Asking the birthday boy a few questions...

The "inside-out" french braid

I've been working on new braids.  To do it inside out you have to braid backwards and for me it is pretty tough.  It takes a lot of concentration.  Here is Addy's do for today.

She wanted to match with Natalia who's hair unfortunately is a rats nest so I just pulled it back into a pony tail.

They both wore their new bows from Aunt Bethany.

Our Puggle's Friends....

Our lesson this week was God Made Me!  So I took pictures of each of the kids and we made popsicle picture frames with a magnet to put on your fridge.  Here are each of our sweet Puggles!

Brayden (who wouldn't stay still for a picture)

Jersie (in the middle wasn't there for an actual picture)

Brent

Carter

Michayla

Jewliana

Maggie

Andrew

Jake

And Ariana

I look forward to every Wednesday night when I can love on all of these kids.

Andrew's Mater Pillow Pet

Andrew's Christmas gift from Aunt Betsey never arrived during Christmas break.  She went around and around with the company trying to locate it.  She eventually canceled the order and sent a new order here to Muskegon.  Andrew was very excited to open his box.....Thank you Aunt Betsey!

All day both pillow pets played together and even ate together.

Spiderman! Spiderman!

A couple minutes before this picture Adeline came up wearing the mask....then out of nowhere Andrew comes running up with the whole outfit.  Look at those cheeks!

Kingsbury Christmas

This year for the Kingsbury Christmas we met in January rather than Thanksgiving weekend.  We met in Jackson at a church were we all ate lunch and then headed to a local snow hill for some sledding.  After that we ended up at Uncle Bill's house for presents and games.  It was a really nice time.  The kids loved playing at Claire's house with all of her toys.  Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures to capture the whole day.  Here is what I have....all from sledding.

Bethany said that she was tempted to push Gabby down the hill :-)  She might have been turned in for that :-)  Gabby eventually woke up while rolling over almost doing a face plant in the snow.

Brooklynn however was ready for some action.

Uncle James has a full sled.  Watch the video below to see how fast they went or rather how "slow" they went.

Packing Snow

Over the past few years each time we went out into the snow I never felt like we had actual packing snow.  And because of that our snowmen always looked pretty "sad".  This year is a totally different story...the snow was perfect.  All we had to do was form a small round ball and begin rolling it in the snow.

We continued to remind the kids to only eat the white snow.

Our snow family from left to right...Addy, Mommy, Daddy and Andrew.

Adeline and her snowman

Andrew and his...

Daddy and his snowman...(apparently they are reaching out for a hug or something)

Me and my snow Mama

And then a shot of just the boys and girls

We were out for almost three hours building our snowmen, playing in the yard, making snow angles, going down to "neighbors" house to make a snowman, and then finally making one lone snowman in our front yard.  It was a super fun day!

Anybody Hungry???

James had the day off today to honor Martin Luther King Jr.  As a family we woke up, had a huge breakfast, played games, played with play-doh, and spent hours outside. (as you'll see in the next post)

Here are some of our creations.  

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

And your choice of dinner....taco, spaghetti, or a hamburger!

Dinner with the tablecloth....

Phil and Missy gave me a hard time because I pulled out the tablecloth for dinner.  Apparently I don't normally pull out the tablecloth when they are over and we don't all always eat at the table.  Sometimes we just let the kids eat at the table and the adults eat in the living room because I was too lazy to extend the table.
It was fun to plan and share an evening together, it doesn't happen as often anymore. (since they moved away) 

Normally Uncle John cuts Andrew's hair but that always means planning travel around business hours and I didn't think about it in our latest trip.  Phil cuts his hair and his boys hair and mentioned that he could do Andrew's hair too.  Well we took him up on it and he did a good job.  Andrew sat like a big boy for him the whole time.  Thanks Phil!  We may be calling on your services again soon :-)

The kids played so well together.  They really missed each other.
We ended the night with a fun dance party!

And the fun continues...

Adeline and Andrew making snow angels

And today I made it out with the kids.

Next door neighbors

Fun with the kids playing in their tents.  I unfortunately could not pass through the tunnel.  Maybe I could if I did the army crawl but I didn't try that.

Uncle John and Aunt Candy

After going to the Leiby Christmas (which was a great time) we headed into Charlotte and had dinner with John and Candy.  They treated us to pizza.  After dinner the kids wrestled with John pretty much the rest of the night.  Uncle John was able to see how quickly Andrew warmed up to him once we were at his house with no one else around.  I enjoyed watching them all have fun.  The kids didn't want to leave.

First big snow....

When we came home from picking Adeline up from school the kids wanted to play outside.  I got them all dressed and ready and the two (just the two) played outside for over an hour...it was like pulling teeth to get them to come inside.

I found myself enjoying the freedom of not having a crying baby to carry around who didn't want to be outside.  And I was able to have dinner ready when they came inside.

I love moments like these when I can watch my children play together and have fun.  These times are becoming way more frequent.

Check E. Cheese

Here are some of our activities while at Chuck E. Cheese.

Smile Mr. Andrew....

Adeline riding her roller coaster.  Hold on tight girlfriend!

Andrew looks pretty intense during this video game.

Ummmm...should we be teaching them to shoot with guns????

Brooklynn loves Chuck E. Cheese

I need to get the picture's of Adeline in this through the years.

Andrew and Daddy playing some football

Chuck E. Cheese

The Goshen Beans stayed with us until Wednesday early afternoon.  Why you might ask?.....because they can now!!!!!  They treated us to a fun night out to Chuck E. Cheese.  This was also a celebration for Brooklynn completing her food chart.