Christmas Day!

We had a great Christmas day! Lots of fun opening all the presents and playing with all the new toys. Maggie especially loved the basketball hoop Drew bought Jody for his office, she wore Drew out getting him to pick her up so she could slam dunk! The middle bunch were in the Christmas pageant at 11 and did a fantastic job. The program was very moving and really drove home the real meaning of Christmas. We missed our families terribly but we ended our day with a wonderful dinner with a neighbor and our priest. Hope your day was just as blessed!

Iceskating

We took the CYO (Jody and I are the leaders) skating this week with all their families and we had so much fun! Gracie didn't like skating as much as everyone else but she still had a good time!

Decorating the tree...

Cutting down the Christmas Tree!

We finally got to go to the nursery and cut down our Christmas tree just two weeks before Christmas! We had tried once the week before only to find the nursery closed at 5:30 and the sky quickly getting dark. We were pretty disappointed until, on the drive home, we saw the Northern lights for the first time. If you have never seen them, they are incredible. Just like on the movie Brother Bear. For those of you who haven't seen the movie...the Northern lights touch the mountain and lift the main character up and turn him into a bear. Drew saw the lights and shouted, "Dad, get closer, I want to be an elephant!" Needless to say, he is still a little boy, but we got an incredible show.
The next week, we managed to make it to the tree farm before they closed. We had a great time, although Joseph was at a wrestling tournament and had to miss it. We drove around until we found the perfect tree and then had to cut about another foot off of it to fit it in the house! It is probably 10 feet tall!

Ramie's Thanksgiving Program

Ramie did a great job in her Thanksgiving program! She was "mashed potatoes" in one skit and a pilgrim girl in another skit.

Gracie and Maggie

Gracie and Maggie have been enjoying some great "mommy time"! With the "big" kids in San Antonio and Ramie and Drew at school, we have had lots of time for fun on our hands! One day Maggie spent 10 full minutes trying to fit into her dollies high chair and it was hysterical! She was so proud of herself when she finally was able to perch on the arms of the highchair and hold the tray on her tummy!

Snow, Snow, Snow!!

Winter is definitely here! Jody, Joseph and Emily left for 2 weeks in sunny San Antonio and winter hit hard! My little "Drewby" is trying to be the MAN of the house and shovel for me! Gracie enjoyed the snow and then came in because her face was too cold!

The Hunters

My The men in our family are now officially "hunters"...after spending hundreds of dollars on guns, decoys, a skeet thrower, camo clothes, and ammo...we now have a freezer full of ducks and geese that no one but them want to eat! (just kidding...I think Em and Ramie liked the duck gumbo). Jody and Joseph both love spending time in the great outdoors and have had some wonderful days together lately. I am also including a pic of Joseph after a big hunt on the couch with Maggie! We really never expected North Dakota to be so beautiful (sunflowers), or to be full of so many varieties of wildlife. That is my nephew Samuel with Drew and Gracie at a wildlife refuge only 10 minutes from our home.

Fall in North Dakota

Here are some pics from "Fall" in North Dakota....which lasted about two weeks! haha!

Maggie's First Birthday!

Maggie started her big day with Joseph helping her choose her birthday cake flavor. She chose carrot cake even though her "Bubba" tried very hard to convince her to pick chocolate! She used her great climbing skills to help mommy decorate and then enjoyed her very own pumpkin shaped cupcake! (It was supposed to be orange but whipped cream just doesn't hold color very well!). It was an awesome day and we can't beleive she is already one!