Merry Christmas!

Christmas has been over for more than a week, but of course, I'm just getting around to posting about it.  We had a fantastic day with the boys. Ben was so excited to see what Santa brought, and he was VERY happy with what he found!  Kyran really didn't understand what was happening, but boy did he like ripping open the boxes.  He also was very happy with what he found.  I can't believe this, but I didn't take a single picture of Christmas morning!  I was so excited to watch the boys open their presents that I just forgot all about the camera.

After presents from Santa, we loaded up and headed over to Grannie and Papaw's house.  Ben and Kyran had another great round of opening presents and playing with their toys.  Ben made out like a bandit with Lego's and Kyran was in heaven with all of the trucks and tractors!

 Max, Ben and Kyran all received matching shirts...Kyran wasn't interested in holding his up.

Christmas night, we found ourselves back at Grannie and Papaw's for the annual Christmas party with Denny and Kathy and their family.  It was a great night with friends and family, and the kids had so much fun playing together.

 Ben and Blake with their matching guns...they were SO excited!

All the kiddos with Kyran leading the charge!

Christmas was a blur, like always, but it was such a happy blur.  Each year we look so forward to watching the magic of Christmas through our boys' eyes.  But, more importantly, we look forward to the birth of our Savior.  There is no greater joy than the joy of knowing a little baby was born so that we may all enjoy eternal life.  What a magnificent gift that we are all given...we only need to accept it.  Merry Christmas to you all and may 2015 bring you peace, joy, happiness, health, and love!

Tiffany is 6...woohoo!!!

Christmas Break is in full swing and nothing starts a break like a birthday party!!!  Tiffany, my niece, turned 6 today and she has informed us that she is "all grown up".  Oh, to be 6 again, ha ha!  We had a great time tonight celebrating the birthday girl, and she had a great time tearing into her presents.

 I'd say the fingernail polish was a hit!

Must be something pretty interesting in the bag!!!

Here are some random photos from the night.  We had a great time as a family...played some Trivial Pursuit, ate some delicious food, and had lots and lots of laughs!

 Eric looks so deep in thought!

 When did little Taylor grow up?  I can't believe how fast time flies!

 Kyran on the move...I didn't get many pictures of Ben because he was on the go with all the cousins!  Kyran was confined to the garage with the adults!

Evan and Dad working on my Christmas present...I can't wait to see it all finished!  Don't worry, I'll definitely be posting pictures of it!

Little Dribblers

Ben signed up to be a part of the Little Dribblers basketball camp this winter.  They met each week for five weeks and worked on ball handling and basketball skills.  It was a great time and Ben really learned a lot.  At the end of the camp, all of the kids got to "perform" their basketball skills at half time of the varsity game.  Ben thought he was BIG stuff, let me tell ya!  He and his friends did a great job, and I have the pictures to prove it, ha ha!

 Getting some pointers from his "coach"

 Ben's friend, Lauren, working on her ball handling!

 Ava (front and center) is doing a great job...and she's only 3!

 Blake (head down in the center) was a pro at dribbling!

Ben even made it in the paper the next day!  His friends, Blake and Ava, did too! Ave is top, left.  Blake is middle picture, looking at camera, and Ben is bottom, left.

Judging by the smile on Ben's face after the game, I would say that the Little Dribblers camp was a success!  He's looking forward to it next year!

Happy Turkey Day!

Like all of my posts, this one is late...but, that's just becoming the story of my life!  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Andy's family and mine.  We started our day at Grandma Queenie's house (Andy's grandma) and enjoyed lunch with all of the Sutherlin side.  It was nice to catch up with everyone and Ben and Kyran had so much fun playing with all the kiddos.

Just in time for naps, we loaded up and headed north to my parents.  Both boys were out within 10 minutes of being on the road (maybe there is some truth to that whole "turkey makes you tired" thing).  We got to Mom and Dad's just in time for appetizers.  Mom decided to try a nontraditional approach to Thanksgiving, and I have to say, it was great!  Instead of turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing, we had soups, homemade breads, and lots of desserts!  It was a great way to end the day.

After a night of sleeping off the food coma, Stacey, Mom and I (a.k.a. the Ugly Shirt Brigade) headed to Holland, Michigan for some shopping.  It was a great trip...we had lunch at our favorite restaurant, shopped all of the cute little boutiques, hit the big stores on the way home, and made it back before midnight!

Unfortunately, I didn't take hardly ANY pictures.  I was too busy catching up with everyone that I forgot to get my camera out.  But, I did manage to get a few.

 This picture cracks me up.  It sums Kyran up perfectly...standing on top of something he shouldn't be, clothes are a mess, holding something that he's preparing to launch across the room, and giving me that look of "what? you talking to me?"  Yes, just for your information, he proceeded to launch this toy across the garage!

 Not quite sure what Kyran's doing in the picture, but of course, he's on top of a piece of furniture and look...why yes, that's another toy I'm sure he's preparing to launch!

 Lucy saying "cheese"!

 and...Lucy giving me a look that says "why do you keep taking my picture?"

 Spike (a.k.a. demon cat) found a perfect spot!  He is smart enough to stick close to Mom or Andy since they're the only two that actually tolerate him!

The "Ugly Shirt Brigade" is ready to go!

