FINAL GRADE

Jeff has received his grades for this past semester... I am so proud of him

Chemistry= B
Engineering Statics= A-
Physics= A-


WAY TO GO JEFF!!! I love you!! Thank you for working so hard at school!!

Santa Clause CAME!!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

We had such a wonderful day yesterday.

Santa found our home and the kids had tons of fun playing with all their new toys.

Christmas Eve with their new PJ's

The kids received so many wonderful things from Santa , us & family. Thank you all!!

Santa brought a LeapFrog learning Letters thing.

Along with play jewelery and shoes in her stocking.

Tietjen gave Annie play dishes and play food.

Mommy made the aprons

plus clothes and new dress.

Baby and stroller from Grandpts Kidd

Hawaii Dino & learning toy from Grandparnts Awsumb

Princess Makeup kit from Couzin Brittney

THANKS to all!!

Tietjen got STAR WARS from Santa ( I know you would have never guessed)

Binculars and play dough in his stocking

Star Wars shirts and pj's from us

WALL-E movie from Anna Belle

Batman Racecar from Grndpts Kidd

Hawaii T-Rex & Learning Dance Pad from Grandparents Awsumb

THANKS!!

Tietjen has played his race car game every couple of hours... the bad thing is he wants one of us to play with him. He just loves it.

(Tietjen watching Wall E and playing Star Wars)

Anna Belle loved her play dishes and had daddy give her some of his breakfast on them. (She always eats off of his plate when he is eating)


We had so much fun and have been truely blessed with all our gifts.

Thank you to all that sent us gifts.

We love you all so very much!!

Christmas Eve

If anyone is reading this I am impressed..... I have not looked at anyones BLOG all week.

We have been working on treats for neighbors... 10 inches of snow comming down.....waiting for Daddy to come home from work each night (it has been wonderful - no school) and I sewed pj's for the kids to have tonight.....


Tietjen and Anna Belle looking out the window waiting for Daddy to come. (We have a tradition to always wave out the window each morning when Daddy leaves or when one of us leaves)


I decided I wanted to sew pj's for the kids this year.... I was up till 11 pm last night finishing them. (I should have started earlier) - Thanks to my neighbor Julie Hawkes who let me come over a couple of nights (late) to help me figure out my problems with sewing. (I am still learning)
I think they are cute and they are fuzzy on the inside. - Not perfect but hey who wants perfect anyways. !!!

Merry Christmas to all and lots of Fun in the morning! Love the Kidds

SNOW... snow... SNOW

We have been getting snow everyday since last Saturday. I have been searching for where I put their snow clothes and couldn't find them. Yesterday I let Tietjen & Annie run a muck in the play room (picture to come later) as I was busy reading "Twilight" for the first time. (it took me two days)

So as I had them helping me clean things up. I found their snow suits hanging in the playroom closet. (We keep our church clothes & extra coats there) So, Tietjen wanted to go out side and play.

It was almost 5 pm, the sun was setting. But we had a fun few minutes.

Anna Belle LOVES the snow. She was the one that didn't want to come in.
Tietjen made his snow angel... than Jax came bounding up to see what he was doing and ruined it.

Here comes Santa Clause.. right down Santa Clause Lane

last night was our Ward Christmas party and of course Santa Clause comes for pictures and finding out what each child wants!

(Our Santa is our neighbor kiddycorner across the street- my neighbor friend Emily & I were wondering when our kids would start to figure out that it was him... her son in Kindergarden figured it out this year for the first time- he was told that he is one of Santa's many helpers. So far the rest of our kids hasn't figured it out yet.)

Tietjen asked for Star Wars, of course (can you see his Harry Potter glasses in his hands)

Anna Belle said nothing... at least she didn't cry!

She just like the candy cane Santa gave out!

Than.... the Primary age kids were to sing one song for the program. All of the sudden I see Tietjen is up on stage with them. He will not be in Primary until January. Every sundy this month they have been taking those that will move up to Primary for 20 mins or so.

He is so ready to be part of the BIG kids!!

He looks so cute, yet so small next to all the other kids at church!!

my baby is growing up so much!!

FINALS are Here!!

Today was Jeff's LAST day of classes (he took Chemestry, Physics and Engineering Statics this semester) and Finals are on Monday & Tuesday... I know how stinky to have FINALS on your birthday.

Jeff is very excited to have this semester over. He is even more excited to be a "Junior" next semester. So, only 2 more years and we will be done with School.

Good Luck Honey! You have worked so hard this semester!

Letting off a bit of STRESS after studing for a couple of hours.

