Guacamole!!!!

Little did any of us know that my brother, Lane was a songwriter/singer, etc. He wrote a song called Guacamole and we all love it!! the kids have a ball singing it, however, they do not know what it means. I am surprised i even let them listen to it...but it is sooooo much fun!!!enjoy. turn the background music off at the bottom of the page before pressing start...It's worth it!

Christmas 2008...Together Again!!!

For the first time in about 14 years, my family was all togher for Christmas. It was WONDERFUL!!! My mom, dad, brother and his whole family came for 4 days and we had a great time. Amber is 17, Skyler 11, and Cooper 7! That means we had 8 children here and it was loud for sure! If i acutally knew how to upload these pictures in the order I want, these might all make some chronological sense. However, I never seem to get it right! so...just read the captions and it will be in random Christmas order....

This is Amber and I right before they left. Thanks to her ipod we did not get too much time together to reminisce, but finally the last night she was there she, dad and I stayed up til 2:30am talking. sure wish we would have done that sooner! I miss her already!
A family pic. kinda blurry. I found out the camera had been on the wrong setting for the last day and a half they were there...not too many good pics.

me, mom and Lane

Ian took a particular liking to Amber. He affectionately called her "Hamper". She loved it! we all did. he was soooo cute with her. He would come up to me and say, "mommy, i kissed hamper and she smiled!"

Cooper and MamaLane sharing a grandma moment...

Isaiah being his usual tumbling self. there was a ton of wrestling going on this week! my kids will never be the same...

the festivities are just not over til we get a pic of dirk sleeping...which is never hard!

Grandma got the kids a ball pit, and Auntie Na got them balls to go in it! They all thoroughly love it! Elias too, unless you lay him in it...then he is scared to death!

Elias and Kenna

My sister-in-law, Debi and me at the mall

my brother, Lane and me.

I will spare you all the details of the presents, but they sure looked cute in their new dress up. Isaiah is a regular ol' Maverick! He has worn it for clothes the last 4 out of 5 days!

this was my feeble attempt at getting the kids to all look at the camera at the same time! HA! like that was really gonna happen!

MamaLane made each of the kids aprons. each day is a different leader day in the kitchen (to avoid the constant children at your legs begging to help). Bella is here modeling hers....too cute!

you may remember Bella asking santa for cereal for Christmas....well, he delivered!

The living room before all 8 children woke up...

...AFTER...

Poor, sweet Bella has had to be off her ADHD meds for a few days now, due to some medication switching we are doing. Someone forgot that and turned thier back on her for one second...the result!!! By her face I think she knew what just occured!

mommy and Elias

this was soo cute. the kids were watching The Polar Express and I was in the office. i came around the corner to see them all 4 standing right in front of the tv saying "I BELIEVE...I BELIEVE" to the tv so that they too can hear tbe bells that santa rings....it was priceless...

The blazing saddles tradition continues...

Isaiah took a picture of mommy and daddy. these are a rarity! i can't wait til these kids get older...I'm gonna employ them to be official photographers!

Breakfast With Santa...

This morning Boogaboo took us all to Breakfast with Santa downtown! It was so great! Dirk told all the kids that he called Santa and asked him if we could have breakfast with him that morning. Of course they believed him and off we went! We don't play Santa up huge at our house, but we do incorporate him into our celebration of Jesus and giving to others. And this guy was a wonderful Santa! The kids has a ball and it was very good food. They had that place all decked out. First the kids each presented their letters to santa telling him one thing they wanted for Christmas ( we were the only ones that did that!).

then they each got their turn...kenna wants a drum (been asking every day since sept. 8!)

Ian wants an orange tractor (strangely enough without us knowing that that is exactly what my dad bought him!..boy did we luck out there )

Isaiah wants an electric guitar! (also been asking everyday since sept. 8 )

Elias didn't want anything and Bella was too scared to sit, but wanted Santa to know that she wants cereal...yes, cereal!

They even had a knee high buffet so the kids could make their own breakfast. it was soooo cute!

Boogaboo and kenna giving a toast to a Merry Christmas!

An Interesting Conversation...

