Christmas Eve....Justin's parents....

 Shortly after we arrived at Grandma & Grandpa Gaerte's house, Lance appeared proudly to show me his "handy work" that clearly went well with his football sweatshirt....then when I questioned him what he used to make those marks, he promptly and still proudly held up a permanent black marker. Then he saw the shocking look on my face and then learned it was not such a great idea....So what do I do, hurry get my camera and snap a picture....then he was embarrassed to no end! For future reference a moist make-up cloth took it right off with a little scrubbing.

 

 A little group photo before opening presents...

 

 Someone grabbed a pic of us as well.....

 

 Lance read Luke 2 to us all before the unwrapping began.....

 

 Sometime during opening presents George must have been inspired to add this great white beard!

 

After being spoiled with lots of great stuff from G & G Gaerte....Justin decided to give the boys an early gift from us before heading home.....a snowmobile.....he called me AFTER he bought it (not the normal way we do things around here....ahem....) and said "I bought the boys a snowmobile for Christmas." After about dropping the phone, and then reminding him they were already DONE for Christmas...."He said well I got a good deal, amd I know they will LOVE it!" Okay so he's got me there...they loved it...who wouldn't!! I am sure we will get much enjoyment out of it for many years to come.....

DANIELLE

Shopping a little before Christmas...

 Well we got an item that needed returned...we thought it might be better to return it before Christmas actually got here rather than after. So the two older boys were off for the day, and the two younger kids and I plus my mother-in-law headed to town.

 

 Zach thought a trip to the mall, entitled him to a rocket ship ride!

 

 Julia doesn't really looked thrilled, but she was having fun! Really I promise...

 

 So we shopped a little more and then ate lunch which meant time for another ride.....and least that is what Zach said.....

 

                                                               See she is having fun...I told ya!

Fun trip to town amongst all the crowd a few before Christmas!!

DANIELLE

Winner of the Breezy Hat!!

Congrats to Dawn at the 1869 farmhouse for being entry #50, the chosen winner!!!!!

A HUGE "Thank You!!" to Nicole at The Bloooming Button for sharing her fabulous talent with us all. Since we can't send you all a FREE adorable hat, be sure to go get your own with some of that Christmas money you might have received.


DANIELLE

Reminder!!!

If you haven't yet entered the GIVEAWAY for the Breezy hat you need to HURRY and do so!!!
Deadline is 12/31/09, tomorrow at NOON!!!
 

DANIELLE

Another Family Gathering....

 Well here we all are crammed together....and this only a shot of about a fourth of room full of people!

 

 Julia grabbed Grandma as soon as we walked through the door...Great time to take a picture since they looked so Christmasy (not a real word....I know!)

 

 This picture of Julia pretty much describes how much fun we have whenever we go to Grandma & Grandpa Cormany's house......always joyful and full of giggles!

 

 Justin and his cousin Josh teamed up against the "younger" men for a little ping pong challenge....Sorry I can not report who won.....I guess I forgot to ask....

DANIELLE

MORE Snow!!!

 Oh there is something about the way that a snowfall can make everything look so lovely....I fall more in love with the Creator even more every time he blesses up with a snow covered landscape!

 More snow equals more fun....Dad is getting in on the action! The boys had so much fun rolling snow balls all over the yard...great packing snow!!

 

 Here is Justin showing off his start to the snowman......

 

 Forget the snowman....the boys wanted a snow fort!!!! Complete with a plywood top and all...grins...Oh the great memories they are making!!

DANIELLE

Our First Christmas Gathering of 2009....

 After eating lots of yummy food, we started in on some crafts for the kids. My cousin made up some Rice Krispies Christmas trees, they she provided white icing to put on the trees and had lots of fun fixing to decorate them with. Fun and simple enough for even a two year old like my Julia.....

 

 Yet still very FUN for my 8 year old who could be as creative and detailed as he wanted....THUMBS up for this edible craft!!

