Go Illinois!!!

The kids got free tickets at school to a U of I women's basketball game, so we took everyone, including our "adopted" sister Tina for a fun day out!

The view from our seats!

Tina, Tiny and Chevelle!

Mmm...nachos!

and don't forget the cotton candy!

A trip to the Garners!

After visiting family, we headed up north to visit some friends. The Garners moved away a year and a half ago, and the kids still talk about them, so we try to work in a trip here and there to renew our friendship. We stayed overnight and the kids had a great time playing together.

Christina, Abby, Brynn, and Shay

While the older girls were playing downstairs, Caroline and Leah had a great time playing in the makeup upstairs!

Most of the snow had melted by the time we got there, but there was still a good sized mound where the snowplow had piled it! (Christina, Abby, and Brynn)

Jared and Jacob enjoying some guy time playing video games, away from the girls!


An evening watching Shrek the 3rd!

Christmas evening...

We spent Christmas morning opening presents, eating candy and relishing the time together. After a couple of hours, we packed up to go to Indiana to see my sister Harmony and her family. We had planned to be there around 3 p.m., but didn't actually arrive until about 7:30 p.m. We spent Friday lounging around, eating, and playing in the snow. My mom and my other sister Michelle were there and it was a great visit all around.

Jacob got a kit to build a car - Hot Wheels is Jacob's latest fettish!
Christina with the Orgill's Christmas kitten Herman!

Caroline opening a gift - obviously one of her favorite activities!

Jacob in a rare mood, holding his cousin Aubry!

The kids playing table soccer with Uncle Mike!

(Caroline's wearing the cheerleader costume that Christina got from Santa!)

The next morning, the kids and dad's went out to play in the snow! They loved it!

Jacob in the snow cave they built!

A beautiful Christina!

Caroline and her second favorite activity - eating snow!

Our little cousin Aubry Jane!

Christmas morning...

Enjoying the moment!

Our Annual Gingerbread Decorating!

For several years now, we've decorated a gingerbread house at Christmas time. We've gotten better over the years, but mostly the kids' favorite part is sneaking pieces of candy and having Jared squirt frosting in their mouths!

Caroline and Christina

Jared and Jacob

Our finished product!

Winter music programs

This year Jacob and Christina each participated in the winter music concert at school. They were on different nights, and both were cold and snowy. The kids did a great job.

Caroline wanted to participate, but instead got to

hang out with her friend Emma.

This is the 2nd grade concert.

Jacob is in the front row wearing a white shirt and red tie.

He got to play the drum during this song.

A few nights later, Christina had her turn to perform.
She's on the right had side in the middle row.

After Christina's concert, we went to visit her classroom. Caroline wanted to stay and play!

Winter Wonderland!

A few inches of snow are just as enjoyable to our kids as a trip to McD's. One Saturday morning in December, our friend Tina came over and helped the kids build a snowman.

They raced to see who could finish their ball first!

Jacob made the bottom.Tiny made the head.

Caroline ate the snow!

Our finished snowman in front of our new apartment!

My disclaimer

Okay, so I know most of you have probably stopped checking our blog because I publish so infrequently. But I do have a few reasons...besides the normal kids and school and housework and church activities, we moved on November 1st. That's why the last post was from Halloween! Then we had the normal crunch with the end of the semester for Jared, and the holidays. So now, things have settled down, we've settled in, and hopefully you'll hear from us a little more frequently!

Friends of friends

My good friend and old college roommate recently came to town for the weekend. We met her and her three girls at their hotel. The kids went swimming, ate pizza and had a great time! Jacob grumbled, but he was the only boy with five girls. (He loved it!).

I find it so interesting that with friends, years can pass in between the times that you see them, and when you finally do get together, it's like you've never been away. I also love to get together with friends, and find that our kids also get along great! It was a wonderful surprise, and break from our everyday routine.

Why I always say no when the kids ask if they can paint!

I acknowledge that I am the mother that won't let her kids play with their toys because they might make a mess...Okay, so maybe I will let them play with their toys, but I usually try to persuade them to think of an activity that would be "less" messy. Caroline goes to the preschool at the local high school where the child development students work them them three days a week. I love it for many reasons...it's very cheap, they have a marvelous director, there's basically a one teacher to one child ratio, and they do lots of wonderful, creative, and messy activities that I would rather avoid doing at home. She's always asking me if she can paint, or help me cook, or do anything that would be potentially messy. I usually say no because we have to be somewhere or do something else within an hour of her asking, and the activity almost always requires a bath afterwards for her and for the work space. Well, Caroline got out of school a week earlier than the other kids did for Winter break and was bored of all of her usual activities. Plus it was Christmas time and I was feeling more generous than usual. Alas, the following are the result of that activity. She had a great time, and now I have the pictures to prove that I wasn't as uptight as they might think I was.