Saturday

Last Mon. at cubscouts Max got some homework. He needed to go through a list of possible projects and choose 3 he wanted to complete for his meeting on Monday. So he chose to do a book cover (which I didn't get a picture of) and to make a recipe card holder. Randy helped Max make his recipe card holder while Sophia watched.



The third project he chose was to make was a color wheel, mixing the secondary colors himself. Again Sophia was very interested.


Having the paints out inspired more painting.


While the other kids painted Alex drove a remote control car around. Then he got the great idea to bowl with his r.c. car. So he set up some Fisher Price Little People like pins and used the r.c. car as the bowling ball. It was fun, Max and I had fun trying and Henry just watched and laughed and laughed.



Then, since we haven't been able to build an outside snowman, we built inside ones. I got the idea from the book, "Hello Cupcake". I also had a recipe for candy clay - but either the clay was too warm or I needed to add a lot more powdered sugar because the clay was very soft and didn't hold it's shape as expected. But it didn't matter because everyone had fun creating a snowman. Now a smart mom would have lined the kids up with their cupcake in front of them, but I thought of it as I was snapping and didn't want to rearrange the cupcakes or kids. You know who the kids are from left to right so the snowmen from left to right are Max's snowman, Alex's, Sophia's, and Henry's.


Timmy didn't paint, I was going to let him, but he ended up napping when we got everything out. And he didn't build a snowman, but it seemed like you'd still want to see him. So here he is eating his cupcake and saying cheese for the camera.

Camping

Saturday morning Randy and Alex left at 8 am with another dad and his son to go camping at highland falls. They had a cabin to sleep in but I think it was still chilly. They boys sledded, went on a hike and identified tracks, each got a chance to start a fire. One boy had to be taken to the hospital for stitches, from sledding! So that brought a halt to the sledding. Both Randy and Alex said it was fun.So while they camped outside. The rest of us camped inside!



While I made supper they sat around the fire they made. Then they quickly got out our guitars and a whistle and say about marshmallows.



Here we are enjoying our camp out dinner. The kids were very specific about what they wanted it to look like. They wanted to use our brown plates and put away our usual place mats. And "No vegetables, mom, we're camping!" Then we finished the meal with inside smores - graham crackers, chocolate frosting and marshmallows. (They were alright - but we all agreed real ones are better).




The kids finished the night by sleeping in the tent they made in my and Randy's room. It was a small tent and so Max ended up in bed with me, which was just fine. Overall is was a fun camp out as well as warm and dry, which I don't think I can say for Randy and Alex's

Max's 1st Confession

Yesterday Max had his 1st confession. He was a little nervous about it. He told me he thought what he had to tell the priest was one of the worse things the priest had ever thought. I assured him it wasn't. I went (by myself! thanks to a friend)and it seemed to go well, he came out of the confessional smiling and said it went good. Then after confession the 2nd graders had lunch with a family member, so I was able to do that as well, just me and Max. It was a really nice way to spend the morning.



There he is with his button and certificate he received.

Christmas 2011

Before we left for Iowa the kids (minus Timmy) and I made a gingerbread nativity. It was our own little Christmas miracle. The miracle was how well the 4 kids got along as they decorated the gingerbread. I couldn't believe how well it went. It was a wonderful early Christmas gift.


I had to include this picture of Henry and Oliver. Don't they look like great friends? This morning they were,but most of the time we were together they fought about everything! We're hoping they'll grow out of it.


