'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

'Twas the night before Christmas ...

For Christmas Eve we spend the night at Grandma & Grandpa's house with all the cousins. We have done this 3 or 4 times and the kids love it. We love this time even though we don't end up with much sleep. Here are the kids in their new PJ's.

*Megan, Tyler, Jenna, Ian, Brandon, Mya is in bed*

To help us remember what Christmas is all about, we watch Luke 2. It was also a great way to help settle them down to go to bed. Although not much can help when you know what is coming the next morning.
I think Tyler had it the worst. He was up 5-6 times. In the end I think Justin and I ended up with 3 hours sleep. Of course it's only one night and it's just as exciting for us!! Our family stayed in the big bedroom in the basement, so each time the kids had to get up to go to the bathroom, we had to shield their view of the tree, so they couldn't see anything until everyone was awake and ready. It was pure torture!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! I did send out a few Christmas cards, but didn't include my usual Christmas letter. Instead I decided to do it on our blog. This year has once again flown by. It's hard to believe that we are another year older and wiser of course. We continue to be blessed by the Lord in our lives. We enjoy being together in our home and have lots of fun together as a family. We miss our family who are not so close to us and our friends who have moved away (or are away). Now to update you on what's going on here in Nebraska.

Let's start with the smallest... Megan is three and a half. She started preschool this year (twice a week). It was a rough transition for her, but after about 2 months, she is doing great. No more clinging to mom's leg or crying. Now when she she asks, "Where I go after nigh night?" I say preschool. She gets excited and says, "With Miss Cheri and Miss Rose?" She has been in speech for a year now and doing wonderful. She loves to play babies, barbies, color, and play animals with the other animals in our house (her siblings). She keeps us smiling and is a pure joy to have around.

Jenna is 6 and finally has lost her two bottom teeth. The first one she pulled out herself and the second came with the help of her fork while eating dinner...oops! That was a painful one (it was not quite ready to come out). Jenna is in First grade and doing great. She enjoys reading and loves to draw and color. Jenna started gymnastics this fall and loves it.

Our oldest is still a Football fanatic. Tyler is eight and a half and lives for Football. It doesn't matter who is playing or what is on Sport Center, he's there listening and soaking in all the information there is. Tyler played Soccer in the spring and Football in the fall. He does very well at both, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the future. Tyler is in the 3rd grade. He's doing very well in all his studies and continues to amaze us with his memory. I wish I would remember that he's right most of the time when he throws stats at me. Other than playing football or watching football, his other favorite thing to do is play "animals". If you come to the house and hear lots of barking, don't worry we didn't cave and buy a dog, it's just our three little rascals acting like dogs.

I am staying busy with all the kids activities of course, but I am able to get out of the house and work a bit each month. Children's Physicians has been very good to me. I work 16 hours a month and enjoy the perks that come with that (free advice). I enjoy working out at 24 hour fitness, scrapbooking with friends, girls night out and hanging out with my family. Church continues to keep me busy as well. I play the piano in Primary, the Organ (every 6th week) and am the cub scout leader.

Justin is working for Deloitte Tax and enjoying it. He seems to keep a good work/life balance which the kids and I appreciate. He has loved playing soccer in the spring and fall with some friends on a local Catholic league. His church calling is still the Executive Secretary. He is a great help to me and the kids love their daddy!!

During this holiday we hope you enjoy this holiday season and wish you lots of peace, love and most of all JOY! Keep in touch!

Happy Fall!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

It is definitely fall here in Nebraska. I would even venture to say it is Winter some days. I have been ambitious making our Christmas cards this year, so to go with that I always put in a picture of the kids. I apparently I waited too long since it was cold and windy both days that I took the kids out. I promise I only made them suffer for a brief amount of time.

While you're up...

