Santa was a little

too good to us at our house this year!! The boys received so many presents we do not have a place to put them all!! We had several wonderful Christmas celebrations with family and everything went by in a blur. I just thought I would post some pics from Christmas morning.
Just to let some of you know, momma santa did not know about the air hockey table that daddy santa brought into the house on Christmas eve!! Not sure where we are going to put it, but as you can see it is in the middle of the living room right now!!

Happy Birthday Chad!!

Yes, he really is 34!! I know that he does not look it :) Chad is an awesome dad and a wonderful husband and I hope that you have a super great day!! Love ya! (Although I am not sure that I am real happy about the air hockey table.)

The weather outside is frightful

and there is not a fire at our house. Actually the weather is not that bad, and we did not lose our electricity. Which I feel very blessed about. The boys were absolutely thrilled that they got to go outside and play in the snow this morning.
I do not know exactly what they were doing out there (way to cold for me to go out) but they had only been out about five seconds and they looked like they had been doing somersaults!!
When they get cold they have to come in and warm up. They are "freezing" you know!! Then they are ready to go back out in five minutes. All they do is get bundled up and then undbundled again!! (this picture is from last weekend when there was not any snow, just really cold and they still play outside in it!!)
Poor Ben does not get to go out in the snow, he just gets to sit at the window and watch with mommy. Of course, here he is trying his first french fry. (and I think he likes it even if his face does not show it.)

And of course the older two see that I have the camera out and have to come and act like little squirrels. Ben never gets any peace in his life.

Sunday School Class Party

So, I know that I have not posted in forever, but it seems to me like my mother always beats me to everything (Christmas programs, etc). Our Sunday school class had our Christmas party at Chad and Michelle Hutton's house last Saturday (thanks again for hosting guys) and we had an ugly sweater contest. Not that many people participated but those who did had some pretty ugly sweaters. I have to say that Chad's may have taken the cake. Of course it was his dad's Laverne coaching sweater from 1960 (I am just really impressed Chad could wear it).



Brent's did not seem that bad, but he swore Hilary bought it at a Thrift Store (yeah, right Brent we know you wore this to work last week!!)
My terrible picture taking abilities do not do this picture justice!!

KNOW YOUR FRIENDS CHRISTMAS STYLE....
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper and maybe some sacks (whatever is easiest)

2. Real or artificial tree? pre-lit artificial (so easy)

3. When do you put up the tree? A day or two before Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Hopefully sometime before Christmas break is over.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, chocolate egg-nog with ice cream is yummy, yummy. (Everyone should try it.) My mother introduced me to it!!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? a tampoline and my Nintendo

7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, one for the kiddos to play with and one they cannot touch

8. Hardest person to buy for? my brother-in-law (Jeff) He can buy everything really cheap in China anyway.

9. Easiest person to buy for? my kids of course

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? ??? I really do not know.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It's a Wonderful Life

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Black Friday (shopped for 18 hours this year!!)

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I really do not think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Desserts and Noodles

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear on the tree, colored outside

17. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did You Know and I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Both

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and of course Rudolph

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Both

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Honestly, I wish we could slow down and enjoy it more.

23. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color? Nope. Just all of the ornaments that I have received over the years.

24. What do/did you leave for Santa? Cookies and milk, and usually a note.
YOUR TURN!

Ben is doing great

after getting his tubes put in. Things went smoothly. Except maybe for the fact that the lights went out at the hospital while Ben was still back in surgery!! We knew he was finished but we had not gotten to see him yet, and the electricity was only off for a minute or two. But still it is kinda freaky. Anyway, Ben was a hit with all of the nurses and we were home and happy by 10:00 AM. Thanks for your prayers.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today is my dad's 52nd birthday!! He is the best dad and pa anyone could ask for. Hope you have a super great day!! We love you, Chad, Mandy, Max, Sam, and Ben!!

Keep Ben in your prayers

he is getting tubes tomorrow morning and hopefully this will help us avoid all of the antibiotics he has been on in his short 6 mos. of life. We have to be at the hospital at 6:30AM and will hopefully be home by noon!!

Just thought I would post some pics of him before his first hospital adventure tomorrow.

He really loves his first tast of biter biscuit!! I wonder if he actually ate any of it?

OH, please do not leave me in here, I do not want to go to sleep!!

Oops . .

I forgot to post pics of Ben adding his ornament to the tree. He would have rather eaten the thing, but hey, at least we gave it our best shot!! (I also told Chad he need to look more pleasant. He looks awfully grumpy in these pics)

Decorating the tree

My kiddos just love decorating the Christmas tree. Needless to say all of the ornaments are about waist high except for the ones I will not let them touch. (Chad has bought me an ornament every year we have been together!!) We decorated the day before Thanksgiving and I have been so busy since then that boxes and other decorations have been just laying around my house. It looks terrible. (Okay, so I was not really that busy on Sat. or Sun. but I was still trying to recoup from the 18 hour shopping day on Friday. Yes I said 18 hours just ask my mom, Annie, or Katie. Our bodies were very sore after that expedition.) I am hoping to get Chad on the outside decorations on Weds. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Bath Time

Ben just loves to sit up in the bathtub (today was his first time). He thinks that he is so big and it makes me a little sad when I realize this is the last time I will be doing some of this baby stuff!!



This last pic is for Aunt Annie. Do you think Ben needs another hair cut??

Funny Kids

Max and Sam really wanted their pictures taken after they caught mommy taking pictures of Ben. They put these bracelets on their heads and thought they were so clever. Don't all men think they are clever? :) (I really do bathe Sam, he had just gotten into the oreos)

Happy Halloween

So I thought I better go ahead and post Halloween pics because I really do not know when I would get around to it if I did not do it tonight!! The kids were so excited to get to dress up and go trick or treating. Max was very upset when we had to go home. I must say Max, Sam, Ben, and Emily were some of the cutest dinosour, pirate, superman, and wonderwoman kiddos I have ever seen.

Ben and I had the honor of playing Mary and Baby Jesus during the Nativity scene at KidFest. I have to say, Ben was the hit of the show and he enjoyed all of the attention.

I do not know if I will ever get a decent picture of these three together, it seems next to impossible!!

Just for fun...

we went to the new playground the city just set up in woodward. Everytime we drove by Max asked if we could stop and I thought we better give it a try before it got to chilly. The boys had a blast and of course threw a huge fit when it was time to go, but we had a good time!!

Just some pics

My friend Tina just e-mailed theses pictures to me. She took them at the Homecoming pep assembly and at the parade. Mom forgot her camera so she did not get any pics at the pep assembly. I thought the pic of Sally and Emily was really cute so I decided to past. Then Max and Sam told me that they wanted their pictures on the computer so here they are!! They just basically ran around on the bleachers during the pep assembly.