Gingerbread Houses

David really outdid himself on this one. He went shopping and came home with bags of goodies. Here we are making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and lots of CANDY. We invited some great friends and had a fun afternoon. The frosting wasn't quite the right consistency, so we had lots of trial "runs".

Merry Christmas!

I'm back. I can't believe how fast the last month has gone. We had a wonderful Christmas and really enjoyed being together as a family. We played games, ate, read, relaxed, did puzzles, watched movies and got some great gifts! Here are some pictures of the holidays. The kids loved the John Deere shirts from Grandma and Grandpa Cannon. They wear them for days and then finally relinquish them to the laundry pile. This is a pretty typical scene at our house. Everyone playing with Dad sacked out on the floor. The kids all love to be around David. We've had so much fun being together.

Sinterklaas Dag

We had another successful Sinterklaas Dag this past year. I was in Holland again for work (ha, ha-see below) and brought back some Dutch goodies; "If ain't Dutch, it ain't much!"

Children Helping Children

David here...
As you know, we have a few kids. Many people ask us if it is easier with six now that the older kids can help out. Well, our older kids still aren't old enough to completely help out. That is, until this past week. Marilyn and I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to the sound of Michael (seven years old) dry-heaving, screaming "Oh, sick!" and laughing; all interspersed. What we soon discovered is that he had gotten our 2 year old (Peter) out of bed and was changing his stinky diaper. Marilyn and I laughed hard during the whole ordeal, but tried to keep quiet so we wouldn't have to go help. Needless to say, Michael took care of it with no problem. What a kid!

Thanksgiving Pilgrim

Michael's class performed a play "The First Thanksgiving". He LOVES to perform and was very specific about how his costume needed to be. He needed red stockings (we dyed some of mine), a brown coat with a white full collar, knicker type pants, and buckles on his shoes. He looked great and did well. The only glitch was when he almost missed his line, because he was so busy smiling for people taking pictures with their cameras! He is such a fun person. And really lights up on stage. He loves the attention and revels in the spotlight.

Birthday Boy

Parker turned ten on November 27, 2007. He sure is a great kid. He's anxiously been checking the mail for letters and packages from grandparents. Thanks for taking care of him. He had a great day. I took molasses cookies to his class--his favorite. He was "beaming". He could not quit smiling. What a fun person. Here are the kids playing CLUE. He also got some snow gloves, the outfit he is wearing, some Star Wars Legos, and some little Transformers.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKER!

Fall Leaves

The kids LOVE to play in the leaves. This started back when we lived in Loagn and we'd rake piles to jump in. Chris, Doug, and Debbie even broke away from their studies to play. I think it is something that you never really outgrow.

Under Eliza's direction, they raked leaves into piles, then loaded the leaves onto a tarp, and transported the leaves to the main pile. They really had it down and mastered their "leafing" techniques. They've had fun. We still have an abudance of leaves and I've got a huge blister--so I am taking a raking leave of absence for a while.