Christmas Program

The kids were in the Christmas program at church. Pretty cute!! Jake moved up from being an animal to a Shepard this year. Big thrill!!!

Christmas Recap...

There are a ton of pictures!!! We had a great Christmas.

Decorating a Gingerbread House....

Baby Lucy was all doll-ed up!!!

Needed a wardrobe change. A girl can never have too many Christmas outfits!!!

A little big cousin to little cousin help with the new Leapster.

Christmas with the Wille's.

Wonder if these 2 will learn to get along?

Sophia really wanted an American Girl Doll. This is the Target version....and she is THRILLED with it!!!

Santa brought Jake a Red Rider BB Gun!

Gramma gave Sophia a Fancy Nancy dress-up set with 2 books.

This is the old school house desk that Mike found for Mom. Joshua is on his new bike. Jake got a DSi...which he's wanted for a year now. He's SO happy and plays with it non stop!!!

Hanging Out....

Both Jake and Sophia have little Christmas trees in their rooms. Sophia has a new pink one that I found just yesterday. Oh the excitement!!!

Last night Sophia (very serious) asked if they could all "hang out" in her room by the Christmas tree. That would give time for me and Mike (who wasn't even home!!!) to "relax on the couch." Who was I to say no to such a wonderful offer!!! So...all 3 kids head to Sophia's room with a box of cereal in hand to "hang out." Through the closed door I heard lots of laughter. It was very sweet!

When I finally went in there to get Joshua for bed, they were just sitting and eating. Joshua felt the need to put a ski cap on his head...I should have grabbed my camera quickly!!!!! They all seemed to be having a fine time.

As Jake and Sophia walked to brush their teeth, Jake told Sophia "tomorrow night we can hang out in my room." Love it!!!

Christmas Countdown...

We don't have an Advent calendar to use each year. It's something I've been looking for, but haven't found "the" one yet. So today I made this Countdown to Christmas clipboard. Total cost...about $6. I think it turned out really cute. I may stick 3 little chocolates on it each day for the kids. I'm not sure that this will be something we use year after year...but for now it's perfect!!!

Turkey Time....

We were at the ranch for Thanksgiving. Mike and the kids went up on Monday. I ended up having a full 48 hours kid free. It was so nice...but in the middle of it all I was helping a sick mom. She got feeling better and we headed up on Wednesday. Lots of fun and good food!!!

This is Sophia's way of "dressing warmly". It was 80 when I got there on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning a front blew through and dropped it to about 35. Baby Lucy is such a cutie. We all can't get enough of her!The kids table on Thanksgiving.

Our annual trip to Homestead Heritage on Friday. The kids had a great time!

Once Again...

This is what we found in Sophia's room last night. Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall for this tea party??? She has such a wonderful imagination!!!

Where Has the Time Gone????

Okay...took a little hiatus from blogging to deal with life...which included a 3 night hospital stay for Jake. Thankfully Jake is doing fine and life is pretty much back to normal.

Mike and the kids went up to the ranch yesterday. Mom, Shirley and I were supposed to go up today but Mom is sick...so Shirley went up today and hopefully Mom and I will go tomorrow. Turkey Dinner will be calling our names....loudly!!!

Mike took Joshua out in a deer blind tonight. Check out these adorable pictures!! Mike took them with his cell phone, but they are still priceless. Joshua looks SO big. Mike said he did great and loved watching for animals. Such a little cutie!!!

Happy Halloween!!

The kids could hardly wait until trick-or-treating time. We met at Shirley's house. Tim, Noel, Sullivan, Brian, Courtney, Christopher and my mom were all there. We had a quick dinner and then hit the streets.

Wonders never cease!!! All 5 Wille cousins together and looking at the camera!!

Joshua and Christopher tried HARD to keep up with Jake and Sophia!!!

Checking out their loot afterwards!

Party Time...

Two families in Sophia's class worked together to put on one incredible Halloween party. It was so much fun!!! Most of it was outside...2 bouncers, bobbing for apples, sidewalk chalk, face and hair paint, pinata, treasure hunt, good food and drinks for young and old!!, fabulous decorations. It was quite the party scene. The kids had a great time...and so did we...too much fun that I didn't get many pictures. Thankful that we have such a fun group of friends to hang out with!!!

Carving Pumpkins...

Kids love carving pumpkins...parents...not so much!!! But, of course we pretended like it was loads of fun!!! Mike took the redneck approach to carving. But I have to say that the drill really made things go faster!!!! Sophia wanted a princess pumpkin...complete with tiara, eyelashes and red lipstick!

NPDS Halloween Parade...

I love the annual NPDS Halloween Parade. It's so fun to see all the costumes. There are some cutie-pies!!! Sophia was thrilled to wear her Ariel costume!!!

Joshua was thrilled with all the costumes...as you can tell!We were standing in a very sunny spot!!!!

Inside the classroom after the parade....

Halloween Boo Gifts

I made these for the kids teachers. 2 are left over....we might go Boo-ing later. Or just eat the candy ourselves!! I got the idea from this great blog: http://www.controllingmychaos.com/

Bike Rodeo

Jake participated in the Bike Rodeo today at school. They get points for safety and for skill. He did SO well!! He was worried about knocking down some of the cones that you weave in and out of. Not a problem!!! For next year he needs to work on going s-l-o-w-l-y through the parallel lines at the beginning. You're supposed to spend at least 30 seconds riding through them. He has some work to do!! I was SO proud of him though and he had a great time!!!