For 4 1/2 years now we have been teaching our children about Jesus! however, it has mostly encompassed the areas of how much He loves us, how He died to save us, and little life lessons on the bible, stories, sin and heaven of course! We had not yet broached the subject of hell for obvious reasons and I really thought I had a year or so before I really would have to. Well, Isaiah never ceases to amaze me with his mind. Today he asks me, "mom, what did Jesus save us from?" I was stunned that his 4 year old mind could really even concieve such a question, but it should not surprise me anymore. I proceeded to tell him that Jesus died to save us from many things. although he did not understand the concept of why blood had to be shed for forgiveness, I told him anyway. I told him all about satan, all about the battle he had with the heavens and how through Jesus and "IN" Jesus we are saved from hell and are given eternal life with Him in heaven. we talked about how the only way to get saved is to believe in Jesus, be baptised because the bible tells us that that is when we have fogiveness of sins, are given eternal life and that that is when the gift of the holy spirit is given to us. Who knows how much he really understood. However, knowing Isaiah in a few weeks he will be telling a sibling the whole thing verbatim and understanding every word. the funny part was when he asked, "why does God just kill satan?" then he proceeded to tell me that "when he grows up he and Ian are gonna go down there and kill him, swat him, take my cutlass and kill him, give him a whippin, shoot him, we won't have to worry about satan ever again!!!" he was quite infatic! then i told him...all you gotta do is love Jesus...nothing makes satan more mad!!!

I can't wait to see where this conversation leads...

GERONIMO!!!...

Isaiah got the clever idea to sled down the slide today...what normal boy wouldn't??? it happened so fast I was unable to get video, but I did get the succession of pictures...you can imagine the sound...

READY...SET...GERONIMO!!!!

"I'm gonna do that again!!!"

Recess At The Homeier School...

School was all done for the day by 10:13am and those boys were itchin' to get into that snow! sledding the traditional way was not an option, so they made their own fun...just like boys are supposed to!

to turn off background music scroll to bottom of page and click pause!

Solomon's Birthday...

Solomon Turned 4 today! we had a great, rather relaxing party at Caren's house and the kids had a ball! Kikim barely even says hello...she just skips right to "where's the baby?"

She loves Elias (or maybe just babies in general)

i said hello to Solomon and he replied, "i'm lightening mcqueen!" i said, no, "you're americanized!"

Bella and Solomon getting ready to light the candles.

New Kiddo Pics...

I love this...it is as if Elias is saying, "help mommy...not another kiss!!!"

lookin more like daddy every day!

pretty even when mad!

my favorite photographer, Kimberly Smoot will be taking shots of kenna in january. stay tunned. i can't wait. i love this pic. God gave this girl some gorgeous eyes! i can say that cuz she's adopted ya know...and i am her mom so i am supposed to think that!

Mr. Deer in Headlights! he doesn't seem to look so deer in headlights in person, but those big eyes always come through in the pictures. people always comment on his pretty and big eyes! deer in headlights or not...still my cutie!

Christmas Tree Picking...kinda...

The day after thanksgiving we always go pick our Christmas tree. This year we cheated and got a fake one (just for a few years). we all agreed it felt sooo wrong that we decided to go to the tree farm anyway and pretend! it was great. still got the cider, popcorn, tractor ride, and the ambiance...with no hassle of a tree or 4 little children bundled up so tight they could not walk and falling over whinning saying they can't get up. no kids scattering throughout acres upon acres of trees getting lost. no fights over the too tall tree, the too short tree...the just plain "you can't be serious" tree. it was perfect! then we went home...with a wreath!

Ian truly makes me laugh! the man got off the tractor to pick up someone's tree and Ian says, "mom, i yike (aka like) him, can i give him a hug?" "sure" i said, "wait til he gets back up here". the man returns with a tree and no sooner did Ian grab that man's leg and hug the dickens out of him! the man was so surprised he said, " well, i wasn't expecting that today!" Ian just brightens everyone's day. i can't wait to see how God uses that in him!

Ian and daddy sharing another sweet Ian moment.

Bella enjoying the scenery.

as much of the clan as we could fit in the picture!