Having Fun in the Snow!

Mitchell and Daddy always have fun blading the snow off of the drive way! This year is extra fun since Elden got a new toy to blade it off with. After fun on the tractor, Elden got the Four Wheeler out and he and Mitchell enjoyed riding around together in the snow!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

At the Olson Christmas party, we had a birthday cake for Jesus's Birthday! We all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and each of the kids got a chance to blow out the candles, spit and all! Here's a video of the boys singing together!

Christmas with the Olson's!

Taking a nap after a hard day of unwrapping presents!

Connor giving Adalynn a ride in the stroller!

All of the Cousins! I think three of them were continuesly saying "Cheese"

Mitchell and Connor

On Friday night, we had our Olson's Christmas! We had a great time trying to take pictures of all the grandkids together! That is always a challange and a great laugh. They all did pretty good, of course Connor wouldn't smile. Adalynn, Mason and Connor kept on saying "Cheese" the enteire time of taking pictures. Adalynn got a new Stroller/doll set from Nanna and Pappa and thought she try getting into the baby stroller and go for a ride with Connor pushing her! Even though it gets alittle crazy at times with all of the cousins, we had a great time together. After all the unwrapping, it was nap time. We tried to have all three boys taking a nap together in Nanna's room together. It took a while for them to get to sleep. The first time Elden peeked in the room, he saw Connor laying on top of Mitchell and Caleb, but the second time he looked in, Connor was standing on top of Mitchell, therefore he removed Connor from the room, the third time Elden peeked in, they were sleeping! After we got the kids down, the adults played a couple card games and played some poker and had some fun! We had a great time together with lots of new memories!

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Christmas with the Van Zee's

This year we had our first Christmas party with the Van Zee's on Christmas Eve. We had a great time and the kids couldn't wait to open the presents. We made a book for Elden this year of memories of Elden and the boys together. The boys got lots of nice presents from Nanna and Pappa and the Aunts! We had Christmas Eve service that evening, so it was a busy night! But we had a great time together!

Making Ornaments!

On Wednesday Night, Mitchell and Connor and I made some Christmas ornaments together. We had a great time gluing some sparkles onto the ornaments and then putting a picture in them and hanging them on the tree. I will be glad I did this ten years from now! Here are a few pictures of us making ornaments together.

Sittin by Santa

We also got a chance to visit Santa while we were at the mall. Mitchell didn't want to sit on his lap, but sat next to him. Mitchell was kind of quite at first, but once I told Mitchell to

tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, he went on for a while. "I want a Kinzie planter, Douglas the train, a snowblower for my tractor, etc... " Connor was kind of scared of Santa and wouldn't go near him. Santa gave both the boys a Christmas tree cupcake to eat. They were yummy!

Riding the Train

Every year I always try to get the kids to the mall to ride on the train! Today I decided to go last minute before the storm came and get some last minute Christmas shopping done. The kids were so excited to ride the train, they couldn't wait. Mitchell had it planned out days ago, Connor would ride on the "Coach" and he would ride in the engine and ring the bell at Connor. As soon as they gate opened to go in, Mitchell led Connor to the spot he was suppose to go and had him sit down and shut the door for him. Then he sat down and rang the bell almost the whole ride. When we got home, Mitchell told daddy that he "rang the bell so loud that eveyone would have to cover their ears". We had a great time!!

You Can't Catch me, I'm the Gingerbread MAN!

I knew it was suppose to be bad weather, so I thought we had better find something fun we could do in the house together! So off to Walmart we went and got a Gingerbread house! Mitchell picked it out and was soo excited to make it together. We were suppose to wait to make it today, but Mitchell couldn't wait so we ended up making it yesterday! We had a great time, this was the first time we've made a Gingerbread house together. I put the frosting on and Mitchell put the candies on. I think Mitchell's favorite part was to play with the gingerbread men that I bought at the store. He thought it was pretty neat the the Gingerbread men had a home to live in. He put a man on top of the house and by the door. The pictures are kind of backwards in order, but by the end of the day Mitchell was pretty tired and wanted to "rest his eyes".

Elden's vacation is OVER!

Latest view

A couple weeks ago

Elden had a good report in Iowa City this past week and is going to try to go back to work tommorow. His leg is healing nicely with a few of the deeper burn areas still pretty sore and tender. Here are a few pictures of how it was a couple weeks ago and how it is now. Elden says that he now has given up on ever winning any nice looking leg contests, (like he ever had a chance) one has scars from being broken and screwed back together, the other is half burned. He's pretty sure that he'll stick to his normal, wearing jeans year-a-round (Big Suprise Huh)!

