Boy that was a fast Christmas!!

Boy oh boy, Christmas sure came and went!

Seems like no sooner did we get the tree up and the house decorated and it was time to take it all down again!!!!

I was wrapping gifts all the way up to Christmas day, and I swear I wrapped gifts everyday for the month of December.

Overall tho, we had a great "Holiday Season"

We kicked of the season by decorating our tree. Boy what a work out that was!!

When we got it set up over half the lights on the PRELITE tree did not light and a good handfull of the branches were broken...BUT WE MADE DO!

Dan went and bought new lights for the tree..what a difference that was. We've had clear lights on our tree for around 6 years. Well he bought colored lights! That was a big change..next year it'll be back to the clear lights!

Here is a picture of the boys after we got the gaudy gappy tree finished..lol...(ole well they loved it!) This photo was also sent in our Christmas cards

Caleb hanging ornaments on the tree

We even brought the garden nome in and got him to help!!

I don't think Carter realized his hat was sticking straight up..he kept saying "ho ho ho" but I personally think he looked more like an elf!

For Christmas Eve we went to my sister Samantha's. It was alot of fun and all the cousins LOVED being together. It don't much happen that we are able to get them all together at once.

Emmy with her gifts

Braydon and Gavin. My little peanuts! These two have more energy then a whole CAN of coffee!! But boys will be boys

Whatchu got?? Gavin checking out Braydons goods...

Christmas morning Dan and Caleb woke to a 4am alarm clock...it was off to give the pigs their Christmas Breakfast.....Back home and showered by 8am. And would you beleive we had to wake up Carter to tell him Santa had came!! That never happens lol....

While the kid were checking out what Santa brought them we tossed some cinnamon rolls in the oven and oj in glasses...YUM!!

However...the frosting was a little on the thin side, someone and we won't mention that it was the mom of the house, didn't realize the frosting was sitting on top of the stove and well alot of it got melted and oozed out on the stove top.....but hey it happens...ummm....right??? It does don't it???

The boys with their stockings (Thank You Barbee and Charlie)

Carter got Guitar Hero for his playstation and it was so funny, because in this picture he is saying "Aww Guitar Hero Caleb BURN!!!"....not realizing Caleb got one too lol...I'm guessing this sibling rivalry never ends??? .....Not even on Christmas!


After gifts were open Dan and I decided it was best we take a Christmas nap....so while we napped the kids played with all their new stuff...kinda but the daily bickering to bay....for a little bit anyways lol....

Later that afternoon we went to dinner with Dan's side of the family, at Grandma and Grandpa's House. We weren't rushed to get there quickly and were werent rushed to leave to get to the next house we needed to visit this year.

It was nice to have a slower paced holiday for once!!

Grandma and Grandpa

Carter got safety equipment from Grandma and Grandpa to go with his new tony hawk skate board...oye.....I see broken bones in the future..I'm hoping we'll get by with just bruises :)

Caleb received dominoes from Grandma and Grandpa. A good gift since Caleb loves playing dominos with them when he stays over there.

Later that evening Grammy and Poppy came over and brought the boys gifts. Caleb got a phone card and Carter got a new piece to his villiage. It moves and lights up!

So in a nutshell that was our Christmas Day.

We enjoyed it, we had lots of fun, we all got lots of great gifts and we all pigged out...what could make Christmas any better then that?!!

I hope yours was just as great!!!

The Little Pumpkin That Missed Halloween

A cold rainy day....and for once..NO FOOTBALL PRACTICE!!!!

What to do....What to do....."Mom! Can we carve pumpkins tonight?".....That's the question laid out on the table by Caleb.......Well what's a mom to do....

Off to the kitchen we went in search of the pumpkin carving tools......no where in site. Darn it! I must have packed them away in the halloween totes. I was NOT wanting to drag out the halloween decor this year.......but in the end I'm glad I did.

The kids had a blast with all the old masks and wigs! As you can see..Carter transformed into a blonde hair'd little girl. That child loves trying on wigs! And it's always so funny!

So finally...we found the carving tools at the bottom of the tote...of course..........

