Grandpa K, Grandma K, and Mak all came to visit us for Christmas this year. We were so glad we got to spend some quality time with them.

Grandpa and Dylan playing videos.

Lots of fun pictures in the snow!!!

Kaylee had fun playing with our snowman clothes.

This year we all thought it would be a great idea if Eric dressed up as Santa for the kids. Last year Troy did it, and the kids had no clue it was him. We thought they would never guess it was Uncle Eric. The first thing Dylan said as Santa came in was, "It's Eric in a Santa suit!" The kids kept calling him Santa Eric....

Dylan, Kaylee, and Paige with Santa Eric.

Uncle MAK got tons of exercise while he was here. The kids loved having him pull them around.

The Saturday before Christmas, we went on another train ride out of Horseshoe Bend. The Polar Express took us to the North Pole to see Santa. It was so much fun! We went with Troy, Erica, Paige, Madalynn, Meghan, Carlos and Julia. We all enjoyed plenty of chocolate milk and cookies!

Here is a pic. that Dylan took of Meg and me. This is a funny pic. that Dylan took.

He loves Daddy!

This year, McKaylee didn't even hesitate to sit on Santa's lap.

Dylan was wearing his fleece pj pants because him and John went snowmobiling before the train ride. They had lots of fun father-son time together that day.

Kaylee, Paige, and Julia at the North Pole.

Kaylee, Julia, & Dylan

The kids had such a good time making sugar cookies for Santa.
They were proud of their gingerbread house too.

The making of the cookies!

We were getting ready to go to the Bank of the Cascades Christmas party and Dylan and McKaylee both thought they needed to take a picture of the family. See if you can guess who took which picture...funny eh? The Christmas Party was at the Boise Center on the Grove. John and I enjoyed a night out with lots of good food and entertainment. Sadly we didn't win any of the door prizes, maybe next year!

Trying to Take Christmas Pictures...

This year, the kids were super excited about decorating for Christmas. It is a tradition at our house to set up the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The kids decorated about 80% of our tree this year. I did the lights and hung our breakable ornaments near the top of the tree. I have to admit, it is kind of hard for me to let the kids hang the ornaments. In my mind, I picture a tree with ornaments all around it and evenly spaced out. However, I have to say our tree is beautiful! Most of our ornaments are hung on the bottom and in groups. The kids are so proud of it too!

A bit scary! He enjoys taking crazy pictures.

I will post some new family photos soon!

FUN AT RAFIKI

Yesterday, I took the kids to Rafiki in Boise. We met Meghan and her kids there. It was our first time and the kids had a blast! There is so much for the kids to do. They have a giant play structure with obstacle courses and slides, a climbing wall, arts and crafts area, toddler area, dress up area, and all of the toys you can imagine. A huge bonus is that it is really, really clean. I highly recommend it for winter time play! The rock wall

She was a bit afraid! Notice how far she is off the ground.

My fearless child!

As you can tell from her expression, she loves the blocks!

Julia looking after Alyssa

Best Friends--Kaylee and Julia

Racing to the bottom

Kaylee and Dylan ready to race to the top.

Dylan had sooo much fun!

Alyssa going up!

Alyssa trying to keep up with the big kids

We ended up staying there all day! The kids were so entertained and Meghan and I were actually able to visit. We didn't leave until around 5:30. Dylan and McKaylee were exhausted. We ran through McDonalds drive-thru and got Happy Meals for the way home (it was the only thing I could think of to keep them awake!). John flew to Bend, OR for work yesterday. The kids kept looking at every blinking light in the sky and waved at Daddy most of the way home. Pretty cute!

Please Pray for Shannon

I met Shannon at Huron University in Huron, South Dakota. Shannon was my soccer teammate as well was my RA and friend. Shannon was recently diagnosed with a rare kind of cancer. Please pray for her and her family. Shannon is a very positive person, and I know she can beat this! Shannon has a website if you would like to write to her, go to : http://caringbridge.org/visit/shannonmadsen . I am sure she would love to hear from you! Love you Shannon!

Fingerpainting and The Pumpkin Liner

Our kids love playing with their friend Julia. The kids are all close in age and seem to always have a good time together. So much for using the paintbrushes!

They enjoyed painting our sidewalk with their hands and feet.

In October, we went on The Pumpkin Liner. It is a train ride to a pumkin patch. The Bittencourts went with us. It was so much fun! Dylan is obsessed with trains so he absolutely loved it. Carlos and John thought they had to have the biggest pumpkins, we had a bit of a difficult time getting all of the kids and the pumkins off the train and to our cars :) The train we rode on.

Dylan and Julia picking out their pumpkins




John, Julia, Kaylee, Dylan, Carlos, Meghan, and Lillian riding the train



Sizing up the pumpkins.

Picking out pumpkins