Welcome 2011!

This year for New Years Eve we had our own party with the most important people in our lives, our kids. We had pizza, cheese and crackers, M&Ms, Oreos, and a bunch of other diet enemy foods. For entertainment we watch the original Karate Kid (I love that movie now I remember why).

Some of us had a nap before the fun began. But we only made it to 11:50. We are such wimps.

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to whatever it brings our way.

Dookie Dodgers of the 21st Century

While Duke is working himself nice into the family, his dookie is working its way into our yard and that is saying something.

Big Dog=BIG Dookie.

So naturally we found four of the best dookie dodgers around. Two for spotting, Two for pick up. It was hilarious watching them scour the yard. After about a half hour the yard was dookie free.

Hope they enjoyed it cause there is more were that came for and this will become a daily event.

Sledding

We made, what's becoming, the annual sledding trip the day after Christmas. Monte made awesome beefsteak chili and we brought hot chocolate. The sun was out and shining when we got there. It was a so beautiful.

There wasn't too many people so Sherman sent Annalyn on her first solo trip down the hill. Her brothers went down at the same time to help her at the bottom. We couldn't tell if she enjoyed it or the subsequent trips but when I asked her if she wanted to go again she said with certainty,"NO".

We all took many turns running up and sledding down before we stopped for lunch.

I went down with two kids at a time. Shermie and Bridger went further up the mountain to get in some steeper, faster runs. I love the picture of Matthew just on the edge.

We stopped to eat just as the weather started to cloud up. After refueling the kids where going back for more. Shortly after though it started snowing and got cold but by then I think we were all wiped out and ready to go. It was a super time with Monte's family. Next year we will have to get the rest of them up the mountain.

Christmas!

 The kids in there new pj's Christmas eve and morning.

Here they come running to see what Santa brought.

 Annalyn unwrapping and sporting her new duds. She is such a cutie.

 The boys opening their presents from us and each other. 

 

At Gramie and Pop Pop's .

What a wonderful day we had with our family.

Christmas Cookies

Aunt Dee brought over stuff to make Christmas cookies. We made ginger bread and two kinds of homemade Oreos. The kids had a great time cutting, decorating and filling the cookies.

 

Here is how they turned out:

They were delicious too.

Alexander's Super Duke

Today we surprised the boys with a trip to Cedaridge.  Sherman and I have been talking about getting another dog but haven't really pursued it. Then he called me today wanting to go see a Golden Retriever ("a good bird hunting dog").  Right after work we loaded them up. We didn't tell the boys where we were going but we did talk to them about how to act when you meet some you new: polite,calm,quiet, patience. We got to the house and they invited everyone in so the boys lined up on the coach. They brought the dog in and the boys all got excited, petting him and loving him (Annalyn was more interested in the cat...not happening). He was very calm and cool while they were all over him. Then we asked them if they would like to bring him home. "YES!!!!!", they all shouted.

Yep, I'm a sucker for big, brown, droopy eyes.  So here we are with a new member to the family and a friend for Jake. Such a pretty boy.

Gingerbread and Birthday Fun!!

My brother Monte and his family got into town last night. Since Gramie and Maddi and Lizzy all have birthdays close together we decided to have a birthday party.

We had pizza then the girls opened birthday presents. We all enjoyed the AWESOME cake Mande made! It was Chocolate cake filled with a chocolate pomegranate moose, frosted with pomegranate buttercream and topped with chocolate pomegranate ganache! It was sooooo yummy!!

Then we headed to the garage where we had a gingerbread making station set up. All the kids had there very own and could decorated however they wanted.

Even Gramie had fun with these. Here are all the girls:

Pop pop and Tim got in on the action buy helping the Annalyn and Ava. Here are the boys:

It was so much fun to watch the kids. They each had a different approach and each house was very different. For convenience Mande and I used gram crackers to make the houses ahead of time, also giving them time to dry. Mande had a lot of left over candy from her gingerbread house throw-down so we were well stocked. I doubt she has much left after this bunch of marauders.

The finished product and happy kids.

What a great start to the Holidays!

Alexander Christmas

Since Grandpa and Grandma Alexander are traveling this Christmas we celebrated with them on Monday. We went to dinner at Applebee's then came back to our house for presents. I love the treats Susan made they are all yummy! (Curse you toffee, nut clusters, peanut brittle, cinnamon candy and fudges orange and chocolate. You throw me off track) They were gone by morning.

Getting ready to open the presents. I loved how Annalyn was carrying hers around.

Everyone loved there gifts. Just what we wanted! How did they know?