While sitting here at the computer, doing my relaxing in the afternoon thing, Megan says to me..."While you're upstairs, will you get me a snack and a drink?" Justin says she is taking control. I say she is just letting me know that when I do go upstairs, she'd like a little refreshment. It brings a smile to my face every time she does this. Especially when I have no immediate plans of going upstairs.

Another funny thing Megan as been doing now for quite some time is asking where we are going. It usually happens when she is in bed. "Mom, where I go afer nigh nigh?" I'll tell her preschool and she responds with..."with Miss Cheri and Miss Rose?" I say, "Yes". She then says, "Mom where I going afer preschool?" And on and on. Justin thinks I must go go go all the time and she is becoming accustomed to being 'on the go' all the time. It really isn't so.

Rod Works!!

Justin and I have been working on fixing up our home. I guess you could say we are updating it. We recently painted the dining room a nice "red". The room isn't done yet because we need to knock down one of the walls, so two of the four walls are done. I have wanted to get something on the wall but really struggled with what I wanted exactly. I was in Utah in the summer and discovered a fun store, Rod Works. Thanks to a loving mother, she sent me the rod and believe it or not I got it done. I can't take all the credit since the idea came from Rod Works and my brilliant cousin, Julie...here is What I did!! I am feeling ashamed now because had it not been for my husband and his skills with a level, it wouldn't have been so perfect.

The pictures were taken by Justin this Summer while back packing the Wind Rivers in Wyoming.

A Dance with Aurora

I know you need to turn your head (I couldn't figure out how to change it), but I hope you enjoy this clip of Megan dancing. She had just finished watching Sleeping Beauty and was dancing to the song at the end of the credits. At first she didn't know I was filming her, but you see that as she notices me she starts to show off a bit and get a little more dramatic. I love the head movements.

Halloween in Nebraska

Happy Halloween From Nebraska!!

This year we went to hang out with some friends of ours (Strohbehn's, Norlem's, Decker's, and Vaterlaus's). We had a great time. Lots of chili, chips, hot dogs (for the kids, right?) and the usual condiments.
It was really hard to wait to go trick or treating this year. With Day Light Savings, it didn't get dark until 7:00. Is that how it was at your house? Tyler's bag was full before we knew it and Justin ended up pocketing it so he would have room for more. I guess he did the same for Jenna too. I bought several bags of candy to give out here before I realized that we weren't going to be home. Now I have candy coming out of every crevice and cavity.

The kids were so excited this year. It sure is more fun the older they get and that they can use their imagination in deciding what they want to dress up as.

Tyler for example decided on being a slice of Pepperoni and Ham pizza.
His original idea was a puppy dog. After "little" search I told him that I couldn't find any costumes for puppies for big kids, so he needed to think of something else. Plus, I thought he was a little too big for that idea anyway.
This costume is very fitting for him because he'd eat pizza everyday and twice on Thursday. It was an interesting and fun costume to make. It was definitely one of a kind.


Jenna wanted to be Hannah Montana from the very beginning. She got a CD player with Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus CD's for her birthday in August, so she has grown to love her. The hair was quite an ordeal because Jenna has a lot of hair on her own, so getting it to stay on was quite a trick. She was very excited to have make up put on (mascara/eye shadow/blush). She looked adorable. I made a microphone for her (out of a wooden spoon covered in foil and black tape), but when it came down to taking it that night she wasn't interested.


Megan was "Ariel Princess". Her original idea was to be Miley Cyrus. I was game for that, but had no idea where to find a brown wig. I tried to convince the girls to switch. Jenna be Miley and Meg be Hannah, but Jenna wouldn't go for it. After several weeks of thinking I was going to have 2 Hannah Montana's, Megan decided to be Ariel. We went shopping that very night (not for the costume) and guess what she found... an Ariel costume and it was on sale!!
Isn't she adorable??

This is a picture of the girls eating BOO BUDDIE treats that I made and took to Jenna's party. They were a hit! Chocolate pudding/oreos and whipped topping with two mini choc. chips for eyes in the cool whip. You should try it!!