***Just a little side note (mainly for my boys who get copies each year of the blog...my version of scrapbooking), the "Ugly Shirt Brigade" came about on a trip to Iowa with my family and Andy's family.  Stacey and I came upon a booth that sold bedazzled shirts and we thought it would be funny to buy some matching ones to wear Black Friday shopping (some people wear antlers and santa hats...we wear bedazzled shirts).  Of course, we picked the ugliest ones (pink with sequin flower bouquets) and wrapped Mom's up for her.  When she opened it up, she went on and on about how pretty it was, UNTIL we told her why we had gotten it.  Then, she admitted that she wasn't too fond of it, lol.  Funny thing is, when we're out shopping each year, we usually have at least one person tell us how pretty our shirts our...I guess our humor is lost on some, ha ha!

Ben and Katie were up bright and early on Black Friday...thankfully Grandpa Jim was manning the kitchen since the ladies were manning the shopping carts!

Fall Fun

We've had a very crazy fall this year.  It started out unseasonably warm, which was very nice.  Then, we entered a monsoon period that was frustrating, to say the least!  It seemed like when we just got in a rhythm with the crops, it would rain for days and set us back for a week or more.  Finally, we got a nice stretch of "somewhat dry" weather, and we were able to finish up in the fields.  When we could finally breath a sigh of relief and sit back to enjoy what was left of fall, it quickly turned to winter!  Today started out at a balmy 24 degrees and we've had snow...yes, you heard right, snow!!!

Yet, regardless of all the crazy weather, we've still managed to have a fun and busy fall so far.  Here's a look at what we've been filling our time with...

The boys and I managed to escape to Ben's favorite place "pizza with the train", a.k.a. Pizza King, for a lunch date while Andy was working in the field.  I have to say, the TV's in the booth and the fact that the train brings your drinks to the table is an absolute plus when it comes to taking both boys out alone!

We celebrated a very special day, which was the wedding of our great friends, Elise and Zach!  I was so honored to be asked to be in the wedding, and we enjoyed every moment of the weekend!  Elise was a gorgeous bride, of course, and she and Zach planned a perfect wedding...so much fun!  We were lucky to have my Mom and Dad watch the boys for the weekend so that we could go to all of the pre-wedding and wedding events.  Since the wedding was the 1st, Mom and Dad offered to take the boys trick-or-treating, which was so nice...Ben was sick on Halloween last year, so this was Kyran's first time trick-or-treating, and from the looks of the pictures, he had a blast.  Of course, this was during one of the freezing cold, rainy days, which just added to the fun, ha ha.

 Ben, our Bumblebee Transformer and Kyran the dinosaur!

Ben and Kyran also had a good time helping Grandma Debbie rake leaves and clean out her flowerbeds.

This picture doesn't look like fun, but it's a special one to me.  "Jim, the barber" has been cutting hair for 50+ years and has cut my Grandpa's hair, my Dad's hair, my brothers' hair, and he even cut Ben's hair.  I'm not 100% sure, but I actually think he might have cut my hair once when I was a little girl.  Regardless, I have many memories of going uptown and sitting in his barbershop with Grandpa or Grandma while my brothers got a trim.  Jim was so nice to us and always had a sucker or a piece of candy to pass out to all of us kids when we were leaving.

Since he has "retired", he only takes appointments on Fridays and I asked Mom if she would take Kyran to him.  I wanted to make sure the Kyran got to have his hair cut by "Jim, the barber" too, so that he could be part of that special group.  Mom said Kyran was so good and then he just let loose with the waterworks.  Poor Jim, I'm sure Kyran was not his easiest customer, but I'm so glad that he agreed to cut his hair...it's such a special memory for me!

The boys and I enjoyed the last few days of half-way decent weather last weekend by playing outside, raking leaves, and having Ben's friend over to play.  As you can see from the videos, all three boys had a great time.  Andy finished up in the field, so that was an added bonus!

Now, we're heading into our hibernation mode, turning on the heaters, digging out the hats, gloves, and winter coats, and dealing with darkness at 5:30 (blah...we really, really, really don't like daylight savings time)!  But, despite the cold, as we bid farewell to fall and head into the holiday season, our hearts are warm.  There is no time of the year like the holidays.  I know people get frustrated, busy, upset, and darn right rude with all the hustle and bustle, but people also give to those less fortunate, take time to count their blessings, spend extra time with their families, take a few minutes to send a Christmas card, switch the TV over to a holiday movie, or maybe they just put on their jammies and snuggle on the couch with their kiddos.  Whatever it may be, the holidays are coming and I for one can't wait.  As they say, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

18 month photos

As with most everything, these pictures are a bit late.  I'm counting them as Kyran's 18 month photos, but he's actually 19 months in them.  But, is there really a law that says they HAVE to be 18 month pics???  I think not, so we're just gonna go with it!  I ran home from school last Monday, threw outfits on the boys, grabbed the camera, grabbed Andy, and headed over to the farm.  By the time we got there, we were working with less than an hour or so of daylight, so we had to work fast.  You might be wondering why I just didn't do it another day, but for those of you that live anywhere near us, you know that we've had rain EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. so, I was taking the sunshine while I had it!  Of course, everyday since then has been beautiful, but hey, who knew?!?!?

Without further ado, here are some of the 300+ pics I took (they weren't all keepers, ha ha)!

Of course, we had to put pictures of Ben in too!

Pumpkin Carving 2014

Ben and I found some time on Sunday to carve a few pumpkins.  We love to do this each fall and each year Ben is able to do more and more of the actual carving.  This year, he helped cut out the eyes and the nose.  He was a little afraid to try the scary mouth, but he did like running the drill to put holes in one of the pumpkins.

 This was the pumpkin he picked on his field trip...it made a nice "scary" pumpkin, according to Ben.

 We needed a little brighter light in the one, but they all looked pretty cool in the dark.

My proud pumpkin carver (looking super cute in his Christmas jammies, if you ask me)!