*MERRY CHRISTMAS*

From our house to yours~ may you have a VERY
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Tis The Season

What a busy time of year!! We are trying to enjoy it to the fullest. Khara and Kelsey officially started Christmas vacation Wednesday afternoon-YAY!!! I love having my children home!! We are looking forward to two full weeks of them being home from school!! Now, if we could just get Mark home a little more. He's been putting in some looong hours to make sure all of those packages get there in time. That should come to an end after Monday, thankfully!! :-)

A picture's worth a thousand words, so they say, so here are some of the happenings around our home the last couple of weeks:



Kaden in awe over the Nativity Set. (That has been rearranged 100 times yet miraculously escaped getting broken.)


Khara lost her front tooth. It's amazing how much that can change a person's looks. We've had a chuckle or two over that one. :-)


Right before bedtime. It was so loose that I told her I was afraid she might end up swallowing it. That got her inspired-- out it came!!


We discovered last year that we LOVE gingerbread cookies!! Even Kaden "cut" some out this year. Along with the gingerbread boys and girls, presents, and trees, he somehow managed to grab a baseball cap cookie cutter, much to the girls dismay. ;-)


Yummy, yummy, cookies!!


The construction crew for our first ever gingerbread house. LOTS of fun!!


Completed project.


Kaden's favorite--the FROSTING!!! :-)



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Well, Mark is planning on leaving the house around 4 a.m. to join up with some friends to go duck hunting. If I'm going to have those biscuits and gravy, thick country ham, a dozen eggs,...ready by 3 (ha, ha), I guess I better sign off.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

"Iced In"

Wow~have we ever been hit with a storm!! The forecast had been calling for some ice on Sunday. Sometimes they are "on", sometimes not. This time--Bull's Eye!! :-) Sunday morning we woke up to a pretty significant amount and it continued throughout the day. We didn't have services on Sunday so we (verrrry slowly) headed out to my parents house. I KNEW I should have taken my camera. Late afternoon they lost power and that became a very interesting/amusing/... experience especially for Khara and Kelsey. My dad dug out the lanterns and flashlights. My mom melted chocolate for peanut clusters over the stove. (yes, we were getting a little bored and enjoying the novelty or pioneer days :-). For supper we roasted hot dogs over the fire in the fireplace. It was definitely a memorable evening.

No school today, no school tomorrow, and as I type this it is 32 degrees and raining!! :-{

Our front yard.


Greenery and lights on the front porch railing.



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I had my ultrasound on Thursday and the Dr. office called today with the results. Everything came back normal~the fluid levels, the fetal screens,etc. AND, everything is in the right place. I am SOOO thankful!!!! They did tell me on Thur. that the baby already weighed 3lbs. 11ozs. The technician paused and asked, "Do you have big babies??" :-) And, the due date according to this ultrasound is February 8. A Great Report!!!!

Our Wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend

I just love Thanksgiving and this year was no exception!! We spent the day with my dad's side of the family and had a great time. There were 48 of us there which makes for lots of fun!!

With a crowd of that number, you are sure to have a FEAST!! Delicious it was!!


Kelsey with cousin Joey Dodson.


Tradition has it that in the afternoon the girls go downstairs and make crafts while the guys go outside for football and/or paintball. The girls always have lots of fun and I'm sure the guys do as well although they have to pay for it. "Oh, I'm so sore....."





Friday morning, after going to bed a little after midnight, we headed out around 3a.m. with Brenda and Aaron, for some serious Black Friday shopping. (or at least acting like we were :-)

Waiting at K-Mart in the predawn hours. I'm standing beside Aaron in front of the "wise one" in the shorts and T-shirt. The temp. was a very chilly 19 degrees when we left that morning. Can't imagine being in such a hurry to head out that you forget to grab your coat (or long pants)??!!

Enjoying our breakfast 5 hours after getting up.


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Baby News--

Just a quick update. I had a Dr. apt today and things are going well. I measured ahead of schedule again and inquired about the size of the baby. The Dr. decided to do another ultrasound this Thursday to answer both of our questions?? 1-When do we think this baby might actually arrive?? 2- How big is the baby already?? They will also be checking the position of the placenta and fluid levels to see if everything is in the position that it should be. I'm trusting God for a miracle!!

Kelsey's Thanksgiving Party

In response to my question in the previous post, I wanted to let you know what Kelsey ended up taking for her party.


Thanks to those of you who suggested different things. That was interesting!! Talk about food!!!, oh my, they had SOOO much!! Dalton brought dessert pizza, Sam brought a spice cake, Finnley brought Fig Newton Cookies, Sarah brought Strawberry Cupcakes,....for a class of 5 &6 year olds, they had alot!!!!!

One of the activities they did at the party--hollowing out a pumpkin and then they filled it with flowers to give to their teacher.

Hmmm.......any suggestions??

