Fun Fair 2013 & Jordy's 1st Birthday

 Fun Fair for the Awana Sparks.  It's a big, big night, but the kids love it and look forward to it.

 

 Even though we planned 15 different games, our lines were too long.  We'll need to add 3-4 additional games next year.  We have lots of help from our faithful leaders.

 

 Jordy turned one year old last week.  Friends and family gathered to help him celebrate the big event.

 

 

 His mommy was so sure he would just "dig-in" to his cake.  Jordy was just content to look and observe what was going on!

 

 "I'm just soooo excited to see everyone!"

 

 The party was held at the "Carousel Room" at Gage Park.  We had access to the merry-go-round and the kids thought it was just pretty special.  It took Jordy a little while to warm up to the idea of riding on the merry-go-round!

 

 Westin was just anxious to find out where those horses were going around in a circle!

 

Carly and Westin going for a ride.

 

 Kayla not on a horse....maybe a donkey??

 

 Tyler was a little hesitant at first, but it didn't take long for him to ride all by himself.

 

 Joshua and his daddy.

 

 About time to head for home.

 

Even Grandpa took a ride.

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

 We celebrated Rebecca's birthday with a family dinner that Jonny made for us.  Yummy!

 Rebecca blew out her candles and just look at all the smoke it made!  Some of the candles just wouldn't go out for anything??  They must be trick candles, or something!

 Jordy having so much fun celebrating his mommy's birthday!

 Miss Kayla giving the dogs some attention.  Don't you think the Nelson's need an indoor dog??

 Kayla is showing Grandpa the fine points of playing a game on someone's phone.

This, my friend, is what it looks like in the living room when we are preparing for our Fun Fair this week at Sparks.  Let the games begin.

Each sack represents a game that can be set up ready to play in 2 minutes....literally.  It's a big night; the kids have a blast; and Lisa and I say "Hooray....another Fun Fair in the books!" 

I've Almost Caught Up!

 Happy Birthday, Joshua!  I realized I had never posted pictures of Josh and Kayla's birthday.  How did Joshua all of a sudden become 8 years old??

 Ummmm....this is for the guys in the family.  We've never had a forklift on the frame machine before, so we needed to document this bit of history.  I'm not sure what all they had to do, but Ryan did a lot of welding on it (enough that he burned a hole in his jeans and got sunburned on his face.)

 

 For all the years we have lived in this house, we have had a squeaky back door.  It was great because I could hear the teenagers coming in at night.  Well, this week as I was carrying in water bottles, I heard the door squeak one too many times. I got my trusty can of lubricant and worked magic!  It is almost eerie that the door can open and shut, and it is silent. 

 Kayla looks so grown up in this picture.  Celebrating her 6th birthday in November.

Kayla is always ready to help Mr Tyler and be a little "mommy" to him.  I'm sure he was anxious to help her open her presents.

Birthday Celebrations!

 We no sooner finished our Christmas celebrations, and we moved right into birthday mode.  It really began with Freya's birthday the day their family arrived in Kansas, but as usual, I didn't think to get my camera.  Westin turned 1 year old December 28 and he had a lot of family to help celebrate. 

 

Yum...chocolate cake to celebrate the big birthday.  Westin wasn't lacking help in opening his birthday gifts.  Everything was checked out to make sure there were no defective toys!

 I included the next three pictures for a particular reason.  What are the chances that out of nine grandchildren, that three are left- handed.  So here is Max, then Tyler, then Lena!

 A couple of days later, we were celebrating Miss Emmy's first birthday.  I have never, ever used red icing on a birthday cake, but Freya found bargains galore with after-Christmas deals, so we made use of the bright red icing :)

 Even though Rebecca has a little boy of her own, the kids still ask for her to sit with them.....you know....she is just their age!

 This picture speaks volumes.  Tyler - "I really don't want to do this."  Westin - "I want my Mommy!"  Kayla - "I don't have room."  Emmy - "Hold on to me, Max; I'm slipping!"  It's a hoot to get a group picture.

 Here were the mothers preparing plates of food for the kiddos.  It was such mild weather that I actually grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for the evening meal.

 Westin was getting introduced to the wonders of a purple popsicle.  He thought he liked it, but had a hard time deciding.

Freya just partied too hard.  For whatever reason, in the process of getting the kids ready for bed, she ran into the wall and put a pretty good size knot on her forehead.  It hurt enough she was ready to put some ice on it.

More Christmas

I wish you could hear the audio portion and catch the excitement!

After the older children had opened their gifts, then the three little babies opened their gifts. I wonder if we will always refer to Emmy, Westin, and Jordy as the three little babies!

Grandpa helping Westin show off his new "Snap-On Tool" bib!

Lena and Kayla admiring each other's presents.

What a difference one day can make. Henry was feeling much better the following day and ready to play with his "Marble Run" toy with his daddy.

Grandpa with Emmy and Max. Max took his turn of not feeling very well a couple of days later. We just kind of had the "gift" that we all kept "sharing."

Christmas 2012

The "blog" format changed on my computer, so I've been trying to figure out how to post my pictures, so this first entry, is my experiment. We had such a good time with family during the Christmas holidays. We had our family Christmas on the 23rd, so before we opened our gifts we read the Christmas story. Kayla and Lena were my only "takers" of dressing up as one of the nativity characters. Kayla was Mary and Lena was an angel.....somehow didn't get a picture of her. They both acted out their character with enthusiasm. I wonder back in the days of Sunday school pageants, if the boys were as reluctant to dress up as my dear little grandsons are??

Even if you don't want to dress up, we have these wonderful masks to make the Christmas story even more impressionable. Poor little Henry; he was feeling pretty punk that night.

Okay...it's finally time to begin passing out gifts. The children were so patient and excited at the same time.

Rebecca and Jordy watching the action.

The older children all sat side-by-side and took turns opening their presents. What fun!