Christmas in March?

Yes this is part of my catching up that I am doing. My Mom said that she was sure that things have happened in our life since Natalee's birthday. The problem is that too many things have happened. Natalee got a cricut and she has loved making little card and other things with it. She is a very crafty girl and this was right up her alley.

Carson finally got the iPod that he has been dreaming about. He loves all the apps and loves to change them around all the time.

Here is Natalee's load. Please don't ever buy her anything pink she hates that color.

Carson is all boy as you can see. He loves sports and it has been fun to watch him grow up to. Now I just need to find the pause button on my kids and life will be great.

This is the crew doing Just Dance on Christmas day. We had a great time with it. Too bad I don't have the pictures of my parents when they took their turn.

Playing major catch up!

The 4th grade ski trip, although I am glad that the kids get this opportunity it makes me crazy. Because after they beg us to go and ski all the time. I do not enjoy winter sports at all but they do have fun.

Carson was so excited about it. He has heard all about it from Natalee for the last few years. They all had a great time.

Natalee turns 12 or 16?

So Natalee got a phone for her birthday and she can text. The world must be perfect for her right now. What she doesn't know is that makes my heart rest a little easier too. I like to know that I can get a hold of her at anytime I want to. She is really excited and it is fun to watch her grow up. She only got 3 other little things because the phone will end up costing us. But she did not mind at all.

For her party we went to Fat Cat's with 14 girls. I was a little afraid but it turned out to be the best party we have ever had with that many kids. They are growing up and are pretty responsible young ladies. We had fun.

Here is the crew. They are all such cute girls and I am glad that Natalee has good friends.

Now if someone could remind Natalee that she is only 12 that would be great. She has always been a little older than her age but I am not ready for 16 at 12. Happy Birthday honey we love you so much and I could not imagine my life without you!!!!

First snow of the season

This was the first snow of the season and it was a big one. We woke up to no power and over a foot of snow on the ground. There is another storm that is hanging around right now as we speak. Here is Carson working on his igloo. It looked really good but the sun came out the next day and made it slump in a little bit.

Here is Natalee on the other side of the drive way. She was begging Matt to help move snow over to help her with her fort.

Here Matt is with a shovel. Don't let that fool you he didn't help with the drive way he only helped Natalee move the snow to where she needed it.

They had a great time and could not wait to get out there. The trees in our neighborhood did not fair too well. About every third house had broken tree limbs. Some of the trees were split in half.

But the kids don't care about the cold or the broken trees they just love to play in the snow. I would really love to be in Florida right now.

Halloween Fun

We had so much fun this Halloween that I forgot my camera every time. Here are a few of the pictures that I did manage to get. Here is Natalee and her friend Whitney at their piano recital. It was Natalee's first one and she did great. She played "A Whole New World" and "Joyful Bells" You would have never known that she had only been taking for 9 months.

Here she is with her paino teacher. She is such a nice lady and has the kids dress up in their Halloween costumes to help take some of the nerves away.

She was awesome and we had to go and celebrate with the Grandparents at Cold Stone after. What a fun night. I am very proud of everything that Natalee has done.

Here are the kids right before Trick or Treating. This wasn't the best picture but everything about that night was rushed.

They carved their pumpkins to be Jack the Pumpkin King and Oogie Boogie. Can you guess who carved the one that looks like a deer? Natalee was a Haunted House Maid and Carson was Major Bruiser. They both looked really cute.

Family Reunion Fun

Here is most of the gang up at Silver Lake which was right outside our front door. Here are the kids climbing all over the rocks up there. It really was pretty.

Natalee took this picture of us in the great outdoors. Matt was so happy to be up there.

Here are Grandma & Grandpa with all of the grandkids. It was so much fun for all the kids to run around together all weekend.

Here is my Dad after the hike where we hauled all 19 of us up the mountain to this lake. If you ask me and some of my other siblings this lake looked alot like the one that was at the begining of the hike :)

Here is my daughter and I. I like to document the fact that I am still taller than her because I know that won't last for long.

Here are the kids up in the toy loft. This place was amazing and I wish I would have taken a picture of the bunk room.

We just went up to Brighton for a family reunion with my family. We had a great time and my Dad and Mom found us a mansion to stay in. We loved just hanging out with no schedule. We had a fun family photo shoot. It was an all around GREAT time.

Fun at Cherry Hills

We went to Cherry Hill's again this year. We love to go there and play. We stayed at the Roundy Ranch and the accommodations were amazing and the breakfast in the morning could not be beat. Thanks Roundy family!!! This was on the miniature golf course. We love to play but we do not like to keep score.

The kids took this wonderful picture of us. It really is a pretty place.

Here are the kids with their cousins. We went to play with them and the Hamster Haven was being repaired. So we got ice cream and headed down to watch the kids hit balls.

Natalee did really well at it. She hit those balls just as good as the guys did.

Here is Matt in action. He doesn't like to admit that he is getting older so he has to show up the kids every once in awhile.

Here is the baseball kid himself. He is getting ready to start a fall league for baseball and wanted to keep up on his mad skills.

This is the next day and this ride is called Cardiac. We went down this one so many times. The kids love it and we had a good time too.

The trick is to hold on to the other tube for as long as you can.

Here the kids are in the lazy river. That was one of my favorite rides in the park. Because we just hung out in tubes and talked. It was great we can't wait to do it again next year.