What Is New

I can not believe how time flies anymore.  So much is new and so much has happened and I am just now having time to sit down and take a moment to reflect it all.

CHURCH CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Ellaree & Lorelai were angels

All the kids lined up and ready to walk down

Harry was Joseph and his friend Faith was Mary

As you can see Harry would not put on his costume and he was not happy about being up front.  He had this poor little pitiful pout/cry he did. 

And the pitiful pout continued throughout the whole thing

And it only got worse and worse as the story of Jesus was told

And at the end Mom had to carry him away - I was very proud as there is not picture of it but Ellaree and Lorelai were playing drums on their cheeks during Harry having his pouting time.  I am very proud of my children.  Everyone else thought it was cute...I (as a mother) was mortified!

CHRISTMAS AT THE FARM

Christmas at the farm was so nice as we got to see Uncle Greg, Aunt Alissa and Uncle Luke.  It was a snowy day but had lots of fun sledding, opening gifts, building Ginger Bread houses and relaxing. 

Also Ellaree got to learn how to shoot a gun for the first time.  We were scared at first but in the end she tried it and was very proud of her.

PARENT TEA AT ELLAREE'S SCHOOL

This was a fun afternoon with Ellaree as her and her classmates read poems, sang Christmas songs and at the end had a little snack.  Then we got to visit and find all her Christmas decorations to bring home.  It was a lot of fun.

Here is Ellaree's small group for her poem

CHRISTMAS EVE

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Kids in their new jammies from Grandmother ready to open gifts

HARRY'S 3RD BIRTHDAY PARTY

Yes my baby boy is 3!  (sad music queued here)

Harry's new bike from Mom & Dad...since it was so very cold outside and it was his birthday he got to ride his bike in the house only for that day...then it had to go outside.

INDOOR WATER PARK

On New Years Day the kids and I ventured out on our own (as Daddy was driving for Kwik Trip) to Des Moines, IA.  The plan was that we would meet Daddy at his hotel were there was an indoor waterpark.  Note that this was the very first time I had went this far by myself with all the kids so it was a little intense not to mention the fact that it was snowing and Iowa doesn't necessarily feel it is a concern to have the roads completely plowed at all times.  So there was a lot of white knuckle driving, along with lots of "mommy can't get that for you right now, I am driving" and reminding the kids that I was not stopping every 10 minutes for something or the bathroom.  Yup it was a little crazy.  

We couldn't check into the hotel until 4 therefore we made plans to stop at Uncle Greg & Aunt Alissa's house on the way and say hi.  We would only have a 45 minute drive from there to the hotel.  

Here is where the Lord shows he is faithful and watches over you always...we were about a mile from Greg's house when the "check tire pressure" light came on.  As this has happened before I figured it was just because it was so cold out and kept on going.  When I opened the door I immediately heard the "pppssshhhh" sound.  Oh no!  Yup my rear passenger tire had ruptured and by the time I got the kids in the house came back outside it was completely flat.  

Greg tried and tried for a quite a while to get the spare out but it was frozen and couldn't get it.  He called AAA and they came out with no help either.  So on New Years Day the only place that is open is Walmart Tire so he took the flat off, took it to Walmart and had them patch it. He brought it back and within 15 minutes had the tire back on and the kids and I were back on the road.  Through all this of course Harry is at the hotel, out of drive hours and pacing the floor as he couldn't do anything to help.  We arrived safe 3 hours later then anticipated.  Harry had pizza ordered and in the room when we got there.  And headed straight for the waterpark! 

We headed back home the next morning to meet Daddy for breakfast and he went back on his route while we headed back home with no issues....until we hit Coon Valley (which is about 40 minutes from our house) and all the codes started dinging in my Tahoe.  I called Harry and asked me if it was still running down the road.  I said yes and he said just get it home and parked before anything else happens.  haha  

What an adventure but God is good and watched over us through the whole trip.

1ST ANNUAL SLEDDING PARTY

Our friends invited us over for a sledding party and how much fun we had that day. I took over 200 pictures of the day and Dad took the kids down the hills and we all had a blast hanging with friends.

Lil Harry is on the sled as well but kind of hard to see him except his boots

me with my dear friend Jenny