keeping with the *season

Our poor dog must really suffer, from having owners who think it is *Cute* to wrap her up and go around offering her to the family members as a Gift :D

(Just keeping with the *holiday season*)

Seriously tho.

I'm so amazingly blessed that God gave us the perfect dog for our family!

she really is a GIFT!

.R.

excoursion :)

So today, Dad, Jared, and I took advantage of one of the warmer days that we've had...

We went hiking.. our first park of choice, we got there and there were big barriers and signs posted, saying it was closed for hunting season... :(

So we ended up going to another park...

While on one of the trails we found a HUGE vine hanging from a tree.. I ever so kindly made Jared try it out first... And than we all were swinging on it.. it was really fun! I'm so glad we went!

Only sad thing is that there are no pictures from me doing it (even tho i'm sure i looked really funny)

.R.

Christmas tree's

Yeah Yeah, I know Becky already put up a few pictures from our Christmas tree hunt,

But these are the EXCLUSIVE few she DID NOT HAVE!!! (yes all caps is the equivalent of shouting)

.R.

Aahhh good quote/poem/thing.

When I say... "I am a Christian,"

I'm not shouting, "I'm clean livin'!"

I am whispering, "I was lost,

now I'm found, and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian,"

I don't speak of this with pride,

I'm confessing that I stumble,

and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian,"

I'm not trying to be strong,

I am professing that I am weak,

And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian,"

I'm not bragging of success,

I'm admitting I have failed,

And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian,"

I'm not claiming to be perfect,

My flaws are far too visible,

But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian,"

I still feel the sting of pain,

I have had my share of heartaches,

So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian,"

I'm not trying to be 'holier than thou',

I'm just a simple sinner,

Who recieved God's grace somehow!

.R.

Christmas Tree Day...

Saturday, when we went to get our Christmas Tree's the weather was pretty disgusting. It was under 40 degrees (but not freezing temp so no snow) and drizzly rain was spattering everything. We have went tree hunting in pretty much every weather imaginable. One year it was almost 60 degrees, other years its really windy, some years we have had pretty snow falling. One year it was even a sleet/ice mixture and windy. At least sleet/ice is wintery. Rain is not so much. We of course are such traditionalists that we "had" to go on this specific day, but the weather really really could have been nicer. Really. Anyway, enough downer-ness. We looked pretty funny with our umbrellas and raincoats :) We even brought lovely blue tarps for the guys to lay on while they cut the trees!

Wonderful happening of the day, Rachel was at long last reunited with her brain!
Hehehe sorry, it was too good to pass up titling this picture with that. We found a hedge apple tree and always find them intriguing so we always take pictures of and with them ;) Can you say redneck!!? The "treefarm" was home to these goats. The goats were very friendly and kept a steady soundtrack to our treesearch, but really, very redneck!

Who gave her a saw!!??

Yes yes, another "traditionalist" picture. We all go and stand as a group around the other person from the group who is cutting down their tree... We like it that way.

Then it was back to our house. We all warmed up, and dried out while eating leftover Thanksgiving pie and listening to Christmas tunes. I love our family...

No picture of our tree yet, as it is not decorated. We unfortunately forgot to water it the first night, so Dad has to go and recut the bottom of it so it will absorb water. But after that I'll get a picture of it up. For now, I figured we harp on W&L to blog about what they're doing so I should eat some of my own medicine and give them a post. Plus now I still have some source to blog about ;) See you soon bloggyworld!

Black Friday

Crystal, T and I staked out Shopko to go get a great deal on a chair that T

wanted. We got it! We waited outside for a while, there was a long line (long

for Dixon standards) but thankfully we didn't have to wait for too long.

The doors didn't open until midnight but it was a beautiful starry night and

not too cold so we enjoyed standing out there.

Shopko had a good setup so we pretty much got in and then got out.

Mission accomplished! Chair bought, the right color, and I didn't have to lift it!

Yay for the helper guys even on Black Friday :)

Thanksgiving mini post.

Well all, I thought I'd post this little mini Thanksgiving post. Crystal actually

took pictures on her camera! Here's a few I got from my phone.

Our Thanksgiving was so fun! Aunt T and her family came over. And then

my family and Gma Ev and Gpa Dave. Uncle Ron, Aunt Amy and Jared came later

for dessert. It was so fun having little kids over! Yep, I crawled on the floor

chasing them all over the house :)I must taunt you with pictures of our food... Oh it was so good! We had 9 pies.

Everybody has their favorites and my Mom is so nice that she always

makes all the favorites.

Food food food food. Turkey was perfect, dressing was spectacular... Ahhhh

wonderful wonderfulness!
More pictures of the days festivities to come, but for now here you go!
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I Can't Escape O_o

So. I love Christmas. It's really hard for me to appreciate Thanksgiving

because it seems like it is only one day. Christmas lasts for a whole month!

