Christmas Scenes

Christmas Eve, the freezing rain came down for hours...

Creating a VERY slick wheelchair ramp off of the back porch.

So...of course, it became the best slide EVER!

Even Shadow got in on the action.

The much anticipated Christmas morning, Santa brought sleds! Thank you to our Secret Santa, we love you!

These are so cool!

We can't wait to use these...as soon as our blizzard clears up and the temps get above zero degrees!

A Wii...oh my goodness! These are some very excited kids! Thank you to my Mom and Dad. You guys made our Christmas so much fun this year.

We are so very blessed.

Look how much fun they're having...wish you could be here to play with us.

Even the older kids were excited...they were all smiles too. We're discovering that Ryan is VERY competetive. Maybe he'll beat Grandma Freeman's record on the Groundhog game?


They played ALL DAY! I almost forgot to take a picture of our blizzard. After four hours of freezing rain, the storm turned into snow...It's been almost 24 hours and still going strong.

Merry Christmas! We love you all.

Sweet 16

My baby...it seems like just yesterday she looked like this:

She's amazing, kind, talented and the best helper I could ever ask for...

A very beautiful young woman, growing into a stunning woman...

She's a good friend to those around her...

Silly and fun to be around...

The boys agree, she's the BEST SISTER EVER...

Andrea...as The Pioneer Woman would say,
I love you more than my luggage!

Happy Sweet Sixteenth Birthday...I LOVE YOU!

Sing, Sing, Sing

One of my most favorite things: Listening to my children sing.

It's tradition at the high school in our little town to have a Patriotic Concert at the school, the day before Thanksgiving.

It was absolutely fabulous. The kids sang their hearts out about the Constitution, our Founding Fathers and this beautiful country that we love.

We are so grateful that the school has allowed Ryan and Andrea to enroll and participate in High School Choir as home schooled students. "Let freedom ring."

Last Sunday, the High School choirs performed a Christmas Concert. Here you see Andrea singing with the Concert Choir. She also sang in the Women's Choir.

Ryan's on the front row here with the Concert Choir.

And here is the school's Jazz choir. Ryan goes to the school early a couple of days each week to practice with this dedicated group of kids.

Ryan was given the opportunity to sing a Bass Solo, "Have You Heard?", with the Men's Choir. He did an amazing job! (Yes, I'm biased. He DID receive MANY compliments.) Christmas music is the BEST! Thank you, Ryan and Andrea, for sharing my love for music. Love you.

First Snow

This was the scene on Sunday night, so much for bedtime!

Watch out Mom!

Andrea let the pets out to see their first snow EVER.

Shadow loved it! He played as much as the kids. He thought that eating the snow was "the thing to do".

Our first storm isn't over yet. This was the scene this morning, and the forecast says we will be getting snow until tomorrow morning.

It turns out that even kids that do school at home can't concentrate when there's piles of snow on the ground...SNOW DAY!

We Miss You!

Dads and kids with guns,
while the mom's COOK the feast...

Oh my!!!

The Thanksgiving feast: Good food, great company...

The Christmas lighting ceremony...

Time with some of our favorite people in the world,
catching the latest movies, playing games and shopping...

Welcoming Christmas at Tuacahn's beautiful
Live Nativity presentation...

Bruce, Kerry, Chase, Mariah, Savannah and Nicholas, we will miss you guys this year...
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Grilled Cheese

Bread, butter and cheese, my boys' favorite food combination, especially with tomato soup!

All the boys in my life have had this recipe mastered at a very young age...

It looks like this phenomenon exists in Jadon's family too.

Thanks for the pictures Adam, it's time for you guys to visit again!

Work, Candy and Grandparents - Perfect!

Halloween began with Ryan's Eagle Project. They cleaned up, repaired and painted the picnic shelter at one of our city parks. Eric and the boys went to help, it was a great success! Thank you to all who came to help make this project possible.

The teenagers went to a youth party at a friends house in the afternoon. Tyler was "Skittle, the candy rapper." They had a great time.

The boys were so excited to be chimney sweeps. They loved having dirty faces! Trick or Treating was high on their priority list for the day.

We stopped at the Police/Fire Station. They were letting the kids climb into the fire truck. Michael was so excited and had tons of questions for the firemen! (He kind of looks like a fireman after a fire!)

The highlight of our Halloween was a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, my mom and dad. They even went trick or treating with us! We will never forget our first Halloween in Missouri.