Christmas Activities

I finally have my blog updated.  We have had fun doing different Christmas activities so far this month.  Here is what we have been up to.

Decorating the house (inside and out)

Over the past several years, Andrew has been going to stores on the day(s) after Christmas to see what kind of good deals he can get on Christmas decorations for the outside of our house.  He was gotten quite a bit and out house sure is festive.  It was raining the night I took this picture so sorry for those rain streaks.

One of our favorite things to do each Christmas season is go to the Idaho Botanical Gardens for their Winter Garden Aglow.  It is so pretty with all the Christmas lights on it.  They even have a little area with mini trains which is always a highlight.

 On the weekend they have raindeer there that the kids can pet.

 We have found a great Santa that is down at the Village at Meridian.  He is a great Santa.  You even go inside a little house and can take off coats and everything.  Of course, Zora hated it. 

 Another favorite place of ours is to go out to downtown Caldwell.  They have an amazing light display each year.  This year we met up with my cousin Tyler & Marianne and their kids. 

Christmas church outfits...

On Zora's blessing day, I had an idea for a picture I thought it would be fun to have a picture of Zora laying in the boys arms.  It really turned out great.  Andrew and I hope that will become a picture that the kids want to create on special occasions, so with the kids in their nice Christmas clothes, we had them take that picture again. 

Also when Zora was a month old, we took a picture of them laying on top of each other on our bed with Zora on top.  That picture has been the background picture on our computer since then and when we were taking pictures, Keagan asked if we could do that picture again.  I love how it turned out!

Piano Recital

Piano had a Piano Recital on December 6.  He did a great job!  After he sat down after playing his two songs, he sadly said "Mom I messed up in a spot".  I told him it was OK and then told him that everyone messes up when the play.  I then told him every time I play the Organ or the piano for something I almost always mess up.  He seemed surprised, but I think it made him feel a little better. 

 This picture below is of course not at the recital, but a cute picture.  Whenever I am giving piano lessons or when the boys are practicing their piano, Zora loves to play.  Keagan will sometimes let her sit on the bench beside him while he plays.  During the recital, she managed to get away from me when Keagan was playing and walked up to the piano and tried to play with him.  I thought it was funny that she only did that when Keagan was playing, but not for anyone else. 

Jump Time

Our good friends, Dan & Angela came into town for a few different things.  Angela called and invited me to come to Jump Time with her while Dan was at a conference.  I have never been there but I am definitely going back! What a fun place.  Zora and Bauer loved all the fun trampolines, bounce houses, foam pit, etc. 

Here is a video of Bauer doing a little flip.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year my parents and two of my brothers and their families came to us for Thanksgiving.  We had so much fun having some of our family come visit.  The kids had a lot off fun having so many kids to play with. 

I decided to make the kids Thanksgiving shirts this year and I even made a tutu for Zora to wear with the matching fabric.  We couldn't get a picture with Zora standing with the boys, so here was what we got. 



Here is Zora picture of Zora with the tutu in it.



First snowfall of the Season - November 14

In November, we had an unusually large snow fall.  It started snow on Thursday, Nov. 13 and didn't stop until Friday afternoon.  Our driveway got shoveled three times during the time frame and my boys couldn't be happier about that!  This snowfall even resulted in a snow day on Friday.  The boys had a blast shoveling the driveway and then playing out back in all the snow. 

Miscellaneous Fun Pictures

One Saturday in October after one of Keagan and Deker's flag fooball games, we were out running a couple of errands and happened to see the Oscar Mayer hot dog truck pull into a park.  We of course went over there.  They gave each of the kids a Hot Dog wistle and let us see inside and take a picture.  It really was a right time/right place kind of moment because they only were there for a couple of minutes.

 On one of our walks to either walk the boys to the bus stop or going to meet them, Zora really wanted to ride a scooter so of course Andrew helped her.  She LOVED.

Our boy LOVE the movie Planes and so when the Planes Fire and Rescue movie came out we really wanted to take the boys to see it so we anxiously waited for it to come to the cheep theater, but when it got there we never had a day work out when we could watch it, so we bought it as soon as it came to video and took one evening to sit down and watch it.  They all brought their pillow beds down and Zora enjoyed laying on hers.  But that only lasted for a couple of minutes, just enough time for a cute picture.

Halloween Festivities

The Sunday before Halloween we carved pumpkins which is always an adventure with kids. 

 The finished products.

 The night before Halloween I attempted to make a Halloween pizza by cutting pumpkin shapes out of cheese, unfortunately I didn't think to pre-bake the crust so by the time the crust was done, the shapes were almost unrecognizable.  It still tasted delicious though.

My attempt at making jack-o-lantern pancakes, but am not a very good drawer, but the kids liked it and that is all that mattered.

Andrew was out of town working the whole day.  I was nervous about doing it all by myself, but is all went really well.  Here we are in our Halloween shirts.

Superman aka Keagan

 Spiderman aka Deker

 Hulk aka Bauer

 Batgirl aka Zora

My Superheros ready for trick or treating!

Fall Flag Football

We signed Keagan and Deker up for another season on Flag Football.  They both loved playing again and Keagan is asking to play tackle football next year. 

Deker

Keagan

Wrestling Camp - October

Kuna High School is a 2 week wrestling camp for kids and we decided to sign the boys up.  Keagan really liked it, but not enough to keep going and do tournaments.  Deker liked learning the movesm but didn't like to do the actual wrestling too much.  Bauer loved it, but was a little to young to do much, but enjoyed playing around with the kids and the High school kids.

Bauer

 Keagan (on the bottom)

 Deker (also on the bottom)

 

All Zora wanted to do was run onto the mat.  It was really hard keeping her off the mat and there was some close calls with her almost getting hit.  Taking pictures was one attempt to keep her occupied.

 

Andrew's Birthday - October 12

October 12 is Andrew's birthday, the boys loved picking out some presents for him. 

The boys excitedly watching Daddy open his presents. 

Zora running off with a card.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

The Farmstead - October 11

All year long the boys look forward to going to the Farmstead, they were so excited to go. 

They always have a short cornmaze which is perfect for us because the boys get bored after a short time. 

The cow train is a must do every year.

 Riding the grain train.

 I couldn't resist putting up this picture of Deker posing with this pumpkin he wanted to get.

 Playing in the corn box.