HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY!!!!

Courtney is 5 years old today, I know for sure she hasn't missed a week all last year asking about her birthday(or a day for the last month), when she is gonna be five, what she wants for her birthday(which was something different every time we went to Wal-mart) ! She is such a fun girl and helper...along with dramatic! But we wouldn't trade her for the world!

Snapshots of Jacob

You can always count on Jacob either having a baseball in his hand or a gun so he can "shoot a big buck!" He is hilarious! He loves camo and of course associates it with deer! If he isn't hunting he is playing ball! Such a cutie! Even though he played in his pooh and had his own little finger painting party the other day, we think he is pretty special!

~Christmas Eve Evening~

After Ryan got home from work, he crashed...poor guy is exhausted from working so much due to Amazons Peak Time and push to get orders out in time to arrive for Christmas. The sad part is he has been working at least 60-70 hours a week and doesn't get paid overtime. :o(
~BE STILL AND KNOW~
Ryan got me this for Christmas...I love it! The first time I saw it, it caught my eye! It goes with absolutely nothing in my house and it may be a long time until it does, but I can't wait to put it up!

Nichole was so cute, just patiently waiting for her turn to open! Our baby girl is growing up, that is a very sad thought. :o(

Handsome as ever!!

~Christmas Eve~

The outcome of a huge mess!

Nichole being silly!

Ryan had to work today and after a few days of being stuck in the house all day the kids and I decided to make "ginger bread" houses! The kids had fun and it kept them busy for a while, I thought I would be able to get some baking done while they were doing them, it turned out that I ended up helping them most of the time! But that is ok, we had alot of fun!

Counting candy....

We were getting ready to leave for school this morning and all my kids had their Christmas candy bags out to pick a piece and see what they had left.

Karter~ Christmas Pictures

Such a happy baby!

I took a couple of quick pictures of Karter when he was here for Courtney and Nichole's birthday party!

Merry Christmas!!

These are the only Christmas "cards" going out, we didn't feel like we could do them this year, so if you are a blog follower, then you are a lucky one!! :o) Didn't have any good ones anyways!

Devon was being cheesy, Landyn was not thrilled to have his sisters arm around him, Nichole was fake smiling and Courtney would have taken pictures all day and we were late for church, not a good combination for a picture with 4 kids!!
Nichole

My kids loved this, just for fun!

Courtney

Devon~8 Landyn~7 Courtney~4(almost 5) Nichole~4

~Christmas Plates~

Turtles

Dipped Oreos

We made plates for our neighbors and a few friends, the kids love helping in the kitchen, I hope they grow up wanting to do things for others just to because!
We made white chocolate covered oreos, turtles, white chocolate pretzels, chocolate covered peppermint marshmallows and ginger bread men! I am gonna make peppermint fudge and peanut butter fudge too, just haven't gotten that far!

Homemade snack mix in jars

~11 years~

Happy Anniversary to the best, most handsome husband in the world! I couldn't ask for any better! I love you! (It will probably be a month before my husband checks my blog unless someone complains to him sooner about something I put on it!)
Pastor Joe and Susan sent flowers for our Anniversary, it always makes my day! I have never known a pastor and his wife to be so faithful and consistent in sending flowers, balloons and gift cards for the kids, visiting people while they are in the hospital, etc. On December 21st, 2005 I went to the hospital, not sure what was wrong but knew I was having complications with a pregnancy. Test weren't showing anything, but I was in more pain than I had ever been in my life. After they decided to do emergency surgery, they found that I had a tubal pregnancy that had burst, I had lost 3 liters of blood, and wasn't in good shape. Not sure how Bro Joe found out about me being at the hospital, but he was there shortly after I was in ER, and he never missed a day to come and visit and I was there a few days. I am glad that God chose for things to go as they did, Ryan and I have had the girls since then and had 6 more Anniversaries! I have wondered several times how Ryan would have made it with two little boys age 1 and 2, he didn't seem to approve of the ones I mentioned to him that he could marry if I died!

4 years old!!

Nichole being a little turkey and trying not to smile.

4 years old today!! I have two kids that are 4 years old.... for 15 days!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLE!

3 Sick Kids

Courtney trying to smile when she saw the camera!

Guess it is our week for the sickness, thankfully it doesn't hit us often but unfortunately three out of 4 of my kids are sick, not just fever but throwing up and headaches, just very little light hurts their heads, for example, there were no lights on in the house but the lights on the Christmas tree and it was too much for Landyn. I hate it when they are sick, because I feel helpless. And the "get to a toilet or trash can" isn't the first thing on their mind when they are about to throw up therefore it leaves quite the yucky messes. Ryan and I were cleaning up Courtney's mess last night and we were both gagging, I am sure we were a sight! :o)

Bubble Wrap

Thanks to Grandma Charlotte my kids had fun jumping on bubble wrap! I think if kids had bubble wrap and boxes they would be completely happy with no toys!

~Hunting/Deer cameras~

How is this for gross?

Never know who you will see on your trail camera!

I love this picture, it turned out very pretty, if you can use buck and pretty in the same sentence!?

The boys went hunting with dad all day(12 1/2 hrs), when they got home Jacob was still here and he wore camo for the day so they wanted pictures with him.

Ryan works every Saturday but had this Saturday off for our anniversary, we didn't have anyone to keep our kids so we could go somewhere overnight and the funds are tight as well, so we had Emily babysit for us. And yes, although I looked like snowman's sister dressed in camo and orange, I went hunting with my husband, it took him 11 years to get me to go, but he can't say I never did! I was convinced after a couple of hours sitting in a tree stand in the freezing cold that it was a waste of time! Not just mine, but his too! There are many productive things that people can be doing besides sitting in a tree stand! Although I did enjoy just being with my husband, he is quite the whiny fellow when he doesn't see any deer! :o)