Wild Cat Den State Park

 We had some amazing weather early in December this year.  This particular day was overcast, but over 60 degrees!  We went for a hike in Wild Cat Den State Park. 

Here are the kids climbing a cool rock formation with a cave up top.

 We couldn't believe that Maddie was the one who jumped on and walked across the tree!

 Traveling across a smaller one, closer to the ground!

 In trying to get the kids to smile and look at the camera, I pretended to pour water over Matt's head...only problem, a few drips came out really fast.  Needless to say, we got the smiles we were looking for!  However, Matt got a bit more wet than he wanted!

Maddie, our artist

Maddie was chosen to draw/color a picture (of her own imagination) to go along with their Christmas program song at school.  Her art teacher chose Maddie to draw a set of pictures to be presented in a slideshow during one of their songs.  We are so proud of our artist!! 

The song is about a bear getting ready to hibernate - and missing Christmas.

Watching a TV Station at Work!

Will's Boy Scout Troop went to a local college to watch a basketball game being filmed.  Will was in awe of all the machines/cameras/etc.

Happy 39th Becki

 Celebrating Becki's 39th Birthday!  Maddie gave Becki this homemade candle.

Alex & Will made snowflake bracelets.

 Katie gave Becki this beautiful snowflake picture frame - with her picture inside.

Fall Fun 2012

 Maddie drew this picture for Matt one night at small group.

 Thanksgiving weekend we headed to Monmouth, IL to find a new letterbox series.  We absolutely loved this new series - and hope to make it a tradition to find every year!  Here are the kids in a bush/tree after finding the boxes.

 

Matt & Becki finally got away for a day to Galena to look for ornaments and eating some yummy food!  We were able to find a new letterbox also!

 Maddie & Will earned an award by reading 10 books.  It's a program set up through a local credit union.  Each child is given a certificate and stuffed animal (tiger) and the family is invited to a pizza party!  Here are the girls with one of Maddie & Will's friends and the credit union mascot.

Grammy (Becki's Mom) with Casey, Maddie & Will.  Isn't her new kitchen beautiful!!

Will & Becki went on a mother/son date night at Chick-fil-A a few weeks ago.  One of the special things was a ride in a limo!

Getting Ready for Christmas 2012

We put up the Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend.  It is always a fun time for the family.  Here are some pictures of our tree(s) and decorations.

It was also the time we give the kids their annual Christmas ornament.
Here is Katie with her ornament - One to remember her year of school patrol!

Alex gave up her thumb this year, so we found Linus (sucking him thumb!) along with Snoopy & Woodstock (because she loves animals!)

Will joined the Boy Scouts this year - This is a very big deal for him!

Maddie's ornament commemorates her Kindergarten presidency!  She was voted President of her class at the end of her Kindgarten year.

 Another Christmas tradition is getting in jammies and driving around looking at lights.  Here are the kids in front of the big tree at the I-Wireless Center, downtown Moline.

 

We drove to Peoria to look at the Festival of Lights over Thanksgiving weekend.  Here are the kids waiting in line to drive through the light display.  Luckily, we only waited 10 minutes as opposed to the 75 minutes from last year! 

Family Pictures

We haven't had any family pictures taken the past few years so when one of our friends - a great photographer - gave a shout out about open sessions one weekend, we jumped at the chance.  Here's the fruit of her labor!  I love to compare these pictures to the pictures from 2 years ago.  It is amazing how fast our kids grow.