Sunday Sledding

Zoey the dog loaded up in the back of the gator waiting for everyone!

Both girls on the sled first starting out! Gentry wasn't screaming yet......she just had the scared stiff face.

This is Gentry's favorite. She'll say "Crappa's Big Greeeen Tractooor!"

Riding around the farm!

Headed down by the silo. This part made her and I a little nervous bc she was headed down hill.

Uncle Ryan, Zoey, and Kennedy

mERry ChriStMAs eVe!!!!

Daddy and his "Sacks of Potatoes!" or as Gentry yells........TATOES!!!

Kennedy had her Christmas program for her daycare that she attends on this past tues. evening. The daycare she goes to is through the Methodist Church. They put on the cutest 25 min. kid friendly program.
Mary and Joseph! His beard about made me die. It was the most hilarious thing ever. I actually think it was a piece of cut carpet!

I know...you are thinking what the heck is this? Well these were the wise men...in their robes...which were really long. And they kept stepping on each other's robes and falling down....the steps....numerous times. I was crying I was laughing so hard. Along w/ about all of the other parents.

She was an Angel.....naturally.......???? ummm......ok so not all the time.......maybe not even most of the time. But she's still our angel! B/c she was perfectly made for us!


Everything about this picture is horrible....the coloring mostly. But you get the idea of how many xmas cards we got this year! I am kind of glad this little dresser didn't have a mirror in it's frame. B/c a little wire and some clothes pins made for a perfect place to display all the cards we received.

My Willow Tree Nativity

Kennedy and I made a gingerbread house this afternoon while Gentry took a nap. She loved making it and eating the candy along the way. Which I am pretty sure was discusting. Don't get too excited......No, I did not make the gingerbread. It was a kit that we bought. Although, making a real gingerbread house from scratch is on my "To Do List" for one of the future Chistmas'.

"Decorating the tree!"

She kept eating the candy that was supposed to go on the house!

See the blowing snow out the kitchen window!


The Finale!

We made it to 6:00 Chistmas Eve Church service tonight. It was beautiful. The girls were absolutely awful during mass. We even walked out and left a little early. I don't know if they were just so excited about Santa or if they were just hungry since their horrible parents didn't feed them before church. We go to church in one of our neighboring towns. The wind and snow made it almost impossible to breathe for the short few seconds we were actually out in it. And when we came home and Dana opened the garage door to head out to his shop this is what was on the other side! A really cool drift w/ the imprint of the door in it!

Last year and this year Kennedy made "reindeer food" at preschool. It consists of a jar of oatmeal w/ glitter. The reindeer love to eat the oatmeal for nourishment and the glitter catches their eye so they know what yard to eat out of! Here is what it looks like....minus the food. We had already spread it in our yard!


Here is Dana putting the reindeer food out in the yard. I am pretty sure w/ our 30mph sustained wind and 48 mph gusts that all he had to do was toss it up in the air and it dispersed! But what a good daddy to do this in blizzard conditions. You could definately say that he will do anything for his girls.

I will miss seeing the beautiful lights on the tree. They are always so magical. Year after year. But I also will be ready to have my living room furniture back to it's normal arrangement. When you have a fireplace there aren't too many options :(

New Addition

Here is the latest member of our garage. All 5 stalls are full now.....yes I know...pathetic when only 2 people in the household can drive. This '67 chevy shortbed 2 wheel drive has been Dana's dream since before we got together.....no kidding. He has always wanted to own and overhaul one. They are hard to find most of the time. But Dana found out a couple of years ago that one of his co workers happened to own one. It was his co worker's dad's truck. Dana told him that if he was ever interested in selling it he wanted to have first dibbs. Well last week the time came and "Ruby" joined our family. Ruby....I think that's what I am going to call her since she is such a gem!

There are definate plans to restore Ruby. Not to her original state though. Different color, different engine, no chrome, different wheels, the list goes on and on. Basically she will get an Extreme Makeover. However we do have a few goals to reach before her transformation will start. She did have one slight makeover already that required no money!!! We removed the HIDEOUSLY GOD AWFUL topper on the bed of the truck.



Do you know what that is my friends???? Yes, you are correct. It is a Jaguar leaper on the hood of the truck. And........NO...dana didn't put it there either! The previous owner did it about 18 yrs ago. Not knowing that a jaguar tech would be the one buying it from him down the road!!! Although the previous owner of this truck is the porsche tech where Dana works :)

Kennedy refuses to even get in the inside. Oh and she cries uncontrollably when her Daddy starts it up. She says she is scared of it. Gentry she stares at it and then goes on about her business as she does most of the time!!!

You shift it on the steering wheel. 3 on the tree

So now we have from "really old" to "kinda new".......a '67 chevy truck, a '78 trans am (yes he still has it!), a '95 nissan (yes I still have her!), a '95 GMC truck (yes Dana still has it!), and and '05 chevy suburban. All 5 of our vehicles MIGHT total the price of a really nice new one!!!

