Christmas Day!

Here, Marina and Jett are enjoying their new toys by the Christmas tree. I would like to say that this is the photo I took on Christmas Day. But I sort of recreated the photo here because I accidentally deleted the real one on my camera. I'm so bummed! You can still see Christmas at our house though... the windows show lots of light because we've gotten a lot of snow here!

Santa brought Jett a new tool bench (shown above by the tree) and a dart tag game to play with Mark. I'm not sure who enjoys this game more. They have lots of fun running in the basement and playing tag with it. These darts are serious... even coming with eye protection! Below, Jett just got hit...

Jett and Marina both received new vacuums for Christmas. They had one child's vacuum and they always fought over it... so I decided to get them two new ones. These are child-sized versions of the Dyson vacuums. Unfortunately, they are not as good as the first one (a Scooby Doo Bissell, no longer available - I checked!). So, they still fight over the first vacuum...

We made a gingerbread house after Christmas...
time got away from me but we had fun doing this even after the big day. It's still on display!

Marina in her Santa hat, dancing to some music.

Christmas Gift Giving

We were fortunate to have a wonderful Christmas with many
great gifts that we received...

Marina received a twin baby set at the Johnsons.
She's showing them off as cousin Cyan looks on and Grandma JJ hugs one of the babies.

Jett was really excited about this dual-control helicopter at the Johnsons! So many packages at the Joneses... lots of great clothes inside!

A delicious turkey dinner compliments of Mom & Dad!

Seth is styling in his new KU shooting jersey that MJ picked out for him.
If he wears this to a KU game, they just might put him in! Two cousins enjoying each other's company by the fire... Evelyn and Marina.

Christmas Fun

What a great Christmas! I can't believe it's aready over!


Before we left for Wichita, Marina actually put this on herself.










Here are my two cuties on our stairway... the tree is behind them.









We had a wonderful 5-day Christmas event. We started with making a very wise choice to leave for Wichita on Friday evening before Christmas, rather than the original Saturday morning. They were calling for snow on Saturday and because we didn't want to chance it, we went early. Much to our surprise - there was an all-out blizzard! I've never seen anything like it. Here, Brent, Brandon and Jett are shoveling the sidewalks.




Mark is trying out one of Christy's Christmas presents... she collects eyeballs and these are ceramic ones that I found. Mark scared Marina putting these in!

To get you in the Holiday Spirit...

Christmas is upon us! Can't believe how quickly it goes from Jett's birthday to Christmas but here we are!

Thanksgiving Photos - better late than never!

Here are some great photos to share from the Thanksgiving holiday! We had fun hosting the Jones/Johnsons for Thanksgiving. Great Grandpa Earl made the trip from Wichita too! For good photos of the Jones Thanksgiving that was earlier that week, be sure to visit Evey's blog on the right. My brother got some great pics!





The turkey cooks the turkey!





Cousins Evelyn and Marina share a hug.

KU pep rally was cold for the KU/MU game! We didn't win, but we got a great bowl game to Miami!



Jett poses with Santa. He asked for a yellow remote control corvette from Santa. I had to remind him that he had TWO! So Jett corrected himself -- oh yea, I need a RED corvette!

Don't expect to see photos of "Claus" with Marina. She is terrified of him. She likes looking at him in books and on shows. But if he's in person, she yells "NO CLAUS! NO CLAUS!" Santa has been pretty understanding about this...

KC photos

Here's some more photos that I thought I'd share...

We went to the Kansas City Zoo a few weeks back. This was the best part of our trip - we were able to feed these beautiful birds.

Typical Jett-style - I'm trying to take a photo and he decides he wants an action shot. That's his feet on the bottom! We went to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum and these are the KC-famous Shuttlecocks.

Here's our house all decked out for Halloween. We got about 40 trick-or-treaters. A far cry from being in College Hill near Trick-or-Treat Street, where we served around 1200 last year! And sweet Marina is below in her costume.

We spent the day in Lawrence cheering on the Jayhawks. That's the most touchdowns I've seen scored in one game in my entire life! I can't believe the year we're having! Rock Chalk!

Trick or Treat!

We're in the Saddlebrooke Halloween parade just down street.

One of Jett's best friends here at Saddlebrooke - Sam. They are adorable together!

Marina's new best friend (Sam's brother) Josh. Marina likes to call him "Baby."

ACTION SHOT!

Halloween is Here!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Time has been flying by! My hope is to share some great photos of Halloween today so that the grandparents can see their grandchildren on this big day!

Jett and I decorated Halloween cookies last night before watching The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.



Here is a Halloween parade at Lake Quivera. Jett wore his police officer's uniform that Uncle Brent & Uncle Brandon got him. He told his classmates that he was a police officer just like his Uncle Brent (Brent started police academy this month for Wichita's department!).



Jett and Marina at Jett's preschool Halloween party. Marina did not fuss to put this on... I think because everyone else had something on! This was taken Halloween morning.






Here Jett has been working on our outdoor decor! It's hard work. The fun has just begun! Tune in tonight for updated photos! We have a party at Lake Quivera tonight starting at 4:30 PM. Then at Saddlebrooke, a parade in our neighborhood and a pizza party at a friend's house starting at 5:30 PM... Happy Halloween!

My first posting!

Welcome all to my first blog! I'm excited at the possibilities here. My family just moved from Wichita to Kansas City. I miss my friends and family so much, but everyone has been making us feel so welcome here. In fact, Slugger hung out with us at the Royals game for this photo.

We've been plenty busy with Jett's birthday. He turned 5 yesterday. He's had 2 weekends of birthday celebrations (Johnsons came up the first weekend, then Joneses up this past weekend). Then of course we had to celebrate with our new friends here on his actual birthday. Attached are some photos that captured some great moments. At left, Jett loves his new friends.

Here we are celebrating with the Johnson family. Actually we celebrated Brent and Brandon's (Mark's twin brothers) birthdays too the first weekend in October.

Here we are with the Jones family. That's my brother Seth, his cute baby Evelyn, my mom, Jett and Grandma Jo-Jo.

Amazingly, we did not capture a family photo for this birthday... we had plenty of opportunities! Oh well. All for now...