Bye Gramma Shell and Grandude!

Last morning with us...for now.

Post-Christmas Zoo trip

These roaming peacocks at the Wichita zoo were beautiful. They ate out of Grandude's and JB's hands. It's kind of funny to see flamingos in the middle of winter.

Christmas

Here's Gloria playing with her new play-doe that she got in her Christmas stocking.

No, that's not a beer bottle on the table, it's Green Tea Root Beer. However, Grandude and Max got liquor-filled chocolates in their stocking and they were chugging those down early Christmas morning as well as spiked egg-nog (not enough to get even JB "buzzed").

Gloria got a hand-made leopard suit from Gramma Shell. It especially looks cute when you can see the tail and the hat that goes with it.

You can see the tail sticking out of the bottom of the coat she got from her Aunt Cami. She wore her new leopard suit and coat almost all day. She also got new "running shoes" that help her do laps around the center stair-case of the house, her favorite thing to do to get exercise.

I think JB was in present overload after opening the late-morning big gifts. However, he did have fun with the Thomas Lego Train that his Daddy helped him build. You can see Gramma Shell lounging in the background with her new warm socks and comfy jamy-jams (good for all-day Christmas comfort). JB was in his new wolf suit most of the time the Colorado grandparents were here.

First Presents!

Here's JB on his first ride outside on his new two-wheeler (actually 4 with training wheels). This was his big birthday gift from Max and I along with the helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads. He wasn't too excited about it the night that he opened it, but once he realized he could ride it outside the next day, he was so happy.

You can see that Gloria is excited about just about anything she got to unwrap. These were both taken the day after JB's b-day and the day before Christmas. Gloria got to open an early Christmas present. "A DBD!" she says as she opens it. Gloria loves watching cartoons. Oftentimes I have to tell her "no cartoons right now" and she says "please?please?please?" Sometimes she ends up in her bed for asking so much when I've already said no. Overall, Gloria is a very cheerful girl and was only excited for JB when he was opening his Birthday gifts and she wasn't getting anything (except the joy of watching wrapping paper ripped open). I think she mostly enjoyed singing happy birthday and eating the mocha b-day cake.

All Lit Up!

A little bit late to be showing our Christmas lights, but I only took the picture a couple of days ago.

JB turns 4!

JB during dinner and JB during cake-time!

Gramma Shell made the lion cake and Grandude arrived the afternoon of JB's birthday, the 23rd. JB wanted his friends Logan and Maria to be there for his birthday so they came over along with their parents. I asked JB what he would want for his birthday dinner and he said "artichokes and elk", so that is what we had. After dinner and cake we opened presents!

Leaves!

I thought these were some good action shots of the kids playing with the leaves that fell on the snow after our pin oak in our backyard finally dropped them. The snow is now mostly melted and the leaves from this tree are left. We raked them up and then the kids jumped in the pile and threw them at me.

Do wolves climb trees?

Here is JB in his wolf suit in "his tree" (the tree he likes to climb). Max took these pictures and said he slid down the tree a few times trying to get higher...at least he didn't fall out. No wonder his wolf suit ended up gray down the middle of his front and with holes in the toes! Good thing his Gramma Shell is making a new one for him for Christmas.

Our Last-Minute Snowboy

As the kids and I drive through the neighborhood they notice the snowmen in some people's yards and say, "can we build a snowman?" Since I neglected to build one with them when there was mounds of snow around, I took the last remaining snow and they helped me build this beautiful snowboy that eventually had lots of sticks in him and then JB knocked the head off...at least we have the memory.

Stocking

Stockings are for wearing, right?

Just cute!

I can't remember why Gloria was leaning up against JB like this, but I knew it was cute enough to take a picture. The kids were waiting to go outside with their Daddy to put up Christmas lights in the front of the house.

We seem to be strictly white light people whereas a few other people in our neighborhood are colored lights people (I'm not trying to make a racial comment). Many people are able to pull off the colored lights without looking gaudy. There are a few houses here and there that are just junky looking, but mostly I love to look at the various Christmas lights around the neighborhood.

