Easter

Coloring eggs



Messy hands



Finished (i especially like the brown eggs in the right rear group)



Aww





Some of the Easter loot (both sets of grandparents brought gifts too)



Indoor egg hunting (it was hard to get pics between the quick movement, small spaces, and poor rainy-day lighting)

One More Round of Christmas

This time, with the in-laws:

One Big Christmas Post

Christmas, for us, is a time to travel to a colder place (NW Missouri) and visit relatives.

Here are most of the relatives (not pictured is one additional set of grandparents, one great-grandma, and the uncle who took the picture):

It also usually snows.  This year there was enough to play in, but not too much to get around (unlike last year).

There are, of course, cookies to eat.

And presents to open.

And birds to feed

And martial arts moves to practice with Papa.

We <3 Christmas.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Gingerbread Houses

I'll be honest.  I HATE gingerbread houses!  Such a pain.  I even cheat and use a kit.  But the kids love them, so here we go:

Parade Day

This is how we wait for a parade

My favorite is the fire trucks

Only in SW MO (i hope) does Santa and Mrs. Clause ride into town on a bass boat...

The Tree is Up!

HallowBirthdayPalooza

Today we celebrated two birthdays and Halloween, all at once!

My oldest is 9 now



And my youngest is 5.



They decorated their own cakes



Ryvre's



Ember's











This year's Trick-or-Treat lineup: Black Kitty (Rome), Percy Jackson (Ryvre), Prairie Girl (Willow), Ariel (Ember), Orange Kitty (Kassi), Prince Zuko (Tristan), and a Christmas Tree (Toly)



I loved how they ran to each house

Easter

Christmas

So we ended up making it north of KC on Wednesday night, before the weather turned seriously cold, and only had to drive through some heavy rain.  No big.  We came in a bit late, but Grandma Mona was scheduled to work on Thursday, so she was up making food anyway.  We helped her with the sugar cookies, and the kids and i didn't go to bed until 2-ish.

Christmas Eve, the freezing rain began, and i made a trip to Wal-Mart, because we needed a few things and i wanted to fill up the gas tank, and i really am that crazy.  It took me about two hours to get my 20 or so items and get out.  I almost beat a woman with her own cell phone for ignoring her obnoxious child who insisted on bumping into me and peering into and hanging on my cart for the full 40 minutes we stood in line.  Seriously people, pay attention to your kids!  Or a stranger might beat you with your own cell phone.  Anyway, among the items i needed to get were things i forgot to pack in our rush to leave the house a full day early, such as dress shoes, hats and gloves, and slippers.  I think Ember is especially cute in her hat and pajamas.



Throughout the day, relatives arrived and we ate wonderful food and generally hung out and opened presents and such.  Ember provided most of the entertainment, through her interpretive dance moves, and angry white chick routines.

By Christmas Morning, Grandma's house looked like this, with more on the way:



We were scheduled to visit another set of grandparents, but they called and canceled on account of a blizzard warning.  But that was ok; my parents were able to get around in my dad's pickup, and the kids had plenty of presents to open.  Don't let their enthusiasm fool you.



The real fun was getting into the snow!





Well, it was fun for a minute, at least.



I'm not sure what the official count was, but by Christmas morning, there was 9" of snow on the ground (this is Grandma's street; there were other places with drifts up to 6' tall)



On Saturday, and with my dad's 4wd and driving prowess, we made it to the other grandparents' house for more presents.



And on Sunday, the kids discovered they could make some quick cash by shoveling the driveway.



I better not hear any union talk out there!



Today, we packed up the car and made it back home.

Good points: Grandma's frozen water lines seem to have thawed without incident.  Our fish are all still alive.
Bad points: something is very wrong with the brakes on our car; the windshield wipers are also doing something really funky.