Although we had a lot of fun at the Steffen family Christmas, I didn't get many pictures. But here's Grandma with her grandkids that are 3 and under. (l-r) Brayden (3), Oliver(3), Parker (1), Marshall (<1), Grandma holding the newest addition George (<1), Danielle (3), Henry (2)- he's under Timmy (1) and Ethan (2)- he's making a break for it.:)





I'm not very smart and somehow I've put Christmas before Christmas Eve, you'll have to forgive me. Anyway the pictures are of Christmas morning some of us, Sara (Randy's sister), Randy, Henry, Timmy, Parker, and Oliver playing with the Geo-tracks set Timmy and Henry got from Santa, as well as other fun toys they got that morning - Eric and Grandma are in the background, there.
Also you see Sophia with her doll that drinks a bottle, and wets. Thanks to Aunt Sara her baby now has cloth diapers (Sara made them).
Alex and Max quickly dug into their new lego sets and Mario k'nex race track. What to build first?
And you see our reindeer pancakes, thanks to Aunt Sara!!
There is a picture there sitting down to eat the reindeer, although I'm pretty sure the adults ate more than the kids, the kids had stuffed themselves on candy from their stockings.


This picture and the next should be flip-flopped. This is Christmas Eve night right before bed. Our kids exchanged gifts with each other, their cousins, Oliver and Parker, and had one for Randy and I and Grandma. Uncle Dale, Aunt Audrey, (cousin) Madison, Uncle Bob and Aunt Wendy were there for our little celebration.

Here we are at my dad's house, with all 10 grandkids. (l-r) Kale(5), Hunter(9), Caden(7), Henry(2), Brady(2), Addison(5), Sophia(5), Max(7), Timmy(1), and Alex (10). They always have a great time together.


We had Christmas at my brother's house this year for that(my mom's) side of the family this year. It worked out really well. We had a lot of fun opening gifts, hanging out, eating too much and staying up late. That is my brother's family, Joni (his wife) holding their son, Kale and Nick (my brother)holding their son, Brady.


On the left is my cousin Sarah, holding Max. And then is my younger cousin Emily and her husband Matt.They announced they're having a baby in July!! Woo-hoo! We're so excited!


We celebrated my aunt's birthday together. (It's officially Jan.2, but we figured the end of Dec. was close enough).


These 4 kidos played and played. They even were able to get outside in the sandbox for quite a few hours, here they are listening attentively to Aunt Joni read them a story.

We were lucky enough to be there to celebrate Parker's birthday with him. (He's my godson, and) We were so happy we could watch him smash his cake and enjoy his birthday party with him.



Unfortunately we ended our time in Iowa sick. It started with Sophia and Timmy on Friday. Then Henry, then me, Alex got sick in there somewhere and Max was the last of our immediate family to be sick. Somehow Randy never got sick. But alot of our extended family on the Steffen side also got sick and some on mine. Thankfully none of the 7 of us were sick for the drive back to New York.

November was busy and December, of course, was even busier. In the middle of all that fun busy-ness our old computer died. So we were without a computer for a little while. So I'm saying all 3 of those things are why I hadn't posted Sophia's birthday pictures or our fun week long visit with Nick,Joni, Kale and Brady (my brother and his family). Sophia's birthday was November 18 with her party a few days later. My brother, his wife and kids came all the way from Iowa to spend the whole week of Thanksgiving with us! It was great! Poor Randy missed a lot of the fun, he had to work. But he was able to be here on turkey day. Joni, Kathy (Randy's sister) and I were able to do a lot of black Friday shopping, before that we were able to take the kids to some fun places and just hang out laughing and enjoying each other's company.


Sophia on the morning of her birthday. With her first birthday present in the background - snow!

The birthday girl and all her brothers. Look close even Henry's in there.


Sophia and her Rapunzel cake.


Sophia and all her friends with her at her birthday party. She was so excited for the party, especially since her friends and cousins would be there!

Alex showing off his cake ball turkey. On Thanksgiving we made these little goodies. After Joni or I dipped the cake ball in chocolate, all the kids took tuns putting candy corn feathers and beaks on our little turkeys. Oh, turkeys, making turkeys!


Even though it's sideways I had to include it. Max and Kale are both so excited as they play Sliders Sorry.

Pig piles on Uncle Nick were common place while they visited. Kale, Brady, Sophia, Aunt Joni and Henry get in on the fun.


Henry and Brady in their superhero capes.