Spring 2016

 Charlie entered this photo into a pet photo contest at his orthodontist's office, Dr. Sinclair.  He won a $25 gift card to McDonalds.

This crew was trouble! :)  Matt, Margaret, Kristi, Ron, and we went out for Mexican, goofed off at Walmart, and played cards back at Ron's office.  We needed a lot of support from each other during this time of figuring out problems at our old church.

 Reading is always more fun with monkey.

 Spirit Day at Banner Elementary!

 Picnics with friends are so much fun!

 Samantha, Jessica, and Nate Stump spent some time at our house.

 Who loves icecream??

 The kids shrunk outside Old Chicago restaurant!

 Emergency services put on a display at Grand Prairie Mall.

 A SWAT truck

 Of course, Charlie found the police chief...

 and another office...

 Spraying firetruck hoses is fun!

 Jaws-of-Life

 Tool demo by a military fireman

 Tossing a rope on target is harder than it looks.

 All the kids wanted to blow the horn on the Coast Guard boat.

More December 2015

 Merry Christmas morning...a little early.  Our traditional photo on the stairs.

Enough with the photos! We want to open gifts!

 Everything is Frozen this year.

 Not sure what was so funny, but it was!

 Charlie is becoming quite the reader, and really wanted this series.

 Coffee creamer!

 We love you, too, Gus.

 A couple big surprises in the piano room for Jacob and Jenna.

 A comfy chair for his hours upon hours of reading.

 Jenna loved her new dollhouse.

 East Peoria has the most beautiful light display for cars to drive.

 We had a super fun night Christmas caroling with the Stump family. Margaret baked cookies, and we brought light-up jewelry.

 Margaret packaged treats to give to those we visited.

 Linda Hagar, Margaret's mom, went with us.

 Here is the actual Christmas morning in Port Huron, Michigan. It was green, and fairly warm outside.  We love staying at this hotel with the view of the Blue Water Bridges.

 Uncle Mark hosted Christmas morning.  Charlie was all about the Trump hat on his tree.

December 2015

 We welcome December, but not the nasty bugs that send us home early from school!  

Thanks for snuggling, Gus.

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day!  Tradition states that we put out ONE shoe to be filled with goodies.  ONE, Jacob, ONE!

 Buffalo Wild Wings with my 3 littles.

 Santa and Mrs. Claus were at the mall!

 I'm not smiling because this is not really Santa.

 Charlie and Jenna were preparing for their first Christmas concert in Hosanna Homeschool Choir.

 These two are the best secret keepers!

 Ladies night out with Kathy Dunbar and Diana Brown!

We had so much fun shooting!

 Concert night!

 Santa seems to be everywhere...even at the car dealerships!

 Never too old to sit on Santa's knee.

 Too cute, Char.

 This is what it feels like to be done with the first semester of college classes!

 School's out, so off to Chik-fil-A to celebrate!

 Silly sisters!

 Jamie took the boys to see The Force Awakens.  Jacob dressed the part!

 The Meffert boys came to visit. We felt much safer with these super heroes in our midst!