Holiday Gala

Friday night was Dana's Christmas party for work. It was at the Country Club. Our vehicles were valet parked. Our pictures were taken as we walked in. Then printed off and framed for us to take at the end of the night. We had 1 hr of cocktail enjoyment. Then off to the meal where you could have Asian, American, Mexican, Seafood and anything else under the sun. Then after our meal they revealed the casinos behind closed doors where you could win fake money to cash in at the end of the night for tickets. And all of your tickets went into a big raffle. Where they then gave away over $20,000 in prizes. They included really nice gas grills, (2) 32" t.v.'s, (2) 40" t.v.'s, (2) 50" t.v.'s all were Samsung LCD's. They gave away Wii's and giftcards for games to go w/, concert tickets to Elton John/Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, and Jeff Dunham. They gave away H.D. video cameras, digital picture frames, digital cameras and lots more. Drinks were unlimited and servers were always at your side w/ hors d'oeuvres. IT.......WAS.......AMAAAAAAAAZING. No words can describe.

Our framed picture they took as we walked in!!! However my hair looks BLACK in this pic. And my hair is not black at all. It's the same red brown as it has been for 3 years now. So I am not really sure what happened but other than that I think it's a decent pic of the two of us!

The Menu

The beatutful lights w/ Christmas decor in the dining area.

Ladies and Gentlemen this is what the hubby and I came home w/ at the end of the night! A 32" Samsumg LCD t.v.!!!! I had at least 10 tickets......Dana had 1 ticket. Guess who's ticket we won off of? Yep, you guessed it.......his one single ticket won us this t.v. We are thrilled!

Thursday Comedy

No pics today :( However,lots of laughs! Here are some quotes from our day

Gentry: She is now calling Snow White........"Snow WIPE" She really truly believes that the princess' name is Snow Wipe. She says it a hundred times a day crystal clear...Snow Wipe.

Kennedy: Gentry was carrying around Dana's GPS that she had managed to sneak out of our closet. I am cleaning in the girls' rooms and I hear Kennedy say " OH NO SISSY you put that back right now. That is Daddy's thing that tells us how to get to Uncle Ryan's Graduation." Too stinking cute. I was chuckling to myself for a good while after that one. However it would have been even more funny if she had said " That is Daddy's thing that tells him how to drive!"

Kennedy's 2nd quote of the day: We were playing outside this afternoon. The weather was pretty awesome here today. Got up to almost 50 degrees and no wind! Miracle. But there was definately still a nip in the air. We were drawing w/ chalk on the driveway and Kennedy says " Mom, my eyes are sad." So I look at her and her eyes were watering from the slight chill in the air. It really was adorable.

Hope these have given you a good laugh or at least made you smile. I have one last funny for the evening: Tomorrow night is Dana's Christmas Party for work. First time that they have ever had one since Dana has worked there (8yrs). It is at one of Wichita's Country Clubs. Men are required to wear suites. Ties are optional. Women are required to wear cocktail attire. And when we arrive at the club we all will be dropping our vehicles off at the front door where they will be valet parked! So here's the kicker.....obviously we won't be driving the suburban for our 50 mile round trip from our home since it will just be the two of us. So we are taking my good ole' '95 Nissan that Dana drives to work everyday and has totally scuzzed out w/ 280,000 miles on it and looks like it is dying of skin cancer. The Valet might refuse to park it! Guess we'll find out. It's funny though. You can leave the keys in that thing unlocked anywhere you go and it never gets stolen!!!

* Stay tuned for pictures from our evening!

Graduated!

My brother Ryan graduated from Manhattan Vo Tech early evening last saturday. I worked til one and then Dana, the girls, and I hit the road and make it there for the ceremony!!!

His class! 98% of the guys were graduating in the lineman program. A few were in other fields and the women were mostly in nursing. Ryan received an honors award while graduating! There weren't too many that did. He should definately be proud of himself. We sure are!!!

Awww! The cute couple!

Ryan and our Grandma Marilyn

Siblings

Mom, Ryan and Dad

Congrats Little Brother! I love you lots and am very proud of all that you have accomplished!!!

The Best Time

So this is what we did in the northern part of the state yesterday!!! We went back home and got a chance to enjoy the reminants of their snow storm from last tuesday. 18 inches of snow w/ 4-6 foot drifts. And this is what was left 5 days later. I think it's stick'n around for awhile. But considering we have had no snow down here we had an absolute total blast. Maybe when they get a little older we'll hit up the fields with the gator and sled. That's where all of my most memorable snow sledding memories are from.....dad's fields...with terraces, which were awesome til the next day when you could barely walk and needed to go to the chiropractor. But til then.....dana's parents house in town provided more than adequate quality snow!


Grandma and her grandbaby "G". She was helping her walk in the snow....since it was as deep as her waste.

Mommy and her girls!!!

Gentry........a.k.a. "Alfie"!

He loved hiding behind the snow bank

Dana and our favorite nephew Dylan!

Climbing the snow mountain so she could be "Queen of the Hill"

They couldn't stay sitting up bc of all of their snow gear....so this is what happened.....the domino effect!!!

Dana pulling the kids down the hill

Gentry with Grandma and Grandpa's doggies

Wipeout!!!!!!!!!!!

Gentry was a little panicked being in the front of the sled after their last spill!

It was getting cold....as you can tell from the little one's snot nose!

And after their hard core snow play they made sugar cookies w/ Grandma Walleta and Aunt Ann. As you can see they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. But I am pretty sure they enjoyed eating the dough and making a mess the most!!!!