Overnighter at Nana and Papas

The kids were waiting forever for Macy to wake up. She was finally up, but as you can tell she was not really that happy about it.

As you can see Dylan loved his gift from Nana and Papa. This bike goes up to 180lbs. so he will be taking it camping for a long time. The kids all loved them.

Macy was so excited about her big box. She got an awesome kitchen set with lots of accessories. She has been making lots of stuff with it.

Dylan and Dawson were getting snuggled in when it was bed time. Dylan cannot help himself he loves Dylan so much.

This year we spent the night at Kris and Neal on Christmas Night. We got there around 4:00pm and then stayed until about 5:00pm on the 26th. It was so relaxed. We had so much fun. Micheal took his xbox and the kids had a blast just hanging out. They all took a few of their new toys and then they had the stuff from nana and papa too. It was really fun. Everyone slept great because we were so tired we could hardly function. It was so fun I think we could have all stayed for the whole weekend. We probably would not have fit through the door because we ate so much food every single meal and even in between the meals.

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Call

Maddie likes whatever it is that she opened. She was actually in a really good mood for being as tired as she was.

Here is great grandma Call opening her presents. She like everything everyone got for her.

Macy was the kid that loved everything this year. She got excited about every single thing that she opened. That makes it really fun.

The girls did not last very long on the ride to grandma's. They were so tired, but lucky they woke up happier than they do on most days.

This year is the first year that grandpa and ma Call stayed home from their Florida house for Christmas. It added another stop to our long list but the kids were very excited to see them. We had lunch there before moving on to Nana and Papas. The kids were very tired and cuddly all dad but that is always fun and they did not get too grumpy.

Christmas Morning

Here the kids are having their breakfast on Christmas morning.

Dylan was very excited about his race track.

Macy got dress-up stuff.

Maddie got up at 5 am.

Santa Came

I think my batteries were getting almost done in this picture.

These were the gifts from Santa, he cordinated the paper. Macy was princess, Maddie was teddy bears, and Dylan was Santa paper.

On Christmas morning grandpa and grandma Gurtner come over to see what the kids got from Santa and to give the kids their gifts from them. This year we did things a little different. The gifts from "Santa" were upstairs and the gifts from the grandparents were upstairs. This slowed the kids down a little and let them see what they got a little better. The bigger tree was "santa" and the skinny tree was from their grandparents. We ate breakfast between Santa and grandpa and grandma's gifts. They loved almost everything the got, but the air hockey table was kind of a flop. Us adults have loved it but the kids are not to impressed.

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Maddie was super tired, she was starting to get really whiney. She was actually excited to get to bed because she knew it would come that much faster once she was sleeping.

Dylan was the one who fought sleep for the longest. He wanted to see Santa really bad, but he finally gave in. What a sweet little face.

Macy actually feel asleep the second her head hit the pillow. She was looking out in the living room through her headboard and the next second she was fast asleep.

Here the crew is aranging the cookies for Santa. Dylan decided he needed one for himself too.

Macy and Maddie were fighting over where to put the food for the reindeer.

A few of our traditions are feeding the reindeer every Christmas Eve. The kids make a mix of oatmeal, glitter and sprinkles. Then they go outside and sprinkle it around for them to eat. We also left out the cookies for santa on our special plate meant just for that, Nana got it for us of course. Then they were off to bed, while we still had much work to do. It is 1:00am and we are finishing up for the night. I have the table set with our formal dinnerware so we can have a special breakfast. The kids are all fast asleep in their beds, all snuggly in their blankets from Nana. I can hardly wait for morning. It is a whirl wind day but we end up at Mike's parents and it is so laid back and relaxing their and we will be spending the night and all of the next day so that will be really fun. Merry Christmas everyone and God Bless you.

Christmas Eve

Nana with her five grandchildren.

