Merry Christmas

So much has gone on since the last time I posted.  Blogger and I have not been getting along, but I think our Internet connection is more to blame than anything else.
Kate turned 2 at the beginning of October.  She is a true joy to our family and has filled in the youngest child position perfectly. :)  Jaren turned 10 a week ago.  It's hard to believe that he can be that old.  Jaren loves to pester his sisters and is constantly reminding me of what my brother was/is like. :)

Erica showing us her real side. :)  Yes she is an ornery one!

That's a little better.  Now you can see the other ornery little girl. :)

Kate enjoyed helping bake some Christmas treats.

1st Christmas gathering...Bethany read the Christmas story for us at  Farm G&G

The three oldest kids played Christmas carols for us this year.  What a special treat.

The girls all got fun socks!

2nd Christmas gathering...can you tell who thinks she's the center of attention. :)

3rd Christmas gathering...9 of the grandkids eating a delicious lunch at Town G&G

The two littler ones stuck at the adult table...Klayton was being a stinker and refused to look. 

Typical cousin play...never a dull moment when these two are together

Grandpa reading the Christmas story to the grandkids.

 

We had a very blessed Christmas and got to spend a lot of time together with family.  We hope you had a wonderful Christmas also.

Summer is getting away from us

This summer is seriously just flying by.  Thankfully the kids have had way more good days than bad days and overall have done a great job of hanging out together and entertaining each other.  I am ready for school to start though to get into more of a routine again.  Here's a quick photo run through of what we've been up to. :) 

We planted sweet corn that we are now enjoying a lot.

We checked on the cattle. :)

We've had heart to heart conversations.

We celebrated Town Grandma's 60th birthday (the kids joined us for dessert)

Jennifer & I took the young men on a date to Incredible Pizza

Kate was priveledged to join the boys on our date.

We went camping with our cousins and enjoyed water fights, riding bikes and bonfires

The three oldest kids took swimming lessons

 Jaren played his first year of Minors baseball

His team came in as the 1st place championship team

We've spent many, many hours in the pool.

Bethany had a little party with a few friends

Kate got rewarded after she braved the ER again :)

We had a wonderful camping vacation in MI - I will post about this separately.

Easter & Bowling

Friday night was a wet, rainy night so Farm Grandma thought it would be fun to go bowling. I honestly wasn't sure how we would manage Kate during that time, but she did a great job of entertaining herself and obeying the rules. :) The older three had a blast (and so did the adults).Our little drama queen :)
Jaren did great with a score of 125

This shows the craziness of our group minus Grandpa - Erica lounging on the floor, Bethany making sure the balls go the right way (adult on one side/kid on the other) Jaren & Grandma discussing the scores and Kate coughing. :)

Kate LOVED playing with the hand dryer

Best Friends

Look at that form - too bad I still beat him :)

Now we move on to our blessed Easter day. There were lots of kids running around so full of life and just plain having a great time making memories with their cousins. Looking at the picture below I'm surprised no one was run over with all the ride on toys & scooters.

The kids table

Klayton & Kate enjoyed eating together at the "toddler table"

HAPPY EASTER!

Pine Wood Derby Races

A couple of weeks ago, the kids got to participate in the pine wood derby car races at the mall. A huge thank you to my dad who took the time to cut out each can and get them ready for the races. The kids had a great time painting their cars and also racing them.Giving Grandpa bigs hugs of thanks.
Showing off their medals & trophies

All their cars - starting with the pink (Bethany, Drew, Lauren, Erica, Erica, Reagan, Reagan, Luke, Luke, Jaren, Jaren, Bethany). Drew, Bethany & Jaren also won best of show for their cars - Bethany's pink on and Jaren's Angry Bird cars.

A fun race where the winners were facing off - Lauren, Reagan, Bethany, Luke & Jaren

Watching their races

Enjoying their front row seats

Kate enjoying her snack :)

Loving her daddy :)

Boys: "We want money for some food."

Me: "If you let me take a nice picture of you I'll give you some."

This is as good as it got. :)

Lining up to race their cars in the PreK category