Decorating for Christmas!

One day I will get the hang of adding pictures to my post......my pictures are always in reverse order! Oh well, they're still there!

I always try to decorate for Christmas on the weekend after Thanksgiving if at all possible. I can't do it before, because I am a one task woman. But, I don't want to wait too long because I like to see the decorations. However, this year, I just wasn't looking forward to the work. Well, that wasn't an issue because the kids did it for me! Below are pictures of the process. After the tree was decorated, we took the kids' picture for our annual Christmas card and the kids decided we needed a photo shoot! So, we took every possible combination of pictures that we could take. I think they all turned out pretty good, except for the ones with me in them. I hate to look at pictures of myself!

The finished Christmas tree. It is really skinny, but fits well in our living room....plus it's pre-lit, which I love!

Me and the kids! Don't I look lovely? AGGGHHH!
Greg and the kids! Aren't they a beautiful group!?!?

The three kiddos together! I wanted to use this for the cards, but couldn't get it to upload properly!

The kids wanted to have the cats in the picture. The cats wanted no part of it...I snapped this just before the cats jumped from the boys' arms!

The kids decorating the tree. Notice the bulbs sorted out by colors. Marshall separated them out and gave everyone a certain color to use. Wonder where he gets that from?

Morgan hanging on ornaments.

Maggie decorating.

Marshall hanging on ornaments.

It's amazing that three kids who spend most of their time arguing can actually pull together and work for a common goal. I guess they don't really dislike each other all that much now do they?

Marshall's Exhaustion!

We all know how much Marshall wants to be just like his dad and every other manly man, but you can't run with the big dogs if you don't get off the porch! On the last day of hunting season, Marshall and Morgan went with Greg and our friend Mike to walk the brush....or something like that. Morgan went with Greg and Marshall went with Mike. I think that Mike is probably Marshall's best friend.....Mike is 41 and married to my business partner Angie. Anyhow.....Marshall wasn't home very long before he was sawing some logs! I guess he is still a little boy!!

He looks so sweet when he is sleeping!!

Sacked out in the middle of the living room and all the chaos that goes on there!

Maggie's Christmas Dance Recital

This past Sunday was Maggie's Christmas recital for dance and gymnastics. For the last three years, the dance studio has done a Christmas recital to benefit Toys for Tots. It has been very successful! Her class did a jazz number and then a gymnastics number! She did great with her jazz routine and when it got to her gymnastics number, she did an awesome front handspring! The theme for the show was "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" My brother and sister-in-law were the narrators! My oldest niece Aubrey is in the same class as Maggie and this year my youngest niece's Alli's first year in dance. All three girls did great!

Maggie and I after the show.

Cory and Andi as the narrators.

My nieces, Alli and Aubrey, with Maggie.

Maggie before the show. They used the same skirt in their spring recital....we just changed the applique to a Christmas tree from a record!

Our Trip to the Royals Game

In late September, we traveled to the Royals game with our friends Allen and Angel and their kids Abby and Austin. This was our first visit to the newly renovated Kauffman Stadium. They had added a whole new area for kids which was like a little amusement park. The kids got to play a little while, but we had not allowed enough time to fully enjoy the experience.

The evening was not a huge success. The team lost, we got rained on and at one point during the game during a contest for t-shirts a grown man fell on Maggie! :( This was the last home game of the season and our only opportunity to visit this year. Hopefully next year, we'll have more success at going to games!

Maggie and Abby in front of one of the fountains in the outfield!

Marshall and Morgan playing miniature golf.
Getting ready to play mini golf.

Maggie riding the carousel.

Marshall is a Cub Scout!

The weekend before Halloween, Marshall's Cub Scout Pack had their first official Pack Meeting. At the meeting, he was officially inducted as a Tiger Cub! He was very excited as he has waited a long time to be able to be involved in Scouts like his big brother! In fact, instead of opting to wear his costume, he chose to wear his Cub Scout uniform!

