scott loves drums

scott loved the drums at the parade

so when we got home, he decided he wanted to make a drum....

and now, we are listening to him bang out the rhythm of Christmas carols! :)

latest "brooke-ism"

this morning, i woke up to find brooke staring at me. it's kind of a wierd sensation to wake up and have someone inches from your face. but, you parents have all been there. :) anyway, brooke came down this morning and after staring me down for a little bit, cuddled with her daddy while i got a few more minutes of rest. when i turned over, brooke said, "mommy, i thought you were a who in whoville when you were sleeping." wow brooke, thanks for the compliment! i guess it has something to do with the fact that i had my hair in a "high" ponytail and maybe also because she thinks that i am the size of a "babysitter"...as opposed to gramma and aunt mere who are taller and therefore the size of a "mom." merry christmas! :)

church Christmas program

(click on above to enlarge)

here are a few more pics for you to enjoy! gramma and grampi came down for the program and we enjoyed having them here to see the kids. brooke and scott were able to spend the weekend with gramma and grampi and were spoiled, spoiled! and, so were we! :) Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

our joseph and little lamb

yeah....that was our joseph....doesn't he look thrilled?

after the play...all smiles!

scott and emma (his girlfriend)


brooke and greysie....big buds! :)




brooke and scott were able to be in the children's Christmas play at salem (our church). brooke was a sheep and scott was joseph. i was a little concerned about scott having such an important role, but no one else thought that it would be a problem. during the dress rehearsal he would pick up "baby Jesus" and swing him around, toss him into the manger (something like playing basketball), etc... so, we had a serious discussion about how it is not acceptable to do that. and, of course, scott wanted to know why as that was just a doll and not a real baby. i finally succombed to bribary. and that worked. except that he acted totally bored during the play (see above picture). and when he was not acting bored, he was hitting himself in the head, getting tangled in his robe, or just roaming around the manger. the play was about over when he decided to sit backwards on the bench and then he gracefully fell off. thankfully it was the end and they quietly escorted him off of the stage. acting is not in his future. and then, lo and behold, i find out that he has a speaking part in his Christmas play at village preschool. my nerves are shot! LOL!


now, onto brooke. that girl can memorize some moves!!! she gets that from her daddy. :) she loves, loves to be onstage and is so fun to watch. she did a great job and i was so proud of her. i think the best part for her was afterwards, when she was able to see santa. she is not sure of what she wants for Christmas, and i told her she'd better figure it out soon. she is still trying to ask for a drum set (i have tried to discourage that gift, which is why she does not know what she wants from santa). if she does get that drum set, i need an extra-big supply of imitrex!!!! NOW!!!!!!!


we hope that you are all having a great Christmas season! lots of love to you all!!!!!
p.s. scott was really a lot better than i made him out to be. he did a great job for a 4 year-old boy and several people (including the associate pastor) came up to me and told me that they were all laughing so hard at him, so maybe comedy would be more suitable for him??! anyway, we are so proud of our kiddos!!! :)

baking with gramma

(click on the above collage for a better view)

we hope that you all had a blessed and happy thanksgiving! as i mentioned in a previous post, we have so much for which to be thankful!!! we had a great time with gramma and grampi. they came over on thursday and we cooked, cooked and cooked some more. well, the girls did. the men went out and played golf. anyway, we had a fabulous turkey! we got the special deal turkey (55 cents/lb). it was good, but it sure wasn't pretty by the time we finished cooking it! we all got a good laugh looking at it. :) after dinner, we sat outside by our outdoor fireplace and then retired indoors to watch football. the kiddos crashed after their pumpkin pie and we adults followed pretty soon afterwards. today tyler and grampi played golf...tyler actually played from 9am to 6pm. grampi played for a while and then came home to catch up on some football action. anyway, while they were away, brooke, scott, gramma and i baked lots and lots of cookies!!!!! it was such fun and a tradition that i hope to keep with my kids. they really enjoyed helping. scott really loves to be in the kitchen! it surprised me because usually i can't keep him in the house. he's our outside boy. anyway, gramma and grampi left this evening and now we are headed out to a neighbor's for a little get-together.

tomorrow.....it's tree decorating. and with that, i'll leave you a sneak peek of our tree and also of how i found the kids last sunday morning as they decorated their small trees.....

moms

i found this on another blog and thought all you other moms out there might enjoy it. i makes me realize why i seem to stay so busy!!! :)

scott and kole rock out!

scott and kole have formed a 2 man band! :) they had a ball rocking out. kole got a drum set for his birthday and the boys love it! all they need is brooke on the mic and they will be good!!! stephanie sent these to me and i loved them, so i had to share them with you.

we have just been trying to keep up around here. it seems like we have something everyday, which is normal for everyone with kids. one thing that we have accomplished is that i have really limited the t.v. thankfully, my kids don't even seem to miss it. they went without t.v. for over a week. we go on walks every afternoon, which they love. on tuesday we got snow flurries when we were walking and they thought that was the greatest thing ever!!! it's cold here and sure feels like Christmas. i even got out my tree today to test it out....it's the first artificial tree we have ever had and i wanted to see what it looked like. it's nice....1 strand of lights don't work, but since we have 1000 lights on the tree, it's not too bad. i got it for a great deal after Christmas last year, so i'm not complaining.

we are gearing up for thanksgiving and can't wait to fill or bellies with some good food! the day-after-thanksgiving, mom, brooke and i are going to bake lots and lots of cookies. we are starting a new tradition and i am so excited! i always remember nema's cheese straws, spritz cookies and gingerbread men during the holidays, so it will be nice to start that with brooke. i'm sure i'll have pics to post. meanwhile, tyler and scott will go out and play golf. grampi will be in the middle of a shutdown with work, so he will probably have to leave after the feast.... :(

hope that you all have a wonderful thanksgiving week. we all have so much for which to be thankful!!!!!