Christmas Pictures

Christmas Eve

Braving the cold to put reindeer food on the front lawn

Proof that Santa leaves gifts for nice and naughty children ;)

Christmas Day

We woke up to snow flurries!

Taking turns feeding her new baby and Barney

All packed up and ready for our next stop!

Christmas Day Part 2
3 days of celebrating+6 different parties attended=exhausted parents and hyper kids! We are truly blessed to have such wonderful families to share the holidays with. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Enjoy your family and friends and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

A Week in Pictures

Aren't they just super sweet?!

Brady and Cate...back when it was warm and dry :)

He has taught himself how to rollerblade...he practices all the time!

Cate is pretty much done with diapers...she likes to be naked..totally freaks her brothers out!

She loves to read on the potty...gets this from her daddy :)

Finger-painting

Mr. Smallie was a bit frustrated with the Gingerbread House he insisted on creating....probably would have gone better had he read the directions and let the icing set for an hour

The look on Brady's face says it all

Hmmm...not quite how the box picture looked

Cate doing her "surprised" look....and look at that first haircut..no more mullet!

Personal Trainer......

Not mine, of course. The thought of that makes me laugh. Ok, so, our 12 yr old son has a personal trainer. Ridiculous, I know. He goes to TTF three days a week for an hour. He seems to really like it and it keeps him in great shape. Scott and I thought it would help with his endurance and strength for soccer, baseball, and swimming, but Carter told his trainer he is just hoping for "six-pack abs by summer" (and he checks on his progress nightly..in front of the mirror) Anyway, I thought all of this was great, until I ran across this scary picture of his trainer.....

No shit. That is the man I pay to train Carter. Is this good parenting or what? Three times a week Chris drains Carter of every drop of energy he has, sends him home in a daze, and I am rewarded with an exhausted, ready-for-bed-way-early kid. Win/Win situation I tell you. And yes, I sometimes do feel guilty when Carter describes some sort of "sled pulling" drill they do, but I keep telling myself it's for his own good :) Last week, Chris came out to the car and asked if he could put a Tanks Training decal on my car window. To which I asked "Seriously? You think that would be great advertising? Don't you think people will see me get out of the car and say to themselves...Clearly that woman does not work out at Tanks Gym"...he just laughed and said maybe this will be incentive for me to start working out with Carter. Apparently, all of that weightlifting has killed off most of his braincells.

Advertising on a filthy car!!

The First Half of December....

Crazy. That best sums up our first 15 days of December. I'll give you the run down....

We....

Found the perfect Christmas tree. Well, not really. We slacked off this year and bought our tree at Lowes. Once home, we realized, it's not really the "perfect" tree...few holes in it, birds nest, missing limbs...whatever!!

We....

aggravated our brothers...

We....

celebrated 8 birthdays (so far). Brady and Drake at Rivercity Bounce House...too fun!

We....

attended Family Fun Day at Brady's school
This is a fun art project. They dip the golf balls in paint and then the kids roll them over the paper. When it dries, they cut out the candy cane and ta-da...cool art!
Cate was not up for anyone touching her stuff!

We.....

Turned 30!!! (Well, Scott did)

Saturday night, my mom, sister, and I attended the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert. Scott took the kids to a local church for their live Nativity...he even took the camera!

We....

After visiting Santa and celebrating Aunt Fran's bday at Pasta House, we went on a horse drawn carriage ride through Tilles Park. Very cold but so much fun
All bundled up and ready for our ride

This picture cracks me up because in the carriage before us, a lady asked someone to take a picture of her group and then she stood up and blocked everyone so only she was in the picture. Fran and I thought it was outrageous...and yet here I am waving and blocking Fran!!!! We finished the night with dessert at Mike and Fran's house. Great ending to the perfect night!

Half of December down....Half to go....BRING ON CHRISTMAS!!!