December 2013 Videos of my Munchkins

This post is primarily for me and probably of little interest to anyone else. Grand-Dad took several vidoes upon my request in December and I'm posting my favorite videos so they are easier for me to locate. :) . Some of them are a bit long, but as a mom I just love to listen to these sweet little voices. It's amazing to me how much older they already sound 8 months later! I sure am glad we have the ability to capture these sweet little voices! :)

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McKinley and Grand-Dad checking out the Cuckoo Clock - this has been there thing for a long time and it amazes me that she never gets tired of Grand-Dad showing it to her. :)

http://youtu.be/WtSCVqb6mg0

 

McKinley singing and cooing - such a precious baby voice :)

http://youtu.be/JBnDTBPFAC4

 

Here is Jackson singing his ABCs - after a few false starts...

http://youtu.be/dEP116qKiCQ

 

I love this little munchkin voice and all her antics reciting part of "The Night Before Christmas"

http://youtu.be/iGbU6qLxJHA

 

Reagan playing "Away in the Manger" duet with her violin instructor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBxaVZHIuGE

Christmas Eve Pictures - 2013

Even though it's a little (ha ha ha) stressful to try and get a decent group picture with these four wild and crazy kids, I'm always glad looking back that we made the effort. Having said that, I am truly looking forward to the day when they are old enough to just cooperate and have beautiful smiles. :)

 McKinley - 10 months old

 Jackson - 3 years old

Kennedy - 5 years old

Reagan - 6 1/2 years old

 I am so thankful for these 4 healthy munchkins that bless our lives each and every day! :)

Hermie - 2013

There is always great excitement in our house when our elf, Hermie, appears for the month of December. Last Christmas Hermie had several new and fun ideas he had never tried before like wrapping our toilet one night! 

 One morning the kids discovered Hermie had left a gift. It turned out he had been paying attention to what we were studying and decided to bring them a Viking ship to build.

 Aunt Marta gave the girls Elf on the Shelf chef outfits and the girls thoroughly enjoyed wearing them to help bake some of our favorite Christmas treats. :)

Hermie must have felt inspired by the girls and his matching chef's hat because he decided to try his hand at cooking breakfast for the kids one morning. I personally thought this concoction of spaghetti, ketchup, cookies, popcorn balls, cheerios, M&Ms, marshmallows and more looked pretty disgusting, but not only were the kids excited about it they ate it!

Both Frosty (who sent back cotton candy snowballs) and Rudolph sent notes back with Hermie this year. Rudolph sent some small cute treats including a flashing read nose for Jackson.

  Hermie certainly didn't want us to forget the reason for the season so on Christmas Eve we found him in our Nativity scene presenting a gift to Jesus with a note telling the kids "God Loves You!"

 The kids are looking forward to seeing Hermie again in about a month for Jackson's birthday and it won't be long now before he's back for this Christmas season! :)  

American Girl Dollhouse

Grammy and Grand-Dad gave (and built) an American Girl Dollhouse to the girls for Christmas. It took Grand-Dad several days of building along with help from Grammy in the painting and decorating department to put it all together. It is incredible and the girls love it! Thank you so much Grammy and Grand-dad for such an amazing gift! :)

 After Gran-Dad cut the pieces he labeled them and brought them into the house for Grammy to paint 

 Jackson decided he'd like to help with the building too :)

 First floor and back put together

 Adding color to the rooms

 Maybe it should be a dollhouse for McKinley instead?

 The completed product -  I wish I could get a better picture but it's so big it's hard to stand at an angle that allows a picture of the entire dollhouse.

 The top level has the tent, extra clothes that don't fit in the wardrobes and the gymnastics set

 

I'm not sure if the dining room or kitchen is my favorite room. They both turned out so beautifully!

 The living room

 The girls each have a bedroom for their dolls

 The schoolroom is pretty cool too

Even though they have a dollhouse now, Kit's Treehouse is still a popular hangout for our dolls

 Grooming and riding horses is lots of fun too!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our collection of American Girl dolls. Reagan and Kennedy have spent hours enjoying everything you have given them and we truly appreciate it all! Thank you especially to Grammy and Grand-Dad for providing such a beautiful dollhouse which allows the girls to enjoy their dolls even more!

