Campfire

I can't recall when this was exactly. I guess that's the problem with blogging every 3 months or longer and not keeping track of what's gone on in life. I do know we met up with the Schultz for a campfire, s'mores and dinner. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Kiersten loves Joel. If she hears that Charlee and Van are coming over she'll ask, "Joel too?". It's super cute. Of course she couldn't resist making a s'more or two with Joel's help.

Happy Halloween

October 31, 2012

This Halloween Charlee was a witch and Van was a little cowboy. The kids went trick or treating around the square in Monticello with their Kairo's classes during the day.. It was SO cold I thought we were going to freeze to death walking around. However, the kids did have a good time and they enjoyed showing off their costumes and getting halloween candy. They all walk together holding a rope to all of the different businesses and stores around the square. They have done this for years apparently and all of the businesses enjoy passing out the candy to the kids. That evening we trick or treated around our neighborhood. This neighborhood, as I've mentioned before has a lot of kids, so trick or treating was a lot of fun. The kids walked around with our next door neighbor Jackson- who is pictured below with Charlee as Iron Man.

Oct

Cocoa and cookies

I can't believe it's been a year since we did this last. This year Van tagged along too. I could not believe how incredibly shy and timid Charlee was with Santa Claus. She was not about to run up and voluntarily sit on his lap, let alone tell him what she wanted for Christmas! No matter how bad she wanted something. We finally coaxed her to go tell Santa that she wanted a Barbie for Christmas. You can tell by the pictures that she was just about ready to run and hide. Van wanted nothing to do with Santa. He even came right up to Kiersten and him while they played trains and he could've cared less. He barely gave him a second glance. The event was held at the Decatur Children's Museum.

Christmas Cards

As usual, I like to get my Christmas cards done and sent before December 1st. Here are a few that did and didn't make the card. We were real proud of Charlee because she took the picture of mom and dad and it actually turned out pretty good!

My Babies

My little angels wearing their beanies. Carly sent this beanie to Charlee for Christmas. She bought it in Arizona from a church member there who lives in her missionary area. Van loves his "skeleton hat". I love these guys.

Ice skating

Again, my horrible memory won't let me recall the date we went ice skating with the kids. But here they are: Charlee, Van, Leah and Kiersten sporting their tiny ice skates. I can't believe how tiny they make skates! Van, you were extremely whiny this day. You didn't like the cold, you didn't like the way the skates felt in your feet. It was rough. The girls did great though and seemed to have a good time together as usual.

Ward Christmas party

Our ward put together a great Christmas Party this year. I know Brother Travis Winkler in particular really went the extra mile in putting it all together. We were asked to dress the part and do our best as families to dress like we were living in Christ's day. So naturally, we gathered all of the robes and scrap fabric we had to make things work. The night began in the chapel as we watched a movie about the birth of Christ. It was cool to see the entire ward dressed up and sitting there like that. Following the movie we entered the gym. Each family had put out a picnic blanket on the floor of the gym and we were asked to so together as families. Around the perimeter of the gym they had various tables set up with food. We enjoyed the night and were glad to have a great ward to be a part of.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we got together with some friends from our ward. The Knights, Hobsons, Salisburys and Springers. We made entirely WAY too much food. Hobsons made an excellent deep fried turkey in the Fry Daddy in the front yard, the Knights made a traditional turkey. I made a Raspberry Cheesecake. We had 12 pies. Ridiculous. We shoved our faces and had a great time. Now, between the families we had 16 kids. That's a lot of kids- and believe it or not they all ate together in the Garage and let the adults have a nice time! Joel and I were surprised at how well Charlee and Van did. They just fit right in and had a good time. That is, right up until the end when Van pooped his pants and then decided to take his pants off and walk around the place. After things were cleaned up in the garage after dinner each family made a gingerbread house thanks to LynnEl Springer who provided all the pieces. I am a little disappointed in myself that I didn't take any pictures of anything from the day. I will have to make a better effort in the future.