Veggie Tales

We went to the Pirates That Don't Do Anything party at our local Christian Bookstore on Saturday. The boys had a blast dressing up and each won either a cd or dvd of Veggie Tales. We are hoping to go to the movie premiere this weekend...which would be Ethans first time in the theatre....so we will just have to see!

New Years

For New Years Eve we planned on going to Vanessa's for a night of games but the boys ended up not feeling very well (Dylan and Ethan have both been running fevers) and so we spent a quiet day at home playing the Wii! We then celebrated midnight at 8:00 in a new way. I have been reading a series of books called Yada Yada Prayer Group and in the last one New Years Eve was celebrated with whats called Watch Night. Now I had never heard of this and guess I never really thought much about New Years Eve other then the year was going to be changing....but the history of New Years Eve is so much more and so as a family we sat around the table and talked about Watch Night....back in 1733 the first watch night was held by the a group of Christians that had previously fled Bohemia to escape persecution because of their protests against a state church. They began Watch Night as a time to give thanks to God for His blessings and protection in the past year and to rededicate themselves to God's service in the coming year. In 1862, African'American Christians began calling this night Freedom's Eve (it was at midnight of this night that the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect and all slaves in the confederate states were declared free.) So again New Years is not just a night that is for parting and wathcing the ball fall....but a night for giving thanks for the past year and looking forward to what God can do in the following year. And so.....after explaining the evening to the boys, Dustin and I lit a candle to represent the three boys and gave thanks for the children they are and for all the wonderful things they bring into our family. We then each lit a candle to give thanks for something that this past year has brought to us. We closed with a prayer and with laughs around the table as we not only celebrated the coming year but as a family and all that we have to thank God for.

Christmas Day

The boys had a very good Christmas. (Although I think I was more excited to get up then they were.....I was awake before 6:00 counting down the minutes until they would wake!) We spent the day at home in our pjs and played games all day. It was a quiet but nice very nice day. And our living room didn't get as trashed as I thought it would have!

Christmas Eve

After everyone left our house, the boys each opened one gift (which of course they knew was going to be pjs). We then sprinkled reindeer food outside, drove around looking at Christmas lights, put out cookies and milk for Santa and then everyone was anxious to go to bed so that Christmas morning would arrive. Dylan, before going to bed, had to place his two headed dragon on the table near the cookies to play a trick on Santa.....Santa left him a letter the next day saying...Ha Ha funny trick Dylan! Dylan thought this was great!

Christmas Eve Dinner

For Christmas Eve we celebrated with Dustin's family. His parents, sisters, grandparents, brother in law, and nieces all came over to our house for dinner. We had a great time playing Wii, opening gifts, and enjoying family. The boys recieved bikes from their grandparents which made their day! Ethan was ready to go for a walk right then and there!

Christmas Parties

Dylan's preschool had a little party they Ethan and I got to go to. They played games, made ginger bread houses and had a lot of goodies to eat! Both boys loved it! We also went to Dustins work Christmas party for the kids. Each boy wrote a letter to Santa and then were able to deliver it to him at the party. Ethan had to remind Santa to feed the reindeer, Cameron explained to Santa how our tree falls down easily so he better watch out, and Dylan asked Santa to only eat the cookies in our house but not to be eating any of our cake....he was quite worried about this! Cam wanted star wars or Zelda things this year, Ethan (who pretty much just copies what his brothers want) asked for star wars toys and an easel, and Dylan after being told that a fridge probably wouldn't fit in Santa's sleigh (he really wanted a fridge for his bedroom with his own food in it) finally decided to ask for a boat and Star Wars things. The party was very nice and the boys again loved seeing their Dad's work!

Cameron's Program

Cameron's school put on a Christmas Around the World production. The kids (k-5) all came out in classes and sang different Christmas songs. As you can see Cameron's class sang a song from Mexico. The kids did a great job. This was the only picture I got though because I was recoding the program. Cam is on the top row....you can basically only see his eyes and nose!

Dylan's Christmas Program

Dylan's preschool put on a production of baby Jesus' birth. When I went to take pictures of Dylan before the production, Dylan was dressed as a shephard (with a staff or what I like to call a great stick to whack people with)! At the time, I thought wow they are brave and I better have my video camera ready for this one! Well when Dylan walked out on stage....he no longer was a shepherd but one of the three wise men! (It ended up none of the shephards got to carry a stick onto stage!) His program was very cute though and we loved seeing it!

Christmas Season photos

Tree Hunting

Yes this is our tree!!!! We went into the mountains with Ryan, Crystal, her parents and some of their friends. We hiked up a small trail and everyone scattered to find their trees.....within minutes most everyone had come back with a nice 5 foot- 6 foot tree.....an hour later Dustin returned with a moster tree! None of us could stop laughing! It was a beautiful tree though and getting it set up in our house was a lot of fun! It ended up taking up most of the living room but it sure added a lot of Christmas spirit to our house. (In this picture you are not even seeing the top of the tree....I had to crop it out because it wouldn't fit!)

Ice Fishing

Uncle Ryan has taken the boys ice fishing a few times now. They are all "hooked"! I was surprised at how long they want to stay out in the cold as long as they are catching fish. I on the other hand freeze and am perfectly happy sitting inside while they go to do it!

Wii

Our family recieved a Wii from my parents for Christmas (we opened it while my Mom was here for Thanksgiving). The boys have loved it and I have to admit...it is the first game system that I have truely liked playing....although my arms have been so sore from the boxing....it truely can be a great workout!!!!

Thanksgiving 2007

My sister, her family, and my Mom, were able to come out for Thanksgiving. The boys did not know that their Mimi was coming and so it made for a great surprise. We had a wonderful 4 days. We wished it could have been longer but loved having everyone see our home and to see how much the area has changed!

Montana Views

Just a couple shots of the area we live. Although it was very cold the day I took these....we have had only 1 week of snow.

First Day of Pre School

Dylan started his first day of pre school in November. He was so excited and had a great first day...exept for the fact that according to Dylan the school stole all his things from his backpack and he was never going to go back there because of it! We had to have a long talk about how those were the supplies he needed to go to school and they would be there every time for him to use...he still wasn't happy about it but is dealing with it!

Veterans Day

Cameron's school had a very good program that the entire school (k-high) put on. We were surprised when Cam walked in with one of the flags....he had never told us that he would be doing this. We were very proud of him!