Macy with Great Grandma Oberlin

We spent the evening at Great Grandma Oberlin's tonight. As the kids last gift for the 12 days of Christmas from Nana they got John Deere PJ's that she made her self. The girls got matching PJ's for their American Girls, and they all got John Deere Blankets. They were the coolest things she has ever given to the kids. I am once again reminded how lucky I am to have married into such an amazing family. My kids are so loved. We wore these PJ's to Grandma Oberlins, this is our tradition every year. Here are a couple of pictures to show you how cool their stuff was. Thanks Nana for loving us all so much.

Holiday Baking

Every year we get together with Great Grandma and Aunt Lynn and spend an entire day baking. Today was our day. We baked from 10am to 5pm, Whhh. We are all tired. It was really fun, and the kids are so lucky to get to spend time with the extended family. Last year on Christmas Day Maddie got really sick, she is a couple of days early this year. She crashed in the afternoon, Grandpa was ready to step up to the plate and be on nap duty. We will be fitting a doctor appt. into our schedule tomorrow.

Christmas Angels

This picture makes the kids look like the picture of innocence. Let me tell you they are not. When it is not a school night it is a big treat for the kids to get to sleep together. They decided to sleep on the floor in Maddie's room. They looked so sweet I had to snap a picture.

Dylan got this guitar from Dave and Lorrie. We got together and celebrated with them on Saturday night. His t-shirt says it all, "This is what trouble looks like." With his spiked hair, guitar and shirt it just cracked me up. We had a fun night, if you guys are reading this you really spoiled us way too much, and we love everything so much. Thanks.

School Project

Maddie's class made Gingerbread houses last week at school. Kylie and I got to go in and help. It was neat to see how different each child approached their own masterpiece. Some of the children were so organized and picky, while others made you wonder what their rooms looked like. She has a really neat class and they have learned so much. Here are her and Joel as they worked on their houses.

12 Days of Christmas

Nana has been doing the 12 days of Christmas with the two families (Oberlin and Smyth for about 5 years now. She starts 12 days before Christmas and we get a gift everyday for 12 days. They are not just small tokens either, they are usually themed and very very unique. Here the kids are posing with day 5, she got them each a baking kit and aprons. These aprons are the cutest things I have ever seen in my live. See for yourself....

Gifts from Florida.

Uncle Judd sent home made gifts from Florida. He made the girls jewelry boxes and made a tractor for Dylan. They were made of wood and the kids loved them. They did not want to put them down all day and have talked about them non-stop. It had to take him a really long time to make them and then he shipped them here. We all really missing our family in Florida this holiday season.

Santa Cookies

These are the cute cookies we made. They are made from Nutter Butters.

Baking With Nana

Dylan and Dawson are posing for a shot, they are BFF's.

Maddie is concentrating on creating the perfect gingerbread person.

Macy had to try all of the decorating options.

We spent the day with Nana and the Smyth's baking some holiday goodies for Nana's neighbors. The kids baked for a while then they would play. We had a fun time and even made some yummy snacks. I will post a picture of these really cute santa's that Kenzie and I made. They turned out really cute. Kris is so crafty, the kids are really lucky to have such a creative and fun grandma.

Christmas is a busy time.

Here I am at 11:49 working on our family blog. Why am I up at 11:49, well you see, I forgot that tomorrow was Dylan's last day of school before Christmas break. That may not seem significant to you, however, I needed 17 individually wrapped treats, a teacher gift, a teacher's asst. gift, and a gift for the class gift exchange. I did manage to fit in my last shopping today between helping in Maddie's class and going to clean part-time, ( so we can afford Christmas this year). Tomorrow Dylan has a sleepover, I have grocery shopping, and another cleaning job. Saturday we have swimming, a visit with reindeer and then I am taking my aunt to Ft. Wayne so she can finish her shopping, Sunday is Church and then some family holiday baking. Sound crazy, it is and I would not have it any other way. I love all of the hustle and bustle and most of the time we have holiday cheer, but that just depends what time of day it is and the mood of our three kids.
Merry Christmas

Our Family 2008

We had some new family pictures taken last weekend. Our favorite studio in Auburn does quick takes twice a year and I actually talked Mike into going with me to have them done this year. Here it is.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!!

