Christmastime!

The kids loved playing with all of their cousins this

Christmas. The oldest will be 17 soon and the

youngest is 2 months old. Uriah and Audrey (above)

have birthdays only one month apart!

Christmas Bingo at Cita's - a new tradition.

This year's interactive Bible reading didn't

go as smoothly as hoped. The kids all fought

over who was going to set up the characters

in the Christmas story from Luke's Gospel.

As always, the kids received many great gifts.

Audrey is a 'domestic diva' in training. She got this

new baking suit and a Dyson vacuum!

Asher was so excited to get lots of

Angry Birds paraphernalia.

Audrey was proud of wrapping Nanny's gift this year.

She could not wait for Nanny to open it, mostly

because she wanted her to share!

And how many kids can say they got to play

soccer with Santa on Christmas day? Our kids can!

Judah Turns Seven

We kept Judah's birthday party theme

a surprise this year. He is a big fan of The

Wild Kratts on PBS, so we made him a

'Creature Power Suit' to wear at his party.

He was very excited!

Judah invited two of his best buddies to

celebrate with us -Blayne, a friend from church and

Jack, a friend from school. These three have personality!

The birthday cake.

Asher got a Creature Power Suit too.

Judah got lots of great gifts. This one gets a

thumbs up from Blayne!

What a great birthday weekend,

Judah got to do something special

every day! Asher has great expectations

for his birthday weekend now.

Basket Case

Not sure if he is pretending to be

a church usher or a begger on the street.

Either way, he is happy to have a basket

full of money.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Turkey!"

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Oklahoma.

Papa gave the kids pony rides around the yard.

Audrey had a riding buddy.

All three kids had such a great time. Thanks, Papa!

Sunny Sunday

Judah wanted to dress "even nicer" for

church today, so he chose a dress shirt and tie.

Audrey modeling her new fall clothes.

She refers to this shirt as her "pretty one".

Asher in his favorite button shirt and tie-

a t-shirt one!

October Highlights

Nanny and Papa came to visit us twice!

We enjoyed pizza in the park while the weather

was still warm.

Audrey always expects Papa to buy her pizza.

Leah came to visit us too. We went hiking at

Compton Gardens.

We carved pumpkins.

We enjoyed Blocktober Fest at our church.

The boys rode this cool motorcycle ride.

Audrey liked the petting zoo.

Both boys climbed the inflatable rock wall.

(click to get a closer look)

We dressed up.

Judah's Baptism

Ready and waiting

Judah and Bro. Matt

Fun at the Farm with Friends

We took the Sewell's to the farm for an overnight stay.

We caught grasshoppers...

and used them as bait to catch fish.

We practiced shooting guns,

learned croquet,

went hiking in the woods,

played on the rocks,

got excited about roasting marshmallows,

(We did have a nice campfire for that, but we

didn't get any pictures.)

climbed trees*

and just enjoyed being with friends!

*There is no age limit on climbing trees at the farm.

Branson Vacation 2011

We took another vacation to Branson this year.

We were all smiling to be able to spend some time

together away from home.

We went with our traveling buddies, Fafa and Cita.

We played at Silver Dollar City a couple of times.

The boys love the Flooded Mine ride and thought

it was cool to see a "REWARD" for a Simpson!

Silver Dollar City was decorated in a fall theme

with pumpkins and scarecrows throughout the park.

Grandfather's Mansion is always a hit with the kids.

The weather was perfect for being outside.

The kids also enjoyed spending time at our resort.

They have three different pools, game room, bike rentals,

paddle boats, and a park for us to enjoy.


The water was too cool for most adults, but as

you can see the kids didn't mind.

We also visited the fish hatchery (above)

and the College of the Ozarks.

What a fun vacation!