~Happy Birthday Kale!~

Kale had his 4th birthday today! I can't believe he is already four! He has been SO excited for this day, and has been talking about it for weeks. We had a really fun day with him. After all the excitement we had the birthday cake and ice cream. Kale picked out his own cake. He blew out all the candles in one try. :)

This was his birthday lunch. We always let the kids dictate what they want for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on their birthdays. They have so much fun deciding what they want to eat all day. Kale wanted tacos for lunch, so we went to the Del-Taco since we were up in that area already. (We even called Aunt Shannon to let her know we were going there in her honor :).
We thought it would be really fun to go the The Imagination Station for Kale's birthday. We hadn't gone before, and we really had a great time! This is the gravity room. They had such fun trying to stay upright!

In the Circus section, Carson and Kale decided to try and fit in the box. They did a great job.

Kale was very happy to get his own big bike for his birthday. He can't wait to ride it more once the weather turns better. He liked riding around the house trying it out. We love you Kale! We are so happy you are in our family. Kale was born at about 7:30am on December 30th, and weighed in at 7lbs 10oz. He was grown up so much.

Christmas 2009

Our kids fared very well for Christmas. This is Carson and Dad working on his Twilight Lego ship. It was very complex, but they loved putting it together. Mara love Art. She really like trying out all her new supplies.

To say that Kale likes cars is an understatement. He loves them! He had a great time playing with his new garage and all the cars to go with it.

Kale posing with all his new loot.

Carson was equally blessed.

Mara was overjoyed with all her presents.

Christmas Eve

This is the treat we left for Santa this year. He thought he would be tired of cookies, so we left him pumpkin pie, and cream soda. We also left some oranges for the reindeer. He wrote a little note back, thanking us for the pie, and he also said that Blitzen liked the oranges! Our cute kids in their new pajamas. They love getting everything ready for Santa.

We were lucky to have the Sister Missionaries, serving in our ward, over for Christmas Eve. Sister Hansen, and Sister Carter were so fun! It made our evening so special to have them share it with us. We had great food, conversation, and played some great games. We had a Christ centered lesson about shepherds and make some candy cane bark. Since we were unable to be with family for Christmas, it make it extra special to share it with someone in our home.

Sister Carter opening her present from us. We gave them some warm fuzzy socks, and gloves. They will need it here!

Sister Hansen playing Zingo with us. Who knew that missionaries could be so competitive?!

Winter Wonderland

We finally had enough snow for the kids to play in! We all went for a walk in our favorite nature preserve to enjoy the snow. Kale loves to pick up the snow and eat it. :) He likes to try to throw the snowballs as well.

This is them trying to throw snow on each other, and running from the ones their Dad was throwing. :)
My little snow angels. This time of my life is flying by way to fast!

Special Visitor

We had a very special visitor come to our house today! Santa wanted to let Mara know he received her letter she sent a few weeks ago. He told her that Mrs. Claus really liked it. He gave each child a small tree ornament, and told them what treats the reindeer like. (Carrots and M&M's). He allowed me to take a picture, and the kids showed him where the stockings were hung, and where to put the presents. We are so glad he made the trip to visit, and we can't wait to see what he leaves for us on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas Santa!

HP Touchsmart Computer Review & Give-away

I saw this on a friends blog, and wanted to give it a try! I usually don't enter contests, but this one seemed easy, and fun. I would love to win this computer! Check out this link to see about this great give-away.

www.totallytogetherreviews.blogspot.com


With 5 people in our family, and the kids getting older and needing the computer more, we really could use an upgrade. Having another computer would be so handy. Especially one with so many fun features. Good luck to everyone!

Christmas Recital

Carson did a fantastic job on his piano recital. This is only one of three songs he played. We are so proud of him and all his hard work.

Christmas Trimming

This is the kids tree. It is the one that we put all our homemade ornaments on. Plus, every year the kids get to pick out one new ornament, and we put it on the tree. The kids LOVE to put "their" tree up. They spend so much time picking out the perfect new ornament. It has the look of all their personalities. This is the family tree. It is the tree that mommy decides what goes where on the tree. :)

They are so excited for Christmas and all the fun things they get to do this time of year.

This month has been pretty busy! I really wanted to post about decorating the tree. It happened over a week ago, but I am finally getting around to posting it. :)

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was really fun this year. Lee's brother Jarett, and his wife Shannon, and their kids came to visit from NY. They were able to spend a few days with us, and we loved having them. We had a grand feast, and for some reason I took no pictures of it. :) We went to Micheal's later that evening, since they were open, and grabbed some things we wanted.

Shannon and I decided to try and go shopping on Black Friday. I am usually not one to undertake such chaos, but I thought I would try it this year. We had looked at the ads and had discovered that Toys R Us was going to open at midnight. I thought I would rather stay up late than try to get up early. We arrived at the store close to midnight, and soon realized that we were not going to stay! There were so many people that the line went around the building and through the parking lot up to the street. I value my life more than I value a good deal. I am glad we left because later we heard that there was a riot there, and the police were called. Crazy!

