Gingerbread

The first snowstorm of the season resulted in a day at home making gingerbread houses. Cole and Tyler worked together, although Cole did more eating than anything.

Green frosting is good!!

Hailey's masterpiece!

Pump It Up!

Hailey, Luke, Cole, Mom, Al and I traveled to Des Moines to celebrate our cousin Meredith's 2nd birthday over the weekend. Her party was at a place called Pump It Up. We partied through a series of three rooms filled with pumped up slides, obstacle courses and bounce houses. A good time was had by all!

Princess Meredith on the birthday throne.

Hailey and Nathan posing for the camera between bounces.

Crawling through an obstacle course.

Down the slides we go!

Cole was quite the daredevil! This was not as dangerous as it looks!

The cake was good!

The pizza was good!


Being together was the best!! Happy birthday, Meredith!!

A Star is Born!

Luke and Cole modeling their Christmas sweaters.

Luke's kindergarten class presented the Christmas play called the Hopeless Camel. Basically it was the story of the birth of Jesus, but centered around a camel. Luke played a Shepard and was quite dramatic in his singing and expressions. A fun treat to remind us of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

First Snowfall!

The view from the top of the hill in our neighbor's backyard.

The first snow prompted the neighborhood kids to drag their sleds out of storage. It was only a tiny bit of snow, but they sure had a good time. It was too windy on the hill for Cole, but he liked playing with and tasting the snow in our front yard. We built a little snowman, but my fingers were too cold to stay out any longer to take his picture!

Just don't eat the yellow snow!

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving day at Grandma Sharon and Al's house. It was a fun filled day with lots of food, football, and games. Some of us even got a good nap in, too!

It is fun to be with our cousins!

Enjoying a glass of wine.

Aunt Becky and Hailey played Barbies.

Cole was stuck to Grandma's side most of the day.

Daddy and Hailey catching a football game on T.V.

Turkey Sighting!

Each November, a flock of wild turkeys moves into our neighborhood. They must think they are safe here! Here is a shot of them strolling through the lower section of our backyard. I wonder if they will come back next year when they find out my new neighbor is an avid hunter?!?

Anamosa Tournament

Go Tyler, Go!

Tyler placed second in his bracket at the Anamosa tournament last weekend. He has moved into the fifth and sixth grade age group, so there seems to be better competition so far this year. He made us proud. No video this week as Hailey was our video assistant and is still a bit shaky with the camera. Check out some of the action shots Mom captured with her new camera however!!

Our video assistant in training