 

 The second craft was these cute light bulb reindeer ornament. Another cousin spray painted abtou 30 light bulbs with brown paint. The kids got to put on the the brown pipe cleaners (start them in front then twist them in the back like a bread tie). Some kids even added two or three pipe cleaners...for the 30 point buck kind feeling....Then the kids had to wait in line for eyes,  and a nose to be hot glued on. The mouth was made with a simple permnament marker...Then the kids could choose to put earmuffs on their reindeer as well....the band is a pipe cleaner cut in half....then the little cotton balls for the muff part (same ones we used for the nose).....

 

 We did a little exchange ($10) with gifts. Zach was thrilled to get this Lightning McQueen car!

We had a good time and I enjoyed seeing my family...which for the most part I only see once a year.

DANIELLE

Playing Around...

 We have been enjoying some great times playing lots of different games around here....I am not totally sure what is going on in this picture...I think they are sorting to find one complete deck of cards....with little boys who "borrow" cards...a full deck equals a miracle around here!

 

 An intense game of Battle Ship is going on here...I think Justin is loving it as much as they do!!

 

Of course the Christmas season just isn't complete without lots of cuddle time! Here is Zach and our dog Midnight.....who thinks she is big stuff because I let her in the house to cuddle up with the boys for a while....we all enjoy loving on here.....I only let her the on the title right inside the door for her little "visit" then back outside she does...I am have enough animal in the house (referring to kids) I don't need a real one!

 

 "Let it snow!!" We got a great snowfall here before Christmas and the "men" decided that was a great time to head out for a little ice fishing!!! Zach is getting ready to pile in the truck and head out.

 

 Doesn't he look cute all geared up....I love his hat...I'm jealous that I don't have one...ohhh so SOFT!!
BTW they did bring me home some fish...cleaned them....and they are in the freezer to eat whenever we decide to pull them out.....which needs to be soon....they sound YUMMY!!!

DANIELLE

Lots of Crazy FUN!!!

So here is a video of the event that was taking place when I pulled into the driveway after all that cookie baking. Never mind that the children are in an unsafe area where my oldest son could have ran into the other as he rounded the corners.....never mind that our homemade bleachers are totally hillbilly....and never mind that fact that this mama happen to have her camera with her so she could catch it all on video!!!

What race would be complete without an interview from the winner??!! Since Justin is an auctioneer (on the side) he has this bull horn speaker that is perfect to break out on such occassions...smile...

Also Justin just couldn't help himself...he had to interview the crowd also.....no videos needed here, the kids just thought is was so fun to hear there voice so LOUD on the speaker..Remember in these photos that Daddy dressed everyone for this GREAT outdoor event...somewhere along the line someone forgot to tell Dad that purple and hunter orange do NOT go together.....(Funny..but I am not complaining...at least he put a hat on her....grins...)

Well that is just a little more of our Pre-Christmas FUN! More to come...if you can stand it!


DANIELLE

Pre-Christmas Fun.....Baking Cookies

 In early November, we set a cookie baking day for us girls to be able to bake...kid free time....it wasn't that we didn't want the kids to have fun with us...we just had a long list and only one partial day to make it happen. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to make it until around 2pm that day! Hubby ended up having an auction that day so I had to hang with my kiddos until his arrival. So needless to say I actually missed most of their baking....so I did my own at home the day before and that morning before I came to join in on the fun!

 Here is a peek of some of the cookies we made.....Mmmmm! We had cookies piled all over the place! 

When I got that afternoon the kids and I took some regular brown paper bags and stamped them up with some fun Christmas stamps I had on hand...to dress them up a bit....then we piled some cookie/candy goodies in each bag to share with some special people!

 

 Julia & Zach had a ton of fun thinking they were so cool getting to use Mommy's stamps (because that is not something I let them do normally). All went well I only had one stamp pad that was ruined in the process....and it was a cheapy so I didn't really mind.

 

Up tomorrow....I will show you what I found when I pulled in the driveway after baking cookies!!