Christmas Programs

Mason was in a Christmas program at the church my sister attends. He was a Shepard and had a good time. No speaking parts so wasn't too hard to prepare for :) He did however say a verse 'John 3:16' and did great!! And sang some songs!!


Mason's PreK class had a Christmas program too.. He had a great time singing. Every photo I took of him, he's got his mouth open.. not sure what that means :)

Can you find him below?????

Not sure what I was thinking putting him in GREEN!! He sure did stand out, and of course he was one of the loudest too, so he stuck out in more than one way :)




The middle of December we got together with our Nikkel cousin's at Tony's brothers house. The kids are all fairly close in age, so they always have a great time together. The first photo is them sitting on a snow bank having their picture taken (I took the photos thru the picture window in the house.. I thought it was a good time for the guys to have some bonding time with the kids )



AND this is me taking a photo of who was taking a photo of them!! Can you find Corey? Not sure what i find more funny.. the outfit? The pretty pink camera? or the way he was sitting to get the 'right' photo? Gotta love him!!!


Our house isn't that large, so getting a Christmas tree that fits in our house has been a chore. So last year I went and bought a fake tree. I love real Christmas trees and really wish I could have had one, but there is just no place to put a tree,without giving up our whole livingroom! The next house will have a place for a beautiful REAL tree!!!!

Snowstorm Dec 2009

Tony left for Chicago for meetings on Monday Dec 7th, to try and beat the storm.. he made it part way there Monday night and then the rest of the way Tuesday. Good thing he left when he did, as this is what it looked like outside on Wed after having snowed all day on Tuesday!!!!

Back door

sidewalk, or lack there of

the end of the driveway looking back at the garage

SO when its snowy and cold outside and you can't go anywhere, what should you do with two little kiddos inside?


I think she had more fun eating the candy than putting it on her house!!!
I don't think he ate one single piece of candy.. I have NO IDEA whose child he is!! I think I ate his share and mine




Back the beginning of December, my mom and sister get together to bake our Christmas goodies that we give away or eat or take to work or eat. Just posting these pictures makes me want to make them all again!!

Mason helping with the Caramels

Mallory birthday invite

So I tend to be a procrastinator when it comes to planning the kids birthday parties. With Mason's falling right after the 4th of July and Mallory's falling right before Thanksgiving, I always seem to have other things on my mind. This year was no different. So I decided to try something different and send out an email invite. Everyone has email except my grandpa, so it worked out just fine. I thought it turned out pretty cute.. now I've just got to figure out how to print it out the easiest way!!! I'll get pics uploaded of her actual party later

Make a Smilebox invite

Beginning of November...

Mason had conferences at school the beginning of November. He got a great report from the teacher and seems to be doing very well in school academically and socially. I think he likes the social part a little more than he should, but I've heard from a little birdie that he might be taking after someone else in his family in that department :)

Can you believe we had a day the beginning of November in which we could play in the park. We really didn't even need jackets on, but November and jackets seem to go hand in hand, so hence the kids had to wear jackets.. I on the other hand was in short sleeves!! 60 degrees I could take year round...

LEAVES... yes they can leave and I won't be upset.. however, the leaves on our trees hang around and we end up raking thru the month of November, and then again in the spring when the other half fall off the tree!!! I love our trees when they are green and shady.. not so much in the fall or spring! The kids however, had a ball!!

They do get along some of the time...

Tony got to celebrate his birthday on a Sunday with a cake that Mason decorated, and then we headed to Hickory park with his mother and Betty Benskin. Hickory park is the perfect place to go for your birthday, no matter how old you are

October 2009

Mom had a birthday the beginning of October so I made a cake for her and we celebrated after the Iowa vs Michigan football win!! Might have been 11pm and cold, but the awesome win made it feel just fine!!

Carving pumpkins for the first time this year. Mason and Mallory both enjoyed pulling all the good stuff out of the inside and then choosing what I got to carve on them

Here were the finished products

Last year the kids were sick around Halloween so we did nothing more than trick or treating, this year however we made it to Living History farms one afternoon. I think the perfect time to go to this would be dusk when they have the pumpkins lit up and the lights on, but yet not too dark that you can't see where you are walking. Kids had a great time getting dressed up...