We did go the next day in the late morning and actually got most of what we had wanted anyway. I am actually excited about what I found for the kiddos. They waited in the car with their Dad's while we went into one store since we didn't want them to see. They went with us into Costco, and Kmart, and they did great. I was surprised by how the late morning shoppers weren't frenzied, like the early morning shoppers. It was actually not bad, I might try it again next year!

Mara was a leaf in the Thanksgiving Assembly at her school this year! She did great and was so excited to be chosen to dance. Only 7 kids in her class were picked to dance up in front of the entire school! She wasn't even nervous. She was awesome.
We took all the kids for a walk when the weather permitted it. They loved being outside and running around. My kids really has so much fun with their cousins. They were so happy to see them and spend time with them. They had buddies to play with for days, and got along so well. Thanks for coming Bartholomew Family! We loved having you come, and we hope you come back to visit real soon!

Holiday Parade

Our town had their big Holiday Parade on Saturday. It was really fun! It lasted almost 2 hours. Whew! The kids loved it. I think they gathered more candy from the parade than they got from Halloween. Really. They had many great things to see. It was really nice weather, and Santa even made an appearance at the end. Unicycles. Wow, when is the last time you saw this in a parade? It is amazing they can even stay balanced.

They had many local marching bands. It was really fun to hear them play. They do a great job.

A funny entry. It was a replica of a outhouse. If you notice, it has a satellite on the top. :)

The kids enjoyed the whole parade. They didn't complain once on how long it lasted. They really had a fun time.

Belated Good News

Remember the DVD's that got "lost" on top of my car. Blockbuster notified me that the "lost" DVD's made their way back home. They were turned in by someone! My faith has been restored in man-kind. Thank you whoever you are. You have officially made my day! Now I can show my face in Blockbuster again.

Our little cook

This was our day on Saturday. We went on a lovely walk around Oak Openings, and the weather was great! 64 degrees. I love it! Before we left that morning, Carson make breakfast. Carson has been making pancakes by himself for awhile. He found a new recipe he wanted to try and he was very excited with the results. They were apple pancakes with ice cream. I little different, but everyone liked them. Carson really likes to cook, and help in the kitchen. He will make a great husband someday.

Happy Birthday Mara!

Mara turned 7 years old today! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. She is a great addition to our family. We are so glad we have her. She was born Nov. 8th, 2002 at 7:16pm. She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces, and was 19 1/2 inches long. She was born on her due date! We love you Mara!

Princess Ball

Mara went to the Princess Ball tonight with her Daddy. It was held at BGSU and was for girls 6-12. They all had an escort. Mara has been talking about this for weeks. We told her she could go as part of her birthday celebration. She got a new dress, tiara, and clip on earrings for the event, and her birthday. I admit that I had fun dressing her up, and doing her hair. She is my only girl.:) This is Mara and one of her friends from school dancing it up at the ball.

She was so happy with how she looked, and all her accessories. I even put a little makeup on her for final touches. They really made it nice for the girls. They had activities, and dancing. Slow songs, fast songs, and even group songs, and line dancing.

Mara was really excited to bring her dad as her date. They make a great couple, and look fantastic!

She is so beautiful. I know that I am biased. LOL. She is really lucky to have gorgeous hair, and great big eyes. I really didn't have to do much to make her more lovely than she already is.

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween this year. The weather was fair, just a little chilly. The kids had a great time Trick-or-Treating. This neighborhood is filled with children on Halloween. We actually ran out of candy by 7:30pm. I actually ended up sitting outside on my porch, like everyone else in the neighborhood, to pass out candy. It was incredible how many children were out. I have never seen anything like it. In the past, we have always lived in pretty quiet neighborhoods, so this was really different, but really fun as well! Lee had a great time walking around with the kids, they had fun seeing all the different costumes and of course getting the candy. These are 3 of our pumpkins this year.

Lee enjoyed dressing up this year with the kids. Any guesses on what you think he dressed up as?

Carson was our Special Forces Agent. He was ready to protect as a moments notice.

Mara was our beautiful Japanese Princess. She loves the pretty costumes. Nothing scary for her!

Kale was our fearless Knight. He loved having a sword, and helmet. He thought getting candy so easily was the best thing ever, besides eating it!

Trunk or Treat

Our ward had a Trunk or Treat activity this week. The kids love wearing their Halloween costumes! They had a costume parade, and then were able to collect the candy. They also had dancing in the gym with doughnuts and apple cider. This year Mara is a Japanese princess, Carson is a Special Forces agent, and Kale is a Knight. They are really excited about all the fun activities they get to participate in.Kale kept wanting to make repeat appearances to all the cars. He would have gone back for 3rds and 4th's if allowed. He thought it was great that you could get candy so easily. :)

We carved our pumpkins this week. We had the kids clean out their own this year. They weren't so sure about it!

Carson thought it wasn't bad at all.

Kale needed to go shirtless for the possibility of getting his clothes very messy.

The finished products will be shown, when we have official pictures of Halloween night!