Christmas pictures

Lindsay and Emily got special blankets that their Great- Grandma made them. They were so happy. They snuggle up with them all the time and sleep with them at night. Emily knows how to crochet a little and understood how much work goes into this and was very impressed.
Travis also got a blanket and loves it. He keeps it at the end of his bed when he's not curled up with it.
Here is a picture of my nephew, Austin. We were opening gifts with Greg and Ellen and my folks and he was so cute I had to take his picture.
Lindsay and Nathan love each other to death. They were so excited for Christmas to finally be here!

All our family eating in the dining room at my mom's house. Ellen and I are missing since we were taking pictures. We had a feast/ It was fun!

Hope everyone else had a great Christmas. We really enjoyed ours and it even snowed so we had a white Christmas. We also got 7 inches yesterday so the kids had a blast shoveling and then making a snowman. I'll send pictures of that later. TRISHA

The rest of the birthday pictures

The kids had a blast making their little houses. I think they ate almost as much as they put on the houses but we don't want to know for sure!:) There was white frosting everywhere and candy by the bag!! Here are Lindsay and Alissa's houses. I was trying to get Nathan's, too but you can't see it. They really did a good job and it was very noble of me, wasn't it?:)

Til' next time--Bye for now. TRISHA

Lindsay's 5th Birthday

We found this recipe from a friend who had a Taste of Home magazine and she brought it so we could get inspired. We had a lot of fun making it. I am creatively challenged but it didn't take a genius to do this one. I just mostly copied out of the book. Also, Emily and Jeff helped it. They having more creativity than I. We were pretty proud of Lindsay's birthday cake by the time we were done!
Singing "Happy birthday" to Lindsay. She had Emily, Travis, her cousin Alissa, and her cousin Nathan there besides the adults.
The kids all made ginger bread houses out of graham crackers and I don't know how much candy!!! They had a lot of fun and a lot of mess! This is Jeff and Emily's ginger bread house--actually the second one or so. They collapsed easily with soft frosting. They decided to silicone the next one they did!
Emily and Jeff--the finished product!

This is a video of Lindsay singing "Away in a Manger"

when she was not quite 3. It is so cute I just had to put

it on here for fun. She turns 5 tomorrow and still loves to sing.

She has been practicing to sing a song in church( all voluntary, of course)

and I haven't taken her up on it. She is so funny.

Our Christmas Program Pictures

Travis(a shepherd)clowning around trying to corral the cows
During the program--the shepherds and wisemen kneeling at the manger
Juniper and Lindsay
All the kids posing in a crazy fashion after the program
My husband and children

A Quiet Midwest Evening

Hello again to everyone!! It has been a busy day. Luann and the kids came over and her and I scrapbooked for the afternoon. We got quite a bit done for our homeschool annual for last year. :( We wish we were working on this year's but we got behind so we are frantically trying to get it done before Thursday, which is our homschool Christmas Party.

Tonight has been pretty quiet. After the busy day of playing with their friends; sledding down the hill, drawing, listening to stories etc. they are doing quiet things. Emily has been reading and talking to her friend, Jill. Travis is listening to an Odyssey tape, and Lindsay is listening with him. Though I think she pesters more than she does anything else. :) She is having fun anyway. Jeff was reading a book and I am writing to you!! THe family is all accounted for!!

Our Christmas Program was last night. It turned out really cute. It was too dark in there to get good pictures though. We got some good ones after the service. I'll try to post them tomorrow. THe kids did a really good job. Christmas programs are a lot of work but so much fun. And of course the kids love the treat bags at the end, too!

Well, I better run! Hope you all are doing well and have almost finished shopping for Christmas!!
TRISHA

Ice Day

There was no school today. All schools were cancelled. We had a ice storm last night. It is beautiful. The ice hangs on the trees thick and beautiful. It is fun to look at. We drove around tonight to look at Christmas lights and the trees. It was neat to see the snow glistening like a lake. It rained all day on top of the snow and kept freezing so it looked really like a shining path.
Jeff didn't work til afternoon and not for long. It was nice to have him home for a change. We started a fire in the fireplace and just sat upstairs and took the day off school just to celebrate. It was pretty fun and relaxing.
Thursday I'm going to start the Christmas candy and Friday my Mom and I are going to do lots more. That should be fun. We always enjoy making candy and chocolate things:).
Hope everyone out there it having a good evening and we'll see you later. TRISHA

Sledding

Lindsay and Daddy getting ready to slide down the hill.
Emily after coming up the long hill.
Travis--all tired out!!
Here's the gang of sledders--minus Mom-- What fun!!and definitely good exercise

Christmas time and early winter are so much fun. You decorate, wrap gifts, play in the snow and drink hot chocolate.
The kids had a blast going to Camden Park and sledding. The hill there is huge and it is a long way down. But, if you think it is a long way down, you should wait until it's time to come up!! It is really a loooong way up. It definitely gives your heart a good workout. Jeff told the kids "Let's go down there again and this time let's stay awhile and have a party while we get the energy to come back up:)". THey are so funny.
Anyway, they conned me into going down, too. THe first time, I fell off the sled and so I tried again and managed to go all the way down. As I was flying down at breakneck speed I tried to figure out how I was going to end up all in one piece and then I remembered I could put out my boots to slow down so I did and well let's just say, all's well that ends well. Once down was enough!!
Well, you can't say we aren't trying to make memories with our kids but hopefully we still have our necks when it's said and done:).
Better run for now. Lots to do! TRISHA

Let It Snow!!

