Happy New Year!

Image courtesy of google images

Wishing you all the best in 2012!

Have a safe and wonderful new year!

Merry Christmas

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 NIV

One of our favorite family traditions, the kids all act out the nativity scene.  Even the big kids.  A little artistic license going on and a wayard shepherd or two,  but all is good.   

Wishing you a Merry Christmas on this blessed day!



One Very Good Reason...

Why I shouldn't trust my kids to get their annual Santa picture taken without me.

We only have four kids!

Merry Christmas from my kids, and Justin, the kid waiting in line behind them. 

Can't chat

As my mouth is filled with carmel from dipping apples...

Image from Martha stewart

We have had a beautiful fall here in Minnesota.  I am thankful for every second of our warm weather as I know in no time my lawn will be covered in snow until late spring.

Tomorrow I am throwing a Halloween party for 250 kids.  Oh my, I had better get back to the  party preparations, but I promise I will be back soon with the best recipe for carmel for dipping your apples. 

 I promise, you won't buy that nasty old carmel for your apples ever again...



Kids these days

My oldest two kids left at 6:00 AM for a week long missions trip to New York City.

At 9:00 AM, my phone rings.

Me: "Hello"

Voice on the other end:" The eagle has landed."

Click

I guess they got there safely.....

Annie's Party

My family room provided the birthday inspiration for Annie, my niece's party. 

Can you guess the theme?

Need another clue?

You're right!

Lib was brave enough to invite Annie's ENTIRE class and then some to a Sock Hop.

At one point, I counted 31 kids!!!
(Lib's crazy...)

They all dressed 50's style.

There were poodles galore! 

And you are warned about the next pic...

(I would never normally show a pic of me, but as I sacrificed my hair to those curlers, I just needed to show you all why I am now bald...)
SCARY!!!

The kids played games

And then went to "White Castle"

(Which by the way, was the site of my parents first date...)

And then inside for the important stuff...

The twist!!!

 Watch  Me Now!!!

The boys loved the dancing...

All that dancing makes a girl thirsty.

Lib had that covered with a trip to a malt shop.

Then a trip to the candy store

Time for a quick swing before...

A movie!

Whew!  I'm tired.

For more pics, head over to Lib's blog.

Happy Birthday to our 7 year old!!!

Just what every mom

wants to hear...

First the short one was surfing the internet and excitedly calls out to me,

"Mom, wanna come check out the tattoo I'm getting?"

And then later that same day, the taller one found a new dirtbike on the internet,

"Mom, if you buy me that dirtbike, I'm pretty sure I could do back-flip's with it!"

Good thing God only gave me two boys. 

Don't know if I could handle any more testosterone around here...

Whew! We made it!

This post is long overdue, but it will explain in part why I have been missing from blogland.

This girl graduated!!!

Photos taken by Front Porch Photography, if you live in MN, I loved them!

 Just sharing a few pics of my girl with you, the photographer did a wonderful job of capturing her personality.

She is clothed with

strength and dignity,

And she smiles at the future.

Proverbs 31:25

I blew up this pic in black and white and had this verse put on it. 

It fits my girl.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer.

Happy 4th!

This year the 4thof July crept up so fast, I feel like Bo, caught with my pants down, wondering where time went.  I did manage to throw together a quick party (just so I could use all my enamelware dishes) and as soon as I figure out where the pics are, I'll share with ya. 

Hoping this day finds you with family, friends and sparklers galore! 

Apparently

this year, navy blue, black, purple and turquoise were the colors for prom dresses in our neck of the woods.

And we didn't get the memo...

Silver and pink were her colors of the day.

It took me 17 years, but finally that girl had some pink in a dress!

Whew! 

Didn't ever think that was gonna happen.

(And Sweetie?  Sorry for scaring your poor date. 

Actually, sorry that both daddy and I scared your poor friend.

I wasn't actually serious. 

Your dad on the other hand?  I think he really is serious when he says that you aren't allowed to have a boyfriend until you are 25...)    

To Lib and Rachie...

As both my sisters are once again going to have babies, I just thought I would let them know we are available for babysitting...

We have a wide variety of positive attributes we can teach your kids.

I should warn you though...

Both the mom

and the dad...

tend to be a little nuts.

But we have creativity going for us. 

Take for instance, paper. 

We run out, no worries.

 We teach the kids to find alternative solutions...

Or maybe even this...

And then we stock up...

                        Comes in handy, especially since now we have indoor plumbing.

Phew!

                        

 I was starting to get a little worried...

We do tend to be very free spirits around here.

But then again, for some of us,

that might not be such a good thing...

But that does lead us to discipline.

We have that all figured out...

Naughty behavior deserves time in the penalty box.

(Ok, I still maintain that was a clean hit.  That ref needs a trip to the eye doctor)

And if that doesn't work out, we can send you to these guys

 Or maybe a trip here...

And we teach them right away,  you want to eat, you go to work.

Some of us need to work harder though...

We will teach your kids about different cultures.

Got the hill billy thing down pat.

Leprechaun culture.  Got that one too!



(I'm not exactly sure what this one is...)

(But these pics serve as a lesson.  Never leave your boys home alone!  One might never know what you will find upon returning...)

As we are also very fashionable, we will teach your kids about fashion...

Making sure everything matches.

We can even offer your kids free make-overs!

And I can guarantee, your kids will never get bored!

No sled?  No problem...

No inner tube?  Again, no problem...

No equipment?  No problem.

It's all about making do.

And one of the best lessons?  We never take no for an answer.

Just ask Boppa. 

He definitely didn't think he was swimming that night!

*I want to assure you, no children were physically injured in the making of the post.  Mentally?  That just might be another thing.  I may have to shell out a few buckaroo's for counseling!