Got the pumpkins cut for scooping...*HERE ARE MY PUMPKIN CARVING TIPS DON'T CUT THE TOP OF YOUR PUMPKIN TO SCOOP IT. CUT YOUR HOLE IN THE BOTTOM AND SCOOP IT OUT THAT WAY. THEN ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LIGHT A TEA LIGHT AND SET THE PUMPKIN OVER THE CANDLE. NO MORE BURNING YOUR FINGERS TRYING TO GET THE CANDLE IN AND ALSO YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE TOP OF THE PUMPKIN GETTING SOFT AND CAVING IN. IF YOUR PUMPKIN IS STARTING TO LOOK WILTED DURING THE DAY SET IT IN A BUCKET OF WATER. IT WILL REVIVE IT EVERY TIME!-THERE'S YOUR HANDY TIPS OF THE YEAR LOL*

There is something about a pumpkin when you first cut it open..it just smells soooo good!! As soon as I cut Caleb's pumpkin open I had to stick my head close to it and take a good wiff of that fresh pumpkin smell..little did I know someone else was taking that all in. (See photo of Carter above with head almost in the pumpkin lol)

Caleb jumped right in ripping the pumpkin guts out but Carter, it took him a little bit. He didn't like the feel of it. The whole time Caleb is telling him to just dig in lol...(photos above)

Caleb used a carving pattern for his pumpkin, Carter created his own silly face and Dan used a pattern. This was Dan's first time using a carving pattern. He was so proud of the final results. (photos above) Caleb's is a skeleton like face, Dan's is a devil thing.

Of course after all the pumpkins were carved I had to take pictures. And that's when it happened. The little pumpkin that missed halloween!!!

Carter was SOOOO tired he dropped his pumpkin on the floor on accident! (you can see how sleepy he is in the photo) It cracked right in two hanging on by a little flesh!

I felt so bad for him! He was truely bummed!! I'm going to try to tack it together by inserting tooth picks into but we'll see. We told him we'd get him a new pumpkin today. Poor little guy!

So we get past the hump of the broken pumpkin and I tell Caleb to set the bowl of pumpkin guts out in the breezeway and I'd throw them over the fence row tomorrow. "MOM!! Aren't you going to make roasted pumpkin seeds???"...........OYE-I WASN'T PLANNING ON IT!.

So there I sit, picking pumpkin seeds out of the big bowl of pumpkin guts watching the debate.

I threw them in a container of salt water and let them set over night........so today...on my agenda is "make pumpkin seeds"........what a mummy won't do for her little goblins I tell ya.........

So there is our adventures in pumpkin carving. Hope you enjoyed sharing a family moment with us. Thanks for reading!!

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

OUR ENCOUNTER WITH COYOTES

What a scary and emotional night we had.

Everyone was in bed, it was about nine o'clock and I was up checking my email.

I kept hearing our outside dog (Goldie-the one that had puppies) barking. That is NOT unsual for her to bark and bark. She constantly is barking at the pigs when they make noise.

But tonite it was a different bark!!! She wasn't only barking she was yelping and circling the house and growling at the door.

I jumped up and RAN into the bed room screaming at Dan to GET UP! SOMETHING IS WRONG!!!!!

He quickly got dressed, grabbed his gun and as soon as we opened the door Goldie RAN in. She is an OUTSIDE dog and NEVER comes in the house. Never even tries! We knew then something was wrong!!

Dan stepped out on our cement patio and there right on the cement patio was a COYOTE!!!

As soon as it seen Dan it ran and Goldie chased after it.

Because Coyotes often travel in packs we weren't sure how many there were...so here Dan and I stand in the yard back to back...he's holding his hand gun straight out and I'm holding the flashlight straight out and we are turning in circles to see what we are dealing with. (pictures Charlie's Angels here lol)

Luckily we didn't see anymore...but we knew we had to go to the front of the yard where the puppies are right next to the cornfield (where the coyotes linger)

So we jumped in the truck, drove over to where Goldie moved her puppies and put the headlights on high beam. We quickly loaded the puppies in the truck as fast as we could...Dan loaded them and I kept watch. (Scary!!!)

