Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Christmas Morning is EXHAUSTING!!!

We'll post pictures later of the fun of Christmas morning, but for now you get to see the CRASH that happened after being up at 5:30 AM to start the Christmas fun!


We hope you all had so much fun this holiday season that you had to crash, too!


Tuesday, December 29, 2015

A Blurry One...

A blurry picture, but here is Peter testing out the web swing Grandma and Grandpa Merrell got for the kids!! That will be hung outside once we get rid of the poison ivy, and the kids are excited to spend lots of time on it! (Actually, so am I!)


Sunday, December 27, 2015

Christmas Dinner!

Christmas dinner was about 5 minutes away from being completed when the tornado sirens started sounding! It was the first time I've heard them. We spent some time in the basement, then came back up and safely enjoyed our Christmas dinner!

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Fun with Uncle Edward!

They caught Uncle Edward under the mistletoe! They have also kept him busy with wrestling, running at the YMCA or the track, watching operas, playing piano duets, and doing Christmas activities like making reindeer food and playing "Don't Eat Rudolph!". 

We are so happy to have Edward here!

Monday, December 21, 2015

Circus Performers

An impromptu circus group arrived on our doorstep last night. We had a clown, a magician, and a candy cane man!








Sunday, December 20, 2015

A Funny Moment in the Car

We had a great laugh in the van on the way to church today, provided by Peter!

Each of our children has a habit which I repeatedly ask them to not do (or to do). Andrew's is sucking on his finger. Apparently Peter is very accustomed to me telling Andrew to please take his finger out of his mouth. This morning in the van, he saw Andrew with his finger in the mouth and said, "Andrew, take your finger out of your mouth!". Everything is apparently much funnier when your enforcer is 2 years old! 

We giggled about it for awhile, and then Matt taught Peter the phrases to say for the other kids (such as "Naomi, out your book down!). 

Friday, December 18, 2015

Wake Up, Santa!

On Tuesday, we went to the library to see the library staff put on a play called "Wake up, Santa"! We really enjoyed it. After the play, the kids decorated reindeer cookies and visited with Santa.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

4th Grade Spelling Bee

After winning her class spelling bee last week, Naomi competed in the 4th grade spelling bee today. We couldn't find her list of words to study beforehand, but she still pulled out a 2nd place finish!

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Listening to The Forgotten Carols

Aunt Julie sent us this book and CD a couple years ago. The kids liked it last year but completely fell in love with it this year and have requested it so many times!

Monday, December 14, 2015

Friday, December 11, 2015

Christmas I Spy Activities

Yesterday's gingerbread house activity!




Thursday, December 10, 2015

2015 Snowman Fridge!

Every year, one of our gingerbread house activities is to change our fridge into a snowman. This is 2015's version!

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Home Depot Holiday Craft!

Weekend fun at Home Depot! This was before our yard work, which ultimately led to this week's mass breakout on Val's body of poison ivy sores. We had a great time at Home Depot!

Saturday, December 05, 2015

Concentrating...

Painting a dump truck he put together...he loved this project!

Thursday, December 03, 2015

Thanksgiving Fun!

A huge chunk of our Thanksgiving fun was due to spending time with the elephants! We love these people. Besides having a great time playing games, Jefrilyn and I had lots of fun going to thrift stores looking for chairs to recover. The downside is that my hands received a decent bit of damage for removing the old covering.

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Candy Cane Relay

Yesterday's activity was a candy cane relay! It was the first time we've done that, and it was a hoot!! There were 6 candy canes in a cup, and they had to make it all the way down our line and be placed in a cup at the other end. Lots of laughs involved with this!

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

Family Movie Night at the Blunck's!

During Thanksgiving week, we house-sat for some friends in Lilburn, GA. We had a lovely week playing with friends. This day we needed an earlier bedtime and opted for a quiet family movie night. Peter loved the popcorn! Even when I took all the bowls downstairs to the kitchen, he kept starting down the stairs, asking for more popcorn.