Feeding Time!

Dazzle wants to know if its time for breakfast yet?!

We ended up getting about 4 inches this weekend...it sure is pretty!

Taylor with Dirt and Trid...she helped me get the feeding done sunday morning.

In the background you can see Rock and Dazzle...

also Dahlia standing up on the fence,

she is starving as usual!!!

When feeding Dingo you have to sit with him or the goats will try to eat his food also.

He enjoyed having Taylor sit with him today.

That is our new horse barn you see in the back...it came together pretty well. The animals seem to enjoy it.

This is such a good dog!!

The kids love him and he sure does take care of his goats!

Hope you are staying warm this winter!!

Christy's birthday...

Well I had another birthday last week...

mom and dad came over on saturday to celebrate.

We went out to lunch and then came home for cake.

Mom made me an oatmeal cake (grandma's recipe) it is so good!

We also had a "regular cake" for the kids.

Mason was still not quite feeling well...so Taylor and Brody decided he needed to be covered in tissue paper!!

You can also see some of our snow out the window...

It snowed another 3 inches later that day.

Opening my present...

Mom and dad got me an awesome purse I have been wanting!

My birthday was actually on a wednesday and that morning I opened presents from Eric and the kids.

I got a digital photo keychain that holds 60 photos...pretty cool.

Also two candles that glow in the dark and change colors...interesting!

Cant believe Im 37 already...where did the time go?!!!

Just hanging out!

Here are a few photos just for fun...

This is Eric and Mason taking a saturday afternoon nap.

Mason had a little bit of a stomach thing going on for a couple days,

so daddy thought he should join him on the couch and keep him company.

Taylor and her sidekick, Sissy.

This was taken on a hayride....

We got together with our church family this fall and had a really good time.

I guess all the superhero playing wore them out!!

Wish you could hear the snoring that was going on!

Brody took these next two of Eric and I...

I know they arent very exciting,

but at least you get to see us!!:)

Eric chillin out....

Thanks for checking in with us!!

Christmas Time!!

We put our tree up the week after Thanksgiving.

This is a picture of Eric and Mason working on the lights.

Still working on the lights...

Brody is laying in the chair making sure they are doing a good job!!

Taylor is in the floor making a picture of the nativity scene.

The boys both ended up falling asleep on the couch while Eric and I were doing ornaments with a little help from Taylor.

Some of you know how crazy I can get with Christmas decorations...

This is our little tree by the front door. We call it the "snoopy tree"...

it is covered with charlie brown and snoopy that I have slowly collected from those little Whitman chocolate boxes...

This next tree is pretty special...it is decorated with Minnie and Virgil's ornaments (Eric's grandparents).

There are some really neat ones on there...some of them hand made by Minnie.

You can also see a few of our outdoor lights through the front window.

A close up of the fireplace with all the stockings...

The great room has the most decorations of course.

It usually takes me about 3 days to do the inside and front of the house.

Well worth it...the kids think its pretty cool!

There is quite a bit more but I cant show all of it in detail...

you would get incredibly bored!!!:)

Merry Christmas!!

Photo Shoot!

The boys have become quite the photographers. Brody especially likes to take my camera and walk around the house taking pictures of everything!!

I find some really interesting pictures on my camera sometimes!

Lately they have been taking pictures of each other in their costumes.

I am not sure who is who in these pictures.

Thought you all would enjoy these pics taken by the boys.

I probably should consider getting them their own camera for christmas?!

Are these pictures cute or what?!!

We Have Horses!

I know what you are thinking....did they really need MORE animals?!! Probably not but I think we are done now! I have been wanting another horse for about 5 years now and Taylor has been asking for about a year. I had helped a lady last fall who owned a trail riding business and found out last week that she was getting out of it and selling a bunch of horses.

The one Taylor is riding is Dazzle...he is an arabian and around 20 years old. He is a great beginner horse for the kids. I am riding Rock...a quarter horse and also some where around 20 years old. He is very calm also but a little more spirited than Dazzle and alot taller!

She offered us such a good deal...Dazzle was very cheap and Rock was free!

