Welcome to our new readers.

You must have received our Christmas card if you are visiting for the first time. Feel free to come back as often as you would like to see what we have been up too. I try to update the site a couple times a month.

Thanks to all our loyal readers. I do this blog mostly for our own purposes but your attention makes it even more important to me.

December

Even with Christmas right around the corner, we aren't nearly as busy as we are in the summer and fall. So not as much to post about. I am much more likely to stay home when the weather is bitterly cold. I guess I have been busy with stuff at home such as decorating for Christmas, hosting a soup supper, working on Christmas cards, doing some online Christmas shopping and wrapping presents.

We do make it to the important things though....

Ryan's good friend, Aiden, turned 4 at the end of Nov so we went to his swimming party at a local hotel.

Aiden's 4th Birthday

Ryan, Maddy and I swimming

Polar Express - Ryan's favorite movie is Polar Express. He would watch it all year long if we let him. I put it away after Christmas so it will be a fun and exciting again the next year. We did something new this year. We took Ryan to see The Polar Express at the IMAX theater at the Science Center. Oh wow! It was fun and Ryan loved it. He is still talking about it. To anyone who doesn't know, the IMAX theater is dome shaped so the movie is projected all around you. The next weekend we rode the Santa Express Train in Boone. It is based on the Polar Express movie. The kids wore their pj's (just like in the movie) and rode the train to the North Pole. While riding we drank hot chocolate, ate a cookie, read the Polar Express book and sang Christmas carols. The best part is that Santa boards the train to pass out his special sleigh bells.

All ready to go

During part of the ride we went over a high bridge which made it look like we were really flying

Ryan (in the red and white striped hat) up at the front singing

Santa handing out the bells - thanks for the photo, Anna.

Our gang of friends

Ryan is officially on Christmas break from preschool. He had his Christmas party at school on Wednesday. They acted on the Navitity. Ryan was a wiseman following the star to bring gifts to baby Jesus.

Opening his gift exchange present

My baby!

I was sitting here organizing photos and I came across this Photo Story I made when Ry was about 16 months old. Instantly made me cry. Where has the time gone??

Let It Snow

Well we received our first snow about 2 weeks ago then we got a couple inches over the weekend. Ryan thinks the snow is pretty fun. On Monday he was outside with Ben for about 2 hours. Didn't bother him one bit. Me, on the other hand, am not a fan of the snow. The only time I like snow is on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

We had to go to Theisen's to buy a sled so the boys could do this....

Our land is pretty flat so the 4-wheeler is the best way to have snow fun.

We found our Christmas Tree for 2008!

We started the tradition 3 years ago of going to a Christmas tree farm as a family to find our tree for the Christmas season. I love everything about a fresh tree especially the smell. I can see us continuing to do this for many years to come. The first year we went it took us 2 hours to find the perfect tree, last year it took about an hour, this year Ben drove right to the perfect tree so it took about 10 minutes.

Aldrich Tree Farm near Belmond is where we like to go

Standing in front of our tree

getting ready to cut the tree down

Gettin the job done

Very proud of himself - he did have help though

Grandma also found her tree. It is a tall tree probably the tallest they have ever had.

Decorating

Ryan's idea of decorating is putting all the ornaments on one branch

Putting the finish touch on the top

A few fun things.

The Holiday Season is officially HERE! The first Christmas song I heard on the radio was on Nov 12. So early! We received our first Christmas card today. I love the Christmas card part of the holidays. We went to Ames the other night, lots of Christmas lights up.

Our Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing, for me at least. My mother in law is a diva in the kitchen so I don't even attempt to cook. We had lots of homemade food - turkey, real mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, cranberry sauce, squash soup, sweet potatoes, cabbage salad and 4 different pies even homemade whipped cream for the pie. I remember a quote.... Happiness is Homemade. Absolutely!

What have we been up too?
At a recent playdate, the kids made these really cute bear cookies. My fellow mom, Kelly, is so creative! Thanks to Katelyn and Ian for sharing their home and toys with us.

Isn't Ry's shirt cute? It has horse shoes all over it. That was suppose to be his horseback riding shirt but grandpa never got around to getting a horse out to ride this year :( I sure wish I knew how to ride horses or even saddle a horse.

Science Center: Ryan still loves the Science Center

Ryan and Mason trying to make BIG bubbles

Jack has it figured out

Jack and Ryan in the Robots simulator

Mason and Ryan watching their friend Aiden assist in a science experience

Aiden and Ryan riding the escalator

Disney On Ice: What a great show! Ryan and I both loved it. Here are just a few of the character we saw on the ice. We have so much fun at these shows.

Nemo and Dori

Of course, Mickey!

Simba and Nala from Loin King

A bunch of princess' in the ending act

Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story

Beautiful fireworks at the end of the show

I let Ry have one special treat during the show. He picked the snow cone in a shark.

Our friends!
Annie and Kalie
Ryan and I
Anna, Treyton and Cainan
Lisa and Mason
Natalie, Aiden and Erin
Marcie and Jaden


A fun little tidbit - See Marcie up there in the back right corner holding her 2.5 year old daughter, Jaden?? At the time of the photo she was pregnant with her second child, due Dec 3. We left the show around 9pm and Marcie had the baby 4.5 hours later. All I can say is WOW! No, she wasn't in labor during the show. Again, welcome to the world Avery Lynne!

Harvest 2008

What a year it has been for farming. A very wet spring turned into a wet fall. Basically the story goes...combine for 2 days - rain for 2 days - wait for the ground to dry for 2 days - back to fieldwork for 2 days - rain for 2 days - you get the point. We are finally on the last field but it is the largest field and hilly (so hilly and rocky that we call it the Montana farm) so it will take several days to finish. Ben said, "don't be surprised if we are in the fields on Thanksgiving. I am thinking...WONDERFUL! But that is part of farming and I was aware of it from the get go. Hopefully next year will be more typical.

Let's just get my BIG OOOPPPPS out of the way. Like I said, lots of rain this year so there are still soft spots in the field. I found one...lucky me! Yep, I was driving the tractor and grain cart when it sunk probably 2 to 3 foot into the field on the auger side to boot. The grain cart was fully loaded, 56,000+ lbs. We had to unload the corn before the cart was coming out of the ground. The only way to do it was to shoot the corn back into the combine which made a big pile of corn.

Brad's caption for this photo: "This is what it looks like when a woman does a mans job"

OUT! But look at that pile of corn. Ben says I better get the scoop shovel out.

Remember Brad's caption for the photo of my little oopps??? Plus the razzing that I got from him.....

REVENGE!!! KARMA!!! Whichever!

15 minutes later....

He slid the semi trailer into the ditch. I had to laugh AND get the camera back out.

Notice the front tire of the trailer, it is jammed into the hopper. The back tire is in the ditch.

I bet you can imagine how thrilled Ben was about all this. The poor guy always has to come along to fix our screw-ups. He stayed pretty calm though. I didn't get yelled at or even a guilt trip. I thought I might be fired after that mishap but no such luck. Still had to go back out there the next day.

Here are some photos from Harvest 2008...

Grandpa and Ryan working on the combine in early October

Ben working on the corn head

Ry looks so little in front of this big machine

This probably one of my favorite photos

Ben is using one of his old tractors that he loves to buy and fix up. He has a big ole smile on his face.

My little farmer boy!