Sleds and a Snowman

We had some perfect outdoor weather today to play in the snow so we took full advantage of it.  after nap time we got all our gear on (which took way longer than I'd like to admit) and headed to the backyard.  The boys all got new sleds for Christmas which came in handy today.

We have the perfect small slope in our back yard for sledding

Christian fell off a time or two...good thing the snow is soft :)

We made snow balls

And Easton was such a big boy going down the hill by himself

He LOVED it!!

Although he made dad pull him back up the hill a few times....

So dad decided to go down with Easton

Once we exhausted sledding we decided to make a snowman on our deck

Black olives for eyes and mouth and a carrot for a nose!

A hat and a scarf to make him complete.  Meet Frosty.  Yes, Easton named him Frosty.  He didn't like our suggestions of Earl, Bruce, Fred or Ed

And then we topped off the afternoon with some yummy hot chocolate to warm up!

We sure did have a great afternoon in the snow.  Perhaps there will be a repeat tomorrow before the bitterly cold subzero temperatures arrive!

Christmas 2013

We have a lot of family to spend the holidays with and we try to make time with everyone.  Here are the Christmas highlights of this year!



On December 15th we celebrated Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  That's our parents, 12 of us kids including our spouses and 9 grandkids....ah hem, I mean 9 grandBOYS.  Yes, all boys.  Although we sadly missed our sister Kate and her husband Andrew and son Ethan who live on the East coast.

Most of the boys wrestling with Uncle Dewey aka Jamison

How many boys does it take to keep him down?

Charlie with Nana

Cousin Thor reading to Charlie and Easton

Uncle Kyle and Charlie

Christian playing with his cousins Matthew and Zack!

Christmas eve was spent with Tyler's side of the family.  A nice dinner accompanied by a beautiful snow fall that made some slight changes in travel plans for great grandma and grandpa.

Christian in his Christmas duds

Such handsome little men!

No surprise they found tons of fun playing with a box!

Tyler's dad, grandpa and uncle

This boy loves his tractors and diggers!

Charlie had a blast helping everyone open their presents

These two cuddle bugs thought they could stay up and catch Santa...but fell asleep with dad instead :)

Christmas morning was spent at home with our little family of 5.  The boys opened their presents from Tyler and I and also from Santa.  Later in the morning we went to spend the rest of the day at my mom's house.

Easton decided he wanted to leave Santa some cookies and milk as well as yogurt and then celery for the reindeer.  Yep, yogurt.  And then Santa left a letter for the boys.

Christmas morning :)

Easton got the digger he asked for

And Charlie loves his dump truck

A hockey set....wonder if we can keep the high sticking to a minimum??

Christmas morning carnage from 3 little boys....yes, highly spoiled :)

Charlie: "What mom? I wasn't eating all the puppy chow!"

Easton loves Uncle Jakob's headphones

Christmas jammies!!

With cousin Maddox 

Do you think we could bribe them to sit still for 2 seconds??

Not really

Charlie playing with Auntie Blythe

We had such a great Christmas and blessed time with family and we hope all of you had a safe and happy Christmas as well.  Merry Christmas from the Kings!!!

The Meaning of Thanksgiving- In a Child's Eyes

Today, Monday, I was home with the boys on my day off.  Usually I try to find a craft or something fun to do with Easton while the little ones are napping.  Today, we talked about the meaning of Thanksgiving. And although the turkey and smorgasbord of food is wonderful along with the great company of friends and family, I explained to Easton what Thanksgiving is all about.  I wasn't sure how much he would grasp, but his words say it all.  He got every word I was talking about.  After talking about Thanksgiving we made a "thankful" turkey.  This is what Easton came up with for what he is thankful for....all on his own:

In case you can't read all of them Easton says he's thankful for (from left to right): Tank, Granny & Pa (Tyler's grandparents), dump trucks, our house, his brothers and mom and dad.

Love this kid!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Kings!

Easton wanted to be a tractor this year so......



we made him a tractor :)

This is the fanciest cardboard box you will ever see!

And he LOVED it!

Tonight we had my sister and her family as well as Easton's friend Claire join us for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  We had 7 boys and 1 girl prowling the neighborhood for candy!  And before you see any more pictures I will tell you that, no, Claire and Easton did not coordinate their costumes, but they were the perfect match!

Crabby Batman chose to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa

These were not Christian and Charlie's original costumes.  Mom made them some awesome chicken costumes, but when it came time to try them on a couple days ago....they wanted NOTHING to do with it and screamed as though I was torturing them!  So improvise we did :)

But Charlie was more than eager to go out!

Claire and Easton...

Oh my gosh these two have become such good friends! They held hands as they walked down the sidewalk.  It was the cutest!

The whole gang! 

(Minus Easton and Claire)

Overall it was a great Halloween!!