Finally, we took our kids to the zoo.

Petting zoo area.....turtle.

Lots of cute baby goats.

This was a dizzy time for me....

Kaleb got to feed the giraffe. He had just moved his hand here. This was a fun day. The kids were wiped out on the drive home. We also got to pet the sting rays and reindeer.....and lots of hand washing.

Christmas In Phoenix

Dex got a new toy.
Kaleb got a new puzzle dinosaur that I was being goofy with.

Kaleb got a toy kit.

Clif got a sweater.

Klara got princess stuff. We also have had a chance to see Granny. We will stay here until the New Year. Sadly, dad had to leave on a trip, but at least he got to hang out with us for a bit. We also got to see The Princess and the Frog. We will be buying that when it comes out. Very cute. Both kids loved it.....well, all of us did.

Christmas With The Cousins

The morning of the 25th, we (the dog too) headed south to see Clif's side of the family. We spent a lovely day and had great food. Later that night we all piled into Grandpa's truck and sang carols while looking at lights. We remembered to get all the cousins in once place for a group shot. Man how they are growing....and you would think we planned the clothes....jeans and red shirts, but no. Left to right; Ryne, Jonathan, Kaleb, Klara, Mackenna, Weston, Mikayla and Grayson.

Christmas Eve

We opened gifts on the 24th since we left early on the 25th. Klara is showing off her new hat.

Kaleb too.

Later that night, I led a xmas eve event at our church. Both kids were involved with the music part.

Here is the Jr Choir (Kaleb) singing their part. We didn't get a pic of Klara and her friend doing their song, but all the kids did great!!

2nd Big Snow Storm

Getting the kids to shovel. This was yesterdays storm that came in. 10" yesterday
The downside of having kids help shovel.....snow inside the garage.

Sledding time in the driveway.

This mornings surprise. Our backyard.

I would guess we got at least 14" of snow....so a white Christmas for us!!

Our Big Xmas Gift

Our little monkey.
Our xmas gift to us this year...Wii. We bought a big package on ebay this year for 4 people. I love this pic...check out Klara's hair. She was really into this game.

And now she's out. The game is worth every penny!!

Our Gingerbread House and Granola

I could not bring myself to cook one more thing, so I found a house kit and we did it this way. I kept my hands out of it and let the kids to it this year.

Mmmmm....looks yummy.......(I say with a crinkled nose)

I made some homemade granola and yum oh yum!! I thought I'd share the recipe.

6 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup coconut

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup dried (and cut up) apricots

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all together then;

melt 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter and 1/2 cup honey in microwave and whisk together.

Add to oat mixture and mix. Just use your hands...so much easier.

Lay mixture on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350. Stir after 10 minutes and then stir every 5 minutes until desired doneness and sugars start to caramelize. It took me about 20 minutes of total cook time. Be careful to not let the fruit burn (like I did on the first batch). Then move cookie sheet to cooling rack and let it cool all the way. If you want flakey granola for sprinkles or cereal, then stir while it cools. If you want more like a granola bar, then don't touch it (hard to do) and then break into desired size.

Mmmm, Mmmmm, Mmmmm. Add other stuff too like different fruits or nuts. Or get rid of stuff, but overall, it makes about 15 cups when it's done. Store in an airtight container.

Klara's Pre Ballet Recital

Klara has been in a ballet class and they had their winter showcase (performance). The little girls were snowflakes.

This is her class.

During the performance. She did really well...almost all the steps. I was worried that she would just stand there, but happy to say she didn't.

After their performance song was over, a Christmas carol was played so the girls could free dance on stage. Man, they stole the show!!

Afterwards, daddy and Kaleb gave her some PINK flowers. We took her to our fav place to eat for a huge ice cream treat and finished up by looking at lights. What a great time. Upon coming home, I replayed the video for her so she could see herself. She started to cry. When I found out why she was crying she said she wanted to go back and dance with her friends again. So, I guess this trial time was a success and we will con't to do to dance in Jan.

Winter Activities

Since the blizzard of 2009 (sounds neat) I picked up some crafts for us to do. Trying to avoid cabin fever. The kids had 102 fevers and outside time was limited. So they did some card decorating and reindeer ornaments.

After the fever was gone, they pestered dad enough and got to play out back. Check out this snow man they made! Pretty neat. Clif had to split the body parts in half just to stack one on another. Then re-assemble.

Dex loves the snow too, but without a winter coat, he just gets to be outside for a short time. Too cold on his old bones.

Snow Angels

We took a little walk so the kids could play in the snow but not mess up our clean driveway....yes, I know what your thinking....;)
Their cute results.

All smiles.

Christmas Photos 2009

If you dare, read the next few posts.....they will show you how much fun (and how many trys it takes) to get these great shots. We'll be using these for our cards this year.

Merry Christmas to everyone! We wish you a very fruitful 2010!! May God bless your family!

More Bad Family Photos Part 2

I know these blog posts are out of order, but hey, at least they are posted now. I'm only a little behind. Anyways, after we took family shots by the brown backdrop, we thought since that was so much fun, lets try by the tree. A big breath, and this was what we ended up with....

Bad Family Photos

It's that time to take family photos for Christmas cards. Of course, it's never as easy as it seems.

Enjoy... Take 1
Take 2 (love Klara's face here)

Take 3

Better...Take ????? 7 or 8 by now

Geez Kaleb.....take 9???