Wednesday, December 12, 2012

o christmas tree


this is how we spent black friday!!

every year we head out the day after thanksgiving to find the perfect tree!!



i guess we had some tired ones on our hands.
the drive was only 30 minutes. 




i am usually the one who gets to make the final decision 
as to what tree we actually take home.

however, this year, that did not happen.

the girls and sam voiced their opinions.

 



the one thing i wanted for sure was a tree with sharp needles.
i thought it might help keep the cats away---
it's not working. 



thank goodness it was a warm day cause it
took forever to pick one. 



it finally became clear to me that we just weren't going to agree...
so, i gave in.



so, we headed home to decorate and drink hot chocolate and eat
yummy carmel rolls.



i decided some time ago that this year we would decorate the tree with homemade ornaments.
i usually want a fancy, perfectly decorated tree and am never pleased with how it turns out.
so...i searched and found some great felt ornament ideas. 



we pulled out ornaments the kids had made in preschool and sunday school as well.



the kids made a paper chain and sof and i made the felt garland.
i love how bright the tree is! 




 we have a bunch more to make but the tree is filling up quickly.



 we craft almost every afternoon.
i have no idea what we did before.


this little lady loves napping under the tree
as well as drinking the tree water. 



we are also enjoying the advent calendar i made.
the last couple years i have wanted to make one but
just didn't get it done.


we didn't have a big budget for this so i used
paper bags i had at home as well as the twine to hang them.

sam and i researched the scripture we put in each one.
it was fun to do this with him.

we filled most with different kinds of candy and in a few
we put fun things to do as a family.

we open them each morning after breakfast!



i found this idea on some website and thought it looked fun.
it took forever! 
but i love the way it turned out!






Thursday, November 22, 2012

turkey day



t > the listening ear of my husband

h > having a job at home

a > a relationship with jesus

n > nice warm slippers on a cold night

k > kids--even on the hard days

ffamily nights

u > usually getting to sleep in while sam does breakfast

llaughing, lots of it


>>>but mostly, i'm just so darn thankful that God loves a sinner like me!





Thursday, November 15, 2012

where has the time gone?


just can't believe she is 10 years old...







a whole lotta treating...



halloween 2012

this was by far our most unique year as far as costumes go

sof and her friend kendall went as dog walkers


a friend from church is a breeder so we borrowed a couple of 4 mo old bulladors





kye-man was a ninja

he was stuck on being spider-man

i searched and searched second hand stores and goodwills but 
wasn't having any luck.  i spotted this ninja costume and decided to get it 
"just in case."  then, i found a spider-man.

anyway, he LOVED the ninja!
as soon as he put it on he instantly transformed into a ninja
doing all kinds of ninja moves. 


this is pretty much how these 2 girls night went.

getting tangled up and running with the dogs.

they didn't really even care that they weren't able to get that much candy 






then there were the roller derby girls!!



we ended up having to split up because these 2 were moving so fast.

somehow, i got assigned to them.

i was literally jogging most of the way.
 



needless to say...they had the fullest bags!!!!



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

a trip to the fire station


kye's preschool class took a walk to the fire station today.



i don't think he knew the fireman would be standing right in front of him when he chose his seat


he loves firemen, but not when they are in full gear and within arm's reach of him


he handled it well.
but when it was time to touch the fireman, he didn't budge from his seat 


sofie and i were the only ones that noticed.
 





sofie's turn


until today lia has been the only one learning to ride a horse.
as a thank-you for watching her 3 boys during lia's lessons
greta, lia's teacher, gave sofie a free riding lesson.




she rode highly, who is so fun to tickle
because he does this






this is how kye keeps busy during lessons




my stylish horse rider
you don't always have to wear a cowboy hat you know 



up next was lia.
and she was super excited to be riding utah
because utah has almost as much energy as she does
and runs faster than the other 2 horses she usually rides 







she got her first lesson in barrel racing and picked it up 
super quick 



i don't think i have seen her concentrate so hard on something 
in a really long time. maybe ever.



fun day at the horse barn!!