Sunday School program

Mitchell was in a Sunday School program this morning. He and a group of kids sang "Away in a manger" and "Jesus loves me". He did a great job singing, but not so hot with the actions. He was more concerned about smiling for the camera than anything. Here's a few pics of them this morning!

Swimming Lessons!

We enrolled Mitchell into swimming lessons again this year! He always enjoys lessons and learns alot and gets more comfortable with the water each time he goes! He had a different teacher than he had last year. His teacher's name Gail and she was great! She was very nice and did a great job with working with the kids. Mitchell was in a class with his friend Valarie Krause (from church) so it was nice that he knew his classmate. I was really hoping he would advance to the next class, but he didn't. Maybe next year!

Connor's 2nd Birthday Party!

Connor celebrated his 2nd birthday this past week with our immediate families. We had a train cake since Connor loves trains so much! Connor's favorite toys were King (from the Cars movie) and Percy (the train)! He loved to blow his candles out and have people sing "Happy Birthday" to him! He had lots of help from his cousins in opening the presents. All of the cousins said they were just "getting Connor started" in opening the presents. We had a great time together!

I'm 2!

Connor knows how to say two now and point his two fingers up! It's a pretty cute video, however, it's sideways and couldn't figure out how to fix that. So hopefully you enjoy!

Tasting our Christmas Cookies!

I always enjoy making sugar cookies a couple of times a year since it's so much work. This year I made snow flakes and Christmas tree cookies. The boys thought they'd try them out to make sure they were good. Here are a few pics of them taste testing!

Decorating The Tree!

Mitchell putting his Thomas the train ornament up!

Connor holding his Percy ornament!

Mitchell's doing a great Job!

One of our favorite things that we enjoy doing together is decorating our Christmas tree together with each other. Mitchell always enjoys helping me put the ornaments up. He does an awesome job. I put the hooks on and Mitchell puts them up! This year Connor has tried to help us decorate as well. His version of helping is alittle different. He kept on saying " ball" to all the ornaments and threw them across the room! His favorite ornament though was his Percy and Thomas ornament! Let's just say the Percy ornament never made it to the tree since Connor insisted on holding it and bringing it to bed with him. Thomas made it on the tree since it was Mitchell's ornament. We had a good time though. After a few hours we finally got done!

Our first Snow!

Mitchell says his tractor is stuck!

One of our favorite things to do in the winter time is to bring some snow inside and put it in a 9 x13 container and let the kids play with tractors in the snow. They scoop and push the snow around with their tractors and make no mess! It's great for both the boys and mommy! Here are some pictures of the kids having snow. This is Connor's first time in playing in the snow! He thought it was pretty neat!

Elden's New Job!

As many of you have heard, Elden's Field work stopped abruptly when the Anhydrous bar that he was on had a hose that blew and sprayed anhydrous on his leg and face. He had third and second degree burns on his leg and first degree on his face. After spending three days in the Iowa City hospital, we finally got out. The medicine that he was on, hasn't agreed with him very much this week, so he has finally reduced it and he is feeling much better finally today. Elden said that his new job is being a full time daddy and that Mitchell was going to take over doing Anhydrous for him. Although with the snow I think that everyone is done with that job. We are thankful that he is alive and we know that things could have been much worse. We are going to go to a follow up appt. on Dec 10 to decide if he has to do skin grafting. Please pray that we don't have to do that. So far his wound looks like it is healing so we are thankful for that. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for us so far. Please also pray for patience for Elden and I as he starts to feel better that he may not go stir crazy.. and for me to encourage him to stay inside. Elden is looking for anyone who has a nintendo to play with to help him pass time. So if anyone has one, let us know! Thanks again for your prayers!

Harvest is Finally Done!!

I am happy to announce that harvest is finally done for the year ! We are thankful for another safe harvest without to much trouble. Here are a couple of pictures of Elden and the boys on one of their last days of harvest. Now it's on to other field work. Maybe they'll get done before Christmas we hope !)

Fun with friends

On a cold windy day like today it's always fun to have friends over to play with us. Today, we had our friends Logan and Lilly Zylstra over to play. We made turkeys and had fun playing with toys. Here are a couple of pictures of us making our turkeys. As you can see, Connor got alittle crazy with the marker, but we had lots of fun!