One I love the most is a house right at the entrance to the neighborhood we drive through to get to our house that has a nativity scene with a huge lit-up sign next to it that says "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!" They also have a huge star that's lit up right above the nativity scene that's hanging on a tree or a pole, I can't remember which. The decorations that I don't care so much for are the ones that are cut-outs of Santa and look kind of cluttery. Just my personal opinion. I also like the houses that look like a "wonderland" of lights, and the ones that frame most of the outline of the house...the roof, doors, windows, etc. That's a lot of work. Maybe tonight I'll take a picture of our house with the lights on it. I'm being rambly now, so I'll post some more pictures.

Fun in the snow...a while ago

This was one of our days of fun in the snow. Max built them a ramp out of snow in the driveway that started at our old dishwasher that we had to leave outside for a while.

Then we decided to take a walk and ended up at Garrett Park, about a mile away. I pulled JB most of the way and Gloria walked most of the way home and most of the way back! She's a trooper...and JB likes the excitement of dragging his feet and hands out of the sled, which gave me more of a workout. The "snow days" were a lot of fun, but now the snow is gone and some leaves still remain.

Gloria!

I decided to dig out our Christmas CDs this morning because there are only three more weeks left until Christmas and a limited time to listen to them. As Gloria was eating her breakfast of PB&J and Jelly with apples (something JB requested for breakfast) a song called "sing Gloria" came on that has the chorus "sing Gloria, sing Gloria, sing Gloria!". She was bee-bopping to it in her little chair when she started singing "sing Mommy, sing Mommy, sing Mommy!". It was very touching. I guess its these kinds of entertaining and sweet things that "make up" for her stubborness in the terrible twos period of her life.

Snowing in Kansas

It's been snowing all day, by now I think we have about 6 or 7 inches. It's so pretty.

The kids just had to get outside today eventhough is was below 20 degrees with a windchill making it feel like 1 degree. They had fun out there for about 20 minutes, then just got too cold with the bitter wind.
Gloria figures if she doesn't have a sandbox to play in, then snow can be just as fun with bucket and shovel...
It might be a little bit late for raking the leaves, but it's very important to rake the snow.

Helping Decorate the Tree

Here are the kids decorating the tree we got at the woodlot in Colorado. For the most part they did well although they did break a few ornaments, but no favorite ones - I made sure I put those up myself. The tree reaches almost to the second floor ceiling. This year's tree is taller and thinner than last years, which is about perfect for that spot in the hallway. You don't need a ladder to get to the top, just a staircase.

Little Turkeys

Yes, this is after Thanksgiving, but that is why the singing turkey in JB's arms is so happy and dances and sings "It's A Holly Jolly Christmas"...he didn't get slaughtered for Thanksgiving day.

This is Monday, the day we got out all of our Christmas decorations and Max set up the Christmas tree in the morning. Max had to fly that night so the kids and I decorated the tree. These are hats that I bought after Christmas last year. Gloria wore hers (and her pajamas) for almost the whole day.

Isn't he cute?

A package

This is a side view of his leg and tush and abdomen. The little "doop" you see shows he's a boy. We are very excited to have another boy in our family. We have another picture of his boyness but its a little too "showy". JB didn't act too excited when I told him he was for sure having a brother because he already knew it was going to be a "brodder". He likes to tell everyone about the "baby in Mommy's tummy." Gloria is still clueless when it comes to the concept of having a new sibling. JB claims he wants a big family with "lots of brodders and sisers". He doesn't remember when he was an only child, so for him, the more the merrier.

Thanksgiving Day

This is what we did most of Thanksgiving Day...processing elk meat. We are thankful to have all of this meat filling almost two chest freezers (both venison and elk) with 200 lbs of elk. Be assured that if you come visit us you are going to have a taste of some yummy game meat. Today Max cooked the elk heart with bacon, seasonings, and a sauce. I was skeptical at first but it tasted good. Max likes the challenge of making different parts of his kill taste good. He also likes the thought that he is not wasting any part of the animals that God provided for us to eat. It took from 10am to 4pm to butcher, cutting unwanted parts off, package and label stew meat, roasts, steaks, and jerky meat. Then it took yesterday (saturday) from 9am to 2pm to grind the ground meat pile, package, and label it.