Mason's class at school had a little 'parade' of sorts in which they walked ourside in front of all the parents to show us their costumes.. costume #2 :)

Trick or Treat night actually fell on halloween night this year, and was a perfect night!! I don't remember the last time it wasn't freezing outside.. and here is costume #3 (Thanks Vicki for letting us borrow some costumes... Mason could never choose which was his favorite, so he just chose to wear a different one to each event!!! )

They came home with quite a bit of candy.. and since Mason only really likes Tootsie rolls, and Mallory, well she will eat any candy you put in front of her so I don't give her much.. the candy mostly got eaten by mom and some by dad.. and then passed it on to my sister!!!

Catch up...

Mason really enjoyed playing soccer for the first time this year. They play with three on each team and basically just run around kicking the ball sometimes toward their own goal, and sometimes not! He had a great time and was sad to see it end. It will be fun to see how he enjoys other sports once he starts playing them, considering this was the first sport he has played.

One day before we left for Kindermusik, Mallory actually let me put a piggy in her hair AND take her picture! VERY VERY rare moment....

The kids enjoyed going to this orchard

Mallory has found a friend...

They both loved the Corn Pool. Took me back to the day growing up when my sisters and I used to play in the corn bin on the farm. Wish I would have thought of letting people pay to come and play in the corn!!!

With fall come leaves.. and the kids sure did enjoy playing in them, a lot more than mom and dad enjoyed raking them!!!!

Masonism...

We were out raking leaves on Monday and Tuesday. Only two of the six trees on our property are actually shedding their leaves, the others are still green and usually don't lose their leaves til winter, so we end up spending our spring raking leaves. So I was out there basically raking the leaves from our neighbors trees and then one of ours. We had already burned one pile on Monday night. Tuesday we go out there to rake some more. It doesn't really look like I put a dent in the leaves as the ground is still pretty covered. As I'm putting the leaves in pile in the garden, they just keep falling off the tree with the wind that was blowing.

Me: Man, I'm not even making any progress with these leaves. They just keep falling off the tree and making more work for me
Mason: Well mom, it is Fall you know

DUH how could I have not been thinking.. guess its just best we wait til spring to rake

Butterfly from caterpillar to monarch

Not quite sure why this says June 2009, but it was actually just a few weeks ago. If you click on the image, it will make it bigger so you can see the photos and captions a little better! The kids sure did have a great time watching it go from caterpillar, to chrysalis to butterfly. It still amazes me!!! Next year we are gonna have to find different caterpillars and see what different butterflies we can watch transform. And someone gave me the idea to watch a tadpole and an ant hill!! Both sound like fun things for the kids!!

These are a few of my favorites a little bigger so you can see them better. So cool to see the orange poking thru the chrysalis

Tuesday....

Thought this was a great photo of Tony with the kids!!



BRRRRRR its cold out there!! I want Fall before we get winter. These 45 degree nights are suppose to be in December not October!


We went to Reiman gardens the beginning of September. Kids had a great time.. really like this photo. Looks like they are talking about meeting up at that stadium in 15 years.. but of course it will only be when the Hawkeyes come to town to play *S*



Do you see anything looking at ya??

Mason has a new phrase I've caught him saying a lot lately... " Speaking of xyz...." and then he will go on about something so not related to whatever I was talking about. BUT he loves saying it, and it makes me chuckle!! I got to talk to him on the phone the other day, and since I'm home with him all the time, talking on the phone with him is rare. And it was then that I realized he is still a little boy. Talking to him in person he seems so grown up and such a big big boy, but then when we talked on the phone, it made me realize my baby is still a little guy!! One of those little things I've always taken for granted, blinked my eyes and he's already 5!!!!


Yes she is eating that in the car, and its not even cooked yet! We were on our way to the pond to cook the corn, but she couldn't wait. BUT I was not gonna stop her.. she doesn't like her vegetables so as long as she was eating a veggie, I wasn't gonna stop her!! Course, only can eat Iowa sweetcorn raw and have it taste almost as good as it does cooked




Mallory has started taking Kindermusik 1 day a week for 15 weeks. The first class she didn't want to sit still, didn't want to listen, would repeat a few things the teacher did, and really didn't want to lay down at 'quiet' time but decided it was time to scream and cry.. BUT now three classes later, she is listening a LOT better, will actually lay down at quiet time, and is copying what the teacher does. She still needs work on her sharing, as she doesn't want to do that and gets very upset when she has to share her blocks. I'm hoping that by the end of this session, she will be sharing and loving it! All of this can only make her more easy going and hopefully not so 'me me me'!!!
We got together with Tony's side of the family over Memorial day weekend. The kids had a great time and its so fun to see them getting older and interacting more and more!!! Poor little Luke looks like the 'black' sheep of the family amongst the blondies!!