Hmmm. I don't even know where to begin. My father-in-law informed me the other night that it had been almost a year since I last blogged. Now just 2 weeks shy of a year since I last blogged I sit here and don't even know what to write. A lot has happened in a year. All the kids are a year older and I have hundreds of pictures that I need to sort through and share. That all seems too overwhelming so I am just going to start with the present.
I'll start with a little update on each of the kids and see where that takes me.
Jake is a senior in highschool. Even writing that seems hard to believe. He will be 18 in 3 1/2 months. He is currently still enrolled in Saydel however he already has all the credits he needs to graduate so he doesn't have to go the highschool for class. In the mornings he starts an internship on Monday at the Altoona Campus for personal/physical training. He will work there in the mornings from now until May. In the afternoons he attends DMACC in Ankeny taking some business courses.
He is graduating in May and plans to attend DMACC to get his 2 year degree in business and then maybe transfer to Iowa State for Athletic training. He just finished football where he was voted team captain. His team won their first game in week 2. This was the first game the team has won in 5 years. It was a pretty big deal. He was also elected to be on the Homecoming court.
Walking across the track and being introduced on senior night. Makes me sad to see him as a senior but I am so proud of him and excited to see what his future holds.
Tony is a sophomore. He keeps himself busy building Lego sculptures, coloring, whittling sticks and anything else that can keep his hands busy. He has a fascination with the history of weapons and can pretty much tell you anything you could ever want to know about them. School pretty much bores him but he has been involved in the marching band and has had a good time with that. He is doing percussion and has had some major parts this year in some of the competitions. It has been fun watching him.
Brodie just celebrated his 8th birthday. He had his first friend birthday party. It's awesome to watch him with his buddies. He is such a peace keeper. If anyone was fighting or feeling bad he was right there trying to make things better. He is such a good kid.
He loves football and has gotten to go to a few Iowa State games with Daddy. He constantly plays football in the backyard. He has gotten a lot of help and advice from his older brother.
Drew is in first grade now. Part of him loves school and the other part of him would much rather be home with mom and Emily. He is Emily's second mom and is always trying to take care of her.
He started wearing glasses last Spring. We had no idea how bad his eye sight was. They have helped him greatly, although he is still just as clumsy.
Emily Joy. I don't even know what to say about her. She is busy. She is learning so much. She loves to play with her babies and take care of her puppies.
She loves to be outside and play in the dirt and dig for worms. This is a recent photo of her and a tomato hornworm we found that she cared for and played with for 2 whole afternoons.
She is finally getting some hair. It's pretty long in the back. But you can't touch it. She hates when I brush it, run my fingers through it, and you definitely can't put it in a pony tail.
Whew, ok. There is the short and sweet on all the kiddos. It only took me 2 days and multiple interruptions to write this. I am hoping to schedule time a few days a week to add photos and write a few posts. We will see how I do!
This year we decided to save a little money on our Christmas tree so we skipped going to the Christmas tree farm. The atmosphere of that place is indeed fun. The hunt for that perfect tree, the hot cocoa, wagon rides, we really did enjoy all that. However we usually spend a small fortune on a tree. 
Here was the end results. Of course Emily thinks that she can paint mommy's nails now too. I am not near as sweet or brave as her dear cousin so Emily has yet to paint my nails!
Saturday morning before we packed up to head home Will and his momma had to break out the ol' Kaypro to see if they could get it to work. They wanted to show the kids the computer that their dad grew up with.
Here is the dinner table complete with name cards made by grandma. 
Only at your aunt and grandma's house could you be elbow deep in flour and have no grownups even bat an eye.
At 3 years, 2 weeks of age Emily Joy got her first haircut. 
He found a puppy dog tin at the library so he had me make that for his cake.
Brodie just celebrated his 8th birthday. He had his first friend birthday party. It's awesome to watch him with his buddies. He is such a peace keeper. If anyone was fighting or feeling bad he was right there trying to make things better. He is such a good kid. 
Emily Joy. I don't even know what to say about her. She is busy. She is learning so much. She loves to play with her babies and take care of her puppies. 
She is finally getting some hair. It's pretty long in the back. But you can't touch it. She hates when I brush it, run my fingers through it, and you definitely can't put it in a pony tail. 
