Ryan took some pictures of the kids real quick before we when to church. They looked so cute in their new outfits they got on Christmas. This is also the start of one  of my New Year Resolution's, which is to take lots of pictures of our four kids together. I was looking at our photos from this year and only found one picture of all four kids together. Kinda sad :(

Country Lights

One of our favorite Christmas activities is to go to the Lake Farm Park for their Country Lights event.  There is a workshop where the kids can build a wooden toy with the help of "Santa's helpers". They have a wall of toys to choose from to build, then you make it and paint it. Next you can go on a horse drawn ride to see lights which they have put up outside. Going on there are milking demonstrations, model trains set up, a horse show, and sitting on Santa's lap. This is our third year going to this, it is definitely a highlight of our Christmas festivities! 

Kaitlyn and her helper with the owl they made

Evie putting some muscle into it

Evie showing her princess castle

Lincoln and Reuben painting. Lincoln made a train and Reuben made Superman.

After the horse show the kids went on a pony ride

Lincoln loved Santa can't you tell? 

I am sad to say that this is the only picture we took all year of the four kids together. I was looking for a picture for Christmas cards and realized that we have a bunch of them not all together but not one with all of them. So... here is my first new year's resolution, to take lots of pictures throughout the year with all four kids in them.

Leaves

I have to say my Dad is such a good Grandpa! The kids had so much fun jumping in his piles of leaves. He is always so good at spending special Grandpa time weather it be going for a walk, watching them jump on the trampoline or playing legos. Thank you Dad! We love you!

Mount Vernon

We were able to go to Mount Vernon (George Washington's house) while we were in Virginia. We had a tour of his home and then there are a bunch of other buildings all over the property such as the blacksmith, overseer quarters, salt house, slaves quarters,carriage house, greenhouse and much more. The kids had a lot of fun doing a scavenger hunt and learning about life back then. Since Christmas is around the corner the visitors center had a couple of beautiful Christmas trees up and decorations. One of our favorite parts was a hands on kid area in one of the exhibits. They had a huge Mount Vernon doll house, dress up clothes, coloring, piecing together artifacts and much more. I was so glad that my parents were able to come with us! We love to hang out with them!

Thanksgiving

This year we were lucky enough to go down to Virginia again for Thanksgiving. It was such a fun and relaxing trip. We went to a parade one day and Mt. Vernon another day. But mainly just had fun being together. I had so much fun cooking with my Mom, it is one of my favorite things to do! 

Graeter's

I have gotten a little behind on my posting... Last month we were able to go down to Columbus with our good friends the Gaskin's. So we drove down and took turns watching the crew while the other couple went to the temple. Ryan and I took the kids to an awesome ice cream store, Graeter's which has some of the yummiest ice cream ever! (especially if it has chocolate chunks in it!) This ice cream store has a huge room for the kids to play in for free. The kids had a blast and almost didn't want to get ice cream because they were having fun playing. So if you need a place to take your kids down in Columbus (or just want some yummy ice cream) their address is:   

2555 Bethel Road
Columbus, OH 43220

It is about 15 minutes from the temple.

Games

Our family loves games. Every year we try to get a new game for the family for Christmas. Last year we bought Zooreka, which is put out by Cranium. Our family loves it. You go around the board collecting cards you need to use to buy parts of your zoo. All the kids enjoy it and Ryan and I like playing it too which is an added bonus. So what's your family's favorite game?

Mad Scientists at Work

Today we decided to do some experiments on some of the kid's halloween candy. I got this idea from an article in Family Fun magazine. The kids each picked out some candy and we covered each candy with either water or vinegar in separate glasses. We looked to see if they floated or sank, and just what they looked like after soaking. One of my favorites was seeing how the "S" on each skittle would come off and float to the top of the water. The kids got really into it and we had to keep pulling out more and more glasses so they could try just one more. I think this might just become a tradition! 

My little mad scientists.

Trick-Or-Treat

On Friday The kids had a Halloween parade at school followed by parties in their classrooms. Here are some pictures of the kids in the parade with their friends.

