More Missouri Pictures

My uncle Harold and cousin Skyler
Me and Grandma!

My uncles discovering a hunting type game on the wii!

We always take a walk with our aunt Pam when we go down to Missouri. She took us up the hill by the old goat house. The kids were climbing on the hay bales so we decided to take a picture.

Austin taking careful aim.

I'm so happy we were able to make it down to Missouri for Christmas this year. You never know what the weather will be like traveling this time of year. Little icy to start out our trip and lots of fog to drive through on our way home. It was worth it to be with everyone together on the farm. I won't lie... it was very tough at times. I know my Grandpa was looking down at all of us. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas with their families. Happy New Year to you all!!!

Christmas on the Farm

Grandma, Aunt Pam and mom working hard peeling the potatoes for lunch.
Just strolling around the farm and taking lots of pictures.

Christmas 08

Ummm... do you think he liked the home theatre system we got him for Christmas?
I was pretending to be surprised when I opened this gift because Madison had already told me what it was. That's the last time she gets to help wrap my presents.

He said that gift wasn't fair since my fav scent of his cologne is really for me. hahaha

We set the timer on the camera and took a family picture the night before hitting the road for Missouri. Brian and I decided to open our gifts for each other before leaving for Missouri. We did let the kids pick out a gift each to open that night.

Mr. and Mrs. David Burney

Kelly and David make such a cute couple.
He's a cop so when it was time to take the garter off the bride's leg you could hear the music "Bad Boys Bad Boys Watcha gonna do" playing as he made her put her hands behind her head. It was too funny!!

Kind of hard to take a self portrait of all 3 of us since David is so tall.

We are so happy for the Newlyweds. Congratulations!!!!

Madi, Madi, Madi

This... is Madison. Crazy, fun, loving, sweet Madison. I can describe her as 7 going on 17. She always likes to think bigger than what most 7 year olds would think. I realize that in the long run this is going to get her very far in life... but for now I just want her to be 7. The other night as I was about to turn the lights out on the Christmas tree, I noticed a cookie sitting on a plate next to a note on our coffee table. The note read Dear Santa, I left you this snack just in case you are hungry while getting ready for Christmas. Don't forget we will be in Missouri on the farm this year for Christmas. I was also wondering if I'm on the nice list this year. Circle yes or no. Love, Madison Sandoval xoxoxoxoxo

I struggled all night whether or not to circle yes and eat the cookie. (or better yet circle no and leave a piece of coal) But I decided I was going to play by the rules this time and do nothing at all.

She was a little disappointed in the morning when the cookie and note were still there but I explained that Santa must be very busy at the North Pole and that answer seemed to satisfy her.

She's getting very worried about the fact that this winter weather may have to cancel our trip to Missouri after all. She wants to write a letter to Santa and overnight it to the north pole so he knows we'll still be here in Indiana. I told her that I know of an emergency hotline for parents to call in case of location change at the last minute (thanks for the idea Melinda)

A month ago Madison asked me if I was cleaning the storage under our stairs out so that I would have room to hide their presents. (man is she smart) I told her I was just doing it because it needed to be done and she walked away with a smirk on her face like "yeah whatever mom"

Not to mention more than once she has tried to outsmart the tooth fairy. (that white play dough almost fooled me)

Madison keeps me on my toes, that's for sure. I can't imagine life without her.

Oh the weather outside is frightful....

We got hit with an ice storm the other night. Just north of Chicago received around a foot of snow. We received some snow but mostly just freezing rain. I took the kids for a walk in the woods by our house. Everything was so beautiful covered in ice. The snow was fun to walk on too since it was covered in ice as well. The kids said it looked like a winter wonderland.
All the ice made us lose power from 5:30 am until early afternoon. Then we lost it again for a few hours that evening. Luckily we have a ventless fireplace that warms the house pretty quickly.

Can't play basketball when the net is frozen solid.

So pretty... camera doesn't do it justice.

