Fruit Kabobs

Enjoying a favorite snack at our house--make your own fruit kabobs!

Spring Break!

Thanks for a fun Spring Break Opa and Oma! We had fun! (notice Carsten has dust all over his face, and the boys had already changed from nice clothes to 'traveling' clothes!)

Spring Break Minus the Spring Part...

The kids and I are spending Spring Break at Opa and Oma's... We keep looking for the spring part, but it is eluding us--pouring rain and windy.
We are partaking in the break part however. Two of the kids' favorite activities at Oma's--helping start fires and playing in the kitchen sink!

System has been down...

Well, my system has been down--a couple of weeks ago my computer gave up the ghost. It was a hand-me-down from my brother, which he graciously gave to me. I am now the proud owner of his next hand-me-down! :-) (and now I can update the blog...)

I was watching Justin and Clayton for the afternoon and allowed the older boys to go outside as it looked like the only sunny day in the forecast until early July...

It all started innocently, and then got muddy quite quickly! One guy would fall (supposedly accidentally) and then domino affect, they would all fall--giggling crazily the whole time.

A three boy bath followed.

Friday Night Fun Night Extreme

Usually the boys sleep in our room on Friday nights, but last night Jim set up our tent in the living room and all the boys had a camp in!

Excitement!

We woke up to snow this morning! It hardly ever snows here, so when it does we get very excited!!! We suited up and headed out before any could melt...

Googly Eyes

Watching the nephews, so we had to have a little fun...

And mom had to get in on it too, right? :)
(Also Reese's first picture with mommy's nice camera...)

Cousin Justin's Birthday

The Birthday Boy--we went bowling for his 4th birthday and then out to Papa's for stir-fry and cupcakes!

Love this shot! :-)

Ta-Da! Happy 4th Birthday Justin!

Indoor Golf

We had a fun game of indoor golf (9 holes) after lunch today... Idea from the Family Fun magazine (thanks again Grandma JoAnn!)

Special Visitors...

Monday night we had special visitors--just like old times!

Kitty Love

Sleepover!

4 silly cousins...
Tomorrow is Auntie Alicia's birthday, so we have the boys for the night to give the parents "date night". Hope they enjoy themselves and don't worry about us too much!

These three were enjoying playing in the corner--looking at toy catalogs.

Happy Birthday Jim!

The 39 birthday... Next year's birthday is a doosey.

'Tis the Season...

...for holiday letters and all that.
This year I am saving a few pennies and putting our holiday letter and pictures on our blog. I have to admit that I do feel a little bit guilty as all of your pictures and letters arrive in the mail...

Now for the memories of 2010:
The year started off with a bang--in more ways than one. The kids and I were in a car accident in January, which totaled our Suburban. Thankfully we weren't injured beyond sore necks and the boy that turned in front of us wasn't hurt too badly either. Not an experience I wish to repeat.

We had a wonderful roommate for one quarter, Ben. The boys absolutely adored having an older brother for a couple of months. He was usually up for a game of Nerf darts, boxing, horse rides, sitting in a dark closet--pretty much anything the boys dreamed up!

We've had many great visits from Opa and Oma this year as well as from some good friends. Please come see us and we'll add you to our good friend list!

Jim still likes running for some reason--I like to say it is because he still runs with eleven women most mornings :-). He continues with Weight Watchers, teaching one class a week and substituting often for other leaders. Jim remains working with his dad and brother in law at Bashful Bob's Windows and Doors, which keeps us close with Papa and Auntie Alicia and Uncle Todd. It's always fun to run to town for lunch with Papa and the cousins.

Carsten: He remains our accident prone child and I don't think he is going to lose that title. Carsten and Reese have become best friends the last couple of months which is quite cute to watch, but I am waiting for the moment that ends... They like to share a bed, give each other toys they know the other one will like, and being sticky sweet with their words. Carsten likes to listen in to Reese and I doing school and he picks up little tidbits of information which he likes to spout off later. He is the boy that wakes up happy and is quick to tell you, "thank you" and, "I love you".

Reese: He is our big 1st grader. We are continuing with the Virtual Academy that we were with last year and Reese and I really enjoy our time learning. Reese does well with math and reading, but his favorite subject is science. We finally put the boys in swim lessons this past summer and Reese really did well. He progressed quickly through the levels and wasn't afraid to try what the teachers asked him to do. He is also continuing with piano lessons and doing well with that although practicing is sometimes a chore. Reese lost six teeth this year, four rather quickly, so he has had trouble biting apples and other hard objects.

Our newest addition to the family is Skippy Jon Jones and we are loving having him. He adds so much life to the party. He is either on or off. Either running in circles or sleeping (in some odd positions for a cat).

We started with a feral cat we had tamed all summer and fall, Caramel, but he was hit by a car. We felt a void when he was gone, so off to the shelter we went and we didn't come home empty handed!

We hope you all have wonderful holidays!
Love,
Jim, Dana, Reese, and Carsten




*Picture of our family and kids by Michelle Tschetter

Crazy Cat...

Skippy is the funniest sleeper, whatever is comfortable...