Christmastime 2011!!

At the Christmas Tree Farm

We found the perfect tree--for us, anyway!

Kiddos posing with our tree

Young one found a wooly bear caterpillar

Hauling our tree toward the building to have it baled & shaken

My Honey, the great Christmas tree hunter

Girls posing in front of the Thanksgiving tree we made as we get the Christmas tree set up

Son setting up train tracks for around the tree--his annual Christmas job!

Dad adding the angel

Kids helping add the ornaments

Working together

Youngest trying to get them to stay on!

I really did help--I did not just lie around!

Our 3 little gifts!

Smiling for the moment

My favorite tree pic of the kiddos this year

The finished product (I think it looks the same every year!)

These pictures show us gearing up for the Christmas season, 2011.  I don't know about you, but it seems to come so fast for me, and yet the kids seem to think it takes FOREVER to come!  We're trying to be able to take some time to read some good books (including the Bible!) and stories that remind us what Christmas is really about.  We also enjoy watching some of our favorite Christmas movies together.  (One of our favorites is White Christmas, which we haven't had the chance to watch yet, but we will!)  We love the reminders of God's LOVE through the Christmas season, and try to pass on some love ourselves as well.  We pray that we will continue to learn to love God more and more each day, and learn to love each other more and more each day of 2012!

Some Pictures of Our Family Together 2011

Daddy's Birthday Bundle

Snow Angels!

Who needs snowmen when you can have snowchildren?!!

Mommy & youngest before haircuts on the same day--young one's 1st!  (Not mommy's 1st!)

The 3 kiddos on youngest's birthday

At the park near us--they love the tire swing!

Easter Sunday 2011

A trip to the zoo--looking at the turtles in the water

My girly girls!

Daddy & his girls

Fun in our little pool

More fun together

Girls, girls, girls

Oldest daughter ready for 1st day of school

The 3 girls of the house--1st day of school

My youngest & I snuggling in for a pic

All 3 kiddos playing soccer

Dad playing soccer--a little out of breath!

At the Pumpkin Patch

Riding out to the field to pick a pumpkin

The kiddos & our pumpkin we picked up out of the field

 

 

 

Here are some pictures of our family.  We have a lot of fun experiencing life together!  We kept very busy this fall, and are trying to enjoy more down time at home as a family through the wintery days!  We're looking forward to Christmas break and some extra sleep (I hope!!!!!)!!

We continue to pray for (and covet your prayers for!) God's continual guidance for our family, especially in parenting our kiddos and trying to raise them to make wise decisions and be good followers of Him!  It's a constant challenge, and we're glad we're not on our own to figure it out!

The Adults of the House 2011

May 2011--on a mini-vacation/family retreat

October--I guess these were our costumes!

Our 5 year Anniversary Picture--Always fun to share!

Hauling in our perfect Christmas tree!

Pausing for a picture while we worked on the Christmas tree

The adults of our house have been keeping pretty busy too!  My honey still works at the school, as the network administrator, and still enjoys it.  He also is the Cubmaster for our son's Scout troop, works with Youth at church, and is a Shepherd at church.  He doesn't complain about sharing his room like the girls do.  (I sometimes complain about having to share, though--he's messy!)  I love my honey, and this year we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary!  We're still building memories and dreaming about the future together.  We have also been happy to find a reliable young lady to help us with childcare so we can build some date-nights back into our lives!!

I have recently re-activated my nursing license, and have been finding opportunities to slowly ease my way back into the nursing world after 10 years out.  I am serving as a substitute school nurse for the school district my kiddos attend and my honey works for.  I also decided to sign up as a substitute teacher, and got a certificate to do that.  I've found another group of people to work for as well, offering school health screenings.  I have been keeping busy, but not too busy, and have enjoyed re-entering the professional world and discovering that I still have assessment skills and haven't completely forgotten how to be a nurse!  Our youngest is still at home, so I'm not ready to go back to work full-time yet, so the subbing works well for us right now.  The youngest has enjoyed having some days with friends at the places we've arranged for childcare too, so it has worked out pretty well!  It is still an adjustment, and I never know what my week might hold, but it still works, and is teaching me more about being flexible!!

God has blessed us, guided us and renewed us in so many ways during 2011, and we pray His Presence is clear in your lives as well!

Our Son 2011

Snowball Fight!!

Pinewood Derby--He's a Webelos II this year

First Lego League Robotics Tournament--he was on the Ninja Bots team

he got to participate for the 1st time, with his Delta class from school

Height has advantages in basketball (or so I've been told--his mother doesn't have the height!)

Going in for a shot!  Nice looking lay-up bud!

Climbing, climbing

Little pool, still big fun at times

1st day of Middle School!!

Yikes!!  Our 1st to hit double digits!!

 He is one of the little black specks in the climbing tunnel at City Museum on a St. Louis trip

Having great fun with a cousin on the bumper cars--I can't tell you how many times they rode them, over & over & over & over!!

Upward Soccer--he really improved some skills this year!  It's fun to watch the games!

More Upward Soccer--he was one of the 2 most aggressive players on the team--in a good way

Yep, that's him under the Darth mask!

Twinkies!

6th Grade Prelude Choir--he had to audition last year & made it!

Well, you can probably tell from the pictures, our son keeps plenty busy with life!  He has had the chance to enjoy many different activities from school, church, Scouts and sports.  He continues to do very well in school, and has adjusted to Middle School well!  When he's not busy with activities, he likes being a home-body, enjoying all things electronic, and occasionally playing nicely and occasionally terrorizing his little sisters.  He enjoys having his own room that he can kick the girls out of.  He can be very polite, and is working on being consciously encouraging to others, both at home and at school.  We are very glad to have him as our son, and we love him & his ingenuity!