Christmas at the Lake

We spent this weekend at the lake for Christmas. We always have tons of fun with our families and the kids love going to visit. Here they are opening up Zuzu pets from Aunt Erin and Mike.
The kids love playing with Regan. They actually fight over who gets to play with her and they will follow her around tons! Here Regan is entertaining them.
Mason checking out one of his presents.
A new scarf! Ryley is such a girlie girl that this is perfect.
Jodie loves art stuff so this was a great thing for her. It will keep her busy!
This is later in the day with my family. Again the kids love playing with their cousins and seeing all of our family.
Mason was waiting to start opening.
Let the opening begin! Jessica was super excited about all her new books.
Yeah! Jodie finally has a guitar all her own. She LOVES this guitar. It plays ACDC songs and she plays and dances like a total rock star!
The three youngest girls in their matching outfits. Jodie loves this skirt and didn't want to take it off.
What would Christmas be without some silliness? This got a huge laugh. Love the sweaters guys, but no we don't want them! Maybe this should be your Christmas card next year ;)

A huge thank you to all of our families. We all had a wonderful time. Thank you for all the food, and the generous gifts. We hope to see you all in a few weeks.

Church Christmas Play

The kids all had matching shirts for the Christmas play this year.


Every year our church has a Christmas play and a party. It is always a fun time and the kids always do a fantastic job! Mason and Ryley sang this year, and Jodie stood up there for about half a song. Then she threw a fit because she wanted to go back to the stage. After the play all of the kids sat on Santa's lap.

Ryley told Santa that she wanted a DS.
Mason told Santa he wanted a football game.
Jodie told Santa that she really wanted a remote control airplane.
Ryley dressed as a sheep for the Christmas play. She didn't want a speaking part but she stood with a couple other "sheep" to make a flock.

O Christmas Tree

We went to Lowe's this year and bought our Christmas tree. I didn't want to hike around the tree farm since Ryley was just starting to feel better. Of course the kids were super excited and couldn't wait to help!

I couldn't remember who put on the star last year so I said it was Jodie's year. She took her job very serious and was very proud of her work!
The kids put on all their ornaments and only broke one this year!
Our pretty tree! I love the smell of a Christmas tree.
Since we will be spending lots of time downstairs for school, I thought that we needed a "school tree". So I bought a cheap fake tree and let the kids decorate it with their stuffed animal ornaments.


The Christmas season is upon us whether we are ready or not! Guess I need to get started on lists, Christmas cards, etc, etc. Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Advent season!

Happy Birthday Ryley!

Ryley turned 6 today! Wow, she is growing up fast. We ended up celebrating her birthday the day before because Mason is going to a birthday party for a friend on Ryley's actual birthday and of course Ryley wanted him to be here.
Waiting for Daddy so she can open up all her presents.
Ryley is now Hannah Montana. She wears this wig all the time and as a result we have blond hair strung all over our house.
This year she wanted a Hannah Montana cake. So this is what we decided on.
Jodie had to have her turn with the blond wig.
Blowing out the candles. Ryan had to light them twice because Mason was being "helpful".

Happy Birthday Mason!

Mason turned 8 WOW! Again where did the time go? I swear life is just flying by. I told Mason that and he says it is God. That he prayed and asked God to make everything fly by so he could be a grown up quickly.
Mason wanted a football cake (surprise, surprise). But this time he wanted a flag football cake instead of a Laker cake.

Halloween and Fall Fun

Last time we were at the lake the kids played in the leaves with their cousins. They all had a blast!


A couple days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. One pumpkin was fun, two wasn't bad, but by the ninth one I was so over pumpkins! Ryan carved 6 of them, and he did a wonderful job.

We had mummy pizza for dinner on Halloween.
The kids trick or treating at Hy-Vee.
Sitting with their pumpkins. We lost one of the pumpkins before Halloween.
Having a blast with our friends walking all around the neighborhood.
Candy, candy, and more candy. Yummy!!!

Our First Mizzou Game!

The kids all ready for the game in their new shirts.
We went to our first Mizzou game and we had lots of fun!Jodie's favorite part of the night was playing in the grass. She even threw grass at the kid that was passed out in front of her (like I said wow! you never know what you are going to see!).
Mason was in heaven! Unfortunatly we left at half time because the girls were tired, and the rain was coming quickly.
game.