Christmas 2012 We had a wonderful Christmas holiday.
Annual gingerbread (ok, graham cracker) house making. Usually entails LOTS of frosting and LOTS of cand and not very much time. Oh well, we never were big artists around here. But it is fun and each year the kids ask to do it again.

Christmas eve dinner: Ham, potatoes and gravy (a meal is not complete without potatoes and gravy I'm told) corn, pomegranite salad (my personal favorite) acorn squash and homemade rolls. MMMMMMM MMMMMM!

Our interpreation of the Christmas story. Do you loves Mary's rainbow dress. Brenna was sure Mary wore something similar.

The cast

Mom: angel

Taylor and Spencer: Shepherds

Parker: Joseph

Trevor: Wiseman

Brenna: Mary

Stuffed sheep: sheep

Kyle: narrator (not pictured)

Stuffing our faces with Christmas goodies. That happened alot.

Long anticipated Chrismas morning.

The aftermath

Should we leave it here? It adds color don't you think?

Fall Sports

Well, what's fall without a little produce anyway? I'm happy to say this batch of goodies all came from my garden and I made it into delicious salsa--

I've still got LOADS of tomatoes and they are mostly going in the freezer or spread over my pasta. Anyway--on with the sport thing.... First, we have Spencer:

He decided he wanted to play football this year at the middle school. He has never played tackle football before so this was a new adventure. He ended up being a guard on the offensive line. He started most games and I must admit, it was alot of fun to go watch the games. Too bad they only won 1 game this season but he informed me tonight that he "didn't join the football team just to win games. " He has had a great attitude and has learned alot. Don't you think that #77 is pretty cute?



Next would be Trevor:
He LOVES soccer. This is his 3rd year playing and is finally on a winning team. He is pretty fast and has some good moves. I think he does best in a defensive position.

They have won all but 1 game. Yay team!

I had to post a few pictures that Kyle took of our flowers and garden. Flowers make me happy.

Next, Taylor and cross country. This is his second year with cross country. He works hard and got his best time of 19:18 for 5K. Brenna and I have fun cheering him on during the races.

Here he is in his last race. Pretty great huh? This is some of the beautiful scenery we get when we go watch Taylor race

Oh, and last but not least, we are now the owners of a cello. Trevor came home not long after the first day of school announcing that he wanted to join the orchestra and play the cello. I was not wild about the idea--adding one more thing to our schedule but Kyle was encouraging and after thinking about it and making sure Trevor knew what was in the commitment (like if he had a busy day with scouts, soccer, homework etc. he might have to give up his computer time to practice cello. Not an easy thing to give up if you are Trevor) School orchestra moves slowly but he seems to like it so we are off on another adventure.

It has been really great going to all the kids games and seeing how hard they are working and the expericence they are having. It has helped too that the weather has be absolutley gorgeous for the past 2 months. Sad to see it all end but life will be a little less crazy for now.

Here I have to put a word in for Parker. He isn't into sports at the moment but he is taking piano and making great progress and he has been my right hand man in the kitchen. Spencer's games are always at dinner making time so I do some prep work and I leave Parker instructions for dinner and he gets it all ready. He's pretty amazing! Way to go Parker!

And school begins

Just thought I'd throw in this picture from our trip to CA this summer. We love the beach!


Here are my awesome teenagers. I can't believe how big they are and how fun they make our family!
Taylor: 11th
Spencer: 8th



Parker: 6th
Trevor: 4th
Brenna: Kindergarten
This is their "do we REALLY have to go back to school?" picture.




I told them they had to smile in this one. Of course you may have noticted that Brenna is grinning ear to ear in both pictures. She has been waiting for this day for 3 years--going to school like the brothers!!!!
It's hard to believe my "little" kids don't exist anymore and that I have 3 hours every morning with no interuptions. I'm getting used to it very quickly but a small part of me wishes
to keep them small so I can hug them and kiss them and hold them on my lap.

LOVE THESE KIDS!!!!

Lindsey Reunion 2011

We hosted the Lindsey family reunion this year. There were 40 people total, 21(or more) of whom stayed at our house---and I LOVED every second of it. I wish everyone could have stayed here.

We went to Sandy Point for swimming and picnic

The next day was touring the old prison and then hiking for those who wanted

Later, we went to see the farm where mom grew up. Including the house grandpa built, the barns where they used to milk and keep the cows. Mom and Uncle Darell were great tour guides. There were also evening activities, games and programs. And of course staying up late and visiting. It was a fun 4 days and it was sad to see everyone go.

Following is a small sampling from each activity. (Small sampling because I am not very good at remembering to take pictures)

The fun begins. Love to see the cousins playing together Fun at the lake


Little girls in "prison"

Brenna in solitary confinement

Lunch!

Brenna, Colton and Aunt Stef

The house that Grandpa built.

LOVE THIS PLACE

Swining over the ditch on the willow tree

Dinner at Uncle Darell's

Brace Face ( X 4 )

Just for the record, all four boys are now in braces! Taylor will get his off in 2 weeks and Spencer and Trevor just got theirs on, so with the overlap all 4 are metal mouths at the same time.

Preschool Graduate and other things

I Love Spring!Brenna is now an officail graduate of preschool. She had such a fun time with school and can't wait to go to kindergarten in the fall!


They had a short program for the last day of preschool.

Parker got his arrow of light in Webelos and will soon be turning 11. How can that be?

Trevor is working on earning his Bear. He LOVES cub scouts!

We got a patio roof
We are glad to have it and I think we will especially love it as it gets warmer outside!

Some special pens

Not to long ago these pens were brought into the world by Spencer,me. I went to a man that I know that knows how to make pens. I told him I was interested in making a pen he helped me through the steps and I ended up with the darker pen,seen above, we then put on a light finish and I was done with one. About a week ago I wanted to make another pen I went over to his house again and we turned another one this one is lighter and has a stronger finish made mostly of super glue.

Depending on the wood you use you will end up with different colored pens you might end up with blue or bright red ,if you buy colored wood, or you could get more natural wood like dark and light brown. Each pen turns out different but somewhat the same.

Last of all to make a pen you need a lathe to turn the pen so it is circular. You don't have to be an expert to turn a pen but you have to be pretty good with a lathe so you don't end up with ridges or uneven diameters on your pen when it meets up with metal. Those are the basics about pens that are made like the ones I made.