it up to northern Indiana.  We started with some boating on Saturday with my Mom and Dad and spent Sunday visiting with my Uncle Max & Auntie Kay at their cottage on Silver Lake. 

Love them!  Uncle Max is 98 and Auntie Kay is 96.  Amazing!

Their lake cottage is truly one of my favorite places.  Growing up I remember as a little girl visiting them each summer at their cottage.

Normally we visit them on Labor Day weekend and the water is too cool for the kids to get in the water.  Not this year... granted they only got to wade around in the water, but how special to watch my kids making memories in the very swimming hole that I have so many fantastic memories of!

Here is Kaylee with my cousin Liz.

Jacob must have been sick that day... he HATES for me to take his picture!  Yet here he is actually LOOKING at the camera and SMILING!

Look Mom!  A clam!  Gotta love a little boy swimmin' in his undies.

Throw in a splattering of baseball tourneys throughout the summer, and there you have what made up our horse race... I mean our summer. 

And now it's come to and end... Kaylee & Jacob go back to school tomorrow and Anden will start Preschool in two weeks... sniff sniff, boo hoo, hang on while I bawl like a baby...  WAH!!!!  How can that be?!?!?!



Merry Christmas

Christmas was like a whirlwind of wrapping paper, ribbon, and tissue paper here at our house.  I'm still picking up scraps of such from every corner and crevace of the house... probably will be until next Christmas!

We had a fun-filled Christmas this year, as always... full of celebrations with family.  So blessed to have spent Christmas morning with my Mom and Dad and then Christmas evening with Jesse's Mom, Dad, & family.  That was sandwiched between Christmas parties with each of Jesse's Grandparents.  Whew!  Cousins, cousins, and more cousins... and as if they haven't seen enough of each other already, I was hit with, "Please Mom!  Please can they come home with us and spend the night!!!"  So we had 3 extra kids here last night.  I think they all transformed into wild animals... the whole house shook at times!  I'm amazed it's still standing!

The kids also took part in our church's Christmas pageant on Christmas Eve.  Here's a few pictures from it...

And finally, some shots from Christmas Day...

Kaylee with her new iPod... she was so excited!

Jacob with his new Wii.

Anden with his new pedal tractor.

The kids playing Wii.

Our first attempt at a Gingerbread House... hoping to make this a tradition!

Happy Halloween 2011

Easter Celebration

Four Easter egg hunts later and my cabinets are FULL of chocolate!  We started our Easter celebration with a get-together at Great-Grandma Betty's on Palm Sunday.

Here's Anden enjoying Great-Grandma Betty's tireswing.

This just spells S-W-E-E-T-N-E-S-S.

Easter Sunday right after church, at our house.

Just before the egg hunt at Grandma Mary Lee's.

Jacob, Sam, & Anden.  Grace, Kaylee, Isaac, Anthony, and Emma holding Lily.

Gotta love mud boots. 

(Trust me... he needed them after all the rain we've had!)

Kaylee with her new purse she got for Easter.  So Sweet!

Jacob didn't want to stop for long.  He was in a hurry to find more eggs!

Anden with his basket full of goodies.

I hope everyone had a great Easter!  God Bless!!!!!!!