Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve. My very favorite tradition is getting to go to Grandma Haywards house for dinner! I love getting together with my kooky family!! I was sad that Mom, Dad and Todd couldn't be there this year! They were missed!!!
My favorite photos of the night were when we got a picture of each kid with the coal.

Brinley was SUUUURE this was going to jinx her and she was going to get a lump of coal for Christmas so this face is alllllll her! Cracks me up whenever I see it. We get this face a lot!






After that we came home to open PJ's and blankets and read the "Christmas Story" (Luke 2) And then off to bed!! Or that was the plan. The girls had a really hard time falling asleep. Mom and Dad were up until 3 waiting for Santa.

"Are you happy at me?"

Chase has been Mr Grumpy pants lately. He loves to scowl at you or tell you he doesn't like you. He likes to be defiant in every way he can. If you ask him to do something he will ALWAYS tell you No! I can tell the 3's are upon us. 3's are always worse than 2's at this house!!!

But my favorite phrase from him is when he knows I'm mad and he will ask me.. "Are you happy at me?" Or when he knows he has done something good he will ask me that too. I think it is so so cute! How could I not be happy at him when he asks me that!!

Updated the Ol Blog

With five new posts. Sorry, some of the pics are a little out of order. Im too lazy to go change them. Also, make sure to pause the music at the bottom when you view the 2 videos!

My Ty guy is FOUR!

And I cannot even BELIEVE it! Where has the time gone with these kids? He had a great birthday!! He woke up early (6 am) before Dad went to work so he could open his presents. He got a Batman Lego game, Bob the Builder Christmas DVD's, a new outfit and a TRANSFORMER! He was so excited. Brinley also bought him a little football and Jentry got him a frame and a CARS car.

He then went back to sleep like a good 4 year old boy!!!



We went to my cousins wedding that night and he had lots of fun running around and getting told "Happy Birthday!" from everyone!



The next night we went up to the Mayan with my parents. Ty love love loved it! Its a Mayan themed restaurant with guys swinging fire and jumping off of cliffs into the water! He had such a fun time there! He especially loved that they splashed water all of him and Grandpa!





Sorry the pics were taken on my phone and it doesnt work that great with no lighting! But you get the idea!

We then went back to Grandma and Grandpas and played a little Rock Band.

After that he got to stay at their house for a sleep over! What a fun birthday!!!

Hendricksen Christmas Party 2009

We had the Christmas Party at our house this year! And boy did we feel some togetherness!! I don't think our house has ever had so many people in it!! And this is just Scotts immediate side! Wowzers!!! We made a little Christmas Tree craft. Nothing fancy..we were going to EASY!



Played some games




Celebrated all of the December birthdays! (Jentry, Shelbey, Nicole, Nate, Ty and Bailee)




And then we had a special visitor come! The kids were so excited! He knew a little bit about each of them. He asked things like.. "Ty, do you have trouble staying in your bed at night?" He also whispered something into Jentrys ear about a rumour he had heard about her not believing in Santa anymore. She denied that quickly!! Its a good thing..because around here... "If you don't believe, you don't receive". So even if you don't believe....you better not tell your mom about it!

How did Santa know all of this?!



Chase was so so cute! After he sat on Santas lap all he wanted was for Scott to take him outside so he could see Santa's Reindeer!! He was so cute. But too bad for him...Santa only uses his reindeers on Christmas Eve! He cant go flying around in them just any old night!!

We had a great time!!

Jentry...12? Really???

Once again, Jentry had ANOTHER birthday! I wish she would quit doing this!!! She turned the big 1-2 this year!!!

She started out the day very early opening her presents! She got an ipod, clothes, and CD's! What a lucky girl!!! She then went to school.

When she came home we took her to Chuck a Rama... one of her favorite restaurants. A close 2nd to Sizzler of course!

The next day we celebrated with my side of the family at Sizzlers. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a *GASP* cell phone. And when I say *GASP* I mean it. That's what she did when she saw it!

She loves going to Young Women's! She didn't think she would at first but now she LOVES it! She is such a great girl. I couldn't ask for a better daughter....most of the time! ;-)

Thanksgiving 2009

We have A LOT to be thankful for this year! What a great Thanksgiving we had! We had dinner up at Scotts parents house. For the last couple of years his mom has placed five kernals of corn by our plates to remind us how much we have to be thankful for.


"The year following the first Thanksgiving brought greater hardship than the first. During the Starving Time, according to tradition, the Pilgrims had only a daily ration of five kernels of corn apiece. Still, they did not give in to bitterness, but trusted their Lord."
It was amazing to look at the spread of food we had/have! How greatful I am for a healthy family, a warm home, a working car, The Gospel, friends, family, food, the list could go on and on and on!!



We then took a trip down to see my grandparents. First stop was my grandma and grandpa Scotts and then Grandma Haywards for dessert! It makes for a long day but I love it!!

