Christmas in Afton!!!

Right before Christmas Nick had a presentation at school due. Rather the coop he is in.

Zack decorating the tree. It was so much fun,beautiful and a great experience out here in the woods, in a beautiful house and beautiful land...

Words and pictures do not do this 15 foot tree justice.

My baby.. The boys love Christmas time. Makes for great background too..

My two silly one...They are two peas jn a pod..

Who is that old couple there...

Christmas morning.. You can see a bit of a table on the left there. We enjoyed the fireplace and the tree so much that we brought our table out to the living room to eat and play games during the Christmas season.

Cheerful teenager  =) Good Morning Sunshine!!!

Snuggling up and waiting for mom and dad to open presents.

I know they can hardly wait....

We always start with the stocking first...

Daddy opening something...

Ooh a video game...Now he is happy..!!!

The boys all got a video game and a shirt they wanted. They are getting so big and older...

Look behind Zack up on the fireplace. It was a perfect mantle to display Zack's collection of nutcrackers...

Daddy got a torch or some kind of tool from the boys...

Nana and Papa got each of the boys a chair for their rooms. They are so comfortable..

 Nana and Papa are looking at coins that my inlaws sent the boys for Christmas...Collectors items. Such a neat gift.. Thank you Grammie and Papa!!!

 This is the view out our window on Christmas. It was stunning...

Getting the Perfect Tree!!!!

OK !!!Let's set the record straight.. Mommy wasn't liked very much for getting a real tree.. First of all, we have 18 foot ceilings, so a little 8 foot tree would get lost, so I chose out one and we cut it ourselves. But let me paint the picture. We drive out to this tree farm and alllllllll the trees are covered in snow and ice and all look the same size. It is 5 degrees out but with the wind chill it was well below 0. Zack is too cold to leave the car, Chris has a frozen shoulder, teenagers in general are not happy with anything and Nick is the only one with a smile on his face. So we venture out deep in the blistery cold Minnesota and find "The Tree".  It doesn't look that big, but when you are surrounded by trees, it is hard to tell. So we cut and cut and cut and cut. Nick is the only one who can really reach under the tree, and a 15 foot tree has a base of about 7 iniches wide. That is alot of cutting. Meanwhile Chris and Josh's legs and faces are getting really cold. Josh and I try to get under the tree and cut, but we are not much help. So here is my 10 year old trying to cut a massive tree down. 25 minutes later, we have a tree down.  We haul it back to the barn to find out, you cannot wrap a 15 footer, it won't fit on the shaker.. So we have a bunch of guys load the 15 foot tree onto our van. It looked like a giant tree was driving down the street, you couldn't even see the van. Limbs were sticking in the window to tie it down. So we get home..Uh OH!  How do you get this massive tree into the house????? We shoved and shoved and shoved and we finally got it in and now the fun starts..Trying to make a hole big enough for this massive tree to stand straight up on the  newfangled tree stand. Nightmare-yes..Worth it-yes...Once it was up and decorated, it was absolutely gorgeous...

Nick looking ever so suave up there on that ladder...

Trying to get the tree to stand upright...

A hug for dad, he did it....He got it up and stable...

Nick Turn 11 !!!

Nick is 11 today...

My baby turns 11 and he is not so much a baby anymore.. Poor guy always have to share his birthday with Christmastime..but he is OK with it and enjoys life to the fullest.

Zack got him a pacman stuffed animal that make the wonka wonka sound...

Another one of Zack's beautiful wrapping job using tape and string or whatever he could find. He wanted to make it hard for Nick to open.. Love the Christmas and birthday wrapping job.

Some of Nick's buddies for his party. Left is Isaac Metraus, Josh Leslie and Bayard Johnson...

Vitaly Brown is front and center...Nick has good friends...

Say no more. They are silly boys...

Wrapping paper for a gift. Good one guys...

But it did have a gift card buried in there somewhere..Funny...

Nick and Zack working on the models that Nana and Papa got them for their birthdays...

ZACH turns 13...My middle baby...

 Zach (formerly Zack) likes to spell his name with an h now.. Gotta get used to that as I always spelled his name with a k?  He is such a sweet, serving, loving boy. He TRULY is obedient, kind to his brothers even when they can be mean, he does as asked and always with a good attitude. He is smart, witty, funny, and looks just like his daddy. I am sooooo glad God gave me this boy.. He is special alright...But he did ask for red hair and tattoos for his birthday...A little rebellion perhaps, but I don't mind, it washes out in one wash...

Nick with his red hair and Zach with his mohawk. They looked cute, not rebellious...

Zach 13 today....

For Zach's special day, he got to choose what they would do andso they had some online battle..

Zach likes building things, I see an engineer maybe...???

Dad is going to help him build his robot...

He asked for a paddle for his birthday and wants to beat his brothers in number of hits.

 Not a good picture here, but the only one I could find.. We got him a bible with his name inscribed on it. That is what he asked for....

 Tattoo boys.

Nick showing his muscles and tats..

 Daddy helping them figure out how to build the robot..

Thanksgiving 2013 Flew by and Christmas is on its way...

 My mom and dad came out for a nice quiet dinner.

Papa and Josh just finishing up.. That is the look from Josh O.K. I am done eating, really a picture and really I want to go play some games..(XBOX probably!) But we did play board games first....