The Kids First Experience Ice Skating

This Saturday Luke was invited to an ice skating party. I was pretty skeptical about 5 and 6 year olds trying to ice skate. Although Luke and Rachel were excited about going, I figured they would get tired of it pretty quickly. After all, they tend to avoid any activity where there is a potential of being hit, pushed, falling, or anything too challenging.

As you might suspect, they started out glued to the wall ruling out any real chance of a fall.

Then all of a sudden Luke got a little brave.... He let go of the wall and did not look back.
He fell several times, but he kept getting back up without complaining....well he did complain that his hands were getting cold from the ice.
Luke did AWESOME ice skating!!!! He really shocked me!!!
Rachel did start to let go of the wall some, but did not venture far from it in case she needed it.
The kids really enjoyed ice skating!! They did not want to leave and can't wait to go back again! I am so proud of them trying something new and challenging!!! They found a new activity they really liked.

Here is a little video of Luke skating across the ice. I did not get the focus right, so it is a little blurry.

Candy Canes

I have always decorated our Christmas tree with candy canes to go with my gingerbread man theme. Last year Kate ate a candy cane off the tree every chance she got. So this year I thought I would out smart her and have the kids make candy cane ornaments. It was a fun little project that everybody enjoyed.

I did not really out smart Kate. She just takes the candy canes apart and I have a big mess on the floor. She does enjoy putting them back together though.

Snow Day!!!!!

On December 4th Midland had a SNOW DAY!!! The last time it snowed here Kate was about four months old, so this was new to her. They cancelled school!!! I was so excited that it was like I did not have to go to school that day!!! We were dressed and ready to play by 8am, so much for getting to sleep in on our day off! The kids had a blast. They played til lunch time out in the cold. They were beyond frozen when they came in. I made homemade hot chocolate for them. Rachel said it was the BEST hot chocolate she had ever tasted!! She liked it so much we made more the next morning for breakfast.

My snow angels....

The neighbors came for a snow ball fight.

Kate loved eating the snow....

I forgot to turn the sprinklers off, so the snow was kind of hard. Rachel did manage to make a little snowman.

Grocery Shopping

This made for a very peaceful shopping trip today.....my first in a long time.

Rachel's Piano Recital

Rachel had her second piano recital last night. She did wonderful! It was a Christmas recital, so everybody played a Christmas carol. Rachel played "It's A Holly Jolly Christmas".

It amazes me how well she does in front of an audience whether it be in a class play or a piano recital. She never acts like she gets nervous. I guess I am nervous enough for the both of us.

Decorating the Tree

Decorating the tree this year was so much fun! I had three very eager helpers. All I really did was take pictures while they did the decorating. Kate took care of the bottom branches of the tree. The bottom of the tree has so many ornaments! She would run to the ornament box and flap her hands in excitement while somebody got her a new ornament. She looked like a bird flapping her wings. Luke and Rachel were seasoned decorators. Many of the branches have as many as four or five ornaments on them. I have left the tree exactly how they decorated it....the tree is beautiful just the way it is!!!

The kids excitement has really inspired me to do some more decorating. I usually don't do much more decorating than putting up a tree, but this year I have gotten all the decorations out. It makes me smile to see the inside of the house all lit up with our Christmas decorations. I think all the cold weather we have been having and the kids being so excited has really put me in the Christmas spirit. I have even been watching Hallmark Christmas movies and drinking homemade hot chocolate for the past week. I just wish I were inspired to do some shopping! I am so behind!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

The weekend after Thanksgiving we got together with Chris's Mom's side of the family. We had a great time relaxing, eating, and catching up with everybody. Chris's Granny and PawPaw even came all the way from Oklahoma City. It had been a couple of years since we had seen them, so we were extra excited they made the trip!

Here are some snap shots from our time together:

Granny played the piano for Rachel and Luke.....
Granny even played some duets with Rachel....so sweet.

Ian made a new friend......Amos would have been his friend too if Ian would have dropped some food for him like Kate does. Ian sure thought he was funny!

Busy coloring.

Hanging out....

Aunt Cara got her hair done....doesn't it look beautiful?

Chris cooked us a feast of steak, twice baked potatoes, beer bread, and green beans. It was so GOOD!!

Rachel and Luke won a bet with Uncle Beaubie. They had to balance two motorcycles together a certain way. Uncle Beaubie was sure that it could not be done. It did not take long before he was prooved wrong. I wonder if Uncle Beaubie learned a lesson from this....if not these kids could be very rich!

Daddy's Granny and Paw Paw

Granny and DJ

Chris and Cara with Daddy's Granny and Paw Paw

Four generation picture

This is everybody that was here this weekend. I can't believe we got everybody looking in the right direction and nobody is crying....amazing!!!

We missed Aaron, Johnnie, Tenley and Miles. Next year we hope to all be together. I hope we can do this for many years to come. It was so much fun!

Thanksgiving Day 2009

We were in Snyder Thanksgiving Day. The Stirling family got together at my Aunt Lorita's house. We had a great meal and a great time! I tried to get a picture of all of my Grandmother's great grandkids that were there.

Hailey - Hard to believe she is already a teenager!

Zeke - This is just the sweetest little boy ever.

Jacob and Luke - They were inseparable the entire day. I was neat to see them play so well with each other.

Isaac - I just love his hair!

Sweet Julia

This was the best picture we could get of all the great grandkids together. It is hard to get eight little ones to cooperate.