Another night of vistors @ midnight!

ANother night of spending about an hour watching our backyard guests!  I guess that I really need to figure out this camera so that I can get some better photos of them when they come back.  I really did not think that any of them were bucks (there were 3 deer that we hanging out in our yard and the back area of the pond) but in these photos it really looks like the one was.  Or, it was just perfectly in front of the pond weeds every time!

Dave says that we should move out on 40 acres...I say "why?  when you have this in your backyard in Blaine!?"

I love to see Carter playing with the girls.  He and Dawson play together often, but seeing him with the girls is just so fun!  These will be great photos when he graduates in 2019!

Ice Skating at Nana & Pop-Pop's!

On Christmas Day I neglected to bring skates to Nana & Pop-Pop's house.  Needless to say when Teagan & Evan along with the "BIG" boys went outside, Carter was a little upset that we did not have ours there.  Whoops!  So, I made plans with Nana to bring the kids over there to do a little skating on their pond.  Auntie Heather also was going to come over with Teagan for a little while!  It is so nice to be able to go skating over there and not have to worry about having to get kids into the warming house and so on.  If one is cold or tired they can just go in the house!  And, when Pop-Pop spoke with Uncle Kev that morning, they came over too! 

The kids were out there for quite a while.  Dawson and Kendall did great for their 1st time (Dawson went once a few years ago so I guess that it technically wasn't quite his first time!).  Reese did not lace up that day but she still have lots of fun shoveling the pond (Pop-Pop did end up bringing down the snowblower and you can see the fun that Carter & Teagan had with that!) so we did not have to shovel too much.  She also made some lovely snow angels.

 Pop-Pop taking a break to watch the kids skate!

Reese and her snow angel!

 Nana & Reese looking at her snow angels!

Carter, Teagan & Dawson taking a break to watch Adam skate!

 Cousin Adam showing off his mad hockey skills...can ya tell he actually plays!?

Sledding with friends!

One of Dawson's friends from school (and his mom and older brother) asked if we wanted to go sledding over winter break.  I have not been sledding in a few years but why not!?  The unfortunate thing is that a lot of the lovely snow that we have had has melted and refroze so it was a little slippery and very solid - not good to smack your melon on!  Hope said that Jesse, her older son, crashed into the tree at the bottom first run down the hill!  Good thing he was already missing his front 2 teeth!

There is a perfect sized hill for the little kiddos just a few miles from here. We have never really known where to take the kids - the one hill that we have gone to is quite steep, it tends to get really icy and we have seen a fair share of crashes there.  And, you ALWAYS have to help the kids get up the hill!

The kids had a blast!  Reese was a little unsure at first, and of course once the boys wanted to go play on the park equipment she finally wanted to go down a few times with me.  Then, of course, she did not want to stop!  Hopefully there will be some more snow so that we can do this again!

Loving this camera!

Dave just shakes his head when I take out my camera to get some photos of the beautiful sunrises that we get.  Maybe someday I will get the sunSETS but the angle of the house leads to taking photos of the sunRISE!

 And the 3 out of four cuties that were up when the sun was rising!

Backyard guests

Could not sleep tonight and for some reason I just happened to glance out the back window.  I saw something that did not look like it was normally there.  Went and got my glasses and discovered that it was a deer.  I sat and watched for a while as she made her way from the neighbors yard to ours.  Then noticed that she was not the only one out there.  Eventually 3 deer would make their way into our yard and the neighbors.  Guess they found the corn that Dave put out there!

These photos are the best.  I guess that learning how to use my camera would make it a little easier.  Though not sure any camera takes excellent photos through windows out into the dark...maybe a tripod would work better?  Some of the first photos that I took actually made her look like a coyote!

Merry Christmas

I could post about a million photos on here.  I take TOO many photos!  But I love to take pictures.  I just need to do more with them. 

Opening stockings while wanting for Carter to come home!  One of the highlights was that they each got a headlight - so fun for running around outside in the dark!

 One of Reese's favorite things, a guitar!  She loves this thing! All Kendall wanted from Santa was a Rockstar Barbie!  Rock on Santa!

 All Dawson wanted from Santa was a Floor Hockey set (he had a blast playing with the one at cousin Adam & Gwen's house on Thanksgiving!).  Score ONE for Santa!

 The day that we got our Christmas Tree, the boys were making a few videos on Carter's little video camera when it mysteriously "just stopped working!"  Well after a little bit the admission came that it was dropped.
Thanks Santa for replcing CArter's, this time with a shock-proof cover! Found this hat at a boutique.  Who could resist!?  So many comments that day on how cute she looked in it!

 Daddy got his special screwdriver that he wanted!  Yaey for mommy!

 Dave decided that since Carter was 12 and he got his first gun around the same age, that it would be a special gift for Carter.  That way this summer he can take his safety course and learn to shoot it.  Maybe he will get a deer next season!?

 Like Father, Like Son.  Dawson has wanted a bow for quite some time now.  And, with the influence of Carter shooting, Dave found a smaller bow for Dawson to shoot.  Now, he can leave his other "bow" at home (aka a plastic golf club) and take this one!

 I always thought that I would have "girlie-girls" but with the "country" influence from their daddy, these girls are going to be outdoorsy!  Kendall just had to have a fake bow - we had seen it one day at Kohl's!

Fun with Gramps!  Though he missed all the fun in opening presents he got to play with the kids and their new toys for a while on Christmas morning!

Fun at Nana and Pop-Pop's!

When we got to Nana and Pop-Pop's house, I knew something was up when Carter & Teagan were standing by Auntie Heather and grinning & giggling!  I instantly grabbed Heather hand...I just had a feeling something would be there!  She's engaged!  Yippee!  Congrats to Heather and Eric and Teagan!

 All the BIG boys...and Reese!

Cousins!

 Silly Uncle Tommy...taking a picture of all of us taking pictures of the kids!

 Dawson, the Photo Bomber!

 Some of the cutest LITTLE nephews out there!

 Can you believe there will be another child added into the photo next year!  10 grandkids and counting!

 And the shopping for Baby Holmes begins!