S*N*O*W

We actually have seen and gotten to play in snow this winter! We got about 7 inches of snow today. It was so beautiful.
My parents' front yard

Building our Packer snowman :)


Pictures with my grandma at the Lemay Christmas party!

Christmas 2007: WI Edition

All the grandkids playing with Play Doh

Hannah and Emily having their devotions with Nanny. Notice they even got to

have cocoa coffee!

The beautiful ring my wonderful husband bought me for Christmas. I can't wait to get it sized (obviously a need). I am so nervous I will lose it off my baby finger!

The fam on Christmas

My brother and his family

My sweet Emily playing with Lucy

All six of my parents' grandkids on Christmas!

Everyone with their special Hannah gifts. Gavin got pens, Dana body spray, Chris a pink and blue screwdriver set (he said he couldn't wait to hang that pink one from his tool belt :P), Dakota a pair of scissors, Allison paddleball, my mom body butter and my dad 2-cyle oil. She is too funny! She was so pleased when everyone liked their gifts!

My two elves

Emily in her pimp hat Joseph bought for her ;)

SNOW...we actually got snow!!!!

I've had a tradition for at least a decade and a half of going barefoot in the first snow of the season. Now I even have my kids do it.Yikes, it was cold. Can you tell they are not full blooded cheeseheads?!

The girls just loved playing in the snow. There were lots of snowballs being thrown.....mainly at me :)

Papa even got into the fun. He was the one who took the kids out for me while I packed. MawMaw helped get them all dressed and undressed and dryed our stuff. Spoiled I know!

That's my girl! She picked that hat out all by herself :) She calls it her "Go Packers" hat!

Buddies!

Christmas 2007: IL Edition

Alan and Michelle got to spend Christmas with us after all. It was so wonderful. They flew in Sunday evening from buying their house in NC. It worked out so well.

Hannah and Emily love buying special presents for their family. This year Aunt Carlma got some dish soap. Too funny!

Joseph and Papa were worn out and both passed out on the couch after the party!

Emily and Julianna doing art all by themselves...eeek!

My two angels!

Emily, Julianna, Hannah, Joseph

MawMaw, Papa and their four grandbabies...one more on the way

Julianna liked the wrapping and Auntie Monica's cool ribbon better than any of the presents :)

Auntie Chelle got a scarf from Hannah. Other gifts Hannah bought....Papa=orange cleaner, MawMaw=purple bear, Uncle Gary=silicon spray, Uncle Alan=air freshner for the car. I do this partially bc she picks the funniest gifts, but also because I want my kids to focus on giving more than getting.

Christmas 2007: Cousin School Edition

Last Wednesday we were able to get together for a Christmas Cousin School. It was so awesome because Tammy was able to be there. She even did the art project for us. The kids had such a good time.

Lots of excitement!

All of the cousins.Joseph, Caleb, Breanna, Emily, Makenzie, Hannah, Lauren and Audrey down front. They were such good kids!

Too bad you can't marry your cousin :) Caleb and Hannah are the best of friends!

Happy St. Nick

We have been teaching kids about how some traditions of Christmas got started like stockings and things with St. Nicholas! This morning they woke up to find their stockings by the door. Let me tell you how wonderful my kids are. The girls were up even before Allen so it was a little after 6. I was worried when I saw stockings and candy all over the couch. Well, they remembered which stocking was theirs an ONLY dug into theirs. Joseph's (who was still sleeping) stocking was left untouched by the door. I was so proud of them!

Showing off Auntie Karen's hats!

Who is sugar drunk??? They ate everything in their stockings already. Thankfully I assumed that would happen so I only have them 3 pieces of each kind :)

Christmas 2007: Auntie Karen Edition

Saturday we had our traditional preChristmas Christmas with Auntie Karen. She comes over and we are all in our jammies. We order Chinese, watch the Grinch, then exchange gifts. The kids love that she plays with them on the floor. She is a super Auntie!!!

She bought the neatest scented pencils, books and clothes for the kids. Then she also made them fleece long stocking caps. They are absolutely adorable. Joseph got a camo one, Hannah got a cheetah one and Emily got a tiger one.

Hannah in her cap.....with a creepy wild-eyed look :)

We love Auntie Karen!

Too Busy or Sick of Blogs

All right! I haven't gotten but 3 responses on my last two posts. Are you all busy or are you getting tired of reading and commenting on blogs???

All Boy!!!! Oh boy

I came into the kitchen today to look for my Joseph. This is where I found him!!!!! Yikes, is he ever a climber. Then later today he climbed up to the top bunk in the girls' room. He is only 18 months old. I want my baby to be a baby a little bit longer :(

I also want to brag on my wonderful husband. Last night I had a meeting at church and then had to get a couple of projects done. I came home to the house being completely clean, the kids fed, jammies on and ready for bed. Then I found out that the last load of laundry was in the dryer! He is a better stay at home mom than I! It was such a huge blessing.