Marshall and the other two Tiger Cubs in his den.

Marshall and the Tiger Cubs presenting a skit.

The entire Cub Scout Pack.
Marshall, Greg, and I being inducted.

Halloween

I am posting several posts right now and am probably not going in chronological order, so bear with me.....we're jumping around.

Every year we celebrate Halloween by going to my brother's house in Cameron. We trick or treat up and down the street he lives on. We have pizza and hang out at his house handing out candy. This year, we also trick or treated the street over from his house and then we visited some "scary" houses in town. Turns out my kids like to be scared as much as I do......not at all. They ended up sitting in the car with me while others trick or treated the scary houses.

This year, Morgan was Indiana Jones, Marshall was Mutt Williams (Indy's son), and Maggie was a mommy. I am posting their classroom party pictures as well as some of our Halloween pictures below!

On Friday, I went up to the school to see the costume parade and attend the classroom parties.

Maggie and one of her classmates at their party. Their class decided to watch a movie rather than have a "traditional" classroom party.

Marshall during the costume parade.

Morgan at his desk during his classroom party.

Marshall dancing during his classroom party.

Morgan as Indiana Jones during the costume parade.

Maggie with her baby during the costume parade.

Fall, Fall, Fall

I can't believe that next week is Thanksgiving! It doesn't feel like it should be that late in the year yet! Oh well, I guess time marches on! Everything in our life is busy as usual, but we are enjoying ourselves running from activity to activity!

Greg is doing well in his surgery recovery. His pain from before surgery is completely gone and he is walking more upright than I have ever seen him walk before! He will be off work until at least February 1 and in the meantime, he is using every opportunity of good weather to take a walk outside!

Morgan has started playing basketball in two basketball leagues for the Fall. One plays on Saturdays and the other plays on Thursday or Sunday nights. So far, his team is playing really well. He is also staying busy with Boy Scouts. He had his first overnight "shakedown" with the boys who will be going to the National Jamboree in August. They spent the weekend at Camp Gieiger going through Project COPE (Challenging Outdoor Physical Encounter) and just getting to know each other. He will be gone for two weeks this summer to the National Jamboree in Viriginia. I sure hope that he has fun!!! It is going to be the longest two weeks of my life!! 2010 is the 100th anniversary of scouting, so I know that it will be a super experience for him, but I know the four of us are going to miss him!

Maggie is plugging along in school, dance, and Girl Scouts! About a month ago, she decided she wanted to join Girl Scouts, so she joined a troop in Cameron, since Winston doesn't have their own troop. On the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month, she goes to her meeting and then gets to spend the night with Granny! She thinks that is pretty special. Last Saturday she got to go with her troop to Build-A-Bear workshop! Each girl was allowed to spend $25 to build the animal of their choice and purchase an outfit. It was part of earning their Moneysense patch! It was also her first outing without me going along and she had a blast! She has her annual Christmas recital on December 6, so they are busy getting ready for that in dance class. She really LOVES the gymnastic part of her dance class!

Marshall is about to legitimately lose his first tooth! I say legitimately because he got his two front teeth pulled out three years ago after he bumped into my friend's daughter and they started to turn gray! He is very excited to finally lose one! He is busy with his Cub Scouts. He is a Tiger Cub and is working toward earning his Bobcat badge! He meets with his Den every other Monday and then has pack meetings or activities once a month! Wednesday night, the Pack went and tourned the Bell Tower in the Daviess County courthouse! He was excited because he got to write his name somewhere in the Bell Tower so that some day when he brings his son he can show him that he came when he was a kid! Marshall is also playing basketball, but just at the school in the mornings. He will start in a league after the first of the year! I'm not sure if any of us are ready for him on the basketball court!

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is about getting together with family and enjoying their company. There is no tie to shopping or gift giving, it is just okay to sit around with family and be content with being together! I hope that each and every one of you has a Happy Thanksgiving and we hope to see you on our next trip!