Kelsey's kindergarten Thanksgiving Party is this Wednesday. They will be having an 'Alphabet Potluck'. Sandwiches, chips, drinks will be brought in, then each child is to bring a food that starts with the first letter of their name. (Sam-strawberries, Joe-jello, etc.) Now, for a "K" food, hmmm... she's not fond of Kiwi, nor Kale or Kraut for that matter. :-) So, I'm wondering do you have any suggestions??!! As it stands, we will be taking Kit-Kat bars but I would love to know of other kid friendly "K" ideas. I am really looking forward to seeing how creative others in the class get, should be very interesting!!


In other totally unrelated news, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby Saturday and was very excited to see that they had all of the fall/Thanksgiving decor on clearance at 80% off!!!!

I am very happy with my little Mr. and Miss Scarecrow set that I purchased along with a few pumpkins and other things. Gotta love those good deals!!! :-)

Deer Hunting Weekend

Last Saturday was the opening day of deer season here in Missouri. We were happy to have 5 extra "hunters" stay with us on the Friday night before opening morning. Food is always plentiful and stories are flying!! :-) Saturday dawned very early (for them :), warmer than normal, and extremely windy.


By 8:30, Anthony was back with his kill of the day.



The lone successful hunter of the day.
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Sunday night at church a huge 10 point buck was found behind the parsonage. Some hunter, no doubt, shot it and it ran a ways before going down. Mark and a couple of guys loaded it up in the back of a truck so that it could be dumped. Someone would have really had some good bragging rights!!!

~School Pictures~

I am a very big fan of school pictures. (did I just hear an "Amen" from Brenda) :-) Khara and Kelsey had them taken back in September. Thankfully, we have never been hit with outlandish prices. I think they were $11.00 for Kelsey and $13.00 for Khara's. Khara's were taken by 'LifeTouch', and Kelsey's school went with Kramer Photography this year. They are not always the perfect smile or pose that you would expect from a studio, but definitely priceless when putting them in their school scrapbooks.



Kelsey--Kindergarten



Khara-- 2nd grade (with possibly the last picture where she will be smiling with "little" front teeth) :-)


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Well, I'm off to the Dr. where I get to chug down who knows how many ounces of 'glu-cola' (the nurses title for the liquid), to make sure I am not a victim of gestational diabetes. Thankfully, never have been!!!!! With already having the tendency of delivering "above average size....", AGAIN, I say, THANKFULLY!!!!

**Halloween Happenings**

I am the room mother for Khara's 2nd grade class this year which means I "get" to organize the parties. It was fun attending the Halloween party and seeing what all of the kids were dressed as:



Khara wanted to be a princess. Her flower girl dress from the wedding Saturday came in very handy.

Is the 31st complete without a carved pumpkin?? (Kelsey is also modeling Dracula teeth that they got earlier in treat bags.)



The finished product. (Kelsey, still w/ the teeth.)



Ready to head out for an evening of trick-or-treating!! Cowgirl Kelsey and Princess Khara. (pictures taken in a hurry=poor quality pictures)

Fireman Kaden. I wanted him to be a scarecrow, but he was set on being a firefighter. The hat was grabbed out of the toy box, a little paint, foil + ruler= hatchet; He was "good to go" !! :-)


Taking inventory of the stash.

~Wonderful Wedding Weekend~

This past weekend, my sister Dana said "I Do"!! We enjoyed some very busy days with family and friends decorating and preparing, but at 1:00p.m. on Saturday we knew it had all been worthwhile!!!! They had a beautiful wedding and reception that went very well (although at 2:30 a.m. Friday, and 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning when my head hit the pillow, my nerves were getting a little rattled for them :-).

Rehearsal dinner.



The happy couple-- Dana and Philip Vernon.


Rehearsal time!!


Decorating the reception area.


Kaden's reaction to all of the activity.


Khara, Kelsey, and Kaden with cousin Kaley and Grandma dressed for the big day!!


Vicki, Leanna, and I trying to scuff up the bottoms of some very slick shoes.



Four handsome men-Mark, Kaden, my bro.- Jeff, and nephew, Camen.


Kaden and Leanna.

The wedding party.



"Here's to a happy life...." :-)

"Food for America Friday"

Every year the H.S. FFA class here in ElDo has a "Food For America" event. The students bring animals, tractors, farm equipment, etc. and have little booths set up explaining all of the exhibits. All of the elem. classes take tours and the younger kids are invited as well. They love it!!! Kelsey, Kaden, and I joined our local Parents as Teachers group and made the tour.

Kelsey with her good friend, Megan, getting ready to load the bus.


Kaden on the "big yellow bus", one of the highlights of the trip for these kids who are not in school yet!!




I did ask if it was normal for the goose to have that kind of a "knot" on its head. She assured me for this breed it was, ..... interesting!!



After our tour, Kelsey, Kaden, and I joined a couple of other moms for lunch at Pizza Hut. (you know, where kids eat free?? :-) I had to smile when I gave our table request "3 adults and 7 children (all age 5 and under)". AND, two of us are expecting!! Glutton for punishment ??? Never--just trying to enjoy life to its fullest!!!! :-) Sorry, didn't take my camera into the restaurant, and those are some pictures you would have enjoyed. ;-)