Merry Christmas!!

Nathan had his first Christmas this year, along with his cousin Levi. All of the kids had a great time! We did our own gifting a little different this year on Christmas morning... All of the kids, along with Paul and I, each got one present for eachother. So, we each got 7 presents (along with stockings) and each present was from a different person (I still bought the gifts from the smaller kids) When we sorted the presents, instead of making a pile with gifts TO a person, we made a pile of the gifts that each person was going to give away. Then, we took turns personally handing out a gift from our pile to the person it belongs. We figured that way, the kids would be able to connect the present with who gave it too them and the giver would have a part in the actual giving process. I think it worked out really well. And the bonus is that eventually, (because we have a larger family), Paul and I will each give one thoughtful present to each person, but the amount of gifts they get won't change!

We did have tons of fun with the families! I love getting together with everyone! Here's a mix of pics from Christmas Eve at my brother Mark's house with the Pemble's, our house on Christmas morn, and Grandpa and Grandma Larson's on Christmas Day...

2 angels, 2 shepherds, and a wood worker

The children's Christmas play was really cute this year. Maybe I'm a bit bias because, after all, I did have 5 of my kids in it. Caleb and Seth were Shepherds, Grace and Ellie sang "Away in a manger" as pint sized angels, and Noah was Joseph a silent, but very important little guy. Oh, yeah, and the guy with mouse ears is our Pastor (the only adult allowed to have a roll in the play).

Both Caleb and Seth have been taking piano lessons for a while, and last week they were in a Christmas piano recital. This was the first recital we've been able to attend, so it was fun to see them play in front of an audience. They both did great. Caleb also played "Angels we have heard on high" on the piano during the Children's Christmas Service before the play.

My girls are CRAZY for curls

Grace and Ellie love to get their hair curled. They were so thrilled with having curly hair! Gracie spent quite a while looking at her locks in the mirror. They did look cute.

Nathan 3 months

Nathan's just getting old enough to sit happily in his Bumbo! He is such a serious boy. This is only the second time we caught him smiling long enough to get a picture. He will carry on a very serious conversation with you in baby language, but it takes a little doin' to get him to grin. A friend of mine that had a baby 2 days after Nathan was telling me that her baby was doing that deep belly laugh already, so I have been trying my best to get a laugh from little Nathan to no avail. He's alot like Caleb in that respect. Caleb was the more serious type who was hesitant to smile. It's funny how they have their personality already stitched in them from birth. Nathan is definately a busy-body, though. He loves to be up and looking around. If you cradle him in your arms where he can't see, he'll let you know that he does not like it. He also likes to have my attention. If he is near me and in his mood to talk, and I am not paying attention to him, he'll cry until I turn to him and start talking. Then he'll talk to me and voice his frustration at my lack of attention.

Nathan and Levi

It is so much fun watching these two cousins grow up together. Nathan's on the left, Levi's on the right. They are just over 2 weeks apart and Jenny and I are able to share many things with them being so close in age... Sleepless nights, fussy feedings, dirty diaper stories and of course the good things like first smiles and coos. I am enjoying it very much.

Giving Thanks

I love Thanksgiving. I enjoy the time we spend preparing for Thanksgiving day. For the last couple years we have read the Pilgrim's stories in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, and each time we read about their hardships, it makes me so grateful for their sacrifice. I really don't remember hearing too much about the real pilgrim story in school, so Paul and I have been learning right along with our kids. The part that I find interesting is that the pilgrims left England (because of the religious persecution) and went to Holland. In Holland, they had their freedom to worship the way they pleased, but they were concerned about the influence that the Dutch culture was having on their children. Thus, they decided to come to the Americas. It's amazing to me that: A. they realized that culture plays a great deal raising children and B: they left all they knew and all their comforts to make sure the next generation would carry on their ideals. Wow. I think that's really cool.

That's what Grandma's are made of

Trips to the pumpkin patch,

Board games and puzzles,

Hugs, kisses and bubble gum,

Tea parties and slumber parties,

Babysitting at a moments notice,

Making yummy cookies together,

Holding baby to give mommy free hands,

Stories and songs and stroller rides...

1st smile caught on film...(or digital memory?)

Nathan has been smiling for almost a month now, but it took a couple weeks to be able to get a photo of it. Now his smile has gotten bigger and lasts longer and he's cooing and "talking" too. What fun!

Who knew feet could be this cute?

My sister recommended taking pictures of the kids feet before Nathan's got too big... Good idea!

I voted

If a picture can say a thousand words...

It's a girl's weekend!

We're off to a tea party!


This last weekend was both fun and trying. We didn't have any water running into the house from last Wednesday morning until Sunday afternoon. We had to haul water from our parent's house to fill the tanks on our toilets in order to flush them. We heated up water on the stove to wash any dirty dishes and Les and Connie offered to do some of our laundry at their house. It was a definately a test of our character, attitude and creativity. It is now Tuesday and $2000 later, our water problem is worse than before they started and we have a bonus pile of muck in our front yard that was pumped out of our well. Oh, well...

