Happy Birthday Pa!

Happy Birthday Pa! He got a delicious pumpkin pie for his birthday. Pa turned the big 3-0! We sure are glad that you were born Pa. We hope you had a good birthday/Christmas! Sure love you!

Christmas!

Claire peeked around the corner to see what Christmas morning brought!

The girls quickly rushed over to their stockings. Theodore went straight for his rocking horse. Teddy spent a few days making it out of hard wood for him to enjoy. He loves it! He really gets it rocking and can just about tip it over.

The girls got little toys in their stockings: headbands, snap bracelets, gooey smashing balls to throw at the wall, and of course, candy.

Teddy has been looking forward to the new WWZ movie coming out, so he got the book to hold him over until it comes out. We got lots of board games and I even got a new camera lens! I am super excited! We all got a spoiled rotten and had a fantastic time visiting Grandma and Grandpa's. Claire was sick most of the time there, but she was a trooper. She puked all over the van on the way home, which wasn't the greatest Christmas present I've ever had, but at least she is feeling better now.

Christmas Eve

 We enjoyed a delicious Christmas Eve dinner.

 The girls left cookies out for Santa. He wasn't very hungry, so he only ate 1.5 of them.

We read Luke 2 as a family, but I think you could maybe only hear about every other verse with all the freaking out that was going on. They were really tired from all the days adventures. We hung our stockings and went to bed, super excited for what Christmas would bring!

Graham Cracker Houses

For part of our Christmas fun, the girls made some graham cracker houses. They had a fantastic time making them and did better than I was expecting! Good job girlies!

We hung them on the Christmas tree to spice it up! They sure had a great time nibbling the candy as they worked. Their houses turned out so cute!

Christmas Tree

We spent Christmas at Teddy's house in VA. For our Christmas tree this year, Teddy cut down the tops of a couple trees that needed trimming. We then zip tied them together and had a perfect tree!

The girls were very excited about riding in the back of the truck. They got to haul the Christmas tree back up to the house.

Theodore actually didn't try to pull the tree over. He pretty much left it alone! He loved the pretty lights.

 Marie was excited about all the snow that we got just in time for Christmas! She knows what the best thing to do with snow is... go sledding!

We bundled up the girls and took them out to ride down a big hill a couple of times. It was really cold out, so they only lasted about 20 minutes... which was longer than we thought they would last! It was warm when we left OH so I didn't bring all their snow gear, but we made do.

TSO

Teddy surprised me with tickets to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra shortly before Christmas! It was such a fantastic concert. I had heard a couple of their songs, but I didn't really know what to expect since it was a Christmas show. This was definitely a rock concert.

The first half of the show was a Christmas program. There was a narrator who would come out after every other song and tell a little bit more of the story line. There were calmer songs mixed in to the program so you didn't completely lose your hearing. We sat next to the perfect couple. They gave Teddy their extra ear plugs (I have a problem wearing ear plugs for some reason...). They gave me half of their popcorn!

The platforms swung over the top of the crowd! They had tons of fire and lights. The show was very well done.

We left our kids with the Walkers to see the show. They let us drive their corvette to the show! Teddy was excited to be driving in something more manly than the mini van, and it definitely added to our experience. On our way home from the show, we stopped by our house to pick up some guns for the Walkers who needed them for shooting the next day. We drove the fifteen minutes to the Walker's house and missed their turn in by one street. We unfortunately turned into a cul-de-sac and had to turn around. We then got pulled over by a cop... After quickly stuffing the guns under my seat, we explained that we had borrowed our friends' car (who recently moved out here) so that was why the plates were from a different state, the drivers license didn't match the registration, and the insurance was for CA. He saw that we were military and told us that the only reason he pulled us over was because we were driving a corvette at night and turned down a cul-de-sac and then turned around as soon as we passed him. He thought it looked suspicious (which it did). At least we didn't get a ticket for anything and it added to the excitement of our evening.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I was happy with how our pictures turned out this year. Let us know if we missed you on our mailing list. We had a great 2012! I can't believe that it is already 2013, but there are more adventures waiting!

We saw many blessings in 2012 and are very thankful for all of our family and friends. We hope you had a great year also!

Trampoline Slumber Party

Pa has been waiting for a good night to go sleep on the trampoline! It was cold outside, but the girls were more than willing to brave the cold for the excitement of sleeping outside with Pa.

We brought out almost every blanket we own. We had to make a couple trips to get everything out there.

They bundled up and slept outside for a couple hours. I came outside to bring the girls back in while they were sleeping. It was below freezing outside and our girls never stay under the covers. They had a fantastic time! We will have to do it again when it is not the middle of winter.

Pa's Project

Teddy is always coming up with creative projects. I love it! This time he decided he wanted to try to make leather. The process is pretty intense.

He got a cow hide from his parents and then scrapped off all the fat and remaining undesirable pieces. This was very time intensive and messy. When it got too cold outside, he moved the project to the garage... which might have resulted in cow fat being sprayed all over the garage door and floor. It was pretty stinky for a few days, but he got it all cleaned up and ready for the next step!

He soaked the hide in several different solutions, dehaired it, dyed it, and then obtained his leather! This is not the final step though, because now he wants to turn the leather into some chaps! He also got a deer hide from some friends that turned out to be much easier to work with. That Pa is always up to something interesting!

Hair Accessories

The more accessories you put in your hair, the better you must look... :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was having trouble uploading pictures for awhile, but I finally got it working again. I will attempt to catch up again!

Pa made a delicious raspberry & peach pie. We had turkey & gravy, jello, rolls, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and sparkling grape juice! Yum yum!

Everyone ate until they were stuffed. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for my family!