Boender Christmas

Just a couple pictures from the Boender Christmas. One of my favorite things about having gatherings at the cabin is the kids spend most of their time in the garage area riding bike or playing basketball, AWAY from parents! :) Bad thing about this is that I don't take as many pictures as I should.

Group shot of all 9 grandkids.

Building a kid pyramid.

Elijah opening his gift.

VanDenBroek Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent with my family at Alex and Katie' s house. Here are a couple pictures of our evening.

Amelia showing us her princess jewelry box.

Ethan and Amelia both did a good job "assisting" Elijah in opening his gifts.

Ang gave Ethan a very cool CAT train set.

"It's all MINE!" This picture is a perfect example of a selfish kid! Elijah didn't want to share the toy he was riding with his cousin so we got out another one for Logan to ride. Elijah thought he needed this one to. Since he couldn't ride both of them at the same time he just sat on one and held on the the other so Logan couldn't get on. I think Mark and I will need to work harder on this kid!

This & That

I'm a little behind in my posting so here's a few of my favorite pictures from the past week.

Ferguson Christmas party - the kid table.

Cassia & I took a tummy picture together, she is due 12/28/09 & I'm due 2/10/10.

Kid's picture in front of the tree on Sunday.

Someone's not in the Christmas spirit!

Amelia looking so sweet.

Naughty Elijah! Lately I've been putting lotion on the kids since it's so dry. Unfortunately, Elijah thinks everything is lotion, including my hair paste (shown above). He also thinks Mark's deodorant and chapstick belong on his face.

VanDenBroek Christmas

Last weekend we had our VanDenBroek Christmas at the cabin. This confused the kids a little. They were expecting their Boender cousins to be there since it was at Grandma Boenders cabin. I told them both families are getting to big to have a party in a house so we will be going to the cabin for lots of parties. :) This worked out perfectly and I've already be told to reserve it for next year! Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Boender for the cabin use!

A family picture in front of the fire place.

Grandparents with the grandkids.

Aunt Jean brought four very nice Jumbo puzzles that the kids enjoyed putting together. They also had fun dropping a little ball to Alex from the loft. I'm so glad they're easily entertained.

VanDenBroek Baking Day

For the past several years I've gotten together with my mom, sister & sister-in-law to make Christmas treats. It's always a lot of fun for the kids and a little bit of work for the rest of us. :) Thanks for the pictures Ang!

Grandma helping Ethan Decorate his cookie.

Two happy little helpers.

Making Oreo Balls with Aunt Katie.

Um, is that my kid licking the counter top?

My job, decorating sugar cookies.

Farm Bureau Annual Meeting

Last week Mark and I enjoyed a couple days without kids at the FB annual meeting in DesMoines. We always enjoy our time with the young farmer committee! The following pictures were taken at the meeting. I didn't have my camera with me for the fun stuff. :)

The young farmer committee.

We have a discussion meet contest at our Young Farmer Conference in January and the top 4 contestants train and then compete at the annual meeting. This is a picture of the top 4. Dustin in the beige suit was our winner.

Our YF President Jody on the right and Vice President Randy on speaking at the award luncheon.

Bruce Vincent, a logger from Montana, was our keynote speaker. I really enjoyed his down-to-earth speech about his life and the struggles he deals with being a logger.