5

Our fabulously, feisty Ellie is 5 today.  Shes the sweetest thing you've ever seen, until shes not.  She takes feisty to a whole new level!  She loves to dish it out, but needs to work on taking it.  Ellie still loves anything Frozen and Doc McStuffins has become a new favorite.  She eats anything and everything especially if dad likes it. Its even better if we're eating out.  She loves Charlie and sometimes treats him like her baby. She still loves everything girly.  Pink, purple, sparkly and twirly are her favorite words.  Ellie loves to dance around the house, climb on every piece of furniture and scale the windows in her room.  Ellie loves to be the baby when Gram is around, but has a fit when anyone implies she isn't a big girl.  She loves to "play" Minecraft with the boys even though we're convinced she doesn't have a clue as to what shes doing.  She loves to cuddle and be tickled and she has the best laugh.  She keeps us on our toes, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas!  Gram, aunt Corrie and a "Christmas orphan" friend came over on Christmas Eve. We watched A Christmas Story with the kids, took some pictures and read The Night Before Christmas.

The kids loved the Christmas pj's and looked pretty darn cute in them.

They did a decent job of calming down and going to sleep while the adults broke out our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of snacks and watched White Christmas.  That movie never gets old.

The kids woke up Christmas morning to a tree full of presents.  Everyone got some great stuff.  I can't wait to get a picture of the kids in their new hats and scarfs. However, Corrie got the best gift of all, the Purdum eagle. I'm sure it will enjoy a long life in her condo!  Love you Corrie!

We had our traditional Christmas breakfast of a little of everything.  We spent the rest of the day in pj's, relaxing and enjoying each other.  It doesn't get much better!

Green

Gram brought some hair dye for the kids and we decided the week of Christmas is the perfect time to have green hair.

Ellie only wanted 1 picture so you can't see her hair well, but the boys were all about showing off the green.

Cuddlebugs

Even when they're zoned out with the kindle, they still love to cuddle!

Nutcracker

The three oldest and I went to see the Nutcracker last Friday.  They really liked the first half, but got pretty bored with the second half.  Ben and Sam managed to make 2 friends and are coordinating a play date so I guess it was a win!

2 out of 3

The kids sang some songs for us at church yesterday.  This was the first year Ben got to be a spectator and not a performer.  Sam went in the back row so we didn't get a great view of him, but Zach was front and center and all smiles.

Ellie started crying and pouting the minute the kids walked on stage.  She hid in the back row with her pouty face and her arms crossed the entire time.  She's awesome!

Cookie Day

We had our annual cookie day on Saturday.  We made sugar and chocolate chip cookies as well as oreo truffles, buttons and Jon made us some chex for a snack.  

Jon got his traditional "dirty snowman."

All the kids got to help roll the dough, cut out cookie shapes, frost some of the cookies and taste test, of course!

Santa

I think this is the first year we have 4 smiling kids with Santa and no dad!

Snap circuits

I love watching the kids get a small taste of science.

Wordless Wednesday: Divas

Reindeer Run 2016

Corrie and I did the annual Reindeer Run at Lakewood Park this weekend.  The kids also participated in the Dasher Dash.  They chased a reindeer around half the park.  Ellie was excited until she saw the reindeer and couldn't be convinced it was just someone playing dress up.  She cried the whole time. The boys took off and had a blast.  It was really cold, but the hot chocolate afterward made it all ok!

Natural History Museum

Jon had a day off yesterday so we headed to the Natural History Museum.  Its been a while since we've been there and the kids had a lot of fun.

It only took a tic tac to get them both to smile!

Ben was very excited to fill out his map book.  He had to find and name a few items in each section of the museum.

"The digging part" was the highlight of the trip.  They loved finding fossils.  Sam told us he now wants to be a paleontologist then he grows up!

Play dates with dad on a Friday are the best!

We went to see the Wizard

Corrie was able to get some free tickets to The Wizard of Oz and invited the boys and I to go with her.  They've never seen the movie, only a Veggie Tales version so they weren't sure what to expect.

I think Sam was a little scared of the wicked witch and monkeys, but he was a trooper.

Ben said his favorite part was Toto!

We had saw the lights, checked out Corries office and had a great night.  Thanks Corrie!

Tree time

The kids love the day after Thanksgiving almost as much as they love Christmas.  We put up our tree today and hung out together while enjoying snacks and football.  The kids love hanging their ornaments and Ben did a great job of making sure the ornaments were spaced out well.

I think they did a great job!

Happy Thanksgiving (yesterday)

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday.  We started the day with our tradition of cinnamon rolls for breakfast, the parade and looking through the black Friday deals.  Family came over and Jon cooked probably the best turkey he's ever made.  We thought we were ending the night with pie and a heated card game (that Ben and I won), but Corrie and I inadvertently talked each other into some shopping. It was actually great. We missed the initial rush and got to shop in averagely crowded stores and one of them had no line.  Corrie saved a ridiculous amount of money and I was able to finish Ellie and Zachs Christmas shopping.  Now onto the day after Thanksgiving traditions.....

Craft time

The kids are always asking to do crafts.  They are especially happy if the craft involves paint.  We found some shapes, decided to paint them and we're going to hang them up like garland.  Craft complete.

Turkey bowl

We went to Cross Points 3rd annual turkey bowl over the weekend.  Its a fancy way to say we played flag football.

Ellie and Zach had a fun game of catch going on the sidelines.  She discovered she loves football!

Ben got in on the action this year.  Sam spent the morning pouting.  Still haven't figured out why.

Overall, it was a fun morning.

Cute babies

Peanuts

The kids have been very excited about the new Peanuts movie.  We took them over the weekend to see if it lived up to all the hype.  The kids had a lot of fun with it.  It had an un-peanuts like ending, but it was still cute.  The kids all give it 2 thumbs up!

Later that day, we found two deer in our back yard.  The kids thought it was cool that the deer could care less about us.  We were all outside together checking each other out.  

Just 10 days late!

Happy Halloween from Captain America, Spider Man, Elsa and one of the Ninja Turtles.  I know, points against me because I can't tell the turtles apart!

Month of fun part 15 (the forgotten one)

I completely forgot to post about our second annual egg drop challenge last month.  We took some household items and created a carrier/holder for eggs.  Jon dropped them off the roof and the winner was the one with the last egg to crack or break.  We got our neighbors involved and had some interesting creations. Ben and Sam actually tied as winners.  Both of their creations lasted several falls and both cracked on the last fall.

We ended the competition by throwing a pumpkin off the roof just for fun.  It didn't have a huge splat like I though it would, but the kids still had a lot of fun with it.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with next year!

Month of fun part 14

Jon and the boys went to the annual fall camping trip with Royal Rangers last weekend.  They've been asking to go camping for a while so they were very excited for the trip.

Eight dads and their sons braved the cold weather and rain for a weekend of camp fires and no showers.  It sounds like a 3.5mile hike was the best part of the weekend.  

They played, they ate, did a Bible study and wore themselves out.  Everyone had a blast.

The gang!