Sweet Baby and Sisters

 Sweet, clean baby sporting a polar bear towel from Aunt Arla

I don't remember what exactly was going on after bath time (I imagine Jackson was demanding attention) so I asked Reagan if she would help me out with McKinley for a minute. She is such an amazing big sister! She took McKinley to her bedroom and started reading to her in her rocking chair. Reagan actually rocked her baby sister to sleep. I can't believe my first baby is so grown up! Love these girls and precious moments! :)

Kennedy Ellen - 5 Years Old

I want to share a little bit about Kennedy at 5 before I continue our family posts. I wish I had shared this last fall, but in this case I definitely think it's better late than never! :)

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At 5 years old Kennedy is certainly a sweet little girl. She is extremely helpful and has a special relationship with all three of her siblings as she is the peace maker in our house. As she frequently tells us, however, "I don't have a temper, but I am the stubborn one, right?" We noticed early on that while Missy K is our easiest child the majority of the time, once she makes up her mind to do (or not do) something there is absolutely no negotiating with her. She is one determined little nut! And speaking of nuts, she is a little goofball and certainly knows how to get herself into the silliest situations. If we're missing someone's clothes or their is a child without shoes, you can just about guarantee that of our four kiddos it will be our sweet Missy K. In the Fall of 2013 Kennedy was beginning her third year of violin instruction. We drive each other a little crazy with violin. :) When Kennedy is paying attention she does a fabulous job, but there are many days I wonder if she has ever seen a violin before, let alone remember how to play any pieces. And that is how reading with Miss Kennedy Ellen has gone as well. She was (and is) doing well and was ahead in terms of reading of most kids her age. Some days she did/does a phenomenal job reading, but as with violin there are days I wonder if she's ever seen a book before. Kennedy was also beginning her third year of gymnastics in the Fall of 2013. Gymnastics is Kennedy's favorite activity and she will not even consider giving it up. Like Reagan, these girls can't seem to get enough hours in the gym. :) Kennedy participated in both the Bluegrass Homeschool Learning Cooperative (BHLC) and was an Abecedarian student in our Classical Conversations homeschool group. As part of BHLC Kennedy was also a Girl Scout Daisy for her second year. She especially enjoys Girl Scouts because of her very favorite pal Zoe Womack who is one of the older girls in our troop. Kennedy has declared Zoe to be her big Big sister. There have been times when Kennedy is telling someone about our family and tells them all about Zoe but fails to mention one of her actual siblings. lol :) Because Kennedy is such an intelligent and determined little girl, with her head in the clouds she generally keeps all her coaches and teachers laughing where ever we go. She also has no volume control so if you're anywhere near you'll be sure to hear and enjoy her adorable munchkin voice. As Missy K continues to grow, I hope she realizes and remembers what a special little girl she is and how much we love her. We thank God each day for the tremendous blessing of having Kennedy in our lives! 

Raking Leaves - Boy Time

Just had to share some cute fall pictures of Daddy and Jackson "working" together to rake up some more of our leaves. :)

 

Southern Lights 2013

Another of our holiday family traditions is visiting the Kentucky Horsepark's Southern Lights display. As well as the beautiful lights, they have an awesome petting zoo and Santa. Because we generally visit Southern Lights Thanksgiving weekend (which also included Kennedy's birthday this year) we were able to include the Stiriz family and Uncle Chuck and Aunt Julie in this tradition as well as Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi and Holden. It was a beautiful night and we had a wonderful time as always!

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McKinley's 1st visit with Santa - she did a great job and I think this picture is so sweet! Part of the reason she did so well is because she had her favorite bear from Aunt Arla to keep her company. 

 Jackson wasn't in the mood for pictures or cooperation (a real shocker, I know...) so we just got this super cute picture of the three girls with Santa. :)

 2/3 of the LaBar/Lueker clan

 Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck with our sweet girls :)

 I love this sweet picture of Aunt Julie and McKinley looking at lights together

 The girls had the opportunity to pose with Frosty and the Nutcracker too :)

 Such a cute picture of Chaz and McKinley - he is so awesome with all my little guys! 

 The four big girls waiting for a train ride

 I'm not sure how it happened, but Tim ended up with basically all the kids in an itty bitty train car. The kids had a fabulous time singing at the top of their lungs and I'm sure Tim enjoyed the ride as much as they did. :)

 Charlie, Kelly, Aunt Julie and McKinley had a slightly less crazier train car (and probably ride too)

 Off they go! :)

 After the train ride we headed to the petting zoo to feed a wide variety of animals

 The kids also took turns on the adult camels

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Anna and Reagan

 Chaz and Jackson

 Kennedy and Heidi

 And Jackson finished off the evening in his usual delightful manner... Kelly just scooped him up and carried him along as he screamed at us. Oh how I love this challenging little boy! ;)

Thanks to the Stiriz, Cox and LaBar families for making our 2013 Southern Lights outing a memorable one! Looking forward to doing this with some or all of you for many years in the future and we especially can't wait to include our new cousin, baby Cole! :)