Mistletoe?

Now that we have a large 'doorway' in our home I told Steve that we needed some mistletoe to hang at Christmastime. This is what he brought to me............and hung up. A "missile-toe".

My Manly Man

This is what Steve does every night to gain strength and balance. It's a great core workout.

Just kidding, he did this once and all three stools flew out to the sides and he landed on the floor with a huge thud.

Just kidding again! He did try this once, did a few push ups and then his feet gracefully found his way to the floor.

Fortunately, he did not fall and was able to hold himself up. Unfortunately, he didn't fall.....because it would've been a funny story.

Lady Bears

This year Kari decided she wanted to try out basketball. A Baptist church here does a program for kids called "Upwards BB." Each game is started with a prayer and during half-time a scripture is read and discussed. It was a great opportunity for Kari to learn the game, have fun, feel no pressure, and be in a good environment.

This is her team, the Lady Bears.

She didn't always know what was going on, but she had a lot of fun learning.

I'm honestly not sure if she had the ball and is losing it, or if she is trying to take the ball (which isn't allowed.)

If this video clip doesn't work, then..........just ignore it. :)

New Years Eve

This year for New Year's Eve we had two families over. The Smith's and the Kennedy's. We decided to do have fondue night.

Here are Clancey (on left) and Preston, Braden, and Aiden (in the back.)

This was our Cheese Fondue selection. We had shrimp, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and different breads to dip. The cheese sauce was made with Cream of Shrimp Soup. I didn't even know that existed.
This was our Oil Frying Fondue. (I don't know a better name for that.) There were little smokies, steak, and batter to dip pineapples and pickles into.

THen we had the dessert Chocolate Fondue. Extremely tasty...especially with the cinnamon bears. There was also pretzels, marshmallows, bananas, and an assortment of crackers.

Here is a video clip of the kids counting down and setting off those obnoxious streamer things.
Please note Preston's sad little face. I'm not sure what happened, but he wasn't able to pull his string.

The Polar Express

This year Kearney did a new "thing." There are a few trolley's that drive around Kearney for special events. Well, this year the city decided to do the Polar Express. We had to preorder our tickets and they were sent to us in the mail. As we boarded the trolley a ticket master punched our tickets a billion times (just like in the movie, except our ticket master didn't spell cool words in them.) The kids were able to wear their pajamas and we all got a cookie and a cup of hot cocoa.

Our kids picked the very last seat on the trolley.

As we drove through Kearney a volunteer helper read the story. We unfortunately couldn't hear a word of it...but the kids didn't mind since we were headed to the North Pole.

The North Pole turned out to be at a park on the south edge of town. They had this little hut thing for Mr. Santa Clause to wait in. Hopefully he got a heater in there too.

Once we pulled up to the "North Pole" Santa came onto the trolley, talked with each child, and gave them all a bell. The kids were a bit sad that the North Pole was still in Kearney, but it was a fun family activity.

Christmas.....a bit late

As you can see I'm a bit late on posting Christmas pictures. But it's better late than never. As I looked through all my pictures I realized that I really didn't take many. So just bear with me.
This...is our Christmas tree. Fairly lame, I know, but it did the job.

A week or so before Christmas the children had an unexpected visitor come to the house. The were very surprised and loved the visit. After he left both Braden and Kari asked "is that Matt Meister?" "Yes it is," I said, "the best realtor ever!"

When asked if they have been good, Preston was a bit too honest. He replied with, " no, we've been a little naughty."

These are their new Christmas Eve pj's. As you can see, Kari loves to pose for all pictures.

Christmas morning stockings. The kids were thrilled that they each received their very own can of Pringles. AApparently a great joy in the Swenson household.

This is our 'before'opening the presentsHere is the 'after.'

Thanksgiving in "sunny" Arizona

This year we once again went to Arizona for Thanksgiving. Steven's Grandma and most of his aunts and uncles live in Mesa. We were also able to see 5 of Steve's siblings while down there.

According to a few of the relatives it was the coldest Thanksgiving Mesa has had since the 1930's. So much for my sunny, hot Thanksgiving. At least we had good company.

While there we went to the Arizona Natural History Museum. This is Mandy and I outside watching the boys dig for dinosaur bones.

Kari and I atop a lovely giant turtle. Hmm, maybe a Sea Turtle? Do they exist in Arizona??

The scene outside the museum. This is Braden, Kari, Preston, and Taylor.

This is soon-to-be Uncle Joey and Uncle Brian with B, K, P, and T.

I just had to post this picture because I LOVE Kari's grumpy face. She can make THE BEST grumpy face ever........and she means it!

Kari loves to draw pictures for anyone who will take them from her. Keen was a good sport and spent lots of time coloring with her.

Mandy brought some helicopters for the guys to play with. I have yet to figure out why they are so amazing, but apparently they are and now my hubby wants one. Brian, the 'pilot' is trying to feed Galen a pretzel that is hanging from the helicopter. I do not believe it worked however. Galen had to actually get up and follow the helicopter around.

Andy had much greater skill and ease in obtaining his pretzel. (JUST KIDDING GALEN, YOU ARE VERY TALENTED TOO!)

There's so many things I could say about this picture, but I'll let you make up the caption.

The kiddos at the play area when we went to the aquarium. Which was IN a mall. They have amazing malls there...........too bad I'm not a big fan of malls.

Me and Mandy at the aquarium.

The aquarium had a few hands on activities for the kids. You can't really tell, but they are 'petting' starfish.

I will post many more pictures on facebook. It's faster. Simple as that.

We did have lots of fun and we are so grateful that we were able to see so many family members. We love you all!