Coloring House

Lillie got a playhouse from her Grammy that she could color. She got right to work coloring on it. And the boys got right to work running wildly through it because it had two doors so that could go round and round. Girls and boys are so different. Lillie kept hollering at them to "stop scooting it around".


And they occasionally popped through the window to say hello.


Titus helped color it some but he said "My arm is tired".

Wait there's more...

Our little family Christmas. I told Lillie that when they woke up Christmas morning they could open their stockings. She was so excited. I think I heard her wake up first and then go wake her brothers up so they could see what was in their stockings. I always LOVED my stocking growing up so it is fun to see that my kids love it too.

Family picture! It isn't too bad a picture. For all of us pretty much just waking up. And sadly this is probably one of the better family pictures I have from this year. I meant to make time for some fun family pictures but it never happened.


Titus wanted to sing Away In A Manager for us before we opened presents.

Momma with Lillie and Ty. Oh and that green John Deere sweat shirt is what Matt got me for Christmas! Love it!

Oh yes, now he is happy!

Daddy showing the boys how it works =)

That little boy loves his green toys. Zethan and Titus each got a small combine and then they shared the larger one.

And great grandma Nusz got this golf set for the boys. Titus is learning how to putt.

Getting better at it.

And his doctor set that he got from us. He has been going around asking us if we are sick =) Then he'll give us a "shot" and make us all better!

We had many fun Christmas celebrations this year and even have one more on Sunday!

Cousin Lovin'

Lillie and Emily. Best Friends.

And their newest little cousin, Reuben. These pictures are from our Cook Christmas. There were so many kids and so much going on that I couldn't get real good pictures so these two pictures will have to do to document that night. But we had tons of fun!

Yes, I know Christmas is over...=)

Daddy's little Joey

Matt came in from hunting or working around the yard and Zethan wanted so badly to go back out there with him.
Well, maybe not this way though, Dad. It's not too comfy.

And he's done.

Church Christmas Program

Lillie and her friend Addison all dressed up in their angel costumes.

The angels, shepherds, King Herod, and the magi. So cute up there!

Lillie did great. She was happy to be able to be an angel this year!

Then it was Titus's turn to go up on stage to sing Away In A Manger. He did fine for a few seconds while I snapped these couple of pictures.

You can see his eyes getting a little worried here. And then he just lost it. "Mommy, Momm-y, Mo-o-om-my" So I got him and he just buried his head on my shoulder. Poor little guy got stage fright I guess =)

But they were all adorable up there doing the hand motions and singing!

They love celebrating our Savior's birth with all their innocent child like faith.

Hi Bubba

What a goof ball. But he likes 'em! And he likes that they make us laugh.

Vacation in Pictures

The 5 story Christmas Tree at Silver Dollar City.

Daddy, Lillie, Titus and Zethan watching the tree light up to music.

Titus and me riding in the tea cups. It got going a little fast and when we got off Titus couldn't walk straight!


Matt and Titus waiting for the play to start.

Zethan and me waitng for the play to start. We watched Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" at Silver Dollar City. It was very good!
I gave the kids candy necklaces to keep them occupied. They thought they were great.

Posing by the snowmen decorations after watching the "Frosty" play.

Getting ready for the "Frosty" play to start. Amy's got her hot wassail. Looks like Lillie was singing and I have no idea what Matt is doing.

The kids got to go up front to watch the play. It was a talking snowman and the kids all thought it was great. Lillie and Titus are on the right side of the picture.

Jaron and Amy after riding Wildfire.

It was pretty nice weather while we were there. We all wore double layers and coats and hats and gloves but with all those on we didn't get too cold. And we had a great time!

Powder Keg

Our friends Jaron and Amy came with us to Branson and of course we went to Silver Dollar City while we were there. We took turns watching the kids to go on rides and then Lillie and Titus could ride most of them as well.

Here they talked Lillie into going on Powder Keg with them. She has been once before and didn't like it too much but since Amy went with her she thought she would try it again =)

The picture above is just as they took off. So all their heads are flying back.

And there is Matt waiting with the boys and Sophia. Titus found a barrel to play with.