Of course I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Just not too white since we will be traveling by car down to Missouri to spend Christmas with my family. It's been a long time since I've spent Christmas on the farm. My kids are worried that santa won't know that they are there. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Poker/potluck party

We started with a potluck dinner and white elephant gift exchange. The quesadilla maker made yet another appearance. Somehow we ended up with it because it also came with a Pirates of Caribbean DVD, so Brian stole that gift from Lisa and gave up the candles he opened.
Julia and Miles hanging out together with Jessica while the rest of us played poker. Cute couple, don't ya think? Julia even gave Miles a hug before she left that night.

Newly engaged... Kristi and Jason. Congratulations you guys!!!!

Kelly and Tony

Lisa and Carl

John, Jessica and Julia. So glad you guys could join us!!!

Sarah with her invisible husband. Dustin became very ill and had to leave before we even got the party started. We all missed him that night.

Henry and Traci

I know, I know...

It's been a long time since I have blogged. Here's a quick over view of some photos that were on our camera.

We took the kids (and Madi's friend) to Pepsi on Saturday for our annual breakfast with Santa and tour of the Pepsi plant. Here are the kids writing their lists to Santa.




Picture with Santa.

These huge containers in front of the pepsi plant hold sugar.

Cousins together on Thanksgiving weekend.

Me and Grandma.

Halloween 08

Shy Miles dressed up as an adorable Mickey Mouse!
We had a cute clown and a scary werewolf.

Madi didn't wear her clown shoes trick or treating because they were too tough to walk in for long. Her red nose even lit up when it got dark out that night.

Of course we carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds.

Ewww! Pumpkin guts!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween this year!

More Florida Fun

Cousins!
Still gives me chills to see this picture... There was a plane sky writing Sunday morning.
I wish I could just close my eyes, click my heels together and be back here in an instant.
Pete, Carolyn and the kids on the ferry to Magic Kingdom.
Love this picture!

14 hours at the Greatest Place on Earth

Madison and Kylee crashed on the sleeper sofa together after a long night of dancing together at the reception.
That's right, the title says that we spent 14 hours at all 4 Disney parks. We all had a fantastic time and just wanted to get the most out of our park hopper passes. (thanks again Karen) We started the day at The Animal Kingdom and headed straight to the safari adventure. We were so excited to be lucky enough to see the baby giraffe in the road. It was only 6 feet tall.
Everything was SO BEAUTIFUL at this particular park. I could have taken pics all day of the scenery.
Behind us is the ride "Everest" Austin wasn't very fond of this ride, but I must say it was one of my favorite rides because it was so unpredictable.
The kids meeting Chip and Dale. I don't know how they can stand being in the hot 90 degree weather down there.
Next we were off to Epcot. Tons of cool rides and attractions to visit there.
After a few hours at Epcot we headed off to Hollywood Studios.
Madison was wearing down about 12 hours into our day at Disney. Just a quick nap on dad's shoulder while waiting in line for the Toy story ride was all she needed to get her through the rest of the day.

Karen is so lucky she gets to visit the parks whenever she wants. Thanks for helping us plan out what to do at all the parks so we can squeeze them all into one day, Karen!
We finally met Mickey and Minnie at nearly 11pm.
One last pic of the castle before we leave.
The kids with their 3D glasses before getting on a ride.
This Mr. Potato head would move around and sing songs while you were waiting in line for a ride. At one point his eyes looked straight at Madison and he said "hey you in the white mickey mouse shirt" She looked down at her white mickey shirt, looked up at Mr. Potato head and then looked over at me and Karen with a freaked out look on her face. It was so funny I couldn't stop laughing. Then she hid behind Austin and Mr. Potato Head said "don't hide behind your brother" Austin thought there were cameras somewhere but Madi figured it was just part of the magic of Disney.

There really is something magical about that place to get me to stay there for 14 hours after dancing all night in high heels and only getting about 5 hours of sleep.