Pancakes!

Owen loves pancakes for breakfast! It is really hard to resist the request when he gives me a big grin and asks me to make them. When I agree the boys all cheer and William says "panpakes!"

Plowing with Dad

The kids love to go out and plow with Daddy when it snows. After they clear the driveway (and a lot of neighbor's driveways) Rod will hook up the sled and take them up and down the street. They love it!

Christmas Afternoon 2009

Christmas afternoon at Grammy and Grandpa B's is always a blast. Lots of cousins, yummy food and more presents:

Grandpa oversees all the action:

Tani got a Nerf gun:

Owen got a very cool train:

We are really blessed to have such great family!

Christmas Morning 2009

Santa came! Christmas morning left everyone happy:

Even Hank had a present:Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2009

We always have a Christmas Pageant on Christmas Eve. The wise man brought the frankincense: Mary, Joseph, the Baby and the Shepherd were all excellent in the pageant:

We then got to open one present. It is always new jammies:

Daddy set up the train around the tree. He said it was one of his favorite traditions growing up:

Anna and Tani put out cookies for Santa. They always include carrots for the reindeer. There is some debate over whether Santa likes chocolate or pink milk the best.

Christmas Eve is so fun and exciting! The work is done. So much anticipation for morning. After the children were in bed we hung a sheet across the hallway to work on some final surprises without being seen. After a time Owen started crying in his room. He just couldn't go to sleep and was worried Santa wouldn't come because he wasn't asleep yet! We reassured him that Santa was still on the East coast and he had plenty of time. This year was really wonderful with the ages of the children: 8, 6, 4, and 2. I loved every minute!

Christmas Card 2009

I sent out about 125 cards this year. It is so fun to receive them from all our friends and family. Zoie designed the card and Amy took the picture. I am lucky I have such talented family:

Cowboy Poetry with Grandad

We had another great night in Midway at the Cowboy Poetry Festival with Grandad! It was the horse show which was a lot of fun. Grandad always plans such fun activities. The kids love him!

Kylie and Halie are wonderful girls. Anna is lucky to have such wonderful cousins to look up to:

My cowboys (and cowgirl) watching the action from above:

We were so excited to meet Dave Stamey after the show. We listen to his music all the time. The kids were singing loudly along with him during his songs. It was pretty fun to get an autographed CD from him:

The best part of Halloween!

I make sugar cookies twice a year: for Halloween and Valentine's Day. I love sugar cookies. Love, love, love them. I think I eat most of them...but the kids like them too:

Hank's new crate

Hank got a new crate. Very necessary as he had outgrown the cat crate. Look closely and you can see all the kids inside. Is this a problem? I think it might be my new babysitter. (totally kidding! I think.)

Cornbelly's

We spent a wonderful Fall afternoon at Cornbelly's by Thanksgiving Point. It was a gorgeous, warm day and really put me in the mood for fall.Jill was in town visiting with her girls so we wrangled the kids together.
We went and watched the pig races. The kids were excited:
The announcer asked who had the "prettiest Mom" and the kids went nuts. Bless their hearts! As a result I was roped into kissing a pig. Let me just say...not much upsets me. In general I am pretty confident. I thought...no big deal just get it over with quickly. Then "Bujo" brought out the pig. It was squealing like crazy and absolutely filthy! The smell was overwhelming and I panicked. Swine Flu! It took me WAY too long to kiss that darn pig and I was so embarrassed. The kids thought it was pretty funny. I won this for my efforts:The kids all took a ride on the cow train:We also jumped on the huge air pillows. Wouldn't it be so fun to have one of these in the backyard?I got Tani to sit still long enough to have a picture with his Mom:Everyone had a ton of fun and I got to spend time with the kids and my sister!

New Puppy

We surprised the kids with a 7 week old Labrador retriever puppy the other night. He is so very cute. We picked him from a litter of eight. There isn't much that is cuter in the world than a litter of wiggly, white, lab puppies. We were able to meet his mom and dad. Mom, Daisy looked a lot like Chino but smaller. Dad, Walker was a cool old guy. I asked if I could bring him home. He reminded me a lot of Chino and looking in his eyes made me tear up. It took some work to decide on the puppy for our family. This little guy was asleep on his back when we arrived with the other puppies jumping all over him. A bit later he laid his head in Rod's lap and seemed to say "pick me." He appears to be pretty mellow and happy.

The kids were so excited by our surprise! We lined them up in front of the fireplace and had them close their eyes. William gave it away a moment early by exclaiming "puppy!" The kids squealed and surrounded him with love. Owen was overwhelmed and took a minute to join in. I think we may possibly win the coolest parent's award right now.

I don't think Peachy was quite as thrilled with this new family member. Hopefully the bird dog and the bird can work something out. We would like to avoid the "circle of life" lesson for now.The first night home went great. They all slept on the floor like a bunch of puppies. No crying but a few accidents. Crate training has begun. The only problem is the waking up all night long to "go out". He is just a baby after all. Feels a lot like having a newborn.
This is the spot the puppy likes to hide to get away from the kids...especially William who thinks you can sit on puppies. Pretty cute how the puppy can fit under the ottoman...before we know it he will be big.

Now we just have to decide on a name. Anna and Tani like Buddy and Bubba. I like Blue and Bo. Rod likes Jack (after our nephew). We will have to see what fits best. It always takes us a while with names. In needs to be just right because years are ahead of us with this adorable little...soon to be big boy.