Merry Christmas!

Sorry I'm lame...too lazy and WAY too expensive this year for the real deal- so you get the cyber version!  Hope you all have a VERY Merry Christmas!

(Click on the picture to see it bigger!)

Post Dump!

Yep- that's right....it's my usual blog dump.  But dont' worry, there are loads more to come!  Hope you enjoy Mom!  I actually dont' even know if my Mom looks at this anymore!  She's SUPER busy!  But for those of you that do read it, enjoy! :)

Naked Baby!

We woke up one morning (and just about every morning thereafter) and THIS is what we found!  Cutest little naked baby ever!

Silly Kiddies

Here are some silly pictures of my kids that got overlooked!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAYTON!!

What in the WORLD?!  My little Payton is FOUR!  How did that EVER happen?!  He is such a sweetheart, and I am so grateful to be his Mom.  He has been on a major Batman kick lately (which-ironically, about 2 weeks after it started (now) has almost passed! :)  )  so all he wanted was a Batman party and everything Batman related.  So, who am I to say no to that!?  He invited a few little friends over, and we had a party for the little dude.  It was crazy, but the kids had a great time. 

I made all the kids bat masks for their favors and it was so cute to see all the little bats running around!

He chose to have hot dogs, chips and clementines for his lunch.  Silly guy!

He sure loved to open all of his superhero presents. :)

Payton, we love you so much!  You are such a sweet, loving, handsome, caring boy.  You are always willing to help and are always so happy (except, of course, for when you are not!)  You have endless energy which we all wish that we can take just a little sliver of.  Your cute little brain goes so fast trying to figure everything out around you, and it as been SO fun to see you this past little while in school to just soak it all in!  You are really getting the hang of it!  I love the way that you interact with your siblings. You love them SO much, and are such a great helper.  I'm so glad that you are so excited for this new little baby that is coming into our lives.  You always talk to it, and make sure that I am feeling alright.  You are quick to compliment others- always telling  me when I look pretty and little.  You know just how to make a mom feel great!  I can't believe that you are four.  You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and I thank Heavenly Father each day for your presence in my life.  I love you, and Happy Birthday big boy!

That's some seriously shaggy hair he's sporting there!

He received a special package from Grandma B and Grandma Dick!  He absolutely LOVED it, and was so excited to open something up from Germany!  Thanks Mom and Dad for such a special thing!  He felt quite special!

 Somewhere I have a picture of the little birthday celebration that we had at the Smith's, but I can't find it!!!  I'll see what I can rummage up!  He was spoiled by his Grandma and Grandpa Smith too!  Such a lucky loved boy. :)

We had a small party for him on his actual birthday (the day after we returned home from Utah!) and he requested chocolate cupcakes with BLUE frosting!  This is what he had for his snack at school, and all the kids had BLUE faces when their parents picked them up from school.  SO cute.

 Happy Birthday buddy!

Robot-athon

Link has asked and asked to make a robot for quite some time now, so we collected boxes for a little while, and one day after school, we did the deed!  We had SOOO much fun!  The boys got quite creative with their little project, and it was SO much fun to do this with them!  Link wants to keep his for when he is "Star of the Week" at school.  What a stud.

Lincoln named his robot Jokoh and put roads on him so that people could drive on him.  He also-after this picture was taken- put lots more stickers on him including a control panel and everything!  He has quite the creative little mind!

Payton named his....well, Payton of course!  He gave his robot 14 eyes, and was SO proud that he could count all the way to 14!  What a smart little bugger. Love him.  And does this little smile just not SCREAM mischief?!  Love him.

Working hard!

Little Buddies

These two are quite good little buddies!  So dang cute!  I LOVE that they love to read. And BOY do they look alike!

Sorry it's blurry...phone pic. :)

TWINS!!!

My little Cooking Helpers

These two LOVE LOVE LOVE to help me in the kitchen!  It's really fun!  They are really great at taking turns when I put something into the mixer to be made.  Love it!

This is what Lincoln was building while we were cookin'.  They are his goggles. :)

Melvin Ralph Meyer

Cole's Grandpa Meyer passed away while we were in Utah, and we had the opportunity of attending the funeral services.  He was an absolutely wonderful man that lived a long and full life.  He was 87 years old, and such an amazing man.  I feel like Cole is SO much like him, so I have an extra soft spot in my heart for him.  He is one of the hardest workers that I have ever known, and was so amazing.  I am so glad that I got to know him.  I'm sorry that I don't have any good pictures of him when he was a bit younger.
      The funeral services were wonderful.  Melvin and Madge (Cole's Grandma) had 5 daughters that are all absolutely wonderful.  He also has 13 grandsons, and has a special spot in his heart for all of them, so they were able to sing a song, and it was so beautiful.  I'm sure he was looking down on them and was so proud!  He had granddaughters too- and all of his family is amazing.  Morgan was a bit crazy for a funeral, so we spent the whole time out in the foyer, but the boys did alright coloring and keeping to themselves.  We are so grateful to the Lord for the tender mercy that he granted to the family as all of this has taken place.  We are so glad that we were able to visit with Grandpa for a little while before he passed away.  What a wonderful man- he will most definitely be missed.

Here's Grandpa's 5 daughters!  His little "honey's" he called them.

If these three don't just BLAZE mischief, I don't know what does!

The 5 daughters and their spouses.  Wayne and Marcia, Cleve and Maxine, Ralph and Melanie, Kevin and Marie Funk and Jeff and Monica Kearl

Almost all the family.  It was great to all be together.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

     So we had a wonderful Thanksgiving this past month!  We were able to go to Utah for a couple of days and stay there with Cole's parents the whole time!  It was different not having most of my family here in the country even for this Thanksgiving, but it was really nice to be able to just be up at Cole's house and stay there.  Traveling takes a LONG time back and forth, so it was nice to stay in one place!
    We had a big feast up at Cole's parents, and had most of the family there!  We were only missing Cole's brother Spencer and his wife Laura.  We all really missed them, but we had a great time anyways.  The food was incredible (as always) and we were all sufficiently stuffed by the time we were done!  My kids did really great....Lincoln had about 6 rolls and 12 chocolate kisses for Thanksgiving dinner, Payton had a few bites of mashed potatoes and a little bit of turkey, and Morgan ate 2 whole plates of food!  Thanks Morgs.  She always out eats her brothers!  It was just so much fun to be able to be there with the family.  We had a few new people up visiting for dinner, so it was fun to get to know more people too!
    I REALLY love Thanksgiving because there is NO ONE to buy anything for!  I love just being able to be together and to be thinking about things that we are grateful for.  It is so nice and always pretty relaxing besides all of the cooking and things.  I love it, and this year did NOT disappoint.
   Thanks everyone for such a great holiday.  We had a tremendously wonderful time!

We were in Richmond for like 5 or 6 days or something, and the kids took about 12 baths!  They LOVED bathing in Grandmas "Big Tub"!

They also fed cows each day, and played outside LOTS and LOTS!

Morgan wanted anyone and everyone to read books to her.  Here uncle Spencer is reading her "I'm a Little Teapot"...notice her spout sticking out of the top!

Oh nuts....Oakley is blurry!  but her and Morgan were having a BLAST playing the piano!