Easter 2016

Living in Minnesota you have to hope for the best but expect the worst as far as weather.  I mean when Easter happens to fall in March in let's say, Arizona or Texas, you expect warm weather.  In Utah and Indy, it was hit or miss...it can be really pleasant but you'll never be in shorts and T-shirts.  Here in Minnesota you are fully prepared for snow and cold temps.  This year, being our first here, were pleasantly surprised when the snow was melted and although it was still chilly and cloudy, it wasn't freezing.  

We did the traditional egg coloring. The kids always have fun coloring eggs, and even though we like hard-boiled eggs and have some use for them, there are only so many we can go through before they go bad.  

 See, no snow.  She is wearing her coat and boots, but that was so she didn't get completely gross.

 We tried to take some pics after church, but Masie was not in the mood.

 So this is what we got.

just keepin it real

Christmas 2015

The last 3 Christmas's have been in 3 different states and each one has brought on a little something different.  Utah was with lots of extended family, Indy was small and intimate with just us and this year was a little bit of both.  G&G Tucker along with Kristi decided to make the journey out to celebrate Christmas with us.  They stayed for a week and it was great having them be in our home and to be with us during the Holiday!  We like to get fresh trees because of the smell, and well because that's all I ever had growing up.  We found out Costco sold them for an awesome price so we went over and grabbed one hoping that it wouldn't die on us.  I looked it over thoroughly and it looked decent enough and low and behold this is was it looked like after taking off the ropes.  Not too shabby!

 We decorated it and this is where we found Masie a lot of the time.  Isn't Christmas magical.  I love thes moments.

 Malia's gotta be part of these moments too, lol.

 Once G&G got here it was on big party.  We tried to take them to as many places as we could, even though it was freezing.  We wrapped lots of presents and just enjoyed our time together.  Can you guess what this present is? lol.

 Christmas eve we acted out the Christmas story with little puppets.

 And then opened our Christmas Jammies

 Then the kids nestled into their beds and Santa visited

 And bright and early Christmas morning the crew was up and antsy to open their gifts.

 Randy's love of Star Wars has rubbed off on Kaders.  We were able to go and watch the new Star Wars with G&G and Randy was constantly watching trailers of the movie leading up to the release.  That's probably when Kay Kay really started noticing it.  He got some pretty fun "Star Star" gear.

 We found Grandma a fun Minnesota ornament to remember us by.

 Our little bunch in the Christmas Jammies

The day after G&G, Krsti and Lilly had to pack up and start back home on their long journey.  

 We are so grateful they came. We really enjoyed having them here.  Moving is always hard and to have familiar faces during the Holiday's is always a memorable time.  

 We love you Tucker's!!! Thanks for being so awesome!!!

Fall 2015

 Moving into a new home right before the holiday's started proved to be difficult.  Not having a whole lot of help unpacking since kids were in school and a husband at work, left me with no time to decorate or even really do anything fun for Halloween.  We were lucky to find costumes for everyone.  Our ward had a trunk or treat a few days before Halloween and then we ventured out into our new neighborhood.

 Here's right before we left for a candy haul.

 We did carve pumpkins...

But only 2.  It was too much to handle.

We also were informed about this nursery that has a huge corn pit.  It was girnormous!  The hay stacks went up to about my waist and it had to have been about10-15 feet across and 20-30 feet long.  It was like a swimming pool of corn.  The kids loved it.

 Can you tell?

We also had a couple concerts in the fall.

Hopefully I'll get my act together soon and remember everything that happens.

Christmas 2014

This was the first Christmas in a looooooong time that we have not been near some sort of family.  We were all a little sad but it was fun to just have a Christmas morning with just us.  We went and cut down a tree at a local U-Cut place and waded through a flooded field to find our tree.  It had just recently rained and their fields were covered in water.  It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned with the kids staying in the car so they wouldn't freeze their butts off in the flooded field, but we found a tree we were happy with and brought it back to them. It turned out perfect, and because of our new space we were able to put up our tiny tree as well.  I loved it!!! 

 Our new house even had a fireplace for us to hang our stockings, the kids loved having them hang over a fireplace.  Unfortunately for them, once Santa came, they were going to come crashing down, so Santa put them on the ground after filling them.

 Christmas morning came bright and early and the kids could wait no longer.  We were up about 6 AM and quickly dug into the presents

 The aftermath

 And Kaders exploring everything.

 We tried to keep the kids busy through the break with games and outings. We decided to tackle this puzzle.  The kids really got into it, surprisingly enough.  

The next picture are from my phone and not the best quality, but we will deal with it. We saw Santa at the ward Christmas party.

 Here's proof of out tree cutting adventure.  We pulled it out of the water before taking the shot.

 Kenzie had a ugly sweater day at school and this is what we came up with.  She's her very own Christmas tree, lol.

 Randy's work had their Christmas party in Cincinnati and put us up in a hotel overnight.  So we jumped on the chance to go out and explore.  we went to an art museum.

 Tried on different Asian hairpieces.

 That night at the party, Kenz was in charge of the kids in the hotel rooms we had but everyone at the party wanted to see what having 6 kids was really like, so we brought them down for a quick visit.  They were pretty impressed. 

 The next day was Sunday so we hurried and got ready to head out to make it in time for church 1 1/2 hours away back in Indy.  It was a fun weekend.

 Of course we get tired with all of the Christmas festivities.

 Santa brought the kids a membership to the biggest Children's museum which is located in downtown Indianapolis so we made sure we went at least once during the break.

 It's a pretty exciting museum with lots to see and do.

We especially love the carousel ride.

 We had another visit from BJ and Andy for New Years, and had to get a couple haircuts in while she was around.

 All around, it was a good holiday.  We had lots of fun and made some great memories.