Payton's Pupit Shwo

Payton spent a good portion of one afternoon preparing a puppet show for us. She was very thorough and included signs, a stage, seats, and even an audience. It was a lovely show, even if it did go on for about 15 minutes. :)

The Signs...there were several more around the house with arrows leading us in the right direction.

The audience!
Enjoy (a small snippit of) the show!

Fun With Brad & Jayne (& The Rest Of The Family Too!)

Brad and Jayne flew in from California this past weekend for a late Christmas celebration. We have not seen them since Cancun last June, so we were very excited to have them come! The weekend was an absolute blur, but it was SO good to see them and spend time all together with our family. Here are a few highlights...

Saturday night the "kids" went out to dinner at Hacienda. If you want to know what you look like when the photographer says "Say Hacienda!", please see my face. And thanks, Mom & Dad and Jess for babysitting all of the kids!
Sunday after church we had a Schemper/Jansen baby shower for Jayne and their baby. We had fun spoiling Jayne, tasting baby food, and pinning the pacifier on the baby...
Sunday afternoon until early Monday morning was our late Christmas celebration. Between presents, a steak dinner, Rock Band, and a few drinks and games, we all had a TON of fun and were very tired (delerious?) by the end of the night!
See what I mean?

Monday (MLK Day) we all headed up to the cabin for a day of relaxation. Oh, and dressing up.
We had an awesome time and we are so blessed!

Stock Show: Twenty-Ten

Last Friday we took our annual trip to the National Western Stock Show. Without fail, the weather is always freezing when we go. So, this year, an awesome 50 degrees allowed us to roam around coat free. A good thing, as the goats in the petting zoo ate pretty much anything they could! (See the video clips to come...) We had a great time and are so glad that this has become one of our favorite family traditions.

100 Days

Payton celebrated her 100th day of Kindergarten this week. As part of the special day, Payton's homework was to make a collection of 100 items. I remember doing this same project in elementary school as well. After talking with Auntie Abby and hearing stories about how kids tell her their moms do ALL of the project themselves, Payton and I sat down Monday night and hot-glued ONE HUNDRED pom-poms on to posterboard so that Payton could create a VERY long caterpillar. She did 99% of the work (hot glue guns aren't so great for 5 years olds) and practiced her counting a lot. I think it turned out great!

Tis The Season...Christmas 2009

We had another wonderful Christmas holiday. As you can see from the video, we are blessed to be surrounded by such amazing family and friends. We missed you Brad and Jayne, but we will see you in a few weeks!

Sledding 101

Today we made use of one of the best parts of our lovely neighborhood...the sledding hill. Located in the park just a block up the street, the "hill" is jam packed each and every time it snows. It's incredibly steep and icy. So steep and icy, in fact, that snow plows have to uncover a strip of grass near the bottom to prevent people from sledding straight into the street. The kiddos (ok, us too) had a great time flying down the hill...see the action below.

The mountain awaits...
Our shadows tremble in fear :)

Click here if you want to be a part of the sledding action...

Click here if you'd rather just watch...

Zoo Lights

A fun and snowy evening at the zoo. Can you find PR and Brady in the peacock feathers?