New Year's Eve Pizza Dinner!

We have homemade pizza just about every Saturday night all made just for us from scratch by Andrew.  New Year's Eve was no different except for maybe the fancy drinks and candlelight :)

Lot's of toasting and drinking sparkling cider fun for all...

Happy New Year!

Looks like 2012 will be lots of fun for all!

All 4 on stage

Our church had the 3 year olds - 3rd graders sing during the service last week.  This means that all four of my kids were performing together on stage.

I'm not sure that will ever happen again so I tried to just sit back and enjoy it...
and I took some pictures...

and some video :)

the big kids sang some songs without the 3 year olds...

Here's Jill waiting for her turn on stage.  She was so excited and the day didn't disappoint as she told me on our way home, "I really liked singing on stage."

And finally, there were many cute and funny moments but here's our favorite:

Jib Jab Christmas Video

I love doing these silly JibJab videos...Jill wanted to watch it over and over again :)  What I find interesting is that in watching this I realize just how much my kids really do look alike!  Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!!
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/BPIkRjl19qnKZC57BfGb

yummy Christmas yogurt!

It's that time of year again...time for 12 days of yuletide yumminess at Yogurtland! 

Ok, so we only made it to one day but it was a great family outing.

Half the fun is in the making it yourself process...

And then of course, there's the best part - eating it!

Hope you're having a very merry yummy Christmas!

Beth's Gymnastics Videos

Click on the links to watch Beth's gymnastic videos:

Beth on the high beam

Beth's 1st time on the higher uneven bars

Beth's floor routine (lots of walking on the balance beams and doing cartwheels)

Beth's backbend

Beth's Gymnastics Day

Beth has been taking gymnastics all fall.  Today was the final class and parents got to watch. I was so impressed with what she was doing...the pictures say it best: 

 She was flying!

 She showed off her incredible poise.

 And she smiled for the camera :)

 She loves it!

Youtube video links coming up...

Beth's Three Ships

I said years ago that I wanted each of our children to have a minimum of one year of either piano or violin, their choice.  Jason chose piano and played last year.  He liked it but wants to move on to other instruments (he's thinking trumpet but we'll make that decision next fall when he starts band).  Beth chose violin.

I don't know anything about violin but I gave her a choice so I was stuck...fortunately, we found an amazing homeschool music program that is very affordable.  After only a few months of lessons, they had a Christmas concert tonight.  I love how the beginners only had to play a scale but with the advanced group accompanying them, it's a song...beautiful.  Beth enjoyed herself and seems to really like the violin.  She definitely likes that it's unique for our family and that she gets to be the first one to step into this new territory.  I look forward to watching her talent grow.  For now, here's my attempt to video from the back in a dark church but you can clearly see her playing thanks to my parent's Christmas present to me - my new camera :)

And to make the night even more special, Grandma drove down to watch Beth perform.  Complete with chocolate cookie treats, it was a good night.

Oh, Christmas Tree...2011

It's that time once again to pull out the tubs of decoration (all 11, yes, Andrew counted), to fluff the branches on our store-bought tree that has a few too many burnt out lights this year, and to turn on the air filter because of all the dust...yes, it's time for Christmas decorating and we LOVE it!  We love putting the Christmas CD's on and dancing with our favorite snowman.

We love digging for our favorite ornaments and finding just the right spot on the tree. 

We love traditions like putting the star on top of the tree.  This is now a four year rotation, and they each know what year it will be their turn.  Adam has been talking about it being his turn for months now.  The moment did not let down...

A very proud boy

Success :)

We love the season of preparing for the Christ Child, for God's Son sent to save you and me!
How are we doing this?  The Jesse Tree...see Isaiah 11:1

Every morning Beth or Jason reads from the Bible, we color a matching picture, and glue it onto pretty paper.  These stories are showing us step by step from Creation until the Manger, how God has promised, prepared, and foretold the Greatest Christmas Gift of All! 
More pics to come as we get more ornaments created but here's another with Adam putting a twist on our basic square ornaments by making a wraparound :) 

Can't wait to see what other creations we encounter as we continue through this month. 

Happy Advent!

Thanksgiving 2011

Turkey Time!  Bobby deep-fried our juicy turkeys and then carved them up, yummy!

Great Grandma Mae was the first one seated and waiting for the meal...isn't it a beautiful table!

There were many moments this Thanksgiving where I wish we had video...Grandma saying the prayer in Norwegian was the first.  She surprised all of us but it was beautiful. 
The second was Jill.  After we had passed around all of the food, poured the drinks, and taken our seats, she yells out, "But all I got was ham!"  Oops...I guess her parents forgot...

And then there was the impromptu Christmas sing-along.  I love singing Christmas music and doing that with family is that much sweeter.  I know some video was taken but did we capture the moment when Grandma walked in to join or when Andrew yelled out during Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire to correct "kids from one to 92" to 93 (Great Grandma Mae is 93 :)  So much fun!

And then there were pies...enough pie for everyone to have an entire pie!  So many yummy pies but where to begin!  Me...I had pumpkin made by my talented cousin Sara and then a piece of Grandma's lemon meringue and then I took a bunch home and had pie for days :)

Interestingly enough, most of my children don't like pie.  Knowing this I made sugar cookies for them to decorate.  Here are the results:

Jill successfully turned this heart into a turkey

Adam had an actual turkey shape to decorate

Isn't it beautiful?  Too good to eat...

Ok, maybe not...they were all gobbled up!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

One last thought...thank you to my parents for hosting this fabulous event. 

It was a beautiful, relaxing day.  Thank you!!!

November 30...a month of Thankfulness

I'm thankful that no one is going to care that I didn't actually do my daily month of Thankfulness posts!  I dropped the ball and posted nothing since November 1...oh well!  We did have a great month focusing on being thankful and giving.  We served by cleaning and decorating at church.  We put together our Operation Christmas Child boxes.  We focused on being extra giving to each other...it melts my heart when one of my children offers to do another one's chore.  It was a good month...now on to Christmas, woo hoo!!!

Day One of What I'm thankful for...

Today was not a perfect day. A field trip was rescheduled after we already arrived. Jill screamed in the library and had to be removed where she continued her fit outside. Our Azure order was delayed an hour and then incomplete. I came home and vented on my poor husband who didn't deserve it at all...Sounds like a perfect day to begin a daily "what I'm thankful for" blog. 

So what am I thankful for today - My husband. I woke up and he had plugged the iPad into the charger. I had mentioned last night that I hoped to remember to do it because Adam was looking forward to playing it during Beth's violin lesson (we sit in a hallway for an hour trying to entertain ourselves). This simple act showed me that Andrew was thinking about me. He was being thoughtful. He is wonderful, and I thank God for the gift of him :)

Harvest Festival 2011

Our church was hosting their 5th Annual Harvest Festival.  We brought a Boba Fett...

a Supergirl...

a Blue Power Ranger...

and a Princess...

At the Harvest Festival there's bull riding...

face painting...

bounce house sliding...

and lots and lots of carnival games...

There were even a few adults in costumes...

And this caterpillar turned into a butterfly before the night was over!

Happy Fall!!!