Anyway, I thought it would be respectable of me if I waited until after

Thanksgiving dinner was cleaned up before I started celebrating Christmas.

So anyone who would sing or play Christmas music I tried to boycott. Plus,

I wouldn't look at any Christmas decorations either.

Sighhhhh, so Wednesday night we went to a community Thanksgiving service.

Auuughhhh! Guess what? The church was decked out in Christmas decorations.Ah well, now Christmas is in full swing :) Autumn/Thanksgiving decorations are

getting dusted and put away. And tomorrow we are decorating for Christmas and

making Christmas cookies and getting our Christmas Tree!!!!! :D:D

Birthday!

There are some people, that when you think of them, you can't help but smile. Because, they are special, and unique. Because they make life better, happier, and easier, and you cannot possible imagine life without them. I LOVE YOU MY T! Wishing you the most happiest of Birthdays. You will never know how much you have impacted my life. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

R.

Turkey Shirts!

So while Becky was getting ready for class, she couldn't decide what to wear... (it's a girl thing) :D

I piped up, well it would look reaaaaallly hot if you had a shirt with hand turkeys on it! (very festive, and attractive too)

So we decided that would be a Great thing to make with Devyn and Cameron!

(have i mentioned we LOVE being Aunts, and completly adore these children)

So we made shirts, (and socks) for Thanksgiving :)

they seemed to like the idea, and it kept them occupied... (although i think Becky and I enjoyed it maybe a little too much :P)

We did discover, that Crystal had forgotten how to make hand turkeys, so we put her to taking pictures (something she is well qualified for lol)

Devyn wanted to know why her turkeys were smaller than mine... so we had to hold our hands up to each others, so she could see how much bigger my hands were than hers :D (notice she is STILL wearing the pilgrim hat)

My Holiday Bling-age

:D hope you enjoyed seeing these! R.

Monday nights :)

So I know that some people really hate Mondays... But for me, Mondays ROCK!

We get to spend the whole evening with some of my very favorite people!

(this is Devyn's Pilgrim Hat she made in school... she loved it soooo much we had a hard time making her take it off for bed)

Proof that i CAN cook.... Lol

So after finally finishing up making supper i go to sit down, and the seat i was going to sit in has a little person thrown across the chair... And ever so innocently i hear... No! Baaacky is going to sit here... you can just sit by Cameron, or somewhere else... (oooh rejection) :D

Playing cards... Amazingly enough pretty much regardless of the card, Devyn always won... But hey... who can tell a 5 year old that you win all their cards...

So there's our Monday :) R.

Fun

In at Tommy's Hut, sometimes they put us up to sorting through

odds-n-ends to find what can be put into boxes. Perks of being there is

that we get to "play" a little too :)

Nice dinosaur... nice dinosaur... :P

Rudolph's got nothing on her! Awww, cute little buddy I found.

Tommy's Hut

It was that time of year again.

The last two weeks we've spent in at Tommy's Hut packing shoe boxes.

Enjoying it thoroughly.Half the fun comes from us being the youngest ones there :)

Getting to hang out with the "senior crowd". We pick on them,

they pick on us, and we all get some work done.

It's a joy to get to be around that wonderful group of people.

I feel blessed that I got to be around them, and am already looking

forwards to next year!

And the thought of all the children who are going to get a Christmas

present, and also that they are going to get to read about the love

that Christ has for them... :) I can't stop saying how grateful

I am for the opportunity of getting to be a part of this unique program.

Family Pictures

Here's a few of the best family shots we got a few weeks ago.

Although we do look a little stiff (or at least I think we do), I really liked

this one! This one's less stiff :)
These ones were really fun! It's not often we get to "pose" for photos and the
photographer tells you to "go stand wherever you want..."

This one is probably my all around favorite!

I like the pose for this one. We didn't quite pull it off like Crystal wanted us to,

but it is unique!

They make such a good little family! And look really good in pictures too :)

Can't have them all be serious!

The family. We are a strange little band of characters trudging through life

sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding

shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting

pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending and

trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck~

Maybe a Christmas Card photo??? Or maybe not...

Hope you enjoyed these!

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we went and took family pictures. We went down by

the riverfront in Dixon. It was cold, but we got some really fun pictures!

Here's a few of them.This one's probably my favorite of Mom and Dad.
Don't they look good together?? :)

We were making the "test shots" look good :P

We were trying for some good sibling shots. We were just kind-of

hamming it up and did this one. I really like it though! We don't look

too stiff and we all have natural smiles.

Perks to having the photographer sister is that we can use her camera equipment.

Perks to having a cousin is that he can come and snap from the tripod :D

Thannnnks Jared.

A little bit of dancin'.

My buddy's growing into a young man...

Gotta love the "accidental" shots that turn out awesome!We had to get one with the flowers...

:) For as much as they get on each others nerves, these two can have a

totally opposite side. They love each other so much. Its so precious to watch.

Heh, the loving, not the arguing...