Trent at 11 years old.

Jared

Jared at 8 years old. This is my favorite picture of him.

Byron

Byron at 5 years old.

Our family picture

The day was so nice for pictures...overcast, so we didn't have to fight the shadows and squinting so much.

3 boys together

I thought the 3 boys' pictures turned out really well. They were such good sports about the whole deal.

2 buds

Kelsey and Byron are 2 buddies. Byron is always writing letters to her every meeting, and Kelsey has always been so good to him. We took SO MANY pictures that day, we never did get Kyla and Trent, or Jared and Kendra together. It was to the point of "too much already"!!!!

6 kids together

Here are our 3 boys, and Lauren and Sandy's 3 girls. The kids are so close, that it is going to be tough w/ them moving away. We wanted to get some special pictures.

Lauren and Sandy's family picture

We went to a park and took family pictures and individual pictures of everybody. I'll include some of Lauren and Sandy, but I'll leave most of them for Kelsey to post on her blog which you can see here. http://kelsey-girlsawesomeblog.blogspot.com/

And a few misc. others

Lefse!!!

We made lefse the day after Thanksgiving! Lauren and Sandy came in, along w/ Andy and Eleanor. They brought their lefse grill as well, Andy brought 2 wonderful rolling pins he'd made, and we all brought our appetites! We had 2 rolling and cooking stations going, and we just rotated around the different "work stations" as we wanted to...so nobody was left rolling the whole time! The kids ate and ate! Well, so did we adults! For those of you who don't know what lefse is, it is a Norwegian food...and since Lauren and I are Norwegian, and our spouses WISH they were (hee hee), we all enjoy it thoroughly. It is made of potatoes, cream, salt and flour. After being rolled thin, it is baked on a big round HOT grill....just briefly on each side! Then we eat it warm w/ butter and sugar! YUM!
I love the wrinkled nose on Byron. He had 5 in a row at the beginning!

Eleanor busy rolling! All the kids rolled except Bryon...not sure how he got missed! Guess he was too busy eating!
Sandy's a pro! See....it pays to be married to a Norwegian! It rubs off on you!

Jared's turn! The kids all did great! This is when to teach them! Already this year, Kelsey was a huge help! She did lots of rolling!
Kelsey kept running up to her dad with her floury hands and "getting him" on his cheeks...of course he had to retaliate! This went on a number of times....after their 10 minutes on the time-out chair, we thought it would be a good idea to get a picture!

This is the pile that was left...I'm sure we ate just as many!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Lauren and Sandy's....our last time before their big move next month! It was very special! Andy and Eleanor were also there, but somehow I guess we didn't get a picture of the adults! Notice Trent's new contacts!
Toooooo many desserts!
After dinner, we went to a park and the kids played baseball, while the adults "walked it off!"

All the kids....

Byron's Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

Byron had a Thanksgiving Feast for kindergarten on Friday. They had made Indian and Pilgrim costumes, and then they all lined up and recited some poems, and sang some songs.
Next, a Pilgrim would choose an Indian, and they would go thru the buffet line together. The teacher had each kid bring in 20 bite sized food items, so that the kids could feast on lots of different things.

It is so cute to watch them in their classroom. It is such a fun class to volunteer in....I just love going in every week.

Slumber Party

The kids are trying to make the most of every moment w/ their cousins....they are moving in less than a month! So we had a sleep over the other night. All the kids and Chloe slept together in the living room.


Then, for breakfast we had......chocolate pancakes with peanut butter, vanilla ice cream, and hot fudge! Now isn't that a healthy breakfast? I'd cut out numerous pancake recipes, this being one of them....and I was just waiting for the right time to make them! Well, we decided chocolate pancakes were perfect for a sleep over! :)

School Pictures

We got school pictures back...they are always so fun to get. Trent is sixth grade and eleven years old.
Jared in third grade and eight years old.

And Byron in Kindergarten....he's five.