Christmas 2010

Our Christmas celebration began on Thursday the 23rd and went right on through the weekend.  We are exhausted today, but it was all well worth it.  We are so blessed and thankful for our wonderful families and all the work that goes into making Christmas meaningful and memorable each and every year.

We kicked our Christmas off last Thursday at our house.  We had our family celebration.  We ate supper at Minerva's and then listened to Lauren and Jillian play Christmas carols for us on their piano.

We read the Christmas story and opened gifts.  We ended our evening by blowing out the candle on our birthday cupcakes for Jesus

Then it was off to Sioux Falls the next day for our Christmas Eve celebration with Paul and Darlene

Paul and Darlene with all of the grandkids before leaving for Christmas service at their church

Lauren wrote and directed a Christmas play for us.  It was called "Do you Know the Meaning of Christmas?" They are all so cute and did a great job!

The reading of the Christmas story from the book of Luke

Some of the highlights of our gift opening were these wonderful aprons that Darlene and her friend Molly made for the girls.  They love to bake with Grandma.  On a related note, my parents found my Grandma Clark's old recipe box and apron and gave it to me for Christmas.  It brought back many fond memories of times spent in my Grandma's kitchen helping her cook and wash dishes.  

Paul gave each of his grandsons a toy gun.  Opening gifts is already a crazy scene, but then you add 3 toy guns with sound effects and you can only imagine!  Owen has hardly put the gun down since.

Another birthday party for Jesus.  This time we had pepermint stick ice cream cake.  Yum!

The next morning it was on to Mitchell.  Jordan was home and my Grandma Lilly was there from Aberdeen.  We opened more gifts. The highlights of that gift opening would have to be the silly $6 Zhu Zhu pets.  The kids were thrilled.   Thanks Uncle Jo Jo!  It was then time to get ready for another wonderful meal.    We had prime rib the night before and ham dinner with all the fixings on Christmas day. 

 

Grandma Lilly and Jillian getting started on our Christmas puzzle.  

By the end of the day, everyone (except Grandpa Pat) had contributed to the puzzle

Success!

This picture is worth a thousand words, but I will give you the condensed version.  My grandma is a die hard republican.  So naturally she likes Kristi Noem,  However she despises Kristi's hairstyle.  She and Darlene talk about this often in a joking way.  So after our annual 5 dollar gift exchange, Darlene presented Grandma Lilly with a present.  It was "from" Kristi Noem and was a wig that resembled her hair cut.  Grandma Lilly wore it with pride and got a huge kick out of it.  

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today is my sister- in- laws birthday.  I never had a sister growing up, but God has blessed me with wonderful girlfriends and Natalie is one of them.  We always have so much fun when we are together.  She is the best!  Happy Birthday Natalie!!!

Santa visit

We have a house nearby that takes Christmas decorating very seriously.  They even have a shed right in the front  yard where Santa and Mrs Clause sit during December and listen to the kid's wish lists. They send them home with a treat bag filled with peanuts, an apple and a candy cane. It sure beats standing in line at the mall.  I only had my cell phone camera along so the pictures are not the greatest. 

 Madelyn asked for a baby doll that pees and poops

 Owen was terrified and asked for nothing :) 

 Jillian asked for a Zu Zu pet and  legos

Lauren asked for an ipod docking station and a Zu Zu pet

Lauren turns 9!

On this day 9 years ago, our firstborn Lauren came into our lives.  We lived in a 2 bedroom little white house in Sioux Falls SD.  Will was a 4th year medical Student and I was a RN in the NICU working night shifts.  We celebrate her birthday today and we are so proud of  the young lady she is becoming.

Here we are at the hospital. She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces. 

Lauren age 1

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Thanksgiving weekend 2010

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Sioux Falls at Paul and Darlene's.  Will's Aunt and Uncle and their son  and family joined us.  We had a great day!  The kids are shown here making homemade place mats.  The cell phone camera did not take very good pictures

 

The men watching Football.  Go Cowboys!

We ended our weekend with a "girls day" by attending the Nutcracker and having pie and coffee at the Fry'n pan.

Introducing.....

JOEY!!!

 We are so excited to bring a new puppy into our home.  As Jillian said this morning "the saddest day of my life was the day Abby died"  We were all sad, but life goes on and new blessings come our way.  So far he is sweet, adorable and loves to cuddle.   We had thought we would get a female and I had the name "JOY" picked out.  After talking with a breeder we decided on a male and my friend Steph had the idea of "JOEY".    So thanks Steph for your great idea- you win absolutely nothing other then the pride that goes along with naming the Eidsness puppy :) 

Halloween 2010

Happy Birthday Will!

Happy birthday to our favorite dad and husband!  He turned 36 today.  The girls asked me yesterday what to draw on their homemade birthday cards.  I told them to draw pictures of things he likes.  They drew pictures of footballs to show his love of sports and a tent to show his love of the outdoors, and a cross to show his love for Jesus. That pretty much sums up why we all love him so much!   His parents came down for supper and his mom brought down the famous angel food cake to top off our celebration.  We love you Will! 

Childhood friends

The girls and I had a great time this past weekend attending a wedding shower for my childhood friend Laura Barta.  We were neighbors for many years and shared countless hours together creating memories that we reminisce about whenever we get together.  One of those memories was playing Barbies together.  The girls and I thought it would be fun to buy her a bride barbie to symbolize our years of friendship.  It was a fun afternoon and I am so excited for Laura as she enters into this next chapter of her life

Madelyn turns 5!!

Here we are as a brand new family of 5 taking our first picture.  We lived in Omaha and delivered Madelyn at Methodist Hospital around 11 am in the morning. 

Madelyn was a happy baby.  She always had these big and rosy cheeks. 

Here is the birthday girl with her "princess cake" made by her Grandma Darlene.

Madelyn received a "bitty baby" and was thrilled! She is our girly girl and loves all things pink and sparkly.

Lauren made her sister a cardboard cake for her birthday.  Lauren spent over a week working on this project. 

As if her birthday party and presents were not enough, we also took part in our annual tradition of picking pumpkins from Grandpa Paul's pumpkin patch.  We hauled home tons of pumpkins and gourds.  It was a great way to end a very special day.  We love you Madelyn. 

I posted this picture because if you had a niece that was this darn cute you would do the same :) 

Madelyn goes to Preschool!

Madelyn started her second year of Preschool this morning.  She will attend Webster Public Preschool on M-W-F mornings.  She was very excited!

Her teacher's name is Mrs. Vondracek

The check in

A quick hug and she was off to join her classmates.