12-31-15

Today we took down the Christmas tree and decorations.  Our tree was a prelite tree but the lights didn't work.  Jared and I worked on taking off all the lights which were really twisted around every branch.  So glad to have that done!

This evening we watched movies and had pizza for dinner.  We had a sleep out in the living room.  Jared and I sleep on the air mattress, Adam and Eli on cots, and Jacob on the couch.  We stayed up and watched the ball drop.  We told the boys they could stay up as late as they wanted.  Jacob fell asleep soon after midnight. Jared and I were asleep soon after him.  Adam says he and Eli stayed up until 5am.  Happy New year!!!

12-30-15

I was working in the tack room today.  This bat was behind the cabinet I was moving.

Adam's snow fort

12-29-15

Grandma and Grandpa!  We love you!!!

I had some nice warm coffee on the drive home:)

 Adam made some cute snowmen!

12-28-15

Early morning light saber battle

We had a super fun day hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Kat, Eric and the boys came over too!

The boys had a lot of fun playing together!  

Grandma and Grandpa treated us to Fazoli's for dinner!  Thank you!!

Playing hide and seek!  Uncle Jared had fun finding places for Noah to hide.  And Noah was good at hiding!

Jacob using his weaving sticks

Grandma taught Eli the right way to put away the blocks

Eli says he's pinocchio - haha

12-27-15

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's!

I knitted these lambs for Grandma and Grandpa and Jared knitted their outfits.  The dark one is made from Oscars wool and the light one is made from Della's.  And the outfits are their wools blended together.  

Russell boys!

sick boy

We left early this morning for Indiana.  On our drive there Jacob started complaining that he didn't feel good.  He puked a couple times so we made some extra stops.  Grandma and Grandpa arrived home from church soon after we got to their house.  Jacob lay down on his sleeping bag in the computer room.  Kat, Eric, Andrew and Noah soon arrived.  Jacob was feeling a little better when it was time to open presents.  We started by opening our stockings from Grandma and Grandpa.  In the boys stockings were colored pencils, matchbox cars, chip clips, m&m's and parts to a snow art kit.  They also each got a gift card to Barnes and Noble!  Jacob also got some weaving sticks.  Oh and Grandma made the boys these awesome wall hangings from Copper Harbor drift wood and pebbles.  She painted the boys names on them! Aunt Kat and Uncle Eric got the boys each a cool light saber, and some star wars candy!  Jared got some really nice gloves, socks, and m&m's.  I got a heated mug that plugs into the car to keep my coffee really warm!  Jared and I got a bee and chicken wall hanging.  And we all got some knitted headbands in the boys school colors.   Thank you for everything!   The boys had fun playing together.  They had light saber battles,  played hide and seek, and watched TV.  Grandma made some yummy pizza for dinner.  Jacob ate some crackers and sipped on some 7up.   He started feeling sick again.  He lay on the couch and fell asleep.

12-26-15

Relaxing day at home.  Jared and I worked on knitting a surprise for Grandma!

Adam working on his surprise for Grandma!

Merry Christmas 2015!!!

Excited boys!

Stockings!

The boys came into our bedroom at 4:30!  We told them it was too early and had them go back to bed for awhile.  Eli fell back asleep but Adam and Jacob stayed awake in their beds.  We got up at 6:30 and the boys woke Eli.  They loved seeing all the presents and got their stockings down to open.  In their stocking was candy, gum, matchbox cars, star wars notebook and stickers, mini slinky's,  playdoh, and rulers.  After stockings we made coffees and Jared got some banana bread in the oven. My coffee mug met Jacob's head and spilled coffee on him.  Jacob changed his shirt and then the boys started passing out presents. We took turns opening gifts.  The boys opened knitted lambs that I had knit for them,  Calvin and Hobbes books,  Nerf clips and darts,  and legos sets.  Jared got some m&m's,  two more pair of Levi jeans, a niddy noddy, and an iTunes gift card (this was Jacob's idea).  I got a short interchangeable knitting needle set, a row counter, a couple other things for knitting, and some starbursts.  The boys were super excited about all their gifts and it was fun watching them open.  I had made a bag for my knitting needles (just in case I got was was on my list - haha) so I organized that with my long and short sets and other knitting items.  The boys started building their legos sets and worked on them for hours.  Jacob finished his much quicker so Adam let him do some building on his set.  We had fun helping Eli build his Jokerland set.  This afternoon Jared headed to his friend house nearby to check on their chickens.  He got back and went to check on our bee hives.  Then he found out that we've lost the yellow hive (which was doing really good).  Such a bummer!  Jacob took a long bath so he could play with his new lego ship in the tub.  We ate around 3pm and my parents arrived around that time.  They stayed for a couple hours and we sure enjoyed our time with them.  Mom and I did some knitting with our new knitting needles. We also got to see Papa's new truck which is super nice!  The boys played with their nerf gun or legos set until this evening.  Then we got out the cots to have a sleep out in the living room.  We made popcorn and watched I Love Lucy.