Christmas and New Years Fun!

Christmas was a blast and we really had a great time on our Christmas break!! Our Christmas celebration started off with Christmas Eve dinner at Mom and Dad's, Salisbury steaks, Yummy!!! Then Christmas day, Kevin didn't have to go to work, which was nice, a full day together! We did go up to the main place and played with Kelo for a while and then came home and watched Christmas movies and snacked until it was dusk.  We then headed to town to check out all of the Christmas lights, we do that every year and always is a blast.  In town there is a petrified wood park, and it was decorated with rope lights, kids loved it!!

After we come home from seeing the lights, we came home to eat and wait until it was time to give the kids their last Christmas gift.  Their last gift was going to the movie theater and seeing Night of the Museum (the third one). It was the kids first time seeing a movie in a theater, they loved it!! The movie was good!!  The Christmas celebration continued as everyone (Mom, Dad, Anneke, Jonathan and the kids and myself) heading down to Ashley's for our family Christmas party! It was a lot of fun!! Kevin wasn't able to go as he had to stay and take care of the ranch (Nathan and Sandy were gone) It was a quick trip but loads of fun!! 

The Church was putting on a New Year's Eve party and we went and helped set up.  Sand was brought in for beach volleyball, there was ping-pong tables, foosball, air hockey, bouncy houses and bingo! 

Kevin putting together a ping-pong table.

The entrance one of the ladies from Church did.

At the party, Kevin playing ping-pong.

A good amount of the people, others were at the bingo table to the left.

Jacqueline looking tired, getting ready for the ball to drop!

Us!!

Nathaniel already making noise!!

After the volleyball was over all the kids played in the sand (Nathaniel wasn't too sure about it)

Jacqueline was sure having fun!!

This is the jousting pit that all the kids took over and used as a bouncy house!! Jacqueline loved it!

Minutes away from New Years!

Happy New Years!

The New Years Eve celebration was a lot of fun! There was lots of food and it was good to sit and visit with others from Church and have fun! Kevin played in a ping-pong tournament, he didn't make it very far but had fun just playing!! Kevin and I played each other in air hockey, I won! 16-20!! 

A few days ago, Kevin and I took Kelo down to a friend of ours so he can train him.  Kevin didn't get the chance like he thought or wanted to train him himself.  Kelo was really a butt when we tried to get him in the horse trailer.  It took 2 hours to get him in the trailer, he just didn't want to get in.  I miss him already but looking forward to see what he is able to do!! He should be ready to come home by the end of March or April sometime!

The kids have finished the second quarter at school and both are doing really well!! Jacqueline can read a little bit, we need to continue working with her on that.  Nathaniel can now spell his name and is really proud of that! In all the work that they bring home I am seeing more and more of an improvement from the first day at school! It really is exciting seeing the change.  Their excitement to go to school hasn't gone away at all, its just as strong as the first day of school!! Nathaniel no longer cries when Jacqueline goes to school by herself on Fridays, but is so excited to see her when she comes home.  He greets her saying 'Jacqueline I missed you! Did you miss me?' She mostly replies 'Yes'

Calving season is going to start soon, well, it has already.  A neighbor's bull got in with the cows early and they are now starting to calve, a month early! So far there are only 2 calves, and about another 10 to calve. The rest shouldn't start until about the middle of February. I'm excited for it, I get to help and be apart of it this year!!

I hope you all have a great day!!

Jacqueline's School Concert, Getting Ready for Christmas!!

It's been a while since I last wrote, and a lot of fun things have happened!
First was Jacqueline's school Christmas concert! She did so well and had a blast singing!. I sent her to school that day with her hair all in braids and went there before the concert started to get her in her dress and do her hair! She sang three songs, I cant post them here, they are too large. (Bummer!! I was hoping it would work) They are on my facebook page if you haven't seen them. Mom, Anneke, and Kevin were able to make it and watch her sing! Jacqueline made the whole gym laugh!! In the second song, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, she was grooving and really getting into the song, it was funny!

*******Update****** Put the videos on youtube

First song, Jacqueline is in the black dress, hair down and a bow in her hair. Second from the tops left side!

Second song!

Last song. Sorry for all the coughing and moving around!

******

A few days later I helped Nathan, Sandy and Kevin trail the cows home (to Nathan and Sandy's place). The cows were about 3 miles from our house and we trailed them 15 miles, well we didn't make it the 15 miles. The cows moved so slow and it was dusk when we stopped and we were about 3 miles from Nathan and Sandy's place.  I left early to be home before the kids got off the bus and then an hour or so later Kevin came home. It was fun, but boring at the same time (only because we crawled, turtle speed) It took almost 2 hours to get the cows in front of our house, well it didn't help that one cow was 'oh so wonderful' and wouldn't cross the bridge. Kevin and Nathan were on four wheelers and chased her around for like 10 minutes before she gave up and crossed the bridge.  Nathan said that last year the cows would not cross the bridge at all, and this year Kevin had an idea, have the tractor and processor in front and put hay out on the bridge. Worked like a charm! Sandy was in the lead with the tractor (she also had Bo) and then all the cows Kevin, Nathan and Bandit pushing and moving the cows and I was the caboose in a truck with Liz!

