Christmas Day through Kari's Eyes

Kari asked Santa for a digital camera, but little did she know that Poppy and Grammie had already hooked her up with one. As soon as she opened it she started snapping pictures.....

First picture taken


Jesus' birthday cake


Sisters


Grammie in motion


Devin....Whatcha doing?


Starting to wind down


GQ pose


Ashley and Noah


Aunt Janie


A boy and a computer


Holding her subject still


Uncle Steve


Cutie!


Texting


A boy and his train


A few self portraits.....




Poppy and Grammie's tree


The table


Daddy and Noah put a puzzle together

Transformations

One evening I went to a jewelry party and Rick took the kiddos to B3nnig@n's for Family Night. I had wanted him to have them showered and in bed when I came home, so when I called and he said they were still awake, I was a bit miffed. He said they wanted to show me something. I am glad they didn't shower or get in bed.....

Fireball soccerball


A beautiful butterfly


Spiderman aka Cody

LEAVES!!

One afternoon Kari and Cody were driving me crazy, so I sent them outside to rake up leaves. Well, it happened to be one of the windy-est days in December, so everytime they tried to rake them up and scoop them into the bags they'd blow away.....so, they decided to jump in them instead. Here are a few pictures. Noah joined in on the fun, too.

Christmas Decor 2007

Some random pictures of our Christmas decor. Oddly enough, there are no pictures of any of my snowmen. I collect them and have them everywhere.

Centerpiece


This year's ornament


The stockings were hung.....


Our nativity

Trimming the Tree 2007

We trimmed the tree the day after Thanksgiving. It was weird hanging Devin's ornaments without her being here. The kiddos did a really good job. Josh actually put the tree up and helped with the lights. I think we are adding that to the traditions......

Very excited about decorating the tree


Looking for another ornament to hang


Josh hanging ornaments


Cody and Noah hanging ornaments


Kari hanging ornaments


Looking for the perfect ornament

Thanksgiving @ the Pilkerton's

We were very thankful to Janie and Steve for hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year. We really wanted to attend the church dinner and wasn't sure how we could do that and have dinner at our/Mom and Dad's house. They were very gracious hosts. Steve brothers and family joined us, too. It was so nice for the house to be full of family. And the food was incredible. Gary's sweet potato casserole and Rob P's hash brown casserole were two of our favorite dishes.

Cooking and hosting never looked so good


Janie and Steve did a fabulous job of setting the table. It was so elegant looking


Adult table


Kiddos' table




After dinner the adult men played Texas Hold 'Em, while the ladies played Scrabble. I think we have started an annual tradition.

We are so blessed with great extended family!

Thanksgiving 2007 @ the Church

This was the 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Dinner LHC hosted. We were very blessed to be a part of it. I was a hostess and Rick went to pick up some of the folks that joined us for lunch. It was a neat outreach for the kiddos to be involved in, too.

Some of the servers.


The dining hall (aka sanctuary). When we were eating Noah wanted to know when we were going to worship


Jeffrey, Emily, Haliegh and Kaitlyn


Some of the kitchen crew


Chatting and playing games while waiting for dinner to begin


Mason wanted to get out of the Pack and Play and gave me his best sad face


Kari and Emily pose for the picture. Not sure what Nathan was doing......


After we finished at church, we headed to the Pilkerton's for a feast with the family. The following pictures are the only two I took. I am going to snag some from Janie and Nicole and post those soon.

I was trying to get a picture of the leaves swirling around while we drove to Janie and Steve's, but it just never happened. This is as good as it gets.....


This little guy hung on for several miles. I am thinking he was tired of the wind and rain, too