1 puppy...2 puppy..3..4...5...6...........6.......there should be 10! They got them! 4 were missing!!!

We couldn't find them anywhere. Once we got them in the truck it was as if Goldie knew they were safe. She took off running in the cornfield for a couple minutes and then she came FLYING out of the cornfield.....ahhh releif! She found one of the pups!! She brought it to us and laid it at our feet.....Dan picked it up but it was dead!!!!

He laid it in the back of the truck and Goldie went out to the field in search of the rest of her babies....she could not find anymore of them.

But she was circling Dan's truck. She knew something was not ok with her baby!

When we got back up to the house Dan got the puppy out and laid it on the ground. Goldie sniffed it and licked it and rubbed her face on it and then looked up at Dan and whimpered.

Dan and I both were heartbroken!! I of course was bawling! I felt so bad for her!

Now we have the rest of the pups and Goldie in the garage.

Those damn coyotes. It makes me so mad!!!

I've included some photos of the puppies they've really grown and are such cute little things!!!

THE COUNTY FAIR

Carter getting ready to show the pigs


This is when Carter realized the pigs were NOT coming home with us!

Caleb watering down and cooling off his pigs


Caleb got 6th in his class! Yea Caleb!!


Carter's blue ribbon. He is proud of that ribbon. He doesn't understand that all the kids in pee wee get a blue ribbon, but that's ok, I beleive he earned that ribbon since he was still a little scared of the pigs but went ahead and showed them anyways!


Grandpa to the rescue. To help cheer Carter up about the pigs not coming home, Grandpa bought Carter and Ice Cream cone, unfortunately he wasn't there for Caleb's melt down!!



Carter sitting in a tractor tire



The boys had a blast at the Cass County Fair.
Caleb had pigs of his own there, for the first time ever. He even got 6th place in his class! We were so proud of him, but I think he was even more proud of himself!!
And Carter got to show the pigs in the pee wee division.

The boys were so cute with their show tags on their back. Carter's was as big as he was lol..

As usual it was hot and expensive!
And poor Dan, he ended up with blisters on his feet from being up there all week in boots! I felt SO bad for him! He was truely miserable! But he's a good dad, and did his daddy duty.

Carter did not realize the pigs weren't coming back home with us. That was a disaster!
Then come the last day of the fair, Caleb decided he was more attached to is animals then he thought and he had a melt down and couldn't leave his pigs. Dan and I felt so bad for him!!
But we figure once the fair check rolls in he'll soon forget about how sad he is!

I've attached some of the photos of the fair.
Thanks for taking the time to come read up on us.

Vacation Bible School

"Vacation Bible School-For a whole week!!!! Awww Mom I don't want to go!!!"

That was all I heard for the few days leading up to VBS!!

I sat in with them on Monday, the very first day, because I thought with Caleb being shy that'd help him feel a little better about it. But when we got there he told me "to feel free to leave!!! Lol..how's that for love :)

Everyday from then on out, as soon as the boys hopped in the car they both talked a mile a minute at the SAME TIME!!!

They had such a blast this week ! Caleb even asked me to find another church doing a VBS!!

I'm so happy I stuck to my guns and MADE them go!!

The pictures above are a few random shots taken throughout the week. The Ladies in the photos with each of the boys are their "Crew Leaders", and the food photo is one of their snacks that Caleb thought I should include lol..

Thanks for stopping by and reading! Look forward to lots more with it being SUMMER!!! :)

You Scream...I Scream...We all scream..FOR ICE CREAM!!!

Yesterday evening was a lazy evening. After a little bit of "running around" in the afternoon, we were all just loafing around and I said "WHO WANTS ICE CREAM"?? Of course the boys both jumped up quicker then wind blows...So we went to the only place here in our little "town" that sells ice cream cones.

We sat on the pier watching the fishers and the lake and eating our ice cream.
The boys took their shoes off to dip their toes in the water. If you look at the picture of Carter and Caleb sitting on the pier you can see Carter trying to reach to get his toes wet!!

They so bad wanted to jump in and go swimming, but it wasn't "that" warm!! We've got many swimming days ahead of us!