Breakfast

Meryn loves to watch Curious George or Dora The Explorer, first thing when she gets up. She also is anxious to eat, with her waking words usually (eye's half open, quiet mumble, stumbling towards us) "Can you get me something to eat? Can I watch a monkey po(show)? Can I watch Doh ah" So this morning she picked Coco Puffs and George. They're also not allowed to eat on the carpet, so most the time, they sit on the dining room floor so they can still watch T.V. This morning, there was another issue. "Daddy, my hair got wet from my milk" So the quickest solution was mommy's beanie. We put it on, tucked her hair in, problem solved. I'll miss these days.

Some Videos From Yesterday

Having Fun


Trevin


Susan joining in the fun



Meryn & Daddy. Meryn was concerned about getting snow sprayed in her face if you listen closely.


Greg being one of the kids

More Fun In The Snow

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Although a bit cold, we still had some fun. We took the kids to a park in town where there were some hills that they could slide down. It ended up being a great place to go and was even fun for the "big kids".

Some Snow Videos

Brendon filming the Ice Storm from the back porch.


Trevin



The kids sledding down the driveway.


Brendon & Meryn


Brendon


Caleb


Meryn

Winter Time

This has been a cold week. Monday night we lost our power in an ice storm. We were able to stay warm enough at the house until about noon on Tuesday. The kids and I headed over to my parents who also don't have power but a fireplace. So their house even without power was very inviting. We played games and the kids played a lot of hide and seek in the black basement with flashlights. Finally on Wednesday night we had our power back on, just in time for Greg to put a few hours of work in the basement. Water had come through the walls and caused a nice mess for us. Without power we just had to leave it, so it is nice to have the majority of it cleaned up now. My parents still do not have power and no estimate when they will get it other than an automated recording from the power company saying expect it around the 22nd.


Last night it started snowing and today the kids are loving it. They have been outside going on two hours now. I love watching them play but only from a window. It is just too cold for me:) Meryn must have gotten her daddy's warm blood because she is going strong out there.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!

What I like about you Grandma is that you makes the best walffals and biscuts and gravy. I Love you. From Trevin


What I like about grandma is that she is nice and funny and always there for us. Hope you have a fun birthday love you,
love Caleb


I love Grandma. You turn on Dora for me. I like when you give me kisses and hugs. I like going shopping with you too. I love you Grandma. Love Meryn



I love you grandma because you are always there when i need you and you are always happy to help.Why i love you the most is because you are my grandma I love you,
FROM BRENDON

We love you and hope you have a very Happy Birthday!

O Christmas Tree

We're a little behind this year. We usually go cut our tree down the day after Thanksgiving, but we were too busy. So this afternoon we finally went and got our tree. We decided this year that we would let the kids be in charge of the decorating. They were pretty excited when we told them and each took a task. When they were all done, it looked really good. We were pretty impressed and they were proud of themselves. We'll have to let them do it again because it was pretty nice to sit back and watch them work!

Skating fun

Meryns last attempt of limbo. She won a prize for lasting the longest in her line. She was pretty excited

Trevin showing off some of his moves

She loves her daddy

Meryn and Elise

The girls wearing out the moms

Caleb

Brendon

Jason, Heather and the girls are leaving tomorrow so we took the kids out and had some fun today. We went skating and then out to dinner. The kids skated for over two hours straight and loved it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Greg's brother & family came out for Thanksgiving. Meryn is having so much fun having girls around to play with. The boys are busy playing Uncle Jason's Wii. We had a huge lunch at my parents place today with 30 of us (only 17 were missing:))

Uncle Greg and Elise

Playing games

Dinner at the fire station

All the cousins

Of course they wanted to sleep together...

Madison and Meryn at Thanksgiving

Football

Trevin played flag football this year. He is the first one of the boys who have played and he had some jealous brothers. We weren't sure at first how he would do, but after a few practices, he really caught on and did really well. There team won every game and Trevin scored a few touchdowns and several extra points. It was exciting to watch him play.