Getting the cows to head out!

On the road home they go!

Almost to our house!

There it is!

Bandit working the cows! He did a great job! Just a few kinks to work on!

Decorating for Christmas is always fun! We always put up the tree and decorate the tree together as a family. I do the rest of the house a few days later! It was kinda nice this year, I got the rest of the house decorated while the kids were at school and did it in one day!

Nathaniel decorating the tree!

Jacqueline decorating the tree!

All done!

Bella is fascinated with the lights, and the ornaments! She hasn't knocked any to the ground but she sure plays with them on the tree. 

Shadow could care less about the ornaments and lights, she likes it as a napping spot! Well, she did until I wrapped the gifts and put them under the tree!

I promised Jacqueline one day after school that we could make cookies together! We did and it was fun! I did all the measuring and she turned the beaters on and off.  I showed her how to roll the cookies and did one tray, and she rolled the rest! She was pretty proud of herself for rolling the cookies and was so happy when Kevin got home so she could show him!

I had Jacqueline sift the dry ingredients, she thought that was cool!

Making sure the bowl spins! 

Pausing to lick the spoon and making sure it is good!

Jacqueline's rolled cookies! Fingers were licked after each cookie was rolled!

Ginger Molasses Cookies!!! Yummy!!!!

Last Tuesday, Jacqueline had a pajama party at school and they watched The Polar Express and had a great day!! She loved it! On Friday, they decorated gingerbread cookies! She was beyond excited to show us her cookies that she decorated and she shared with us and was just beaming and grinning from ear to ear when we tried her cookies and told her how good they were!! They were good!! Today and is Nathaniel's turn to have a pajama party and movie at school.  He didn't want to wear his pajamas to school, so he took a blanket instead!  Tomorrow is the kids last day of school of the year and the start of out Christmas vacation.  I'm not sure how well that will go. They are excited for Christmas but after that I think that there will be tears because there is not school.  We had a few tears in the mornings and before they went to bed during Thanksgiving! But we are going to keep them busy! 

Next week is busy!! I am making cookies and a few other goodies on Monday (at least just the cookie dough) for the New Years Eve party with the Church. Setting up on Tuesday and Wednesday and then party later that night!! It is going to be fun!! They are bringing in sand and having beach volleyball, bingo, ping-pong, bouncy houses, and 4-person joust! I am hoping to take pictures to show you! 

I hope everyone has as very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Favorite time of the year!

The last few weeks have been fun and the next few weeks to come are going to be fun too! It is my favorite time of the year, too!!
Remember the turkey in the previous post that Jacqueline had to disguise, well, we all worked together and dressed up the turkey. He looks funny and cute and Jacqueline was/is so proud of it.

She really had a blast decorating him!

 In one week Jacqueline lost her top 2 front teeth!! 

Both kids are doing really well in school.  And loving it!! Jacqueline went to her first birthday party (without me or Nathaniel)! It was one of her friends at school, one that she talks about a lot! Dropping her off was a little hard, I was almost in tears! I stayed in the car with Nathaniel (he cried when Jacqueline got out of the car) and she walked around the front of the car, saw another classmate and they linked arms and walked over the ice up to the house! She is growing up!! I am so glad that she has found friends!! She had a blast at the party, she painted a little wooden trinket box and made a bracelet with her name on it!

We got our last deer on the last day of hunting season! Kevin did have a challenge this time, it was really windy! It was gusting about 40 mph. He tried for one about 100 yards away and missed, the wind carried the bullet away. He came home for coffee and something to eat and then he went back out and tried again.  He called me an hour or so later saying that he got one! 

This one is bigger then the first one we got!

Jacqueline wanted to be in the picture and hold the deer!

 On Thanksgiving we had a day of games and fun! I found Rummikub earlier that week at the thrift store and we taught the kids to play! Well, it was more like us playing two boards a piece but it was fun and the kids loved it!

My board and I haven't even gone out yet! (all the tiles were from Kevin, Jacqueline and Nathaniel)

Nathaniel's board, that's all he had left and I still wasn't able to lay down! (I think it was Kevin's turn, he looks like he is thinking)

Nathaniel did win that round! Both games we played with the kids, the kids each won one!

We went to the annual 'Wake Up Santa' parade and tree lighting.  There were a few fireworks and they played Christmas music over the speakers in the square where the tree was! It was a great night for the parade, it was 'warm' for it being cold and there was no wind!! 

