Our family tradition mandates that we open presents on Christmas even. I argued that is was bedtime and presents would wait until Christmas morning. I was out voted 4-1. So, we stayed up and opened every last present and headed to bed at 11pm, on 3 hours past bedtime. I was surprised that everyone maintained a joyous spirit up until the very end. Every family member was very happy with their gifts this year.
Nadia's favorites: a baby and cradle, a robe, littlest pet shop and a Zu-Zu pet.

Ethan's favorites: 2 castle lego sets, a marble game, and Bakugan (little alien creatures that ball up)

Ben's favorite is his Nerf dart tag game, the castle lego and his disc golf disc.


Andrew finally got a new case for his guitar. He also received a Garmin GPS to find the many hockey arenas and hotels.

I bought a new camera several weeks ago which was my major Christmas gift. I also got a stoneware pie plate, a DMACC sweatshirt and a new digital scrapbook class.

Overall we had a very blessed Christmas.

We had our Christmas celebrations on the 24th. My family came to Ames for lunch. We had 6 adults and 9 Children. We all agreed this child to adult ratio was probably the best, we discussed ways to maintain it in the future. :) We missed Rachel, Tito, Sienna, Mom and Dad. I guess Panama City is a little far to travel for lunch. Jason and Sarah could not make it either, they were a little worried that the weather would turn nasty. They needed to stay close to the farm to head off any power emergencies. We had a really nice lunch and very riveting conversations. I will not post the details here, I suggest you ask one of us sometime. I will say that Michael was very poorly behaved :) I am sure that most of my family will agree. By early evening, everyone had left and we went to church for the Christmas eve service.

The kids and I have been spending the last few days preparing for Christmas. We painted Christmas ornaments. It was lots of fun until the paint started to migrate from little fingers to their clothes and the table, kitchen counter, etc... I quickly halted the activity, much to the kid's disappointment. Although, the results were quite nice.


The kids sang in Church on Sunday. Nadia was asked to be the Angel. She had to walk up the stage with her friend Rowan (the Shepherd) and sit by Baby Jesus' cradle. She was very proud of her job. The kids sang very well.
I am not someone who spends days baking for Christmas. But, I did make a big batch of caramel corn and Andrew requested Boterkoeken.

Kids helped with some of the wrapping. Ben cleaned the bathrooms (he complained alot, but did a really good job). We dusted and vacuumed. We are excited for Christmas!

The snow last week pushed several of my exams at DMACC back a week. I was hoping to spend this week cleaning and scrapping, but instead I spent the week correcting exams and papers. Grades were due today and I finished them this morning.

Andrew has been home sick for the past 3 days. He has not been this sick in years. We suspect that he has H1N1. He received the vaccine on Friday; he had a headache on Tuesday. He has done nothing but sleep and take tylenol. He is starting to feel a little better tonight.

The boys were excited to have their last day of school for 2009. They are really looking forward to vacation and Christmas presents.

During the snow day last Thursday, we went sledding. It was pretty cold, so we only stayed for about 45 mins. I took my new camera and was pretty happy with the photos. Snow pictures are often difficult. I now need a class to learn how to use all the settings.

November's weather did not prepare us for winter. We definitely were not prepared for today.

The snow started to arrive yesterday and continued to fall over night. We woke up this morning with over 12 inches of snow and blizzard like winds. School got out early yesterday and we don't have school today.

Yesterday, before the wind picked-up, the kids played outside for about 1 1/2 hour. Even Nadia was excited about the arrival of snow. Today the wind is making outside play a little less pleasant. making snow balls & throwing snow balls & Creating snow angels & lots of shoveling

Andrew and I went outside early to shovel the driveway. Our driveway and front sidewalk had a 2-3 foot snow drift across them. We shoveled for over an hour and then gave-up. Andrew realized that even if he got out of the driveway, he would not get through the drifts in our street. Snow drifts on the roof of our house.

Ben is currently reading a book series called, "A series of Unfortunate events." That would be a good title for the last few weeks. Ben unfortunately threw a disc golf Frisbee threw our dinner room window. Reflections glass was able to fix it for about $150. Still waiting for the bill. Second unfortunate event: Andrew backed out of the garage with the end gate of the van up. Did you know that a simple little plastic piece costs over $400. Unfortunately, my camera has not gotten any better and is still struggling to focus. I am slowing researching what I would like to buy, but in the mean time, the camera money has been thrown through a window and you get the point.

On to better news:

The hockey season has started, which adds insanity to our lives. We have had 4 hockey games in the past 2 weeks and many more to come. I can't really describe how much fun it is to watch the boys play. It's worth all the money, the driving and the chaos.

We have so many things to be thankful for. Here's today's Gratitude list:
1. Good jobs with steady incomes -just to cover all the unfortunate events!
2. Health - we have been very healthy even with the H1n1 flu around Ames.
3. Functioning vehicles - They may have cracks and dents, but they work.
4. Beautiful weather sunshine always lifts my spirits


I finally undated my photo album, be sure to check it out on the right side on this page. Until next time....

I could not resist scrapping these photos right away. We had so much fun and their smiles tell the story. Ethan has wanted to be a knight for a really long time. We actually bought his knight attire several months ago. Nadia, the little princess, wanted to be a princess. I loved the purple dress. Ben's costume was the most fun. I told him that he could have the money if I did not have to buy him a costume. For the last several weeks, he debated his costume. At 1 point he wanted to be a box, next day he was just going to dress as silly as he could be. He finally settled on being a wizard, by wearing my silk robe and a pointed hat. I thought it was perfect.

The boys could hardly wait to hit the streets for Trick or Treat. Nadia was not sure, she thought it might be more fun to stay at home. She changed her mind after the first house gave her a sucker! It was so fun to watch her excitement and wonder. I think she was amazed that people were giving her candy. She was the first person up to the next door and the first to run back and tell us what treasure she just received.

All in all, we had a great night.