You want what?

Trevin has been asking for a very long time for a drum set. He didn't want to play the piano or any other type of equipment, he wanted a drum set. This request did not waiver, not once. He wanted a drum set. So what else could we get him for his birthday? He was so excited, as you can see, when he realized what he was opening. We got it all set up and it has become quite the "hit" around here. Even I have taken my turn at it. Hopefully it won't drive us too crazy.

Trevins Birthday

Trevin wanted cupcakes and drinks for his class party at school. So Susan, Meryn and I took them to him. He was pretty excited and picked a couple of his friends to help pass things out. They all sang to him and gave him "spankings". It's hard to believe he's already 8.

Fall Festival

Caleb & Brendon had their Fall Festival recital yesterday. They had to dress up to their song, so Caleb was "Homerun Harry" and Brendon was "Beethoven". They did very well again and played a song, "Balloon Pop Polka", with 4 students playing at the same time. It was pretty tough to keep in rhythm, but they did very well.

Trevin is 8!

Can you believe our baby boy is 8! Where has the time gone? Trevin has been our little sweetheart for 8 years now. It has been such a blessing to watch him learn and grow. He's so full of life and happiness and always has a cute little infectious smile on his face. He has been such a joy to have and we feel blessed to have him as part of our family. We love you Trevin. Happy Birthday!!

Trevin

Trevin had an awesome last soccer game of the season. Before he went out to play, I told him I wanted him to score a goal. Well, he did just that and it was a great one. His teammate passed it to him as he ran towards the goal and with one swift kick, he launched it over the goalies head. It was so exciting and on top of that, I got it on camera. He has been so fun to watch this season.

Brendon

Brendon's been taking piano lessons and had a performance that was judged, on Friday. He played beautifully and was awarded the highest award for his level. We really enjoy listening to him play.

Caleb

Caleb has been taking piano lessons for about a year now and had a performance yesterday in front of a judge. He did very well and received the highest award. It's really cool to see how well he has done and we're excited about how far he'll go.

Meryn at the park

My first goal of the season! (By Brendon)

Yeasterday I played my soccer game and made my first goal of the season! I was happy when i made the goal because i haven't made one forever. We lost 2 to 1 but it was still a good game.

September...

has been the busiest month of the year for us I believe.

Brendon & Caleb are playing fall soccer. They are still taking piano lessons also. They have a fall recital and will also be playing at a festival in October, so lots of practicing is going on (some of the time without us hounding them). This is their first year to get letter grades in school, so they are both really focusing on keeping all A's, which of course thrills us. So far so good...At this point they have very similar interests which is nice and limits the different things to do and places we go. I am sure this may change, but it is nice for now.

Trevin is playing flag football and soccer! He loves both for now, but will have to pick one or the other after this. We are way too busy going to non-stop practices. He is doing great in school also. He has been asking us for quite a while to learn to play the drums. We have stalled as of now, I am just not so sure I am ready for that added noise to this tiny house.

Meryn is the big 4 year old that we have not put in any activities, yet. She talks about wanting to do everything her brothers do. She looks up to all of them. She has had trouble saying some letters, so we took her to be evaluated at an early education center. She passed all the tests they did with her, with flying colors. They did notice the trouble she had with some of her letters. There is a class once a week to work on just that, so we will be getting her into that. She has become such a little mother lately. She's always trying to keep tabs on her brothers and keeps us up to date with what they're doing. I can see a lot of frustration in the future from the boys!

Greg is in the process of trying to get on a different department up in the Kansas City area. He has a pretty good lead on a department in Mission Kansas. He took a test and passed, which is a requirement now to get on most departments, so that is a huge hurdle. When you think of us you can pray for direction and wisdom during this time.

Football

Today was Trevin's (#9) first flag football game. None of the boys had played yet, so this has been a whole new experince. He has been a little apprehensive to play, but once he got out on the field, you could see how comfortable he was. He did excellent for his first time and nearly scored a touchdown. His brothers were jealous and want to start playing as well.