The ones that did not make the cut

Finally got our Christmas cards ordered. I did not have time to get a good picture so I was trying to use ones I have taken, but nothing looked right. Finally I had the kids dressed nice today and kind of Christmas-y, so I decided to "try" to get a good one. I took the pics in front of our non-decorated Christmas tree...oh well can't have it perfect all the time. Here are some of the ones that did not make it. Enjoy!

Our Winter Wonderland

We drove home from Montfort in a small snow storm. There was a small hole in the storm. We hit it probably at the best time we could as once we got home it was snowing pretty bad and did not let up until morning. The snow was wet and very heavy. We got a total of 11 1/2"!!! It makes everything look so pretty and the kids love watching it snow and seeing it. Here are some pictures that I took from the house. Enjoy!

Being a Distraction

Sometimes the best thing for adults is a little distraction esp during sad times. Well these kids offer three times the distraction. Luckily Nana was able to have a brief moment of distraction while playing with the kids.
First they wanted Nana to play the horse...

Three at once is quite the load...

Nana then got a ride from each the kids...Liz first...

then Zach with Alex along side...

O Christmas Tree

Unfortunately our December started off a little rough. For a second year in a row we have had a family member pass away in December. Unfortunately Jeremy's grandfather passed away Thursday night. We had many plans for the weekend which we quickly cancelled to go be with his family. One of the things was to go pick out our Christmas tree, which we decided this year to start doing the cut your own and having the kids help pick it out. We decided to quickly do this before leaving town. Luckily a guy just down the road from us (literally we could drag the tree home), had some of the cut your own. So after the trip to the dump we went tree hunting. The tree did not look huge outside but once we got it home it was HUGE!
Here it is...it did end up "naked" for awhile, but did eventually get lights and a few ornaments...
The kids helping daddy pick the "one"...

Timber.....

This is with the tree laying on it's side...

Daddy trimming a little off the bottom...

Liz and Zach requesting a picture with them hold twigs in front of them...

and Alex playing with a branch not needed...

Zach is the chilc that will always find alternative uses for items...like the ring from the tree stand...

Here it comes...stand back!

The Garbage Fairies

Every Saturday there is a routine in our house...it is garbage day. It is something the kids do with daddy. They help with carrying the collection bag, dumping the garbage in and carrying it out to the big garbage. Then they draw on the basement floor with chalk while daddy cleans the cats' litter boxes. Then it is off to the dump to drop the garbage off. Every Saturday this is what happens and they know it! If the ride to the dump is too short(which it normally is considering it is just down the road) they will refuse to get out of the truck, so normally Jeremy has to figure out something else to do. I normally am not part of this routine, so I get to watch them run around. This morning they stopped playing to start collecting, so they had some accessories on. The boys had blue headband and Liz had purple...so here are our garbage fairies. Enjoy!

Milk & Cookies with a Shrek Triplet

I caught Liz having milk and cookies with her Shrek triplet. I loved watching her serve the cookie just right and then pour a glass of milk. Just one of those innocent child moments...and maybe brings back memories of my childhood. Too cute not to share with everyone. Enjoy!

Foot-painting???

One of the things I am trying to do more of is projects with the kids that may be considered more on the messy side. There are reasons why I stay away but I am getting better. I have been trying to do more with paints and decided today to try to do a Christmas colors painting...but put a twist on it and use feet rather than hands. The kids had a blast doing it as did I. And really they listened pretty good an the mess was pretty minimal. Here are the pictures from the project. Enjoy!
First to dive in was Liz...
The boys waiting for their turn...can you tell they are excited?!?!

Liz supervising the boys' painting...

The finish product...