It was all fun and games until he stuffed one of his gloves in the hole and realized that he couldn't get it back out.

A little of this and a little of that

Just a few things....

Lillie is really starting to like writing more and more. She is learning to "sound spell". This morning she folded a piece of paper in half and wrote on the inside, "1 supon utim" Can anyone guess what it is she was trying to write?

Titus can be incredibly silly. On the way home from Branson while going through the McDonald's drive through someone was saying something like "I can't wait to get home." Then someone said "I can't wait to see Jasmine" (our dog). Then Titus pipes up, "I can't wait to poop." Boys.

Zethan has about 3 or 4 bruises or scrapes on his forehead alone. And the latest one from this morning is a doozy. And no one is really sure what happened. We heard him screaming in our room and when we got there he was up on our bed. You know those cartoons where they bash each other on the head and then a huge bump grows up. Well, we could seriously see Zethans bump getting bigger and bigger. Poor little guy.

And tomorrow starts our Christmas celebrations. The first 2 out of 6. Lillie has been keeping track in her head how many days are left until Christmas. She does a good job. I don't know how she remembers because we don't have an advent calendar or anything here. Also, she has been waiting for December 22 (again keeping track on her own what day it is), which according to her, is the first official day of winter. I didn't look it up but I'm pretty sure it is. And she is quite convinced that it is going to snow today because it is the first day of winter.

They do have a calendar at school that her teacher shows them things on so that is probably where she is getting a lot if it from. But all weekend and this week even when she wasn't at school she was counting down the days.

These kiddos can be a lot of work but they sure do make life fun =)

It's Flying Day!

We got to go out flying in this plane the other day! Each of the couples got to take turns. Natalie and Garrett with Lillie, Andrew and Rebekah, Matt and I with Titus, and then Tiffany and Christopher with Lillie again. There was a seat open to she begged to ride again =) We thought she might be scared of it, but nope. Not even a little bit.
Getting ready before the first flight.

Right before our flight. Titus was so excited that it was "Flying day".

The head set was a little big on him but I think he liked them. It is so noisy once you are up in the air that we have to talk through these head sets with mics.

Titus and I rode in the back seat. That really is pretty much all the room there was.

And here is a view of our home. I never did get a really great shot because it was a little bumpy by then and I couldn't keep the camera still, so most of them are blurry. And leaning over Titus, taking them through a window isn't exactly ideal. But it was still a great time!

Andy proposed to Rebekah by spelling out, "Will you marry me?" with hay bales out in our pasture. So that was really neat! Lillie is very excited for them, as we all are! It took him and a friend about 3 or so hours getting the bales out there and arranging them! And we all kept a good secret so she was very surprised!
You can read more about the engagement over at my sister-in-law's blog!

Grandparents Day

Lillie had her first grandparents day at school yesterday! They had a big program with each class (K-6th) doing songs and a group song. Also the Kindergarten class recited Psalm 100. They were so cute and did so well! Lillie's song included wearing a turkey hat. I think she liked it.

This is the only pose I got on my camera because I was video taping during the program. Her grandma and papa (Matt's parents), her Grandpa Veer (Matt's Veer grandpa), and Grandpa and Grandma Stucky, (Matt's Stucky grandparents). It was so fun to have them all join us!

I know it was grandparents day but they let the parents come too =) Matt was off of work so we all went, including the boys. That morning or maybe the day before, Lillie kind of shyly says to Matt, "If you are aren't working in the afternoon, you could come to show if you want to."
She was so cute wanting everyone to come watch her. I was very proud of my little Kindergarten girl =)

Latest Project {crochet edition}

I have seen different versions of these on etsy. I really liked them, but didn't necessarily want to spend money to buy one since I knew how to crochet.

I did end up buying a pattern but it didn't work up the way I wanted it to. And I thought I could figure out a way to make it much cuter and easier.

So this is what I came up with. I did many trial ones before I finally got the pattern written down just the way I wanted it to be.

It buttons in the back, but mostly that is for looks. It makes it cuter from the back =) And the poppy flower is what really makes this fun!