Christmas at Church

We had a lot of things happening at our church that the boys were involved in. We had the living nativity that Haden participates in each year. He was the first baby Jesus when our minister started the living nativity. We have added many new babies since then, and they are each growing up so fast!

The next week at church we had our children's Christmas Program. I was in charge of the little kids, ages 1-7 years old. I could not do this without the help of the mommies!! Some of the kids refused to stand, some could not decide if they want to be up front or with their mommy and daddies (Lilly S.) and some learned that they can jump (Zoe S.) and some children just really wanted to see if their mommies would chase them (Olivia D.). It had to of been the cutest program ever and the kids did such a great job!

I think Lilly found herself a boyfriend!!

Out of all of the little 1 year olds, Zoe is the only one that would do the motions.

Happy Birthday Haden

I cannot believe that my little baby is now 5! Where did the time go!!! When I was putting him to bed that night, he looked at me and said, " mom, I am 5 now, so can I go to kindergarten tomorrow?" SNIFF SNIFF, I am not sure I am ready for that!
Here are a few pictures of my little boy.

Two Cousins!

I bet you can never guess who wears the pants in this relationship!!! Brody does enjoy playing with his little cousin, Olivia, even if she does tell him what to do!

What does a WIldcat Say!!!

Brody is learning to support those Wildcats!

Where did the time go!

It is the end of December and the holidays are over. Where did the time go!!! I have not updated anything lately and we have had a lot that I could have written! I kept saying that my goal is to update weekly but that obviously was a LYE!!

So here we are at the end of 2010 and it is time to make a New Year resolution. What should my resolution be? Should it be being a better blogger, working harder at keeping my house clean or the ever so popular, becoming a healthier person. If I were smart and driven, I could do all three!! I could blog about how I keep my house clean while eating only oranges! I am not sure that would make for some good reading, but one just never knows! Either way, I will attempt to update my blog with some fun Althof adventures. I might have to do some catching up to do, with all that has happened in one short month, but I will do my best. I will blog what my resolution will be!

One final question, do you have a New Year's Resolution??

The New Oven!

I am excited to announce that I officially have a NEW oven!!! Not only is it new, matches the kitchen, and evenly distributes heat, but it is NORMAL SIZE!!! I have for the past few years been baking with an oven that has the lifespan of a 200 year old turtle. Nothing is going to stop this thing. I am pretty positive to say that it was the original oven from when the house was built in the early 60's.




Now, I wish that I can say that we went and bought an oven and then ran home and slapped it into the wall. That would be every girls dream, but not at this household. Wyatt and I (or Wyatt) have been working on updating our kitchen. We (meaning Wyatt) painted and added trim to all of the cabinet doors and painted the kitchen several different colors. (I was told that he was not painting it any more!)I got a new cooktop and then one Mother's day, Wyatt and the boys got me my new oven, with the intentions of having a new cabinet built. We were told that we would need to have the measurements from everything. This awesome new oven sat in my basement, year









after year.




Then, that wonderful day in October came...and so did my cabinet!





I agreed to do all of the painting. I never painted so fast in my life, which showed as Wyatt had to do some touching up, but it officially matched the other cabinets!!






With a little help from Chris Etzel, the cabinet was installed!



I love it!! I think that I have officially used it everyday since it was put in! We still have some finishing touches to make, but I can deal with it.

How time flies!

I realize that I have really slacked in the blog area!! We had so much going on this last few months so I am just going to post some pictures of the fun things that we have been up to. Haden started playing soccer. He did much better at soccer than T-ball!! He actually went out on the field and ran and participated. I was very proud of him!! We also had the annual Octoberfest out at the Etzel/Blevins farm. As usual, we had a blast hunting for store bought pumpkins and talking with good friends! Rachel Gross even brought out a pony for the kids to ride. Of course, my boys share the same love for horses as I and refused to ride it. We did not stop there! My sister, brother in law, and the kids and I headed out for a full day of fun at Renyers Pumpkin Patch. What a great time! We participated in EVERY activity that was available and enjoyed every last bit! Haden LOVED leading us through the corn maze and Brody enjoyed climbing to the top of the tire tower, until he could not climb down. That meant Mom to the rescue!
We finally wrapped up the two months with some Trick or Treating and Halloween fun! I had the cutest Fireman and Doctor at my house this year! We tried to get some cute pictures of the boys with Olivia, Zoe and Lilly. Each child had their own agenda, but they all looked ADORABLE running around the front yard! I had tried to carve pumpkins with the boys before their friends came over, but that was an unsuccessful task. Haden said he did not want to touch it and Brody just kept telling me it was "yucky" so I got to carve the pumpkins by myself. Haden did draw the shapes of the jack o lanterns face for me!
I have chalked up the last two months as some great memories and lots of fun. I hope you enjoy the pictures!!