Christmas Pictures

Finally took my kiddos Christmas pictures today...here are some of my favorites!








And...our Christmas card picture for 2009! Merry Christmas everyone!!! Praying you stop long enough during this busy time to remember the REASON for this (and every) season!

Picture Post

Here are a bunch of pictures I have neglected posting. They are in random order because I don't have the time or energy to fix them. So...here you go!



Abbigail waiting for more make-up...my kiddos are all baby bunnies in the high school musical this week. This was last night's rehearsal where they all got to wear their costumes and try on the make-up. Tonight is the REAL dress rehearsal.

Bethany is full bunny make-up...she just needs her hair in piggies...

Andrew loving the attention while he gets his make-up!

Abbigail's bat costume. I was worried about trick-or-treating in all black, so I stitched some of the glow-in-the-dark bracelets to the back as her "bones" in her wings.
My kiddos...Jedi, Charpei, and a bat!

Abbie is so proud of her cat!

Andrew did this skeleton all by himself!

Bethany picked up my camera and wanted a pic of us!

Andrew finally cleaning out his "stinky" pumpkin.

Abbigail cleaning out her pumpkin.

Bethany cleaning out her pumpkin.

Andrew at the homecoming parade.

Abbigail at the homecoming parade.

Bethany at the homecoming parade.

BRRRR!! and Skating!

Oh My GOODNESS it is so COLD here!! It was -2 when I took the kids t school this morning, and now it has warmed up to a balmy -1!!! BRRRR!! Thank You, God for our new furnace!!!

Yesterday it was a tasty 6 degrees and I drove the 40 miles to "Little Big City" to go roller skating with our county 4-H group. It was fun, but oh, so FUNNY!! First, Bethany said she did NOT want to skate. Fine by me, that means I don't have to!! So we got Andrew and Abbigail all laced up. Abbie promply fell flat on her tush. Poor girl. They kept falling and kept falling. Holding onto the wall only worked a little bit! Abbigail said she was "terrified of these things!" Then, Bethany decided that she DID want to skate, so back we went to pay for her and I, get our skates, get them on....They had little kids' skates that just went on over the shoe, the kind that do not roll freely. She took off! She was much faster than her brother and sister because her skates gave her some control! They decided that maybe they should have that kind of skates, too. So we unlaced, got the exchange, and put them on Abbigail. While they wear the same size shoe, Andrew's shoe soles are much bigger than Abbie's, and his shoe wouldn't fit inside the skate. :o( So he had to put the regular ones back on. Abbie took off in the new skates. She had a blast in the new skates. Andrew started getting the hang of the skating thing and we had fun! Brought me back to my Jr. High days when that was the "THING" to do! I spent many Friday nights at the roller rink! Here are a few pics of our fun!

Abbie just getting going, Andrew carrying his big skates!

Andrew and his favorite wall!

Abbie and one of her best friends, Hallie.

My little skate pro!

What Bethany and her friend spent most of the time doing...playing on the benches!

Christmas Card pic...

So, I took about 35 pics and I think this is my favorite...Merry Christmas everyone!

Abbigail's Birthday party

We FINALLY had Abbigail's birthday party this Saturday. I don't know how the rest of the families out there do it, but we don't have 'friend' parties each year for each child...I just can't do that! My kids get to start having parties when they turn 6, and then every OTHER year.

Anyway...we went to the city swimming pool on Saturday and invited a few of her friend's to join us. We got there just as they were opening so we could claim a table in the shade. We put a plastic tablecloth down with flowers as a centerpiece (the wind kept blowing them down, so they didn't stay! Oh well, we live in Kansas, what do you expect?!!)

Herand her friends enjoyed swimming, opening gifts, and yummy ice cream cake. They had a lot of fun, but I was very tired by the time we got to go home! Right now she's working on her 'thank-you' cards.

**Here is a hint..Moon sand STINKS! Ok, it doesn't literally stink, but it's a BIG mess, and it gets EVERYWHERE! DON'T BUY IT! And if someone gives it to your kids as a gift, try to return it before you open it up!!! IT's Horrible stuff!**

Blastball, T-Ball, and Softball

All three of my kiddos are playing ball this summer.
Bethany is in blastball (teaches basics of hitting and running to the base, and fielding). Andrew is in T-Ball (the next step up). Abbigail is in her second year of softball (hitting from a pitching machine). The fun thing about Abbie's league is that they get to try all the positions...this last game she got to play catcher. She is so tiny and the quipment was so HUGE. It was absolutly HILARIOUS! She loved it, though! She like catching the ball, and even when it hit the protective gear, it didn't hurt! (Dad, I thought you would be especially proud of her for this!!) Sorry the picture's of Abbigail are so dark. Her game didn't start until after 9:00 in the evening!

More pictures...Wichita trip

Picture post #2...

The first week of June, we went to Wichita to visit my family. We had TONS of fun with cousins, and the rest of the family. At one time, the kids were running WILD (ok, MORE than one time!) and they were told to sit down and SLOW down for a while. Abbigail read them all a story...how SWEET! Don't they look ornery!My mom put water in their hot tub (they don't use it much anymore, so it was empty) so the kids could play in the "COOL TUB!" They had so much fun! My extended family came over to celebrate Abbigail's birthday. We had yummy cake and ice cream! We went to the zoo with my parents and my nieces and my sis-in-law.

Here, the girls are trying to wake up the gorilla by tickling his toes through the glass...He actually did wake up and move his leg...it startled the girls and they jumped back screaming, they almost fell of the bench they were standing on! SO FUNNY!

Here are all our monkey's watching the gorilla's play.

Fishing at the lake

I am going to do a bunch of posts today, hopefully get caught up with the pictures I've been promising you!

First post is about the day we spent at the lake two Saturdays ago. We were there for nearly 9 hours, and these are my favorite pics.

Andrew really enjoyed fishing this day...probably had something to do with the fact that he actually caught 3 fish this day, he was VERY excited! This is the biggest fish we caught this day, the rest of them were very tiny. Small, but still made for a fun day. (we did release all the fish...none for dinner!)

Bethany and Abbigail quickly lost patience with fishing. They made their own fun. Playing in the water, going for walks, laying on a quilt in the shade (this is where I was most of the afternoon!).

Our lake is very beautiful. This is one of the "springs" across the highway from the main lake. This is where we caught our fish (and where I believe I caught the poison ivy! ICK!) Beautiful. (that is Andrew's red fishing pole sticking up in the middle of my scenic picture!)

There was painting in the morning at the kids' activities. Most of Bethany's wore off during the day, but Abbigail's stayed. This is how the girls looked about 2 minutes after we left the lake. SLEEPY gals! Andrew never gave up, though!

Pictures as promised!

I promised that I would post pictures of Andrew's first wrestling tournament...so here they are! This is the picture Abbie and I took right before his second match. Abbie thought she was taking pictures during the first match, but she wasn't holding the button down long enough, so there are no pics of it, here I was explaining how long you have to hold the button down.

These pictures are all from the Andrew's second match, the one he won! Abbigail was manning this camera and I had the video camera. So...thanks Abbigail! Andrew is in the blue...he's the one on top! Here is Andrew just before he pinned the other little boy.

Here are some cute pictures of my little Bethany. She helped me make the "biscuits and gravy" AKA...chicken pot pie the other night. She helped roll out and cut the biscuits. After the pie was in the oven, she played in the flour while I washed some dishes. She looked so cute I went to get the camera...of course in the 30 seconds it took me to grab the camera and come back, she fell off her step stool. Posing for pictures was not on her list of favorite things at this moment, but the pictures were so precious I couldn't keep them to myself.