Mason's first horse ride...he thought it was pretty cool!

Brody's first horse ride...that was fun!!

Grandpa Remembered

This is my grandpa and grandma.....George and Faye Hodge.

They were married in 1943, one week before my grandpa left for World War II.

Grandpa grew up in the Lake area where I now live. He met my grandma in Eldon, MO.

Grandpa was born February 12, 1925 in Tuscumbia, MO.

A couple years ago he took my mom and I on a memorable drive through the back woods of Tuscumbia (which he told us was named after an Indian Chief).

I sat in the back seat and took the best directions I could so that my family would be able to find these places again. He took us to 3 different cemeteries and also past his grandpa's 160 acre farm where he grew up.

Down the road from that farm was his other Grandma's farm. She was a Shoshone Indian and raised 6 kids on her own while working the farm after her husband passed away from a appendicitis.

As we drove down the drive that use to lead to his grandma's property he was telling us how her little log house use to be up on the left.....and to our surprise, there it was!!

That was so fun to get out and walk around the small building where my grandpa hung out with his grandma!

My mom even remembered being there as a young girl and chasing Grandma Burlingame's chickens (even though she was told not to!)

My mom also tells me there was a huge feather bed up in the loft that was handmade!

I wish I could put a couple pics on here of the old log house and grandma burlingame, but I dont have them on my computer...maybe another day!

My grandpa set off to World War II in May of 1943.

He was an elite member of the 101st Airborne, Screaming Eagles. He served in the 502nd Parachute Infantry, Company A.

He started D-Day in the cabin of a C-47 transport and was suppose to jump 20 miles inland from the Normandy Coast. Due to heavy flack, the pilot jumped his company too quick and one entire platoon jumped in the English Channel.

My grandpa landed on a grassy bluff right in the middle of a German Regiment. He was held captive for several days until the 4th Infantry Division over-ran the bunker and released him.

He continued on to fight in four major campaigns with the 101st.

He was in the battle to take Carentan. He jumped in Holland and spent Christmas morning fighting Germans in the Battle of the Bulge.

The weeks he spent in the forest outside Bastogne left his legs and feet permanently damaged from the freezing temperatures.

If any of you have seen "Band of Brothers", this is exactly what my grandpa went through. If you have not seen it, I would recommend it....it is a great movie.

My grandpa was interviewed a few years back and it is filed in the National Archives and can be watched via the internet.

After the war he went on to raise 2 daughters...he had 4 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.

He was married to my grandma for 56 years when she passed away in 1999.

This was their 64th year and he met her in Heaven on October 28, 2007.

We all miss him very much.

Dorothy and Toto

For Halloween we were at church. This was the first year our church did "Trunk or Treat" and it was a really great idea. We probably had about 50 cars that participated. They were in a big U shape in the parking lot and handed out candy out of their trunks. Many people decorated the backs of their cars and some of them got really creative with lights and music. Next year we may have a "decorating contest". Taylor wanted to go as Dorothy so of course Sissy got to be Toto....it was pretty cute!!

"TRUNK OR TREAT!!"
Thanks for checking the blog!!

Taylor's Birthday!

Taylor had a good time on her birthday....actually it ended up lasting a week or more. We celebrated the weekend before while Cassidy was visiting and that is when we went to the pumpkin patch (on the previous post). Then she had this party with her friends at the house. They decorated treat bags, painted pumpkins, had pizza, cookie and ice cream. It ended up being a rainy cold day but they still had fun...we just moved the craft time into the greenhouse!
I took them all on the Rhino to the back field where they had to find their pumpkins...
Later in the evening when it was dark I drove them around in the field for probably 20-30 minutes. They had a big blanket over top of them and a flashlight and told scary stories. There is nothing like a bunch of girls screaming!!
This was the weekend we celebrated with Cassidy and my mom and dad. Taylor likes the big cookies better than cake, so I ended up making her one for each party.

It doesnt seem possible for her to be 9!!!!

pumpkin patch time!

