Our Patriots and a Snow day!!

Jordan's been a long time Patriots fan and I'm pretty sure somewhere in our marriage vows I said something about agreeing to cheer for his teams and to dress our children in said team colors. 

So we all cheer for the Patriots. 

Which made Sunday a sad day. 

But we look good in red, white and blue. 

Last night we had a bit of snow that ended up causing slick roads and all that. 

So we had a surprise snow day today!

If you know me, you know snow days are my favorite thing EVER. 

Today we had the added fun of having the Yoder kids. 

The kids played awesome all morning. 

Most of them disappeared upstairs for a couple hours and then there was video games, snow playing, games and a movie. 

The older girls did the little girls make-up. 

Falstaff enjoyes warmth where ever he can find it…like the top of the running dishwasher. 

After lunch we did a craft. 

Finished products. 

And then, of course, we made donuts. 

WinterJam

On Friday I took Lauren and Avery and friends to the WinterJam concert in Des Moines. 

I'll admit I was a bit nervous about navigating it all. 

Mostly the part where we had to stand in line for 2 hours because there are no advance tickets. 

And its January. 

In Iowa. 

These two about gave up. 

But finally the doors opened.

And we ended up getting good seats. 

We warmed up and got some food and we were ready to go! 

Ben Carson made an appearance. 

The first few bands were not ones we knew and I'm not sure if Brooklyn and Avery thought this concert was such a good idea after all. 

This was some band I have never heard of before. 

Freaky and how they fall into the category of 'Christian' music is beyond me. 

And we could literally feel the heat from the fire.

But slowly the names we knew started to come on stage…

Matthew West, Crowder and For King & Country. 

Happy.

Cute. 

And did I mention, warm!?

The highlight of the night was definetly For King & Country. 

They were amazing. 

I haven't been to a lot of concerts but I can't imagine a much better show. 

The lighting, sets, audience interaction…all of it was great. 

The concert got over near 11. 

And all 4 girls had volleyball tournaments the next day and we still had 1.5 hours to drive home. 

But it was worth it!

The sweetest girls! 

Torrance funnies

A couple of funny stories I don't want to forget:

1. Tori was very excited to share her day at the supper table. 'Sully and Tess! Today I took a shower. It was super fun!'

2. Lauren was telling me that Tori put my bra in while they were upstairs together. Tori heard her telling me the story and she said, 'yeah did you hear I wore a bra?! Ooohhh-Lala!!!!'

3. We were watching Star Wars and Yoda came on. Tori said, 'Yoda is my favorite. Mostly that other guy, Chewy, is the cutest.' 

Our first driver

Back in November Lauren turned 14. 

And that meant she was ready for her drivers permit. 

Jordan took her up to the courthouse to take her test. 

There was a line…and they had to wait. 

She was thrilled dad was taking pictures. 

Very proud. 

Passed that test and hopped right into the driver's seat beside dad! 

WHAT?!?!? 

Yesterday she was 4. 

When she got home this crew was waiting for her…

They were SO excited about it. Not exactly sure why but it was fun. 

She's been behind the wheel quite a bit and is probably a better driver than me already. 

No surprise to her dad. 

So proud of who she is growing up to be. 

Day off

No school today! 

Meant a day for fun. 

(side note…I miss having all my kids home all the time…Im going to pout about that for a few minutes)

We started out by playing play dough and kinetic sand. 

Smile normal Sullivan. 

Nope. 

Then we moved onto making a Valentines craft.

And then moved onto making doughnuts! 

In honor of my mom since it wasn't a snow day but it was FRIGID outside. 

Negative frigid. 

Mmmmmmm.

They were well received! 

We had a lot of fun today. 

And I love them and miss them. 

And they're old. 

More Christmas

Christmas Day we spent with the Yoders.

They had ALL their family staying with them and were still gracious enough to invite us. 

Family isn't always blood. 

Most of my pics from that day were of these two. 

Honestly. 

This was after Scott pulled the kids around the yard with the snowmobile. 

I think they had fun. 

We ate. 

A lot. 

The rest of the weekend was spent cuddling and playing. 

This was Sullivan's big gift from us. 

Yes it lived in my dining room for a number of days. 

Now it lives in the basement. 

Thankfully. 

There has been a lot of this. 

Contessa is learning to sew thanks to a kit from Grandma Cindy. 

One of the benefits of a big family is that you learn to concentrate even in the midst of complete madness. This helped me a lot in college. ;)

Tori is learning early. 

We did a lot of puzzles. 

Tori and her doll Sydney Lee.

I had a big surprise for the kids the week after Christmas. 

My brother Robert, Jen and Harper came to Iowa! 

We met them at Chuckie Cheese on Harper's 2nd birthday!!!

It wasn't any fun. 

Two year olds are my favorite. 

I miss having a little one! 

Robert, Jen, Harper and Jordan stayed with us for the next 5 days. And we had a blast. 

Duh. We played a lot of cards and laughed SO much. 

All the kids had so much fun with Harper. And she loved having all their attention. We decided that Torrance was the perfect babysitter for her. Until we found them down in the basement behind the furnace…one night ridiculously late when they both should have been in bed. Opps. 

New Year's Eve 'Clinkies'!

And New Year's Eve cottage cheese? 

Some story reading. 

We stayed up LATE. 

I believe this was 2:30 am. 

Just the adults. 

And we were singing. 

Cause all of the Earle's have amazing voices. 

Poor Jen and Jordan. 

They were such good sports dealing with us.

My kids love having my brothers around almost as much as I do. 

On Saturday Joe and Nick and their families came for our Christmas. 

This is the only picture I took! 

Good thing it was of cutie Adele!