Lindsay was cold and decided to toast her feet in front of the fire. She thought that was the perfect solution!
Emily standing by out tree as we were decorating.
Emily and Jeff playing a serious game of Chess while they bask in the warmth of the fireplace.



One of Jeff's favorite things has always been a love for fireplaces. When we built this house he was insistent on getting a "real" fireplace because he wanted to watch it crackel and poke at it ( and clean up all those ashes, of course:)! He absolutely loves it and is so glad we have winters so he can enjoy it.

There really is something to relaxing and reading a good book in front of the fire that seems like the lap of luxury. The kids really love it too. They love to curl up and listen to me read to them. THat's what we do a lot of in the winter. Especially when it's winter and the snow is coming down--as it it tonight. We are supposed to get 3-4 inches. Not a lot but definitely fun. We love winter here but we do get tired of it come March. It seems we can't have out cake and eat it too.

We are almost done with the first stage of our church remodel project. I'll take pictures the next time I;m over there and post some. Our church is really going to look different!

Trust you all are doing well. I better run for now. TRISHA

I thought I'd post a picture of when we went to Greg and Ellen's to spend the week. We went to a pumpkin and apple farm and had a blast. The kids really had a good time.

As for today, we worked at the church all day while it snowed and iced outside. Ice was coated on everything. The world looks like a winter wonderland. Anyway, we got all of the sanctuary and the foyer and entryway all painted in readiness for carpet next Friday. We are so excited and ready to be done with this project. I'll post some pictures of it when I get them ready. Well, we are tired tonight but it's a good kind of tired.

Wish all of you could be here to see our winterwonderland but trust you are having one where you are. WEll, better sign off for now. TRISHA

Brain Power

This has been a busy day!! I have the Jones kids for school on Thursdays and so we have been doing school since 9am. I have been helping the kids with everything including dictionary work, encyclopedia work, the kingdoms of protista and monera and adding 4+4. It has been an interesting day. If you want to stay brushed up on French Revolutions, American history, and how to make apple pie, just homeschool your kids--and maybe someone else's so you get lots of review!!:) Well, I'll post more pictures later. TRISHA

Everybody Ought to go to Sunday School

This is most of our children 3-11 years of age. They sing up front every Sundy morning.
Here is our little group minus 5 who were absent. This is all of our children and young people. We have quite a group and are very glad to have such a large number of them. They keep our church on its toes. They are a lively little bunch. I had them get together this Sunday to get a picture. They have been practicing for the Christmas program. It is sounding very good. My class is the 3-6 year olds. They are a lot of fun. They grow so fast. I enjoy teaching this age because a lot of the kids are hearing some of the stories of the Bible for the first time and it is so sweet to see the wonder in their eyes . When I told them the story of Namaan and how he had leprosy, one of the girls just piped up and said "God can get rid of that!" They have such faith! Anyway, hope you all are doing good today. Talk to you later.

Trisha

The girls at the zoo

Our trip to the remodeled Niabi Zoo

WE took a trip to the zoo about three weeks ago. It was so nice and relaxing. The kids were really happy because Daddy got to go. He is very busy sometimes, especially in the fall when the work is really heavy so they were thrilled. They have been adding a lot to our little zoo and it's fun to watch all the things they are doing. The latest thing is the giraffe exhibit. It is really neat!

Emily, Kara and Jillayne on a field trip

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had a great Thanksgiving. Jeff's folks came up to visit us and we have just relaxed and had a great time. We decided to have our own Thanksgiving dinner here at our house. We have never done that before. We are usually at my parents or his. So the kids were very excited to get to do this. It was a lot of fun and went really well. We made tons of food and didn't eat half of it, but we did justice to it by having lots of leftovers:) I'll try to post some pictures of our Thanksgiving if I can figure out how to do it. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are ready for the holidays to hit like a cyclone!! Trisha

A Girly Sunday Morning

Emily and Lindsay sitting by our fireplace

Our Family

Lindsay, Trisha, Emily, Jeff and Travis

Lindsay, Emily and Travis

Lindsay, Alissa and Mariah at a field trip with our homeschool group.