Frosty giving Nathaniel a hug! It was fast and missed getting Jacqueline's picture with Frosty!

I told the kids to watch for Rudolph (first one holding the sign) and when they, did I told them that it was Tante K as Rudolph! They thought it was so cool that Anneke was in the parade!

This and the tractor were Nathaniel's favorite during the parade!!

On the way home, Jacqueline told me that she wants to be in a parade just like Tante K!!

Thanksgiving dinner was at Mom and Dad's and it was a blast! We all worked together and got the food done and it was YUMMY!! Besides food and enjoying each others company, I think the highlight of the night was Brooklyn! It still cracks me up! Anneke's cat, Sebastian, was under a stool that Brooklyn sat on to eat and Brooklyn was standing about in the middle of the living room. She saw Sebastian reach for the corn that she dropped (he was in mid-motion of putting it in his mouth) and Brooklyn, as fast as she could move was there in less then a second and hit him picked up the corn put it in her mouth and tipped over the stool and made him leave.  It was so funny! I know I did not describe it all that well, but it was funny!!

I have to say, that I am so proud of Kevin and how far he has come! The Church that we have been going to is putting on a New Years Eve family fun event. Sunday, the pastor was talking about it and saying that they need more volunteers to help and as soon as he said that, Kevin leans over to me and says "I'm going to tell him to put us down wherever they need our help!" I was cheering on the inside!  We are going to help, we are either going to help set up or help clean up!  Kevin has also been in contact with the pastor for us to be put in a group for the adult Bible study (they are trying something new starting in January, will know more in the weeks to come)! I did some more cheering on the inside!!

I have to say that I am really looking forward to the next few weeks! Jacqueline is having her first school concert next Wednesday!! I hope that I can video it and share it here for you to see!! Then Christmas, the New Years Eve thing with Church and then the start of the Bible study groups!! I'm excited!!!  

I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

School art work and Hunting season!

The first week of the kids going four days a week has past and I have things that I need to work on to make it run smoother.  The mornings aren't to bad, I pretty much have those down pat. The kids do really well at getting up in the mornings without a fuss. Its the nights that need a little work.  I think that I am going to start making crockpot meals that way it will be a little easier at night and I wont feel like I made Jacqueline rush with her homework.  Also we can spend a little more time each night with a learning game that Nathaniel brings home for the week.  They do do a good job at playing the game by themselves and doing homework without any help, but not really helping makes me feel like I rushed them and I feel rushed. This week I am going to try to have dinner done or almost done when they come home from school. It will be a good trial, they only have two days of school this week. Yesterday and today the kids had off, they only have school on Wednesday and Thursday this week. They are more then happy to go back to school tomorrow, they have been asking and wanting to go back! They have been having a blast learning and making art. Nathaniel learns a letter a week and does art work relating to that letter and Jacqueline does it according to the season or holiday.

These are Nathaniel's, he his really doing good.

Nathaniel's house for last week with the letter 'h'

Jacqueline made spiders during the week of Halloween.

Her bat!

Not really sure what this was, but it almost looks like she made flowers at different stages. 

Anneke took this picture of Jacqueline's art that is hanging up in the clinic where Anneke works!

Anneke also took this one of Jacqueline's art work, also hanging in the clinic. 

Jacqueline's Starry Night! This one is my favorite and looks close to the really one!

Jacqueline told me that they learned about Vincent Van Gogh and the Starry night. She was really proud of herself for telling me the name and the artist!

 This is Jacqueline's homework for the weekend! I was so excited to do this with her! "Tom" is going to be a princess, and is half complete. We are going to finish him this afternoon!

Deer season opened on Friday and I was excited for our first hunting season! We went out on Saturday to see if we could get anything. But all we saw were bucks and two does that were running and were we driving!

Like this guy! He stayed there for quite sometime just watching us!

It was a fun day of hunting even though we didn't get anything that day.  Kevin went out on Sunday and got a mule deer doe! Now we have one tag left to fill, also another doe. 

Got her taken care of before the snow storm really hit!!

I'm taking her in to the butcher tomorrow to get cut and wrapped.  We do want to cut and grind the meat ourselves but we don't have the right knives or a meat grinder.  We are hoping that next year we are able to do that. Kevin is out today with Nathan and his two boys hunting. He is not going to try to get our last one until after the boys and Nathan get one. If they go where Kevin got our one, they all could get one, Nathan and the boys could get their bucks and we our last doe.  There is a herd of about 15 in the area.  Kevin saw the leader buck this morning when he check the water tanks.  

We had a nice snow storm that came through.  We got about 7 inches, that is what the weather channel said.  As it past over it left behind freezing weather, highs in the single digits to low teens and the lows in the negatives. Brrrr!! But is sure is beautiful!!

Hope everyone has a great day!! Happy Veterans Day!