Winter Fun

The view from our room...

And, no, those aren't christmas lights!!

After the kids went to bed last night, we kept hearing "noises" that we assumed were the kids kicking the wall that their bed is up against. Well when we went to bed, knowing that the kids were sound asleep we heard the noise again. I looked out our bedroom window and there was a large van parked in front of our neighbors house that we have never seen before. I watched for a few minutes and there was some weird flashes of light and obviously people in the van. We watched for a few minutes and decided that it was quite a suspicious situation so we decided to alert the police. Long story short...5 squad cars...8 underage drinkers...2 arrested...6 ticketed...6 parents called to come pick up their kids...

It gets cold crouching on the floor by the window that is cracked open so you can hear what everyone is saying!! =)

Photos...

Brian needed a picture of the three kids for his work truck so I decided to do an impromptu photo shoot since we had had a beautiful snowfall the day before...Here are the final pics....

Here are some from a while back. The kids always ask for hot chocolate after they come in from playing in the snow...

Here are a few of Emily at bath time....she is doing great by the way! She had her 4 month check up last week....she is 13 pounds 6 ounces!! That is bigger than either of her siblings were at 4 months!!

Catching Up!!

I can't believe it has been so long since I have gotten to post!! It has been a busy holiday season! We spent the weekend before Christmas in Freeport. Got "stuck" there an extra day because of the weather. It was so cold, that they even cancelled church on Sunday! It was a bummer because Dad had planned an awesome service and the group formerly known as "The Cronkettes" was going to sing! (Nikki and Heidi, you lucked out!!) We had a great time with family and the kids sure love being with their cousins!! Here are just a few pics from that weekend....

(The Cronkette's!! Thanks for this Lauren!! This was one of my favorite presents!!)

Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed, Brian and I started our work as Santa...and I don't know why I am telling you this...it just reinforces that I am not the mother of the year...but it is comical. We were getting the kids stockings stuffed and wrapping presents and realized that there was some miscommunication between Brian and I and we had no gift from Santa for Kelli. Okay, it is 1030pm on Christmas Eve. My shopping options are limited! Have you seen the great commercials for Walgreens....well next year I will be staring in one called "Walgreens saves 3 year olds Christmas"! I found a perfect doll and a tape recorder with a microphone, which was the perfect gift because Kelli LOVES to sing!! She was thrilled! Thank you Walgreens!! Then on to Andrews gift...We bought him this awesome game table (has a pool table, a rebound hockey table and skeet ball) 3 years ago knowing it would be several years before we gave it to him. We decided that we would give it to him this year, one because he is old enough to enjoy it and two because we are on a serious mission to be debt free so this helped immensely with our Christmas budget. So he loved it and the day after Christmas we opened it up and started setting it all up and it was missing TONS of parts!! So we contacted the company by email and long story short, the company closed its doors filling chapter 11 in 2004 so we are out of luck getting replacement parts!! Nice that Santa sends defective presents, huh?? =) I think it would be easier and cheaper to just tell the kids the truth!! Here are a couple pics from Christmas Morning...

Then we headed over to Keith and Nancy's for a wonderful Christmas afternoon...lots of fun including a rousing game of pictionary...Some photos...

We Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

Ice Ice Baby

We had an ice storm yesterday....today the sun is shining and the ice is melting and it looks like the world is made of crystal!! SO beautiful...the photos really don't do it justice!

Mother of the Year I am not!

Last Thursday we had a few more inches of snow. Brian has been so busy with work and the apartment house and had been shoveling so much the days before that I thought I would be a good wife and shovel for him so that when he got home he would be able to just come in and relax for the evening. SO after I got Emily and Kelli settled for their afternoon naps I headed outside at 1245. I was hard at work and around 115 I heard some kids talking, thought it was kinda wierd because all of the neighborhood kids are school age and school doesn't get out until 3pm. So I just kept working my little tail off! At 125pm 3 boys that live down the street walked by with their backpacks on. I yelled at them and asked them what school they go to...they replied that they go to the same school Andrew goes to. I asked them if they got out early and they said that they were dismissed at 1pm! So I ran inside to find 2 messages on my home phone, and 2 messages on my cell phone. I didn't even listen to them because I knew it was the school calling! SO I ran upstairs, woke up Kelli, whom I had let wear her ballerina dress up outfit to bed and grabbed Emily and went running downstairs to get bundled up. Brian called my cell phone and calmly asked were I was, I broke down sobbing and said I was trying to get out the door! He told me to relax, that Andrew was just fine! He said he got a call from Andrew who was very calm and he just simply said, "Dad, can you call mom. She forgot to pick me up." He was waiting in the school office and just chuckled and said "Hi Mom, you didn't remember that I got out at one o'clock today did you?" I told him I was really proud of him for not freaking out. He said, "Thats cause I am a boy, boys don't freak out!" Too funny! To try to make up for it I was going to play in the snow with Andrew and Kelli after I got Emily back to sleep. However, that boy decided to be very naughty and didn't get to go out with Kelli and I....but here are some pics of Kelli!

Here is Andrew watching us out the kitchen window! Poor thing!

Oh yeah, one more mark against me for being nominated for mother of the year....I burnt dinner! Maybe next year!

Our Youngest Football fan!!

I love how Emily gets her legs going when she is excited so I decided to take a quick video (my batteries were low so it isn't the best quality). When I was watching it later, it cracked me up how she gets excited with the announcer of the football game...Coming soon a video of her in the bath...it is hilarious!! I just always forget to bring the camera up with me! Enjoy! (You may have to click on the play button twice)

Out Of The Mouth Of...Kelli

Today Kelli had me in stitches several times! She is getting so big and her vocabulary is expanding! Here are a couple of classics from today....

She was in one of those shopping carts that has the little car in the front. I was having a hard time steering it and I hear this..."Mom, I think you are having issues!"

I was upstairs putting Emily down and I hear her crying (this is nothing unusual, she is quite the drama queen). She comes running upstairs and into Emily's room holding her arm. "Andrew twisted my arm and scratched it and it was ABSOLUTELY on purpose!"

"Mom, I am going to feed my baby. I need you to sit over there, not by me. I am going to nurse her first and then give her a bottle."

Thanksgiving

Don't they look so cute! We had a little bit of snow Thanksgiving day and the kids were anxious to go outside and play! Brian had been watching a hunting show, so Andrew and Kelli decided to get all bundled up and go turkey hunting in the back yard!

I think Kelli is a little aprehensive about going outside with Andrew and his gun! He had already given her instructions to put balls all over the yard and he would pretend they were turkeys. After he shot them she was supposed to pick them up and put them back in to their toy storage bin. Sounds like she got the part of hunting dog!! They came in and proudly proclaimed that they had gotten 2 turkeys, as well as the one that is below that we ate for dinner (Andrew shot it as I was taking out of the oven!)

Thursday we were at our house with Brians sister and her fiance. We had a great time and lots of good eats! Friday we got our house all decorated for Christmas...these were the only pics I took that day...I missed alot of great photo opps!

Saturday we headed over to Brians other sisters house for homemade turkey noodle soup and fun and games. Here are some of pics from that day!

Brian actually snapped this photo of Dustin and Andrew admiring the fire...priceless, don't ya think!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love!!