We visited a pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago and had a lot of fun. They had a big corn maze that the kids always enjoy. If you get lost you hold up the flag so everyone can find you. This is the first year we tried this particular one and it was pretty cool...they even had an area set up with goats you could feed!! Eric thinks maybe we have the beginnings of our own pumpkin patch/corn maze business!!
The tractor and wagon loads you up and drives you out to the pumpkin field and then comes back a while later to pick you up. We had picked out so many we almost couldnt carry them all back on the wagon. The coat on my lap is FULL of small gourds!

Here is a good picture of all of us with my mom and dad....Cassidy even came along for this one!

Another Family Photo!

Sissy got to come along too!

Kind of a cool picture of the kids jumping off the hay bales!

They had this huge blow up haunted house that the boys just loved...they went through it twice. Taylor thought it was a little too scary and only went once!

Thanks for checking us out!

Hope youre having a great Fall Season!

Branson Scenic Railway!

This is the train we rode on! It was pretty cool....none of us adults had ever been on a train before either. It holds about 300 people but there were only around 150 on our tour. There was a snack car, dinner car, 3 observation cars and of course passenger cars. The ride lasted about 2 hours and went to Arkansas and back!

We went over 2 bridges and I tried to get a picture on this one as the back of the train came around the corner. We were really high up! That was a little scary!! When we first left the station we had to cross the Tanycomo River and that was definately scary....you could feel the train swaying!
The kids had plenty of room to relax while they watched the scenery go by!!

This is when we were in one of the observation cars. It has a high top on it that is all windows so you can get a great view. You can see the window the kids are looking out of is the top of the next train car. This was a fun place to sit!

What a view!!

While we were on the train it went over 3 bridges and through 2 tunnels. The tunnels were really fun of course for the kids. It got pitch black and lasted several minutes. This is a picture of us coming up on a tunnel.

Taylor enjoying her view.

The train ride was alot of fun, but I think everyone was ready to get back home! I need a couple days to rest!!

Here is everyone in the car on the drive home having a "little" sugar!! We sure had our share of junk food while we were there, but I guess that is half the fun of vacation, right?!!

Branson - Celebration City

We had quite the time at Celebration City! This is the entrance...they had it decorated so nicely for fall! There were displays like this through the whole place. It is really a nice place to go...they have it set up like you are walking through the streets of yesterday. The roads are all paved like what you see here.

The kids really enjoyed driving these motorized boats around.
They shrunk!! Dont they look funny in this over sized rocking chair?!

We went to the Veggie Tales Silly Sing Along show, which is also inside Celebration City. It only lasts about 20-30 minutes but it is really perfect. You sing along with a few of the favorite songs, then they bring out the bubble machine for Larry's hairbrush song, then at the end Bob and Larry come out and surprise all the kids!!! Even though the boys are 7 they still think this is the REAL Bob and Larry!! Too funny!

The Giant Monkey!!

There were so many fun things like this in there...I took SO many pictures while we were there. I couldnt possibly put them all on here!

The kids did some of the rides while we were there. This one is of Mason and Grandpa. They went on this twice and Mason loved it! It is one of those water rides that gets you wet!

I think Brody and Taylor went on two different rides...this one and a swing one that didnt go too fast. They are more into the kiddie ones that are not at all intimidating!! They had a good time on the ones they went on.

This one is of Eric and Mason. This ride at first didnt look like it was going to be too bad, but once it started it was FAST and HIGH!! Good thing Mason is into that kind of thing!! They ended up going on this twice in a row. I couldnt believe how far up in the air they got and how fast it went...it was really fun to watch them~~

Daddy bought the kids all some of those light up toys when it got to be evening. The boys got these cool swords that light up and make noises!

The night show that they put on is just about the coolest thing we have seen! It was SO worth the price of admission!! They do about a 30 minute fireworks/laser light show every evening. There is a huge rock wall that sits above a pond and they project video onto the rock while they play music/shoot fireworks/laser lights/fire balls...it is really amazing!! The theme for this one was "Celebrating America"

Here is Taylor in her light up head band and 3D type glasses...too cute!!

If you are ever in Branson make sure you go to Celebration City!!