Mike the game junkie!!

Mike is yawning because he played his game until 1:30 am to night before. Atleast Dylan talked him into sharing with him.

Two weeks ago I had a talk with my husband. Dylan wants a DS with all of his heart, he even saved his own money to buy one. We decided we did not want to start the video game craze just net, we wanted our kids to play games, outside, do crafts, you get the picture. Now, fast forward two weeks. Michael has been doing some extra butchering jobs and got some extra cash. I thought he would be practical and work on his barn, oh no, he wanted an XBox. ( I am not even sure if that is the right capitalization for that word.) SO, he took Dylan to Wal-Mart and bought a video game. So much for holding out on the games. He could of atleast bought a Wii.

Future WNBA Player

SO, Maddie started Upward last week. For those of you who know me, I loved sports in highschool and that I am way too competitive. I have to remind myself that Maddie is only 5years old. But she is doing well and is really enjoying it, she has another little girl on her team that she really likes to fight with, they both want to be the boss. Here is our little dribbler hard at work. It is amazing to me that she can even dribble yet, I am sure I did not know how to when I was 5.

Tri-Kappa Shopping With Santa

Yesterday the Knox and Oberlin kids went to DeKalb Middle School to do some shopping for the people on their list. This is such a neat day, the kids get to shop without a parent and then wrap the things that they choose. The gifts are sent home and the kids get to hand them out at Christmas. They are always so proud of what they choose. We had a fun morning. Joel and Avery spent the night on Friday, Thane and Kylie had to go to Indy. Getting three girls pretty was a little extra work, but they all looked adorable. The kids were all really good too. (Honestly, all 5 0f them were great!!)

Gingerbread Houses

We made Gingerbread houses at Nana's. The kids all had so much fun making them and got really excited. We have so many neat traditions with Kris and Neal. The kids are so lucky to have Kris and Neal as Grandparents. We all feel really blessed.

Silly Cousins

We had a great time celebrating at Nana's for Thanksgiving this year. The kids love spending time with their cousins. They were all so good. We had a great meal and spent time with our extended family. Then after everyone else left we got to do other fun crafts.

Happy Thanksgiving

We went to spend our Thanksgiving with our family at Uncle Dave and Aunt Nancy. The kids had a blast spending time with their cousin John and doing crafts together. They were all really good and I was really proud of them and we had a really nice day together.

Things to be thankful for.

I just read Little Miss Brooklyn's Blog and now would like to take a moment and do as Kelli did. This year I am nervous about Michael's job and the slow down at SDI is causing us to have a little bit different Christmas than we have ever had before, and to be in a situation we have never encountered. It is so important to remeber that I have so many blessing every single day, and if I dwell on what I don't have it would be too easy to miss all the great things I do have. I will not do as comprehensive list as Kelli, but my husband is truly the funniest person I know, between him and the kids he makes me laugh everyday. My parents are the most giving and supportive people I know. They know me so well and can always sense what I need most and then try to help me achieve it. Then the most precious gift I could have ever hoped for are our three children. They are brilliant, loving, kind, fun and somehow I see the best of Mike and I in them everyday. ( I will have to re-read this tonight after our big lunch when they are over stimulated, and over tired.) Anyway when I pray today before my meal it will be lengthy and in an appreciative heart for all the things that God has given me. May you all feel as blessed as you reflect on all of the things you do have.

Santa Arrives In Auburn

This is one of the floats that was in the parade.

Macy got a hug from Santa.

The kids were waiting for the parade.

Tonight was the annual Auburn Christmas Parade. We have went every year since the kids were born. It was a little chilly, but that did nothing to dampen the spirit of my kids. They could not wait to see Santa, they even behaved all day in preperation for seeing Santa for the first time. Macy even got to give him a hug, they did not have time for an in depth discussion, she will have to save that for later. It was really fun, the kids sipped hot chocolate, and waited anxiously for the parade to start. Mom and Dad go with us every year, and even though they say it is silly, I know they secretly look forward to it each time.