Finally Snow!

Cole and the kids were so excited to wake up to the first snowfall of the new year...really, the first real snowfall of this winter.  After torturing the boys by making them shovel the driveway, Cole dragged them all onto the front lawn to make a snowman...

Kyle

From January 2012

Alec

From January 2012

(yes, the Chimera is up in the yard...it looked quite pretty with the Christmas lights the boys put on it!)

Rolling snow...

From January 2012

Talia and "Crusty the Snowman"

From January 2012

Talia loves to eat snow...

From January 2012

...and make snow angels...

From January 2012

From January 2012

Putting the finishing touches on Crusty, and getting ready to build him a girlfriend...

From January 2012

From January 2012

This is the tree I see when I look out into my front yard.  It belongs to my neighbors across the street. 

From January 2012

I love this tree.  I think it is beautiful in all seasons.  It's such a nice view when I look out my windows. 

7th Grade Science Fair

This year, Kyle was required to do a project and a research paper for the Science Fair.  It was a good chunk of both his Science and English grades for 2nd quarter. 

He did a great job, we are so proud of him!

From January 2012

He swabbed various areas in the school right after school ended one day, then built an incubator to grow the bacteria.  Each swab grew a significant amount of bacteria, with the lunchroom floor growing a massive colony that took over the entire petri dish.  Eww.  Needless to say, don't let your kids go barefoot in school. 

Basketball

Alec really wanted to play basketball this year.  It's the first time in a long time that he expressed interest in playing a sport, so I was really excited.  He's never played before, so I was nervous as well, but he's learning a lot and having a great time!

From January 2012

From January 2012

From January 2012

From January 2012

From January 2012

He's doing really well.  Last night he scored the first basket for his team!  Now, if he could only remember guarding doesn't include wrapping your arms around the other player to prevent him from getting the ball...
;)

Dance

Talia is enjoying dance this year.  It was a rough start for me...the studio we go to is under new managment, and the first 3 months were very chaotic, her dance teacher quit and they had to find a replacement, and they kept changing rooms.  I was very frustrated, but after a conversation with the new owner, I felt like things would be better.  They have been better, it seems she's finally figured out how to manage the studio. 

Luckily, Talia has just had fun going to dance and learning new things. 

Dancing

From January 2012

Tumbling

From January 2012

From January 2012

From January 2012

New Years Eve 2011

I was happy not to have to work New Years Eve this year.  I really wanted to cook a turkey.  I never get the leftovers after attending Thanksgiving, and I always want to make turkey soup with the carcass.  I watch for turkey's to drop to less than a dollar per pound after Thanksgiving, buy one and stick it in the freezer. 

Cole hates the smell of turkey cooking (yes, he's strange) so I cooked the turkey in my roaster oven in the garage.  I was worried that too much heat would escape, so I covered it over with foil before putting the lid on. 

From December 2011

It cooked perfectly except that the skin on the breast didn't get browned.  Next time I'll wait until an hour or so in before covering with foil. 

Yum!

From December 2011

Our family

From December 2011

(I've been having a little trouble with my camera over the holiday...I finally figured out how I had altered the settings, but this picture was the best of what I had of our dinner...)

We let the cats have some turkey, which they LOVED!

From December 2011

It's our tradition to hang out at home as a family, play games, eat lots of junk food, and light fireworks at midnight. 

The boys were dying to play the Jenga game Grandma and Grandpa gave us for Christmas...

From January 2012

The boys delighted in making the tower as unstable as possible.  Talia, not so much...She put the last piece on before it fell...

From January 2012

and was absolutely devastated. 

From January 2012

We started a game of Life...and Talia got all dolled up...

From January 2012

And then my parents surprised us by dropping by with my niece and nephew.  They had early plans, but decided to drop by on their way home.  We were so glad they did!!!

The boys (Kyle, Parker, and Alec) were playing the playstation...

From January 2012

and convinced Papa to play with them!

From January 2012

Gracie and Talia played with the princesses...

From January 2012

My parents stayed for about an hour.  After that, the boys decided they wanted to play the Wii, and I didn't know if Talia was going to manage to stay awake until Midnight, but she made it...

Our Fireworks..

From January 2012

Getting ready...

From January 2012

The artillery...

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From January 2012

The fountain

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Happy New Year!  It's going to be a great one!

Christmas 2011

I got home around 3:40 am, took some pictures, and crawled into bed about 4.  When Cole woke me at 7:20, It felt like I had hardly slept.  I went straight for a shot of caffeine in Diet Pepsi form. 

We had told the boys not even to think about coming upstairs until after 7.  I'm lucky that Cole is an early riser.  He was up around 6, and heard the boys moving around, waking each other up, and trying to keep each other quiet in the basement.  After Talia had to get up and go potty, he herded the kids into the basement until he woke me...

The kids were pretty excited. 

From December 2011

Talia loved her artist's easel, and dug immediately into her stocking (we usually save those for last)

From December 2011

I love the expressions on her face...

From December 2011

Alec

From December 2011

Kyle

From December 2011

It was a little hard for me this year to see Kyle with only a couple of things to open.  Mostly because he's older, and the days when toys were all he wanted are over...he's growing up. 

He was thrilled with his iPod Touch!

From December 2011

Alec's Beyblades were his big gift, and he loved them!

From December 2011

Lily decided to see what the fuss was about...

From December 2011

Indy crawled right up behind Alec, giving him cat ears....

From December 2011

I love that my kids have always liked "little" things...guys, action figures and figurines.  Talia was excited to get a new Polly Pocket to be friends with her other one...

From December 2011

Indy explores the present Santa left the cats...

From December 2011

From December 2011

Talia made us this magnet board at school....

From December 2011

I got mostly clothes, but also some cool stackable cooling racks for when I bake, and a batter dispenser so that I don't make such a mess when I do cupcakes!

From December 2011

Cole got some nice new clothes as well

From December 2011

After we finished opening, we all got ready to meet at my mom's house for brunch.  I, on my 3 hours of sleep, had a lovely 20 oz Sugar Free Red Bull to keep my energy up...

Kyle, Parker, and Alec

From December 2011

The Fam...

From December 2011

After brunch, we opened presents.  We had the cousins all draw names this year.  Our kids drew Hunter, Parker, and the new baby (Nikko). 

Heidi opens the present we got for Nikko

From December 2011

Hunter thanking us for the "gun and bullets" (exactly what he asked for :))

From December 2011

Talia was thrilled with her Leapster and Rapunzel game from Nana and Papa!

From December 2011

We had the boys combine the boys' Christmas to get them a Wii and a game. 

From December 2011

Alec was beyond excited, and Kyle was happy too, although he's at that age when it's not cool to show it ;)

From December 2011

Snuggling with the baby...

From December 2011

Alec had been dying to hold baby Nikko...

From December 2011

Playing...

From December 2011

I don't look nearly as tired as I feel....

From December 2011

After hanging out with my family for awhile, we went home for a short break and then headed to Cole's parents for a yummy rib roast dinner.  Cole's family is a little weird about pictures, so I didn't take too many.  We enjoyed hanging out for the evening.  We brought the kids home about 7, and I was barely functional.  We pretty much let the kids run wild with their new stuff, I got all ready for bed, and we chilled in our jammies.  We went to bed at 9 pm, and I was OUT.  I slept for 12 hours straight. 

It was worth it, it was a really nice Christmas.  I am so thankful for all the blessings that my family has.