Exciting December!

We're still 7 days away from Christmas Eve, but the excitement of the season has been in full force already this month....

First up, Ethan got some much needed church clothes as an early Christmas gift from Grandma.


What a stud!



We're blessed with beautiful kids

Then of course comes the family tradition of getting our Christmas tree for family home evening after Thanksgiving Day.  The kids were right on top of me making sure we picked out the best one, and that I got it home safe.  Here's some shots of us getting it decorated.
 

Let's be honest...sometimes the best help from the boys is no help at all! :)

The two ladies who really make it all happen for our family

Kate making sure the final touch is just right

Then, just when we thought Christmas was coming too quickly, our present from my brother Benjamin came early....chickens!!  Yep, you read that right, 9 healthy laying hens are now a part of our family.  We had been talking about it for some time, and apparently the time for talk to end and action begin arrived.  We've had them a week now, so they're settling in to their new home.  We get 5-6 eggs a day, so we certainly can't complain.  Ginger loves to try and escape, but what's life without some fun and excitement, right?! :)

Getting the fence up Fri night...Kate was right there with us

Introducing them to their new home for the first time.  They were surprisingly mild after being boxed up for 5-6 hours

Amazingly enough one of them actually laid an egg while in transport even...Kate was more than excited!

Kate and Riley were in there with us the next morning building the coop.  Kate's was the comment of the day when she said, "We are builders!"  It was an awesome moment for her to feel such pride.

Needless to say I didn't think everything through on the final lift, and after all our work to rebuild the coop I actually ended up breaking some of it again with this stellar inside hold decision.

Even still the happy crew afterwards

And one with mama...she rules the roost!

These shots were taken today, so as you can see they're healthy, happy and enjoying Kate taking care of them...

Ginger...if you haven't seen Chicken Run then you need to, and you'll understand :)

They really are good looking birds...3 brown, 2 white and 4 black like these two

Kate loving on her ladies...she was even out there cleaning up their poop with me this morning!  She's really been great to take care of them...she really is our animal lover.

 Merry Christmas everyone!!

African Christmas

Every year the kids' school does a fundraiser for a school in Africa by performing a play entitled the First African Christmas.  Ethan was in it for the first time last year, and both he and Kate were in it this year.  They peformed at the Vista Charter School, and was exciting given that their stage is actually a stage in round.  Brought us much closer to the action, and it was awesome seeing the kids do their thing.  Here's some pictures and video for your enjoyment.

Riley actually did really well, and watched intently most of the night.  Think he's really just practicing in his head for his turn in a few years :)

Today's Adventures

Nothing like having your 3 kids out in the backyard exploring and enjoying themselves on a Saturday morning. Riley got in the mud trying to get his stick, Ethan's bouncing and playing catch and Kate is just roaming around making sure she's a part of everything that's happening. There were rides on the bikes, a visit from our old pal Rupert (remember that's our backyard frog who's really an adopted member of the family) and of course let's not forget about Riley getting so tuckered out that he feel asleep before we could even feed him lunch. Here's a few shots and movies of all the fun, enjoy!

Maria and Credence Visit

My cousin Maria and her son Credence came to visit for a few minutes when she came down last weekend. Haven't seen her in many years, and this was the first time to see her son in person. He and Riley had a blast together...

Riley turns One!

Can't believe our lil' lion turned one this past week! For those of you who live close enough to come, thank you for coming and celebrating with us. For those of you who weren't able to be there, please enjoy some of the highlights...

And the next morning as we're getting ready for the day and the kids off to school, here's Ethan and Riley enjoying the balloons!

School Pictures

Crazy to think that we have 2 kids old enough to have "school pictures", but ladies and gentlemen I'm hear to tell you that is the case. Believe it or not the pictures they take these days are quite high tech. Megan and I were given 8 or so different options for backgrounds if we wanted to be picky, various poses we could request, etc. If I remember my shots correctly it was a one snap deal, and if you happened to be picking your nose...oh well. Here are 3 different shots of both Ethan and Kate, and they are all amazing. Enjoy!

October 14th Silliness

It was a Thursday night, and the kids were done with school for the week, so we decided to have some "fun" while we all got ready for bed. The video of Ethan and Kate is one of about four that we did that night; they were having so much fun just dancing around and being silly to the music. (And yes, they are their own dj's.) Riley didn't want to be left out of the fun of course, so he was getting his walk on. Still a couple week's away from his first birthday, and he's showing everyone his skills! :) We have the best kids!!