Christmas Eve Family Photos!

After MANY attempts at a Christmas Eve photo, we finally achieved success! It is always an adventure getting everyone together for the pic...only one small problem with this one---no Cyler Jingles. Oh well--we will try again next year.

The Flannel Shirts!

Aunt JoJo decided that the boys needed new flannel shirts for Christmas. Well, here they are! Of course the group pic attempt didn't work out too well, but we tried! Cousin Jacob is such a good sport showing off his flannel, too!! 

A's cell phone!

A found a new toy! Grandma gave him an old cell phone to play with for awhile. He loved it! He walked around all day making calls. And when Aunt JoJo made all of the kids put their phones away during gift opening, A hid in the corner with his so he wouldn't get caught!

The Gingerbread Boy?

The boys and I went to see an adorable puppet show called 'The Gingerbread Boy'. They wanted to make their own Gingebread boys, but we couldn't find any Christmas cookie cutters, so we settled for 'Christmas' animals instead. They had a blast messing up Grandma's kitchen!

SNOW DAY in Iowa!!

There is no snow in Kansas so we had to come up to Grandma and Grandpa's to find some snow! The boys had a blast! They have come along way from being terrified of it a few years ago! We didn't have any snow boots, so they had to play in their rain boots! Good thing Grandma Santa Claus bought them boots for Christmas so they could be warmer next time. And of course, we had to end the fun with cocoa and homemade marshmallows!

Baking is COMPLETE!!

Here are our baking creations this year. We attempted Jell-O popcorn this year. It was really pretty, but not our best work. We did stick to the old stand-bys---coconut macroons, star cookies (minus the stars b/c I COULD NOT find them anywhere!), and Daddy's favorite peanut clusters! I wasn inspired by the Smuckers commercial, so we took the boys on a trip to the neighbors to deliver our treats!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

After a really fun night driving around Johnson County looking at the beautiful lights, we headed home to see if we could get Santa to come that night. We set out cookies. We put on our Christmas jammies. And we of course, did the reindeer dance. Well, what you know! It worked! The 'Elfinator' let Santa in the garage door and he dropped off lots of goodies for the whole family!

He said what?

C is quite a character. When we say ornery, we mean ornery! Here are a few things he has said lately...

"Mommy--I threw the elf on the shelf away. He was being bad and I told Santa, OK?"

"Mommy, today for lunch at school we had chicken nuggets, green beans, and BEER! Ha Ha Ha!"

Christmas Programs Galore!

This is the week of Christmas programs! B and C had their first one at Sunday school. B did a great job singing his heart out. C had a little stage fright and spent the morning on mommy's lap. C and A just finished theirs up for their preschool. It was so sweet. Even A was up on stage singing his songs! We are so lucky to have a great daycare for the boys!

We now have a Mr. 4!

C is the big 4. He is pretty confused by his birthday, Jesus' birthday, winter, snow, Santa. It's a lot to take for a little boy. He does know one thing for sure, he IS a superhero and having a batman birthday party is SUPER fun! He was way excited to have his buddies over to help him celebrate and our friend Stasi made some yummy cupcakes (estsy helped us with the cool cupcake picks!). And the highlight for Mr. 4---getting to have a whole vitamin each day instead of just a half of one. Oh--it's the small things in life!

Turkey Day

We were so lucky to have the Jansens join us for Thanksgiving. The boys LOVE their cousins. I wonder why! They are spoiled rotten by them. We had a great trip with shopping, eating, shopping, and more eating! A enjoyed his first turkey dinner and passed out quickly after dinner!

Christmas Tree Time!

We got out our Christmas tree to decorate our new house for the first time. We get to laugh every year about this little Charlie Brown tree and remember how Aunt JoJo talked us into buying it many years ago. Every year Matt spends about an hour fixing the lights. This year was no different, but he was a good sport about it. The boys were thrilled to being decorating and hearing the stories behind the ornaments. The 'trip' ornaments are their favorite. B says he liked the skiing trip the best (ummm....he wasn't even a figment of our imagination when we went on that trip, but OK!). C and B posed by their creation, but A wasn't willing to join in on the photo shoot like usual.

Pilgrims and Indians! Oh my!

The boys were thrilled to look forward to Thanksgiving after the sadness of another Halloween passing by. Each of their schools had a special Thanksgiving feast. B had to bring in a crock pot full of green beans! That's a lot of beans! Needless to say we are still eating them! And C and A each had to bring in one fruit for a fruit salad. C picked blueberries as his favorite. He actually asked for them weeks ago for a 'pie' that he and his buddy Martin were making! I am pretty sure I have never seen him eat a blueberry in his life! Oh well. It was so much fun picking them up from school in their new hats! How fun that their teachers are telling them all about this all important FEAST!

Looking forward to the next big holiday!

Today the boys and I took our annual Christmas card photos. I try to pick the last nice day of fall so I can get them outside. It is always an adventure and I usually end up very frustrated. It actually went pretty well this year, except for A--who only wanted to eat sand. C made me feel better about my difficulty getting A to pose--he is always on the lookout for the next holiday. Today he said, 'Mommy, is it chicken day yet?'. Too funny!

Halloween Treats!

I forgot to show off the treats! B is obsessed with 'cooking' Halloween food. So here is our ghost cookies and spider pizzas. Too bad the kid was sick and couldn't pose. C stood in for him! OK--now I think Halloween is over!