Christmas

Zola added her own personal message on a few of our Christmas cards. 

 We spend a lot of time in my sewing room in the month of December getting ready for Christmas. It seems that every January one of my resolutions needs to be to clean and organize that room.

 This kid helped me do some sewing... you can never start too early. :)

 What big sisters are for... teaching little boys how to do big kid things.

 Dennis was so excited about making things for people this Christmas that he made felt masks for all of the Kannas cousins. It was pretty fun watching him on Christmas morning just as eager for people to open the presents that he made as he was to open his presents. This mask is a sea monster.

 I feel quite lucky to have this guy in my life. He is the best.

 Because I have a problem... I make rules to how many gifts the kids are going to get... since we have Christmas morning with cousins at the cabin, we like to make it as fair as possible... and then I can't stick to the rules that I made. So, we had to open a few presents early at home. Gift giving must be one of my love languages because I REALLY get into it.

 Andrew got a rocking horse that he absolutely LOVED! Can you tell?

 Then we made the trek up to the cabin. Stuffed to the roof.

 Andrew looking at Santa. He was pretty big and red and loud.

 But, he was liking it much better once Santa gave him a BALL! His favorite. He played with that ball the whole night.

 Dennis and Santa.

 Zola and Santa. It was pretty cute. Zola knew just what to do when Santa called her name. Every time she would stand next to him and smile for a picture... even though, I only actually took one.

 a light saber and some care bears... and that green ball.

 Christmas morning with all the cousins (except Reed's family).

 Zola sent Santa an email with a picture of this exact unicorn. She was so happy to find it in her stocking.

 We love it when Daddy has time off and is around.

 ... another mask, made by Dennis. Yoda for James

 The best seat in the house- Grandpa's lap. There is a little competition with cousins around. Bode and Andrew had to share the role of cute baby. It was rough.

 Dennis got some Legos.

 The snow was so beautiful!

 Our new tradition of acting out the Nativity. Cast: Eva as the Angel, Zola as Mary, Matthew as Joseph, Dennis, James and Owen as Wisemen, Bode as a Shepherd and Andrew as a sheep.

 I love that Dennis took his hat off as he was kneeling at the manger. Such a great touch... I didn't even know he knew that he should do that.

 We got lots of pictures with Grandpa this year...

 We finally got snow! It wasn't quite safe to go out on the lake because it was such a warm fall and late winter that the ice wasn't quite thick enough. So, we did other things: sledding, skiing, broom ball at the rink (picture to come).

 It sure is beautiful.

 Opening our homemade gifts with the Funks!

 Here is Andrew opening his present from Baron. He got a cool race car.

 Holland opened her Pj's from Zola

 Zola opened little wooden people from Benson.

 Dennis opened a Fort kit from Myer. It was so cute how excited he was. It was fun because Dennis REALLY wanted to make a fort kit for Myer. But he had to choose between fort kit and marshmallow gun.

 Kristen opened a framed list of things we love about her... from Ryan.

We are so blessed.

December part 1

Andrew's faces these days... He sure can make us laugh. But now that he is 13 months he is more often scowling than looking surprised. 

 Our hand made gift exchange on Ryan's side of the family was fun this year. I made a family tree watercolor for Katrina. I had so much fun doing it, I might go into mass production and open up an etsy shop. I wanted to add leaves with their kids names on them to symbolize new growth vs. old. But I wasn't too confident in my leaf painting yet and didn't want to ruin it. Maybe I will have to add them later after some experimenting.

 Dennis was so excited to make these guns for Myer that he even made some more for his neighbor friend's birthday. They are marshmallow guns.

 Andrew looks so cute in the play mat that he made *cough*. We included a lego set that we searched out the pieces for from a tub of legos bought on craigslist- Homemade enough, right? And Zola actually helped me push the pj pants through the sewing machine. The shirt has a picture of Zola and Holland together and it says, "best friends". Zola Loves Holland and talks about her often. She keeps wanting to invite her to her birthday party. Unfortunately, she lives too far away.

 Andrew's favorite chair in the house is the one that Grandpa is sitting in.... wherever he might be.

 Zola kept asking if she could make ginger bread men... so we finally did. And, they were so delicious.

 Accidents happen when you are having fun... I don't even remember what happened. He was over it after 5 minutes.

 ... grandma's lap isn't too shabby either.

 Andrew was so proud that he was standing on the rocking chair. He thought that he was so big.

 He is getting pretty mobile these days, climbing onto things and getting pretty good at walking.

November

Zola's imaginative play this morning. We are playing Halloween. I'm a stick and Zola is a white bean. LOL. She cracks me up. 

 A day at the park on this beautiful fall day. Notice... Andrew is still bare foot. His cute surprised face is a permanent feature these days.

 Short sleeved shirts in November!? We will take it.

 Our 3 mile (one way) walk to school was the perfect hurrah before our long winter ahead. I wore pants and wished that I hadn't. I was sweating. They were doing construction on the Douglass trail with a big semi blocking the path- so for a ways we had to do some off roading down the snowmobile trail that got quite muddy. It was not ideal. but I was stuck there until we hit another road. Luckily, they were done by the time I turned around to head home.

 Grandma sent Andrew a present in the mail for his birthday. He LOVED it... more than we thought he would.

 ... But even with a toy made for walking with... he prefers the upside down bench for walking. LOL.

 ... nothing cuter than a baby in a "more on" hat.

 With Ryan working so hard at work, I am left to do most of the yard work. Lucky for me, Braden and Dennis were looking to earn some money and offered to rake the yard for $5! YES. That was a great deal. They worked hard for two days after school and earned $8 because I had to dump out all the bags half way through in attempt to find my lost phone... if you are wondering... it wasn't in the leaves, it was in the car.

 unlike Zola, who hated being in a leaf pile when she was a baby, Andrew was sooooo excited to be in the leaves. He thought it was the coolest thing and kept going in for more.

 Zola likes the piles of leaves now.

 I don't know what I would have done without those boys.

 Zola doing the job of returning books at the library all by herself for the first time.

 We can't be happy all the time...

 The best entertainment here in Pine Island is the car wash!

Andrew has found a new hobby... that I am not very fond of.

 ... some days playing the piano is harder than others...

 If you want Andrew to sit still just put him in a wagon. He will never move.

 These two were apparently exhausted at 6pm.

 I love spending time with my girl.

 The only time that Andrew throws a real tantrum is when you take him away from a wagon.

 It was a little too quiet... and where did Andrew go? Guilty... with the crackers.

 My mom with her brother and sisters at the burial of my grandma's ashes. It was good to say goodbye one last time. We love her.

 Dennis... the interior decorator.