Tietjen loves to "lightsabor" duel with daddy, he waits all day just to do this!

Here is a video of them dueling... Tietjen had to have on his Darth Vader Mask!

Christmas is Comming...the Goose is getting Fat

Everyone else was showing off their Christmas Decorations.. so I joined into.

( I am only showing about 1/2 of my decorations...I have more)

Our TREE is fake and only about 3 feet tall. We put it on a table to keep it out of reach. Some day when funds are available.. I want a REAL one each year!! I like to collect what ever decoration I can get... Jeff's favorite is the Santa Football player.. it is his from younger years!
Last year my sis Brookie and her hubby Aaron gave us this Mickey Mouse train to go around the tree. As you see it is not around the tree.... to many little fingers.
I like to collect Nativity Scences like most Christmas lovers... these are one from my mom.

This one my Mother-In-Law Colleen has been giving me.



This is my most treasured one... I bought it in Guatemala when I was on my mission. They are made out of clay and hand detailed. I LOVE IT!!



We had some Christmas Cheer and made GREEN frosting for some graham crackers. As you can see Annie's hair got into her face and then into her frosting!!
(her shirt says "I'm on Santa's Nice list")



Tietjen Loves to eat FROSTING... a true sugar lover like his momma!!

We let Tietjen pick out the ordament each morning for the Advant Calander from Mema. He wants so badly to put the star on, he has a few times.

It's HARYY POTTER!!!

I am amazed at the thirst of knowledge and understanding little kids go through. Tietjen loves Star Wars and plays with our Lego's (Jeff has Star Wars sets). I have a Harry Potter set and he asked me one day why two of the Lego guys have two faces.... I explained that they are Harry Potter and they drank Polijuice Potion which made them look like some other boys. .....

Than for Halloween Tietjen's cousin Hailey gave them some glasses with funky eyes (There is a picture of Annie earlier last month, she was wearing them)

One of the eyes poped out and so I took the other one out. Tietjen put them on and I said "oh, you look like Harry POtter" He has been wearing them ever since. Yesterday I let him watch a couple of scences from the 1st Harry Potter movie. He also likes to look at the Lego insert that shows a bunch of Lego Scenes of the first two movies. What can I say..... He is a silly but smart boy!

I had to sneak these pictures, he doesn't want me to take his picture!!
He was eating his breakfast... boiled eggs (he loves them)!!

Tietjen also picked the new background.. he wanted the one with Santa

"Christmas Love"

I was given this book by my father-in-law Dennis. (He works for Gibbs Smith Publishing). I thought this book was wonderful and I wanted to share it with all!!

Christmas Love, a True store of a Holiday Miracle

by Candy Chand

Each December, I vow to make Christmas a calm and peaceful expericne.

One particular year, despite my good intentions, chaos prevailed. I had cut back on nonessential obligations-extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and yes, even the all-American pasttime: overspending. Yet, still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarden that year, It was an exciting season for a six-year-old, filled with hopes, dreams, and laughter. For weeks, he'd been memorzing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production.

Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there would be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, just as I promised, on the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor, and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents searching for a place to sit.

As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, one by one, each group rose to perfrom its song.

Because of the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas" I didn't expect anything other than fun, commerical entertainment - songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes, and good cheer.

The melodies were amusing, cute, and light-hearted, but nowhere to be found was even the hint of an innocent babe, a manger, or Christ's sacred gift of hope and joy.

So, when my son's class rose to sing "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken back by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were his classmates, all adorned in fuzzy mittens, sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage-held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.

As the class sang "C is for the Christmas," a child held up the letter "C." Then "H is for the Happy," and on and on, untill the children presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."

The performance was going smoothly until, suddently, we noticed her- a small, quiet girl in the front row, holding the letter "M" upside down.

She was unaware that, reversed, her letter "M" appeared as a "W." Fidgeting from side to side, she soon moved entirely away from her mark.

The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at the little one's mistake. But in her innocence, she had no idea they were laughing at her as she stood tall, proudly holding her "W."

One can only imagine the difficutly in calming the audience of young, giggling students. Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.

In that instant, we understood - the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holidy in the first place, why even in the chaos there was a purpose for our festivities.

For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

And, I believe, He still is.

I loved the message of this book. I know times are hard right now, expecially with finances. I guess this book showed me what Christmas really is all about. Not the money spent on presents, but the love of Christ that comforts us through times of joy and sorrow and pain.

I love this time of year for the spirit of Christ that we can feel and share the love of his love for us!

Merry Christmas!!