Glory to God in the Highest and on earth Peace Good will toward men

This Sunday afternoon we had a special family time. This is one of my most favorite days of the year.

Matt and I cuddle up on the couch and sip hot chocolate or cider. We pull out some special Christmas cups and give the boys something tasty too and of course turned on some Christmas music.

This year we talked about the real meaning of Christmas. It was extra special because Elijah shared the story with the family instead of Matt or I. Then all the kids went outside and brought in the tree and the Christmas decorations.

While Matt and I cuddled, they set up the nativity scene, the tree, the garlands, the lights, hung the ornaments, wreaths, lit candles and then even took the boxes back to the garage.

I love watching the boys get so excited and enjoying putting up the decorations. There is also no stress because all of our good ornaments broke long ago and the tree is easy enough for a 7 year old to put up by himself.

The tree ends up looking very loved and still beautiful. The nativity scene is now missing Joseph, 1 wise man, 1 shepherd, and 1 sheep, but all we need is baby Jesus. : ) If some year baby Jesus gets cracked I think I will buy a wooden nativity scene. : )

Merry Christmas!

Wonderful Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent it with Nana and Papa who live just a few miles from us. They make their own Lincoln log type toys and there are loads of them. They also make logs that are extra long so you can make an even bigger fort.

We spent the days playing games and the evenings were for reading books and watching Five Mile Creek. : ) Nana and Papa watched all the children and Matt and I went to Cheyenne overnight for some husband and wife time. What a treat!

Sayings XIII

While decorating the Christmas tree, Josiah said, "Merry Christmas Mom..."

Robin started to say, "Thank you, Joe."

But before she could finish, Joe said, "There, now I don't have to tell you Merry Christmas on Christmas day."

Sayings XII

We went and visited some people and Gideon said, "Why did we come here? Our house is fun because we have tortillas and ketchup!"

Sayings XI

Elijah, "I can't even go to the bathroom in private!!!"

Sayings X

While watching an old western movie, Titus said, "I don't like shooting movies because I think the bullets are going to come out of the laptop."

fresh baked bread

We baked some fresh bread and set it on top of the stove to cool. Then someone tried to cook something and accidentally turned on the wrong burner.

Lucky and UnkDonk

We have been telling Lucky and Uncle Don how the kids always mix up their names. We finally got a picture of them in the same house.

Kids fascination

The kids were amazed at Uncle Fred's cut-off finger. They kept asking how he did it. It was a military accident when he was stationed at a missile defense base in Greenland. Titus kept asking when it was going to grow back.

Hooray! A visit

Uncle Don, Uncle Fred, and Grammie Diana came to LaGrange for a 2 day visit. We had so much fun.

The kids gather around Uncle Don as he shows them videos of .50 caliber machine guns blowing things up.

Uncle Don setup the slides that we brought back from California in the Trailer Incident.


Uncle Fred snuggles with Titus




Uncle Fred snuggles with Mister-Sister. Apparently Uncle Fred likes kids.



Uncle Don fixes the Weed-Whacker that Elijah bought with his own money at a yard sale. Elijah is mowing lawns, and shoveling snow without any motivation from his parents. What a little entrepreneur.

Sayings IX

While playing a game on Matt's Android electronic thingy, Luke realized that the battery was almost dead and said, "Hey, who unclugged it? How do I clug it in?

Unk Donk

Uncle Don just came to visit us with Uncle Fred and Gramie. It brought back memories of when he would come to our house in Hidden Valley and help us with yard work. Sometimes, he would show up and mow our entire yard. Thanks for everything, we love you Unk Donk.



Here, Robin uses Uncle Don's rototiller on our garden.

I love this

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=16404771&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0%22

Fezzik

Now that we have officially gotten rid of Fezzik, how better to remember him than to take one final look at a mess that he left with us. Here is one vacuuming of Fezzik Fur.

Brothers 2

Abbey puked on Giddy-Bug

Robin shows her serious side

Hipster and the duck-muffin

Sayings VIII

Titus said he wanted to marry Max Laffan because, "he is cute and his toes look like blueberries."

Sayings VII

When dad was updating a network driver on a friends laptop, Titus asks, "Did you get the driver license yet?"

Daddy terrorizes abbie-sister with fuzzy bear slippers

Recent news

We had friends come to visit this weekend. The boys played and played. Andrea and I had a great time catching up.

We had pizza. Andrea's own homemade pizza sauce with fresh tomatoes, the sausage from their pig, and Sam's homemade pizza dough. She also brought her homemade granola with dried cranberries, loads of nuts, and homemade peanut butter, and raw milk and fresh cream. So good.

We didn't get as much time with them as we wanted - we never do.

Matt told me I am to always make time for the Huismans. We love them. : )

And...

Another friend in town with kids our age has lost their pet snake in their house. "Just a small one" the dad said. I love it. Someone ELSE has a lost snake in their house not me. I think its really funny.

And...

We have no pets right now. Fezzik started harassing the neighbors pet bunny (aka trying to kill it), so we had to give him to our friend Ben. Ben loves Fezzik. He lives on acreage in the country and Fezzik loves it there. Plus Ben gave him a cheeseburger the day we left him, so we know he is in the right place.

So now we are petless. Not a bad feeling. But we do miss the big Fez.

Thats it.

Matt's first day at his new job

Yes he still drinks coffee.