Is it Real?

Have your kids ever asked if something is 'REAL'?

Have you had to deal with this yet? And what did you do???

Debany has begun to ask if certain things are real... like fairies, santa claus, tooth fairy, etc. She's trying to get a grasp on reality lately. Myanna still believes -- and we're trying to figure out how to go about helping one get a grasp on reality and let the other keep on believing until they're ready. The magic of childhood, ya know.

I've been planning on pulling Debany aside and reading the history of Santa Claus. What do you think?!

"17 Blog Post Catch-up"

Similar to '52 card pick up'!

Be sure to read the next 17 posts to catch up!

YES! 17! Better get going...

No dilly-dallying...

*tapping my foot*

Don't worry...

There'll be more -- TOMORROW!

;0)

Lil' Momma D

We invited some friends over for dinner, and they had a little kid.

Debany decided to help take care of him, 'the baby', while the adults chatted.

So, here's our lil' momma:

Our Lil' Homie 'P'

It's Homie 'P'!

We were driving to go look at houses, and it was cold!

He he hee, I turned around and saw Porter and had to take a picture.

Too funny!

The Family from Snowy Mountains

The gorgeous mountains of Utah County...

at sunset.

... ... ... ... ...

(exactly.)

Fun at Lowe's!

Lately, Dane and I have taken to dreaming in Lowe's and Home Depot!

The kids, well, they tolerate it -- as long as they have some fun 'toys' like these:

Date Night at the Rink

So Dane & I went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant,

and then went ice skating!

Jenn in figure skates...

Dane honoring his hockey team in hockey skates!

What a nice surprise! And the price for skating was perfect... Free!

Let's go again!

All I Want for Christmas...

... is my 2 front teeth!

(Perfect timing, Debany!)

This tooth got all discolored..eww! But it finally came out.

In comes the new tooth.

And then the next two come out!

How about that winning smile!!!

Tooth Fairy has been busy this month!

(Sorry about this picture. I turned it in iPhoto, but it wouldn't turn when I downloaded it. So, if you turn your head to the side and squint your eyes slightly, you should be able to gain a great insight to this photo -- and maybe even hear music! "All I want for Christmas is my..." Please just sing along! Or hum if the kids are asleep.

:)

Porter Explores Gravity

"Oh, stink!" LOL lol lol lol

Friends in the Snow

We love having friends next door!

And who can resist having fun in the snow with friends so close?!

Ed & Debany

Porter & Myanna

(Porter enjoyed it for about 5 minutes - when he realized he couldn't get the snow off his gloves. But he didn't want to go in yet either. Poor kid.)

Everyone came in frozen! But we had warm cocoa to take the chill off!

Puttin up the Christmas Tree

Time to pull out the Good ol' Evergreen (that's artificial and pre-lit!)

(don't look at me like that! We'll get a real tree when Dane's business picks up a bit more.)

Porter was really excited about the plug!

Get everything out while Daddy puts it together...

with the kids' help.

Daddy puts the top on!

"Ta-daaaa!"

Mommy gets all the ornaments out

-- and the kids don them on the tree...

Where's Debany?

I only see an 'Angel Tree'...

p.s. This is how Porter hangs ornaments on the tree...

uh hem... notice he only gets the unbreakable ones!

Swimsuits in December

About every 10 minutes the girls have changed out of their clothes and put on their swimsuits.

Did I mention that it's the middle of December???

Apparently they are ballerinas in the Nutcracker.

I like to call them the 'Frozen Plum Fairies'!!!

Kids Like to Cook! Who knew?!

One Morning, Debany woke up and decided to make German Pancakes -- with us guiding her of course. But she was determined that SHE was going to make them!

Since then, she's been the cooking Queen!

Here she is making muffins:

These are the German Pancakes she made:

And Porter... well, he's been in the kitchen with Daddy:

"And visions of [breakfasts in bed] danced through our heads!"

Thanksgiving 2009

For Thanksgiving this year, we read about the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving!

To Jenn, it won't be complete without dressing up and acting it out!

Here's Porter as an Indian (Native American)...

We called him 'Squanto'!

Of course, now we'll need to learn more about Sacajawea and Pocahontas -- because that's who the girls insisted on being! Dane and Jenn were Pilgrims who met the Indians -- of course we were scared at first! But then they taught us how to plant corn, and then everything was good!

Debany's First Performance!

Here she is all done up!

Here's da hair-do!

Ready to go!

(videos to come -- they're on the video camera)

p.s. We had to keep a performance tradition I had growing up with my grandparents:

and ice cream treat at Dairy Queen!

We love you Gma & Gpa Wessel! Wish you were here, too!

the project that never ends...

well, I started this project way back near the beginning of the year...

but, uh, things just came up. And I didn't make the time for it.

It honestly doesn't take long, but when the hours in the day go so quickly, well, you tend to cherish your sleep more and more.

More to come though...

p.s. it's Mary. A crocheted navity. (in the works!)

Porter Graduates 1st Therapy!

Porter's 1st 'Now I Can' Therapy!

On the left is Nacole. On the right is Sergio.

They were awesome!

We loved seeing him grow and develop in just those 3 weeks!

Way to go, Porter!

"Dream Big!"

I guess I should just post, eh?

Happy Birthday, Alexandra!!!

We Love You, Alexandra!!!

Our Potential 'Pile of Bricks'

Despite our 'not-so-excited' term for this house, we are totally excited about this house. It's a fixer-upper -- at a great price. However, waiting for an answer has been so hard -- hence the name to distance ourselves until the answer comes! Then it'll be our awesome home!

No news yet, but we'll keep you posted!

News should be here by this weekend -- that's only a couple of days!

(Don't worry I'll share more pictures when/if we get the house - and we CAN be excited!)

Elf Yourself!

I don't know why I love this so much! Dane thinks it's dumb & annoying! Take it or leave it! I love it! A good laugh!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Why has Jenn fallen off the face of the earth?!

any guesses???