Then tonight we ate dinner in the livingroom by Christmas tree light and watched Polar Express on the couch as a family. It was so wonderful! Great start to the holiday season.

I am so very blessed.

Saturday

I couldn't resist these adorable matching shirts for my babies. They did such a good job posing for me. By the time they are 10 they will be more comfortable in front of a camera than a professional model :)

We had a Sunday School decorating party to go to in the afternoon, so we were going to drop our kids by Allen's parents so they could play with their cousin and would help us watch the other kids.

On the way we could have been on COPS. We were going straight on Rt 3 but were stopped at the light. A truck was next to us turning right. All of a sudden I heard brakes, a door slam and before we could get off the line a guy from the vehicle that was on the other side of the truck on the shoulder got out and started beating the guy in the truck yelling like a lunatic "what is your problem buddy". He was the one with the problem. I don't know what he was doing on the shoulder. I think he was trying to cut off the guy in the truck turning right. We went through the intersection. I called 911 right away. Allen got out but didn't want to get near the guy as who knew what he would do. He was yelling at him to stop. This went on for a good 2-3 minutes. One of the guys teenage daughters got out of the car and was yelling at her dad to stop and get back in the car. Finally the guy in the truck had enough (I think he was just in shock that this was happening) threw a punch at the psycho and when the guy reeled back he took off! It was so gross to be witnessing. Allen tried to get the license plate of the crazied man but unfortunately it was a temporary tag!!!

I felt so helpless. I couldn't leave my kids, nor did I really want them to know what was going on. I also didn't want Allen to get hurt. But what do you do in a situation like this? There were about 4 cars of witnesses. All had called the cops, but no one but Allen got out and no one stopped the man. This has really bothered me. What was the "right" thing to do???

We had three kids out of our normal 5-6 from our Sunday School class come to help decorate our classroom for Christmas. They did such a super job. I was so proud of them. It looks like a Christmas explosion in our room...very festive and very sweet!

This is Cody plugging in and unplugging the lights while we all wonder what is wrong with that stupid strand of lights. Finally Karen caught him :)

Kyle and Karen laughing and decorating!

Beth and Carrie taking a much needed break from their vehicle. They stopped by to say hi on their way back to TN from CO. It was SO good to see them all!!!

Kathleen working on the garland in the hallway. Notice her tail :)

So, thankfully the day ended better than it began!

Our Thanksgiving!!!

This year was our year to stay in IL for Thanksgiving. Allen's sister, Michelle, and her husband Alan and their 14 month old Julianna came to visit. The kids loved playing with their cousin. Julianna actually loved all the action and was sad to see her cousins take a nap (she is a little insomniac so there were times when my kids were sleeping and she wasn't...poor Michelle!). They all got along GREAT!

Papa and MawMaw brought up the horse for the kids to ride. That was quite a hit!

MawMaw and the girls working on the chocolate cream pies. Yum!

Papa carving up one of two turkeys he cooked. MawMaw and Papa were up before five to get all the birds ready to cook. Thank you so much! They were wonderful :)

Alan making his yummy rice dressing. Hmm...has anyone noticed that I am not pictured in any of these cooking pictures? It is no coincidence??? What was I doing?

You got it!!!! Watching my Packers feast on the Lions :) It was so much fun to watch. I was supposed to be on clean up duty, but we ended up eating at half time. I was excused from that as well. How spoiled am I? What did I do to contribute? I am afraid not much...perhaps it was just gracing everyone with my presence.....nope that can't be it!



Uncle Gary and Aunt Carlma enjoying the Packer game with me.

Alan's aunt Kathy came with Alan and Michelle as well. She told us all about her boyfriend :) We enjoyed teasing and scaring each other the whole holiday! She helped me cheer for the Packers as well :)

Joseph enjoyed the freedom of growing taller. He is now able to get himself up on a lot more things.I love that smile!
Miss Julianna decided this weekend that walking would be much more efficient. I am not sure if it was cousin peer pressure or the desire to keep her fingers out of harms way that inspired her to walk. Way to go, Julianna! Here is Uncle Allen helping her get started.
This was so sweet. Julianna was getting fussy and was crying. Joseph came in a gave her his blanket. Now you have to understand this was quite the sacrifice for this little guy. He has become quite a little Linus these days minus the thumb sucking. He won't even let his sisters have his blanket. So, it did my mommy heart good to see him ministering to his cousin! Notice Julianna has found a new place to put her finger. Too funny!


There was not much that Hannah liked better than holding "her Julianna". She enjoys being the biggest cousin and loves Julianna to pieces.

MawMaw and Papa with their five grandkids. The sixth is to be here in June. No, no...Michelle is expecting not me. I am not allowed :(