Peyton Turns 7

I can hardly believe that Peyton is 7--WOW!! We had a fun day he

Our happy and crazy kiddos wishing Peyton a happy birthday!

Peyton (and Rowen helping) unwrapped his presents--two ds games, legos, art supplies, M&M's and lots of money (which he went straight to Toys R Us to buy Gormiti stuff).

He had a party the next morning--"Pancakes and Playtime" with some of his buddies.

Biff filled the pinata with at least 25 pounds of candy. It took about 10 hits from each boy!! And yes if you saw our Halloween post most of it was left over from that.

Kyler after digging in at the flour game. They LOVED that game!!

Braden trying to unwrap the candy bar in the candy bar game. What a Day!!

Lots of snow!

The boys were able to play outside for hours today and built a snow fort. Usually the snow leaves as quick as it comes but this was a great snow storm!!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a great Christmas eve. It started with the traditional opening of the the Christmas socks. Biff does this every year-- gets us all a pair of Christmas socks. After 16 years of never getting any in return Biff bought himself a pair this year. Then we went to breakfast at Bob Evans.

Then we saw the movie "A Christmas Carol"

We hit the Pinata and had fun racing to the treats!

We had to get some fresh air and played a little BBall. I love that we could be outside even on Christmas.

Rowen assuming the duties of Santa and granting all of Tanner's wishes.

Our happy Christmas Family.

Rowen trying to be the Serogate son for Skip and Bonnie.

Skip getting a little sentimental and teary eyed at his reading of the Christmas sweater.

Rowen loved his cowboys and Indians from Gma and Gpa Williams.
Isn't this scary!?!? Thaks to Lea the "Twins " are very happy with their christmas present.
Braden after opening his "Snuggy" from Peyton and his cinnamon bears from Bailee. We had such a fun Christmas. It was fun having Skip and Bonnie with us. We played lots of games, mostly the double shot and Skip is the high scorer. We ate lots of yummy food and I wish I had taken more pictures!!! Merry Christmas 2009!!

Piano recital

We had a piano recital last night. Tammy teaches the girls and I have been teaching the boys. It turned out great. Vince and Archie sang and played the piano. Thank you Threlfalls.
Biff, Braden, and Vince are exicted to the songs.
Archie even played for us.

Peyton played Jolly Old St. Nick and Jingle Bells.

Braden Played Malaguena, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and Jingle Bells.

Elly played Silent Night and Away in A Manger.

Bailee played Away in a Manger/Jesus Once of Humble Birth and is in this video

The beginning of Christmas break

We have had a Blast! First their was a little bit of snow. It only lasted until noon but we played in it for a while.

We made duct tape bags and wallets.

We made treats!

We made gingerbread houses.


We made even more treats.

Here is a fun recipe for Candy Cane Popcorn:

2 bags of microwave popcorn popped

Spread 6 crushed candy canes and 2 cups of marshmallows on popcorn in a bowl.

Cook: 1 Cup sugar, 2/3 Karo syrup, 1 cube butter and boil to softball stage. Pour over popcorn and stir.

YUM!

GNO

This is what we do for fun after a night out shopping for Christmas presents!

> Kristin, Laurel and Tammy in American Eagle. I totally recommend their couches for a quick rest while shopping!

Melissa joined us with another great hat! Wouldn't our kids be embarrassed and maybe even our husbands : )

The Whir and BRRR of December

Too fast and too busy could be this months moto. But we are having lots of fun!!
On December 4th Bailee and her friends went to the Snowball Dance. A big dance for all the middle schoolers in the county at the Hulman Center. They had a total blast and looked super cute!


Jessica, Shelby, Lexi and Bailee
Elly also had a swim meet that night and did awesome! She got third in the 50 free and 1st in the 100 IM. She even got to move up to the Silver group and can now swim 5 days a week for 2 hours if she wants to.

Saturday morning we went to Riley Elementary breakfast with Santa. It is a lot of fun; crafts, food and bingo which was the big hit! Biff and Elly look thrilled!

Riley had their music concert the folowing Wednesday and Thursday night was Honey Creek's
Lots of music!
Bailee also had basketball tryouts and made the 8th grade team! Yeah.
Saturday was our Ward Christmas party then we went to the live nativity of another church which is a family favorite! We are so excited for Christmas.

Ane visits

Ane is a nursing student from Brazil. She stayed with us for three days this week as she experienced nursing school at ISU She is from Ijui and Biff lived there for 5 months on his mission. It was great for him to speak Portugese and fun for all of us to learn about her life.

We taught her how to play the Wii and she loved it.

This week we also all worked on these and made 24 of them for Biff's secretaries.

Turkey Day

We had a great thanksgiving. Skip and Bonnie came from Illinois and the Threlfall's came over for the day. It was a lot of fun an a lot of good food.

I am so grateful for our family and friends. We have been blessed and blessed so much more than I can believe. We hope that all of our family and friends feel the blessings of the Lord in their lives.
We even had a memorable night of Black Friday shopping. Skip will never forget his allnighter at Wal-Mart and knowing the workers on a first name basis.

Chicago trip

This weekend we went to Chicago. Friday night Biff and I took turns going to the temple. Then on Saturday we went to IKEA (with a uhaul trailer pulled behind our Excursion). We had a few things we wanted.

We wore Rowen out!

We got a desk and shelves for Elly's room.

A new bed frame for Bailee's room. If you have stayed in her room as have many of our guests; it is an improvement.

Some chairs for our study that handily fold out into a bed. Our kids love this feature.

Veterans day

This year Veteran's Day took on a different light. First the kids had no school. Second and most importantly our dear friends the Griffins lost their son Dale in Afghanistan. The funeral was today. It was very sad yet we definitely felt the spirit in so many ways. It made us all proud to be Americans and helped us remember that freedom is not free.

Terre Haute had a Veteran's Day Parade. Dale's body lead the parade and this was the funeral processional. I have never been to a quiet parade like this. It was very sobering. I don't think there was a dry eye in the crowd. We are so grateful for the wonderful example of the Griffin family and we have been blessed as a family as we are able to pray daily for their comfort and strength daily. May we all remember!
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Bailee turns 14

Elly did all her jobs the night before and said,"I am going to get up early and make Bailee muffins before she goes to school." Bailee leaves at 7 a.m. so that does require some effort. It makes a mom think that they may actually like each other a little bit. Elly is always quick to help and thinks of others especially on special days.

Bailee chose to have a chocolate chip cheesecake instead of a traditional cake this year.

We were all excited to help Bay open presents!!