Thank you, 

Grandpa and Grandma! 

Have a safe trip! We love you!

Silly Girl

Our goofy little girl learned how puppy's drink thanks to her brothers. Here she is showing off her new found talent.

Look for the laughs...

...Drink some more.

She of course thought she was Hilarious and really she was right!

Tada!

So our Charlie Brown tree isn't too bad after all.
Sherman and the boy's checking light.
Annalyn helping with lights.
Trying to get as many lights on the tree as possible for the illusion of fullness.
Annalyn's turn to but on the star (got a new star with lights).
The proud group.

Joy To The World!

More Fun With Elfs

Shut the music off at the bottom first then push play and ENJOY!

Elfin' Fun

Shut the music off at the bottom first then push play and ENJOY!

Tree Hunt

This year just for fun (and because Sherman threw out our fake tree) we decided to go cut our own. A much involved search was on. Not for the trees but everyone's snow gear. There was a lot of questioning from the kids on the necessity of snow gear because we currently have no snow on the ground. I assured them that there would be snow up to their hips(this afforded my quite the look from my eldest son who was also the most vocal in questioning).We were short two pairs of snow suits. We loaded up and went off to the Good Will to see if we could find some, then head out directly. We left the house at about 9:30 making a pit stop to let Gramie's dog out again before the GW. It was a fruitless venture so we turned to Target next door instead. On getting back into the truck we discover that two of the boys felt they really didn't need their heavy coats at all and had left them at home. So after dropping me at the door to Target Sherman headed home for the neglected coats. By the time he got back it was nearly 11:00 and we figured we better grab some burgers for lunch. At the drive up we ordered our lunch of burgers, chicken, and salad only to be told they were not currently serving lunch. Sherman asked when lunched started. The reply was "11:00", less than 5minutes away(Seriously people?). We drove away, laughing, to hit the McDonald's at the other end of town on our way out.
When we got up to the cutting area there was a great deal of debate over where to stop. After dropping off the hitch-hiking snowboarders, several drive by stops and one false stop we found a place where a lot of people where stopping (bad sign, not good). We unloaded, got everyone bundled and booted and started the three hour tour. In snow up to our rears (I know amazing right?) we trudged through the woods. Up, down, back and forth looking for those elusive "good trees" we had seen everyone else pulling out. Tuffer and Matthew having ventured the furthest out said they found a good one and to have dad come and get it. Back up the hill through the deep snow I went to get him where he was sleeping in the snow with Boo on his chest (what the french toast!). I didn't feel too bad then sending him after the boys even though the tree they pulled out was a little lacking and somewhat reminiscent of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. On the way home the boys and I where trying to convince him to do a "swap out" tree, which is against the rules so we were stuck.
I just hope, like Charlie Brown's Tree, that it will magically be full when all the lights and decorations are on it. At any rate the experience was worth it if only for the memories and laughs. What a Great day!!

Happy Holidays!

Turkey Day!

What a fantastic Thanksgiving we had. It is so much fun to get all the kids together. Grandma is the best and lets them entertain themselves how they please. This year she saved a bunch of cardboard boxes for they to have at. The boys all made swords, shields daggers and armor. The battle was on...outside.
Nic was a good cousin and took a break from the battle to entertained the girls.
Dinner was so good we all forgot to take pictures. I did get this one of the pies before they disappeared. We all enjoyed talking and laughing. It's never dull when this lot get together.
Just before midnight Jen, Scott and I headed to get started on the Black Friday sales. It wasn't too crowded when we got there but it was an absolute mad house before we left. We were wishing we had hoped in line a little quicker when we got behind this lady and her 52 suitcases.
That must have been some deal!
While waiting we had some crazy drunk guy come up to us and stand right in my face. Did Scott help? Not so much! He just pretended to ignoring him. So I was stuck talking to him until I could find another distraction. Luckily a line opened up right next to us and we were able to be free of the chaos for another year.

Murder Mystery

For book club this month we dressed up for a murder mystery. I was Roger "Rog" B. S. Astrid who also turned out to be the murderer. It was so much fun! Such an absolute blast.
Here is everyone all dressed up:

Wild for Engineering

The older boys have been having a great time at the Math and Science Center with their engineering program. Each week they are challenged to make something new. This week they learned about bridges and then got to make their own.
They each had very different ideas.
When the bridge was complete they got to see how well it held up to the weight test. Tuffer's bridge held 28 metal disks.
Shermie's bridge held 22.
Well done boys. Glad you are learning new things and having fun too.