Wednesday, December 31, 2008

DeAnna's Playhouse Fun

Yesterday afternoon we headed to DeAnna's Playhouse for some afternoon fun. The kids had a blast as always. The cool part was that we had the whole place to ourselves for about 45 minutes. A great way to tire them out before nap time. My mom joined us as she'd never been there before and was pretty impressed with the place and thought it'd be a great place to take the kids on a day that she has them.
Kolter is finally at the age where he could even enjoy.
So serious, yet so cute, at this particular moment.
Not so sure about this spinning top thing.
Loving the car though.
And loving it when sissy pushes..
Kenz pretty much played house and store the whole time.
Koop enjoyed the mini tramp.
Kenz rocking her baby to sleep.
A future pianist?
All and all it was a great day of fun play!!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Oh Deer

Finally.. meat for the freezer!
As the season is about to end Bryan finally got one so we could restock our freezer. It's a nice fatty doe that Kennedy has yet to name. Bryan wasn't all about me posting, as it's not a buck, but it's a memory so he gave the okay. The kids reactions were priceless.. Kennedy was all about it. All about touching it and checking it all over asking a zillion questions about everything she was seeing. Kooper, well, he was scared and wouldn't leave the step in the garage. Kolter thought it was funny and kept laughing when we were in the garage. He does get excited when Bryan comes home so perhaps he was more amused by that than about the actual deer. Either way it was exciting. I am glad that we'll have some meat and that the hunting season is nearing an end. I also think shaving the beard is what helped so I'm sticking with that theory. :-)

Our Last Christmas Party of 2008

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated Christmas with my dad and fam and had a wonderful afternoon together. Everyone was a tad annoyed with me and my camera but this may be one of the last times were all together for a long while so I know they got over it. Bree and Kyle leave for FL, permanently as he finishes up his Chiropractic studies for the next 3 years, and my brother heads back to CA where he lives on Friday. Charlie and Ashley's wedding will bring us all together again come June, but that's 6 months from now. So anyway this post is primarily just some family pics from our party yesterday. We did have some professional pics taken that day so that's the reason most of us are in black. We don't typically all wear the same color on most Christmases. :-)

Bree, Ash, Russ, and Me (it's not fair that he makes us look so pale)
Bree, me, Ash
Russ, Charlie, Bryan, Kolter, and Kyle
Deb and my dad
Me and B. (all nicely shaved) I can't tell you how much I love the fact that the beard has retired for the season. I told him that maybe he'll get a deer now because he shaved. :-)
Kyle and Brianna
Charlie and Ashley
So cute.. Kenz and Auntie Bree
Kenz and Bentley (aka Benny Boo Boo) This poor pup took so much from her all day. She wouldn't leave him alone and actually played with him more than any of her new toys. I'm sure he was thankful when it was time for us to head home. He'd escape from her any chance he could. She always found him though. Poor pup. Such a great sport though.
Oh the love..
All he wants is to be left alone.. you can see it on his little face.
Our sweet little Kolty trying to climb the stairs... he realized he can go up just not down.
Ad last but not least, Koopy! He didn't eat much but did a fine job with his milk. He even let some drool onto his chin. Nice!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Day

We started the morning off with a little birthday party for Jesus. Instead of cake, though, we opted for cinnamon rolls. Singing.
Kenz blew out the candle.And even rejoiced when she was done.
Kolter, well, he just sorta took it all in.
After breakfast came time for stockings. (or cute little bags that suffice as stockings)
Lots of goodies were loaded inside.
After the stockings they very much enjoyed opening up gifts.

This one even had Kolter interested. He wasn't really all about opening presents. He was more into crawling around checking out what had already been opened.
A sweet Christmas smooch. Sometimes they just love each other so. It melts my heart.
A princess doll for Kennedy. All she wanted for Christmas was princess stuff.
The doll came with a special crown just for her. She wore it most of the morning.
Kooper having fun playing with daddy and his new mini Buzz.
Miss Thang still in the crown playing with Koop's new scooter.
Kolter waving hello!
Our sweet little peanut enjoying his 1st Christmas.
Kennedy as well...
And Kooper too.
We took a couple for memory sake with the self timer so I thought I'd add one of us as well.
Another of our pretty girl all ready for party #2.
After our fun filled morning we headed to another family gathering with my mom's extended side. My brother moved to CA in Feb. so it's been almost a year since we've seen him. He is SO tan. It was fun for all of us, including the kids, to catch up with him.
Koley was laughing about something in this pic.
Cousins~ Grace and Kennedy had a blast playing together.
All the cousins minus Kooper and Kolter. They kept crawling out of every pic we attempted so this was as good as I could get. We gathered at a church so the kids had a blast running about and making an absolute mess of the nursery. It was a perfect setting for a large group gathering.
The kids crashed hard after party#2. That was a good thing because my parents came over later that night for party#3. I didn't take a ton of pics, if you can believe it, so I'm going to end with this one of Kooper and Kolter. Overall it was a very busy, yet enjoyable day. We thank you Lord for sending Your son.
Glory to God in the Highest!