Christmas Tree

We love going to look for a Christmas tree and finding the perfect one on the lot.  This year there were lots of different colored ones that the kids thought were pretty cool, but we settled on this tall skinny one instead.

 We got it home and the girls helped me put the lights on and then everyone helped with the decorations.

 And we had to hang our stockings too!

 This is the final product of all the kids' hard work today!  We're so excited it's Christmas time!

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We decided to take a road trip to Iowa this year for Thanksgiving.  Josh's sister Dixie and her family live there and it's been so long since we've been out there.  The kids were excited to go even though it meant a 14 hour drive to get there.  But Josh is a pro at driving through the night so we packed up and left Tuesday night after dinner.  The kids watched a couple movies then we all fell asleep until the next morning.  When we woke up Josh told us we were 45 minutes away!  Just like that we were almost there.  It worked out perfect.  We got to Dixie's and had breakfast and put Josh right to bed.  Scott and Dixie live on a farm and have 950 acres of land all around them.  It was so fun for the kids to be able to get out and run around in the open space.  They helped feed the chickens, gather eggs, feed the cows and all those farm life chores.  They thought it was awesome. 

Liev made fast friends with Nolan and was so excited to learn to shoot the bow and arrow.  He was a pro right from the start and that's all he wanted to do the rest of the week.

Thanksgiving Day was great.  Robin, Guy and their kids also drove out for the week and Andy flew in to be with the family too.  It was a great gathering of loved ones.  

All the cousins at one table - looks like too much fun!

 Rease and Rhen organized "I'm thankful for..." decorations.  They had everyone write down what they were thankful for and hung them up all over the house.  It was so cute and turned out to be the perfect thing for this Thanksgiving Day.

 Before we started for home I had to get a couple pictures of Keen and the animals that he fell in love with in Iowa.  He is an animal lover and could not get enough of the kitties and the dog.  He played in the garage all day everyday that we were there.  

 A picture of all the cousins.

 There was an ice storm the day before we left and this is what our van looked like as we were trying to pack it up.  It was so cold that the ice never really did melt until we were well on our way home.  

 And this happy camper made it all the way there and back without much of a squeak at all.  He was the best boy and actually so were the rest of the kids.  It was a great trip overall and we are so glad we got to go see Scott and Dixie and spend Thanksgiving with family!

Little Fire Chief

I'm not sure where we got this hat, but since it showed up at our house Beck can't stop wearing it.  He looks so darling though I can't resist those chubby cheeks!

Urinal

Josh took the boys to the bathroom at Costco and they thought these toilets were the coolest.  I love seeing these little buns peeking out at us!

New haircut

Keen's showing off his new haircut and how handsome he looks.  I was pretty sad to cut off his long hair, but it is actually a great change.  And he looks so cute with his shorter hair!  Perfect cut for the winter months!

Josh's ankle

Josh plays on an indoor soccer league with Andy.  They've been playing for about 6 months now but just recently they've had a string of injuries that makes me wonder if they should keep playing.  The latest one happened this week in a late night game.  When Josh was leaving the house I told him to try not to get hurt.  When he got home this is what his ankle looked like.  

 And this is what it looked like after 2 days.  Poor guy had sprained it so bad that the bruising and swelling went all the way up his calf and down to his toes.  We got some crutches for him and he's been getting around on them pretty good.  Oh how I wish he would just listen to me!  Here's to a quick recovery...

Muscle man haircut

Josh just gave Liev a haircut then had him pose in the mirror.  He is the skinniest boy with his ribs showing and underwear hanging off him!  But we love him showing off the muscles he has and his new haircut!

Rease's report card

Rease's teacher Miss Buker told us that she loves having Rease in her 3rd grade class.  She is a great leader and helps so much around the classroom.  She is also in the School of Rock for reading and the Monster Math group.  We are so proud of Rease and the good student she is!

Rhen's report card

We had parent teacher conference and Rhen's teacher Mrs. Woolley had only good things to say about her.  She said she is a great student and is becoming such a good reader.  She also says she is very respectful and fun to have in class.  She challenged her to get to level J reading so that she can join the School of Rock for reading.  Rhen is totally motivated to get working on that now!  We're so proud of her and her good grades!

Rease's piano recital

Rease has had such a good year with piano.  They had their year end recital tonight and she got to play a Harry Potter song "Hedwig's Theme."  She has been working very hard and even though it was a hard piece, she did really great!  I am so proud of her and all her hard work!

The Big Sock

Keen is pretty good at getting himself dressed in the mornings.  Besides the occasional inside out underwear and pants on backwards, he does good.  Today he put his sock on both feet and said, "look mom I got a big sock on!"

Volleyball

Rease played in her first volleyball league this year.  She was so excited to be old enough to play.  She had a fun little team and a great coach that was really positive and good with the girls.  He taught them each to serve overhand and Rease got to love setting the ball.  It was a fun season for her and I look forward to many more ahead.  I think she could be a great player with her height! 

The kids all loved going to watch her play too and were so excited to go every Saturday morning to her games.  Keen lovingly called it her "volleybally" games!

James Bond

Greg got us tickets to see the premier of the new James Bond.  The boys had to pose just like James and act like they were just as cool.  

Liev's school work

Liev loves his preschool class and teacher Miss Melanie.  He comes home almost every day with some sort of artwork or project he's done in class.  It is right up his alley because he loves to color and draw.  Here is some of his best work, including his name that he has recently learned to write on his own.  What a kid!