Our Year in Review

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

Christmas Preparations!

It was most exciting to be able to begin decorating the house for Christmas on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Yet another great reason to STAY HOME for this holiday! I'm loving it!

We bought our tree at Lowe's.... it was cold and we picked it out in record time (under 5 minutes). We figure that by the time we get done "decking" it, no one will be able to see the tree anyway!

Mariah and Carlyn did an AWESOME job taking over the decorating this year. I literally sat back and watched in amazement as our girls, seemingly all grown up now, strung the lights, put the angel on the top, and carefully hung ornaments. It was (and is) a mom's dream come true!

We did seem to experience some MASS CHAOS in our manger scene, however. Apparently some imposters came to the manger dressed as Mary & Joseph... and now, we aren't sure who the real ones are and who's just faking it?!! Come to find out, I have a fetish for Nativity Scenes... and the girls like to "mix and match" pieces. So, this could be a MOST INTERESTING year for us... trying to keep all the critters in the correct places!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2007

We were SO HAPPY to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving at home this year. It seemed like the long weekend lasted forever.... amazing what happens when you don't have to pack bags (and kids) and travel!

We were glad that both Grandma & Grandpa Larsen and Grandma & Grandpa Mann were able to come to our house to celebrate! Suffice it to say, Skyla would be MORE THAN HAPPY to cook the bird ANY DAY if people want to come here for Thanksgiving!!!

Brian was in charge of "Napkin Origami" this year. I'd say he did a mighty fine job! Thanks for the beautiful table setting Mariah & Carlyn. They are learning their rules of etiquette... fork on the left, knife & spoon on the right! And thanks to Mariah, we had beautiful dinner music on the violin!

Life is good.

FIRST SNOW of the season

Our First Snow of the season happened on November 21! We were thrilled at the beautiful white coat gently laid down on everything.... so what if we hadn't put the deck chairs away for the winter! We consider this their final "rinse cycle" for the season!

Carlyn's 7th Birthday

Carlyn turned 7 on Nov 13. We celebrated for nearly two weeks straight... or so it seemed. All the grandparents got in on the partying, even Uncle Luke & Aunt Kristina were here to bowl with us! It turned out to be a festive occasion!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Carlyn!!

Brian feeds the Swan

Brian has this unquenchable love for the swans at the cemetary near our house. And he just LOVES to feed them. Normally, he's content to throw bread into their mouths, but on this fall day... he wanted to get just a little more intimate!

Halloween 2007

We had a goofy idea for Halloween this year... and the girls had fun running with the "cooking/kitchen" theme! Reagan turned out to be a fried egg, Sunny Side Up, of course! Mariah was a frying pan... complete with Pampered Chef spatula, and Carlyn was a Recipe Card for her very own world famous Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!

Elena the Tom Cat

Reagan and Elena have a very special relationship. This tom-cat will let Reagan do absolutely, positively ANYTHING to it. This poor cat lost a foot during the cold snap last winter when mom & dad were in Florida vacationing with us. Apparently that concrete floor in the machine shed gets mighty cold. Anyhow... it is a tough cat, with a will to live.
This video cracks us all up... thought you'd enjoy it, too!

Ode to the International

Luke made an exciting purchase on e-bay recently... and had this beuaty shipped to him from West Virginia. We're not sure when he'll find time to restore it, but it is a beauty... even in its rustic state.

Skyla's Photography

I absolutely LOVE to use the macro zoom on our camera. I am especially attracted to plants... perhaps because, for the most part, they stand still to have their photo taken! Here are some of my favorites from our farm visit!

October Trip to the Farm

We had a wonderful weekend at Grandma & Grandpa Larsen's farm in October. The girls were beyond thrilled to get to meet the new litter of kittens. I hope the kittens survive all of the LOVE the received that weekend.

There's nothing that Reagan loves more than driving Grandpa around on the riding lawn mower. I love that fact that by the time the girls are actually old enough to get a driver's license, they will KNOW how to drive!!! Thanks for doing our dirty work, Grandpa!!

This old barn is on a neighbor's farm where Dad & Lance have some cattle. Brian took this picture and I think it is just beautiful.

Soccer Season

Brian was the coach of Mariah's soccer team this fall. It was a good experience for both of them, I think. But Mariah said after her first game... she was glad she tried soccer, but now she thinks she's ready to be done with it. Don't think she'll be playing again in the spring.

Mariah's favorite part of playing soccer was getting to meet her teammates' dogs that came to the games to cheer them on!

Carlyn had a great season... her friend, Rylie's Dad was the coach. He was awesome! We look forward to another fun season with Coach Hoa in the spring!

It's FALL!!

Happy October Everybody! It's FALL!

The Orchard Part 2

Trip to Black's Center Grove Orchard

We enjoyed an awesome fall day at Black's Center Grove Orchard early in October. Grandma & Grandpa Mann were here to go along with us. We picked apples, enjoyed apple slushies, and apple cider donuts, played in the corn pool, the hay maze, the corn maze, and enjoyed a tractor ride. There is SO much to see and do at this orchard. We look forward to going every fall!

Discoveries in an Iowa Road Ditch!

We had a fun family night late in September... went for a drive in the country, got out and walked the ditches looking for caterpillars. Turns out we were much too late for that. But we found some other interesting critters to make us thankful we went!