Snowman!

It's not winter until you've built a snowman.  We have had an amazing winter this year.  There has been very little snow.  In fact Lainey was out riding her bike (notice the helmet on her head) when I suggested seeing if we could build a snowman while we waited for Paige to get home from school.  We had to "borrow" snow from the little pile that was left in our neighbors yard.  In fact, I had flip flops on.  Probably the only time in my life I will build a snowman in flip flops.  Lainey was thrilled!

Emily had picked up Paige from school, so all the kids had fun detailing the snowman when they got there. 

We love to Play!

We met some friends at the Play Station the other day.  My girls loved it and they love their friends more!

Paige and Ashlyn

So this is my favorit pic.  Zach, Lauren, and Alaina.  They were never far from each other.

"Say Cheese!"

I think Lainey and Lauren played on this the most.

Aubrey, Hannah, and Paige

"Jump, Lainey!"

Hannah, Paige, and Aubrey in a tunnel!

Balloon Festival!

I've always wanted to go to the Hot Air Balloon Festival.  I knew the girls would love it and it just worked out to go the same weekend as the Go Fish concert.  It was a beautiful sight to see around one hundred balloons in the sky at once.

  The girls loved the Beaver, Panda, and Eagle.  It was hot, but fun!  We also were there with a couple of our friends families, so the girls really had a good time with all of their little friends. 

We had to be a little creative with getting some shade.  We hung our blankets in the tree with bobby pins.  Hey, it worked!

Oh what fun it is!

Picture taken with my phone at the park yesterday!

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year's Eve 2010 at our friends, Clint and Amy's, house.  There were 5 couples there with all 12 of our combined children.  We had a great time.  Nana and Papa were in town, so we took the kids to them at 8pm and enjoyed the rest of the night kid free. 

Here are the kids having supper, minus Ty.

While the women fed the kids, the guys watched America's Funniest Home Videos.

We had a White Elephant gift exchange.  I thought I was being pretty sneaky and "accidently" left our gifts behind.  Well, I should have known better.  Greg and Corey brought them back to us while we were out of town.  Do you see anything odd in the picture above?  And they "borrowed" ALL our ladders so we couldn't get it down for a few days.  Good times!

Christmas Eve!

 We made it home JUST in time to head to our church's Christmas Eve service.  The weather was a bit frightful, but it was sure cozy inside.  The girls enjoyed being in the big service with us.  We couldn't resist taking some pics of them all dressed up.  They looked so pretty!

And no holiday is complete without a picture with their friends.

One of our Christmas traditions is to spend the evening of Christmas Eve with our friends Greg and Emily and their kids.  We have appetizers and play cards, while the kids play and eventually go to bed.  Here the kids are looking at presents.

And now to the pics of Zach and Alaina which I'm sure they will hate us for later.  But then again, maybe not!

And Paige with her "besties", Hannah and Ellie.

Both of our families have made it a tradition to open one gift on Christmas Eve, which is new pajamas.

Sometimes the adults participate.  This year, I surprised Mark with new sweats.  Neither of us needed pj's, but he can always use new comfy sweats.

Me with the girls in their new jammies.

Go Hawks!

 Paige got to go to her first Hawkeye Men's Basketball Game on a date with Daddy.  This is something that even Mommy hasn't gotten to do yet.  (The game, not the date.)  She got to go with her friend Nora and her Daddy.  She had a BLAST! 

A much needed trip. . .

to City Park!  We went with friends to the park this week.  It was such a beautiful day and I think we all needed to see our friends.  Warning: there are LOTS of pics.  I just couldn't disclude any.

Emily, Abby, Paige, Austin, Cameron, and Aubrey

There is a story to the next sequence of pics.  I was trying to get a picture of Alaina at the top of the slide.  I know she doesn't like tube slides, so I wasn't expecting her to come down.

Well, the nice lady, whom you see behind Alaina, thought she needed help.  So she grabbed Alaina, put her one the slide, and sent her down.  Seems innocent enough.

You can see the face here is starting to think she maybe didn't want to go down the slide.

Then she throws this big tantrum in the grass because going down the slide wasn't her idea.

Still upset, but walking back to the playground.

Now playing, but noticeably still upset by the whole thing.  Crazy girl!

Cameron, Paige, and Austin had fun running up the ramp. .  .

and down the slide!

We keep old bread and the butts of the loaves in the freezer to feed the ducks a couple times a year.  Alaina really got into as you can see by the video below.

Then, it was off to the rides.  Alaina and Zach had so much fun together.

Paige and Hannah

I just love their expressions!

Alaina HAD to ride on the doggie!

Paige and Ellie pretty chill.

Ready to ride!

I love that these two are so animated about life and get so much joy from things.