Christmas Music (Easton style)

Easton singing Away in a Manger!

Family Christmas

From Mommy & Daddy Keara's favorite gift was her Airel doll, complete with Flounder!

Easton's favorite is his light saber.

Daddy's favorite gift was his TV!!

After Santa came!

Our Christmas morning. Keara and her toys.

Easton and his Santa toys.

Preschool Christmas Program

Before our Christmas program

Keara & Easton's Preschool had their annual Christmas program. These pictures are of the 3-4 year-old group. Half of this group is in their Tuesday/Thursday morning class. They are singing Jingle Bells

Keara letting Santa know ALL the things she wants.

Easton wasn't too fond of Santa and actually didn't say a word to him, except a forced Thank you.

The Making of a would-be Christmas Card

We really tried to have a cute little Christmas card with some brother-sister love, but we really just didn't want to cooperate.

Giving Thanks!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Blair and in Clay Center, KS. On Thursday, we hosted Thanksgiving Dinner and then went into the lighting ceremony. On Friday, we traveled to Clay Center. And, on Sunday at church, all the kids listened to the childeren's story and then Keara and Easton and their cousins, Brooklyn and Brody performed for the special, singing B-I-B-L-E, Twinkle-twinkle, the ABCs, and Itsy-Bitsy spider. They did a great job and will be a video that I am sure one of them will use when they are a famous singer!!

Thanksgiving Feast at Preschool

Keara and Easton's Preschool puts on a Thanksgiving feast every year for all of the preschoolers and their families. They bring all of the food, set up stations, and let all the kids have a hand in mixing, pouring, and stirring the food (after we thoroughly washed our hands- thank God!). Our group was in charge of the corn casserole. Between food preparation, we made name tags, colored turkeys, sang songs, played games and then they got to reveal the hats they made. We enjoyed our meal of ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn casserole and pumpkin muffins.

*For all you parents, please don't let your child be the only child that doesn't have any parent, grandparent, family or friend show up to eat with them.*

Pie-fection

I made my first homemade pie yesterday. I was always under the impression that pie-making was almost an art and was intimidated to even try making a pie, sure that it wouldn't turn out. But, that morning I asked Keara and Easton if they wanted to make an apple pie and they were so excited. I went home and the only recipe I could find for the crust was one with lard- yum! So, I called my Mom and got her recipe and we made the pie crust dough and then cut up the apples and finally put it all together and enjoyed the smell of a baking pie. I do have to say, it turned out, and tasted really good.

Halloween

Well, this was probably Keara and Easton most fun Halloween so far. They couldn't wait to go trick or treating. Keara wanted to be a princess and well, I kind of pushed her to princess Belle simply because my Mom had the perfect fabric to make the dress and Easton has always wanted to be Spiderman and actually already owned the costume. They had fun dressing up, but the best for them was the door-to-door candy! They were a little shy, but when the bowl of candy got to eye level, they were all for it! Today all we have been hearing is 'Have little snack? Maybeeee, candy?'.

Nebraska Game

Allen and I had so much fun going to a football game. It was Nebraska and Baylor and what I was guessing to be a pretty boring game considering it was Baylor, however, we are now just Nebraska, so it was very good! We had great seats thanks to the CEO of Mutual and the weather was perfect. After the game I got to catch up with an old friend, Todd and his wife Chanda who were in from Philadelphia and also Jed and his wife, Janice. It was kind of reminiscent of college days. As we walked back to our car, we passed all the bars and I bored Allen with stories of almost everyone of them. Like where his sister Ann meeting a guy at my bacholerette party and Lacey and I scamming drinks off of random men and then another where Allen and I went on our first date. We finished off our day out (without kids!!) at Lazlo's for dinner, which has undergone major expansion. I use to be a hostess there and now I think I would get lost. So, all in all, we had a really good time and decided we should really try to go back to a game once year.

Chaffee Fall Harvest

Mid-October we went back to Kansas to experience some of the fall harvest. We had a good time with everyone and we all ate way too much (a typical scenario whenever we go to our families' homes). Keara and Easton learned all about the combine and the semi and the elevator bins. Easton is now the proud owner of all of Daddy's old die cast tractors, trailers, and other kinds of pull-behind equipment I don't the names of!! I am sure by next year, Keara and Easton will be throwing out farming lingo and I will just be shaking my head acting like I understand. They are like little sponges, absorbing everything they hear.

Sunflower Photo Shoot

There are so many sunflowers blooming right now and Keara and Easton's favorite past time is to go and pick flowers. Well, Keara picks them to proudly display in a vase. Easton usually picks them, tears all the pedals off and then sees how far he can through the rest.

Photos from the Past

There are so many pictures to share that I didn't know where to start. Moving from Kansas City is kind of where 'family' life began for Allen and I. When Keara and Easton arrived in 2005, life became centered around their every need and desire. Our family vacations so far have been fun, adventurous and usually a little hectic and sleep-deprived. We are up to four cousins and waiting for more!!

First Day of School

Keara and Easton started Preschool today. They said they had fun and actually want to go back!