The "fun" part of the weekend was that it was just us girls (and Nathan) because the boys went on a camping trip from Friday morning until Sunday evening. Other than the problems with the water, I tried to make it a treat for the girls. We watched "girly" princess movies with popcorn every night. We also had a dress-up tea party to go to. This was our second year going and it was lots of fun. We join a bunch of other little girls and moms for tea and fancy cookies and snacks. Many of the moms and daughters dressed up in old fashioned "tea party" dresses and hats. Maybe next year for us...

Gracie and Nathan (our little prince)

Some of the moms and daughters that dressed up.

The post party:

We're out of water!!

We've been out of water since yesterday at 9 a.m.! That means no showers, no toilets, no drinking water... nothing. Our well has had problems producing enough water and we were running out if we used too much, so we thought it may need to have the minerals flushed off of the pump to get in more water. Lockport Well and Pump has been here yesterday and most of today (although they seem to take their time getting here) trying to flush out our well to produce more water. Here's the bad news: It is now 3:30 and what they are doing is not working and they're going to have to drill to find good water. The really bad news is: It is too late to start today, so we have the option of having them come back out tomorrow or after the weekend. But you see, Paul and the boys are supposed to be leaving tomorrow for the weekend on a Father/Son camping retreat. Thankfully, my dad has been here both days so Paul doesn't have to be here, because I have no idea what they're doing out there besides making alot of noise...

We filled some 5 gallon buckets of water at my parent's last night to be able to flush the toilets, but I have no desire to do that all weekend. I also don't want to stay anywhere else because I had big house/toy cleaning plans while the guys were gone... Ugh!

At the beginning of September, it was our fridge that went bad and forced us to live out of coolers for a week. Now, we're without water... Maybe God's trying to prepare us to be Amish???

Paul's work's annual Open House

Grrrrrrrrrr!!


Every year Paul's work has an open house for all of it's employees. They put alot of effort into it, and the kids have a great time. "Skiddles" the clown does (awesome) face painting and balloon animals. She painted Noah's "tiger" face, and princess decorations on Ellie's face. Paul even dressed up this year in his cowboy boots and hat. I...well, I took a raincheck...

Soccer season is over

Coach Paul and the "Purple Lazers"

Paul and his two favorite soccer players.

Seth really enjoyed soccer. He's a natural for it. He has a high endurance level that's needed for all the running and has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. I believe he scored at least one goal in each game. (It helps to have an incentive- like getting to go out for ice cream if one of our boys score a goal) Noah, well, he really likes the treats that they get at the end of each game.

Full House

I used to watch a program when I was younger called "Full House". It was a cute program that had 3 little girls and 3 guys all living under one roof. Well, after the last 2 weeks, I can tell you that the creators of that show had NO IDEA what a "full house" really looked like. We've had our friends, Steve and Ema Anderson, from Colorado staying with us. They have 4 kids ages 7, 5, 3, and 1. Ema also brought along her 2 Romanian sisters who are in their 20's. That makes 10 kids ages 9 and under, and 6 adults. I think that qualifies for it's own reality TV show!

The picture below is what it looked like throughout most of the house on any given day...

(And, NO, my house does not normally look like this)

All of the kids actually got along with eachother really well. The 3 older boys (Caleb, Seth, and Brennen) kept busy playing legos (yeah, the really tiny ones that we'll be stepping on and vacuuming up for the next week or so) or soccer or whatever else they could find. The two middle boys (Noah and Evan) picked right up where they left off last year with Thomas the Tank Engine and playing in the sandbox. Ellie, Kaylee, and Grace played dollies (it's so nice (and quiet) to have girls). That left the one-year-old Ella to wander around the house and Nathan to be held (so he didn't get trampled or have his eyes poked out).

If a movie was playing, the most of the kids could be found sitting on the couch watching, and the others were usually playing on the floor while watching.

The Anderson family left this morning with a mini-van that seats 7, packed (I mean PACKED) full of stuff and 8 people to head to Kentucky to drop off Ema's 2 sisters before heading back to Colorado... And we have our house back!!

Nathan is 1 month old!

Nathan and mommy

I love these precious feet shots.

Nathan at 1 month

It has been quite a month. Unlike Grace and Ellie (who both intentionally smiled before they were two weeks old), I have yet to see Nathan smile. He LOVES to be held- as does any newborn- but he only lets me have free hands for 15 to 30 minutes before he starts crying to be held again. He LOVES to eat and is always hungry. Nathan holds his head up very well for a 1 month old and is very alert. It is truely a joy to have a newborn to hold again.

10-17-08 UPDATE- The day after I wrote this, I finally saw Nathan smile for the first time :)