Painting Begins!

Well, after A LOT of hard work and many long hours, we are finally ready to paint the basement. Hannah and Ellie were VERY excited to get to help.

Hannah and Ellie thought the buckets of paint made great chairs.

What great helpers! They thought it was so much fun to draw on the walls, and it was fun for us to be able to include them a little more in the basement process.

Our Little Tornado

1/2009

Ellie has always been a little mischievous when it comes to bedtime. She really doesn't seem to need as much sleep as the other kids, and that can sometimes get her into trouble. We were at some friends' house, and we put Ellie to sleep in one of their bedrooms with a bookshelf in it...I guess she was pretty busy in there!

Ellie's First Haircut

1/2009

Fun with the babysitters

Streeter and Sterling came over this morning to watch the kids while Greg and I worked in the basement. It was so nice to have them help out! Sterling and Zachary
Hannah and Ellie had fun plastering Streeter with stickers.

Streeter and Sterling with all of the kids. Can you guess who did most of the work!?!? Just kidding...they did a great job! Thanks for all of the help, boys!

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas this year. The kids were so excited to open their presents! It was so much fun to watch their excitement over even the simplest gifts! Here are a few pictures of our day!

Christmas Eve with the Safly's

We had such a good time celebrating Christmas Eve this year with our good friends, the Safly's. The kids spent most of the afternoon chasing each other around while the adults played a few hands of our favorite game, Hand and Foot. After a supper of appetizers, we got ready to go to the Christmas Eve service at our church.

Before the service, we got a few pictures of the kids all dressed up in their Christmas outfits.It was impossible to get a picture of all of the kids...it's pretty crazy when we are all together, but I guess that's what makes it so much fun!Wow! Did we actually get a good family picture!?! Seems like that never happens these days!Mark, Melanie, Alaina, and PaigeAfter the Christmas Eve program, we went back to Mark and Melanie's house. We had everyone open one present. Everyone got a new pair of pajamas! The kids were so excited to wear their new footie jammies!Melanie and I surprised Greg and Mark and got them matching jammies(of course we had to get ugly ones, too)! Priceless! We laughed so hard at the thought of them with their matching pajamas!
They were great sports and humored us by putting on their matching pajamas and posing for a picture...I think this will be great blackmail material for years to come!Melanie and I got some pajamas, too!
Here is a picture of our whole family in their new pajamas. We had a great time laughing (a lot), playing, and celebrating the birth of Jesus. What a great way to spend Christmas Eve!

Bible Study Christmas Party

We had our annual Bible Study Christmas party last weekend. We began the night with caroling at a local nursing home. It is always so much fun for the kids (and adults)! After caroling, we went to Pizza Ranch to eat and open presents. When we got to Pizza Ranch, we found out they were closed due to plumbing problems! We were so thankful to the Brusegaard family for opening up their home to 30 hungry people!!!

We began the night with the kids' gift exchange. The kids drew names and exchanged gifts with each other. The rule was that they had to find something from their home to give. Paige had Hannah's name, and she went a little crazy! Hannah loved her presents!!! I think she probably had about 30 gifts in one bag! Thanks, Melanie...I bet your toy room is a little easier to pick up now! :)The adults also brought white elephant gifts from their homes. I ended up drawing this matching bowl and cup. Isn't it beautiful!?!I think Trevor and Jen brought the most random gift...boxes of AstroTurf!

Look at all of those kids! Our Bible study has 17 kids and 13 adults! Thanks again, Connie, for opening up your home to all of us! What great memories!