We were also thankful to have been invited over to our friends', Jeremy and Kristin's, house for Thanksgiving. We had all of this meat processing to do, unpacking from our trip to Colorado, and we didn't have a working dishwasher at the time. It was a wonderful meal with lots of food and good friends.

Nuts

Gloria and JB are sharing in the mixed nuts on a picnic table at the nearby park. JB and Gloria both rode their tricycles all the way to the park, about a mile, but they were getting tired on the way back and wanted me to "carry" both trikes and themselves. It took a lot of coaxing to get them all the way home. I'm not sure how long it will be before I try this again. The other reason this picture is "nuts" is look at the waterbottle that is about to tip over. There goes mommy's drinking water. Kind of a cool angle on the waterbottle.

A Bitter Sweet Goodbye to Faithful, JB's pony

While we were in Colorado we found out from a vet there that the pony that JB calls "my pony", Faithful, has cancer and probably only months to live if not less.

Michele, Max, and I have all had conversations with JB explaining that Faithful is sick and is going to die. He is sad about that, but took it well, and knows that he can still ride Grace, which will be his new pony. Faithful is called that because he is what Michele calls "bulletproof", a very good pony for kids to ride. Grace is three and is not at that point yet, but she is being worked with to train and do well with kids.

These pictures are on the last morning we were in Colorado right before leaving to go back to Kansas. JB is saying goodbye to his pony. Bye Faithful, you've been a good pony for JB to learn to ride on and call his own.

The Elk at Home (CO home)

Max and Nathan with their elk before taking them to the taxidermist to get mounted.

Processing the elk meat so that we can take it home and eat it.
JB with deer antlers on his head and Max's elk head in the background.

Max's Hunt

The whole purpose of this trip to Colorado was Max's hunt for elk with his buddy, Nathan. Max applied for an elk licence in Colorado early this year and has been planning this trip since last year.

They were about 5 hours away from Monument in Craig, Colorado. Their hunting period for the elk in this area went from November 15-19. Nathan and Max scouted for two days before that so they left on the 12th to get out there.

After 5-6 cold days and nights of camping out in a utility trailer on cots and in sleeping bags, waking at 4:30 to hunt before sun up when it was about zero degrees, both Nathan and Max got bull elks, three and two days before the end of hunting season. This is what Stephanie and I and Max and Nathan were praying for...that they would both get an elk early so that they could come home and have the weekend with us, including a Thanksgiving meal on Sunday with family. God is so good. It could not have worked out better.

Second Visit to Woodlot - Christmas Tree Hunt

This was the very last morning we were in Colorado, Monday, the 20th. We went quickly to the land we own in Colorado to get a Christmas tree to bring back with us right before doing a final packing and driving off. This tree was one that looked like a good shape for a Christmas tree and that was in an area that needed to be thinned anyway to let other trees grow bigger and healthier.

JB at the Woodlot

We're back to the woodlot again in Colorado. We made two visits to the "woodlot" that we own on a mountain in Colorado, and this is the first visit. It was snowing and we were checking out all of the clearing of brush and treesthat Duncan and Michele had done recently. It made it look much more open and not as much of a fire danger - taking away a lot of the "ladder fuel" - brush below big trees that allows the fire to climb.

JB is standing on a rock looking cute and cozy.

Sledding with Mommy

I went down this hill in front of the Bremer house with both JB and Gloria. We mostly took videos, which I am not able to put on the blog. It was a lot of fun. I'm not sure how much sledding we will find in Kansas , so we'll soak it up here while we can. Although lately it has been warm-ish (50s and 60s), not cold enough for a bunch of snow... in Colorado the temps and the weather can change quickly though.

Gloria in the Snow

Gloria is pulling baby Elliott (9 months) in the baby sled. I'm not sure if she got very far, but she likes "taking care of baby Elliott"...maybe good practice for her future baby sibling.

Sledding!

Here's Ian and JB sledding together. We had about 1-2 inches the other day, enough for sledding down the hill in the front yard.

Helping Feed in the Snow

The kids love to help Gramma Shell feed the animals. Now Stephanie, a friend who is also visiting the Colorado Bremers, and whose husband, Nathan, is hunting with Max, has been feeding (she's very good with horses and animals in general) and they also like helping her.