This year Kaitlyn wanted to be a banana and Reuben wanted to be an eyeball. So I kinda guessed as I sewed and came up with these. All of the costumes are made of felt which made the project easier not having to worry about turning under edges. Evie and Lincoln got to wear hand-me-down costumes from Kates and Reuben. They look pretty cute as my little monsters, I think. They both loved wearing the costumes and liked to growl in them. 

Happy Halloween

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Vacuums

I love to vacuum. I don't know what it is about hearing dirt and crumbs getting sucked up that I like so much. Here is the dilemma though. Our vacuum is awful! We bought it a year ago or so because our old one which we had for nine years totally died. Well this new one you can vacuum over a string five or more times and it won't suck it up. It is a Hoover just like our old one was. This "new" one is bag-less while the old one was not. I need your input of which vacuum you all like. 

Here are some random pictures from this weekend...

Lincoln is in the train stage. He LOVES trains. Everyday we cross over train tracks to get to Eve's preschool and he always says "Choo Choo" weather there is a train on them or not. This last Saturday it was free to get into a model train museum by us so of course we had to go. We went last year and everything seemed to be the same except there were some buttons you could press to operate different miniature carnival rides. They kept us all occupied for awhile.

Announcing...

Three weeks ago I needed to run to JoAnn's so while I ran in Ryan and the kids went into the pet store next door. It was a miracle that I finished first, which doesn't happen very often! So I headed over to the pet store. Ryan and the kids were in heaven. I must admit it is a fun pet store with lots of cute puppies, fish, rabbits, you name it they have it! They even have a GIANT turtle which wanders around the store. So we were looking at all the cute puppies and a sales lady asked if we where interested in any of the puppies and we said no, not today. So, she went on to ask what qualities we would like in a dog. I said one that does not shed and is great with small kids. So she showed us a little shih tzu. It was really cute and the kids LOVED it! Eve was screaming with delight and an hour later Ryan would not put this puppy down because he loved it. Being the big mean parent that I am I said we'd better sleep on it. (knowing who would have to take care of this puppy, considering I've never had a dog ever, the list of reasons goes on and on...) Well Reuben cried the whole way home, Kaitlyn named it Oreo and Evie was calling him Oreo. It was just not good news.

The next day we went to church and I was sitting in the hall and was telling my friend about the exciting time the night before and our Elder's Quorum President happened to be sitting with his son out in the hall. I remembered that they had a dog and asked which breed it was because they have young children and love their dog. He said that they had a shih tzu and that she had puppies 10 weeks ago and they were still trying to find a home for the last one. So they insisted we come and see him but no pressure. So, that night we came home with Frankie. Yes, you all can die of shock! I know that I am the last person on earth that you would think of as a dog person. But we ALL love him! Eve carries him around constantly and he totally puts up with it. Lincoln loves to jibber jabber to to him and Kaitlyn and Reuben couldn't be prouder! And yes he really doesn't shed! I love it! He is a great puppy! 

We got the name Frankie from the cute ladies at my quilt guild. They would always call Lincoln "Frankie" and even made a quilt for "Frankie". So we thought it fit. He was meant to be part of the family.

Grandpa's 90th Birthday Celebration

My Mom and Grandma put together these posters for the party. 

Me, John and Miriam

Me, John, Mom, Dad, and Miriam

Aunt Gale and Mom. Gale is actually my mom's second cousin but they grew up together like sister's. 

Mom and Grandpa. (This is the Grandpa Reuben is named after)

All of the blood relatives to my Grandpa

Grandpa and Grandma Betty, My Mom's mother died before I was born and Grandma Betty and Grandpa got married before I was born so she has always been Grandma to me! I think this picture is so cute of them!

A little blurry but Grandpa getting ready to blow out his candles. I love this man! He pretended to blow them out before actually doing so. He has always had the best sense of humor, I love that about him.

My Mom made this quilt for Grandpa. It is an underground railroad quilt.

I love you Grandpa! I can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!

Unfortunately that was the end of my trip. I have to fly back to see my kiddos and Ryan. I feel blessed though for the time I was able to be there and all the help from friends, by watching my kids!