Jentrys First Duet

Jentry and Rachel did GREAT on their duet together. There was a few missed keys but who noticed? Only them! Im so proud of her! She is doing GREAT at piano. Scott and I always laugh because she will play the piano non stop some days if we let her. We have to tell her to quit playing. Theres no forcing her to practice or begging her to get her piano work done! She does it without me saying anything to her!! Way to go Jentry!

Jentrys School Pic.

This one makes me sad! Look how old she looks! GAH!!!

(I will get caught up on my blogging. I have a few fun things to share, I think..)

Trick or Treat!!

(Taylor Swift, a dead bride, and two Incredible Hulks)



What a great day for Trick or Treating! I love when Halloween is (semi) warm!! And I also love it when Mom and Dad come and take the kids around!! We had a great halloween!! The kids did a little trick or treating with eachother..



And then Jentry got kidnapped by some friends. So grandma took Brinley around and my dad and Scott took the two Incredible Hulks around. Chase loved to check out his loot!



Then we had some visitors show up...who other then Wolverine and Snow White with a preggo pumpkin. Mandy was about to POP with her twins here!! Mom thought she had her beat. Silly her!

Pumpkin Carving.

We arent much for pumpkin carving. Some of our neighbors really go out... but we are excited to get a smiley face that looks like a smiley face out of our pumpkins. This year we didnt disappoint. We got 4 whole faces! We are so proud!!

This is how it goes... First we all get a picture with our pumpkin...we want to remember how they were...nice, round, pretty, delicious...







Then we use a sharpie and make sure our faces are just right. We dont wanna mess these babies up! Then dad helps us carve them!



Then we marvel at our work. Dont be jealous. We can teach you how to carve pumpkins just like the Hendricksens!!





Then its time for a little halloween cookie making. That goes off without a hitch too!



After they are baked we find out we have no red food coloring to make orange frosting. So yellow will have to do!



We make sure to get just the right amount of frosting on! Look at that cookie...what could be better then frosting with a little bit of cookie? NOTHING!

Pick a Pumpkin!

This year we decided to try something new. I saw on one of my neighbors blogs that there was a pumpkin patch around here where the kids could go pick a pumpkin out for themselves. Sounds much funner then going over to Maceys and looking for one! So off we went! It was such a pretty night for pumpkin picking! It was the week before Halloween so most of the pumpkins had been picked over pretty good but we still found some good ones!! I used my neighbors advice and told them they could get a pumpkin as long as they could carry it themselves. Hence, Chases pumpkin!!


There was a little hay bale maze they could play in (ON) and the kids had a great time!



I think we will be going here every year!!

Brinleys school picture.

I had Jentrys retaken. She had major glare going on with her glasses. But I thought Brinleys turned out cute!

Rifle Hunt 2009

Well the rifle hunt is coming to a close. This is a big deal for my family. Every year since like 1900 (OK not that far back but pretty close) we have went to Wallsburg and stayed in about the same spot. This year my parents went up for about 2 weeks. They usually have some kind of grand kid with them. This year they were supposed to have both of the boys and my niece Shaylee. But Chase got sick. :( So it was just Shaylee and Ty for about four days. The girls had fall break off so they got to go up on Wednesday night and stay until I came on Friday and went home Saturday. My parents were going to pick Ty and Chase up again on Tuesday but they could not kick their tummy troubles and weren't able to go up and stay with grandma and grandpa again. :( (It wasn't just them that were sad about it. ;-) ) The weekend that we were able to go up was pretty fun! We had lots of family up there and lots of fun stories to tell! The kids really enjoyed riding the motorcycle and four wheelers! Brinley learned how to ride the motorcycle by herself. I was so proud of her. At first I just had to ride it down the hill in neutral so that she could figure out the brakes. I was too scared to let her have it in gear. But not her dad...He put it in gear for her and off she went. She did crash (more like fall over) about 2 times. But shes a tough cookie and got right back on after a few tears. Jentry is a little different than that...if she crashes or gets scared...she wont try it again for a few days, weeks, or possibly never. We love love love going up to Wallsburg. Even though there aren't any bucks up there. (which is fine by me!) We did see a moose on the way home though.

Can you hear me now?

Last night Ty came to me and said... "Would you get something out of my ear?" My dad always plays this game with him and pretends to get things out of his ear so that is what I thought he was talking about. So I grabbed the nearest block that was behind him and pretended to get it out of his ear. He looked at me and said... "No! Get this out of my ear!" and showed me a little Styrofoam ball from one of the bean bags. I looked in his ear and sure enough..I could see a little ball down there!!

Scott decided maybe we should do a little more ear damage and tried to suck it out with the vacuum. (You know you're a red neck....) That didn't work so off he went to walmart to get some tweezers. We have gotten this far without having any tweezers and I think this could explain my uni-brow..hmmm....

When he got home he was able to pull that sucker out!! What will it be next??


(I did thank Ty for giving me something to blog about. Its been slow-go around here!)