Jingle Bell Rock

What a fabulous Christmas! Joel, Jude, and Rory got super blessed and Ryan & I couldn't have had more fun watching our little people tear through gifts and celebrate Jesus' birth! Story of the year... The kids got a Wii from their Grandma Kim and after we got it all set up at home Ryan and Joel began arguing over who has had more "play time" on it! Ryan starts playing Wii tennis and, after all his lectures to the kids about watching out for each other before they swing the controllers around, he actually swings his controller into the Christmas tree (knocking a bunch of ornaments to the floor) and then proceeds to hurt his foot on a toy while trying to perfect his mad Wii tennis skills. Gotta love the cruel irony of that! :)

Reindeer!!!

We took the kids to see reindeer tonight (we were supposed to see Santa too but the line was about an hour long and outside in 27 degree weather... No thanks) and it was pretty cool. Turns out Dancer and Prancer were there for pictures w/ us!

Ryan, Joel, and Rory with Prancer.... Jude was too scared to get in this picture!

Joel, Jude, Rory, and myself with Dancer... Freezing in the sleigh! :)

Fun w/ Papa

The kids' Papa Bob (Ryan's dad) came over this evening with movies and popcorn and spent some fun time with us before bed! Joel, Jude, and Rory just adore their Papa and asked me over and over again for the hour and a half before he came if he was "here yet"... Gotta love that! ;)
After our movie the kids talked him into playing some jax with them. Here are some fun snap shots of the action.

Homemade Fun

Joel is our little creative wonder and he came up with the idea to build his own "go cart"... Here are the results! He covered a diaper box in foil and taped it to a skateboard. He was generous enough to share the fun w/ his siblings so I snapped a few pics of Joel and Jude be-bopping around in the homemade car :).

Yum, Yum, Eat 'Em Up

The kids had a tremendously nourishing breakfast this morning... Donuts w/ icing and sprinkles!!! Way to start the day, eh?! Since Joel and Jude are "growing up" now and too sophisticated for sloppy donut eating, I decided to nab a couple of pics of Ro with chocolate face. I love how she admires the donut like it's a piece of art! Well, I guess in a since you could call it culinary art, but we aren't talking Ace of Cakes here... These are Walmart bakery donuts :)!

Trick Or Treat!!!

Well, here they are... Our three little goblins pre-trick or treating. We had so much fun! First we went to Joel's school for a halloween celebration and the kiddos got to play lots of games and win prizes and candy. After dinner Grandma Kim came over and put on her costume... She was a big baby (seriously!) and the kids loved it! I took a picture of her with the kids but later realized I didn't have the memory card in my camera so I can't upload it to my computer :(. Happy Halloween Hanewinkel House!

Pre-Rain Play Time

Just remembering the good ole days before it decided to rain every single day out here. We are now like prisoners in our own home... Sigh. :)

Good Morning, Sunshine

Me and the Princess freshly out of bed (for your viewing pleasure). I still love my cartoons!

Our Little Archeologists

Somebody bought the lot next to our house and the hole was recently dug out for the foundation to be poured... Thus leaving a huge mountain of dirt and rocks right by our house (temporarily, thank God!). Jude and Rory have had so much fun digging at the bottom of the hill for neat rocks and "dinosaur bones"! Here are some cute pictures of the wee people enjoying their excavations.

Ultrasound Results...

IT'S A GIRL!!!

Eckert's Orchard

The fam went to Eckert's today to go apple picking and all that fun stuff... And I forgot our camera. Grrr. However, we had a fabulous time despite being unable to capture some cute moments on film. Poppy Bob came too (which the kids were very excited about) and was just so much fun and such a blessing to have there! Jude and Rory were expert apple pickers... And though Joel didn't really get into the apple picking, he had a blast at the "carnival" area w/ all of the inflatable bouncers and mini golf! Love family time!!!!!

Dustin's Blog

My brother, Dustin, just started his own blog where he will be posting poetry and songs that he writes... He is really gifted and I encourage any of you that have an appreciation for that sort of thing to check it out! He is looking for honest feedback of all kinds and he welcomes your comments. His site is www.poetofchrist.blogspot.com so get to it! :)

Special Visitors

Today we had a very special visit from Ryan's mom (aka Grandma Kim) and she brought with her two very special little people... Joel's, Jude's, and Rory's cousins J.J. and Sammy! They live near Nashville, TN so we don't get to see them very often and everyone was really excited. J.J. is a few months older than Jude so they had alot of fun playing together (and Joel loved having someone else to follow him around!). Sammy is a few weeks younger than Rory so they played marvelously together too! We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire in the back yard and afterward played like crazy people out front! Here are some fun pictures of our time together.

Park Day

It was in the 70's today and absolutely beautiful!!!! Needless to say we couldn't stay inside, so we had a little excursion at the local park... Joel started school yesterday so it was just the little guys. We missed Joel. :)

Rory was having a blast playing hide-n-seek with Jude and Ryan!

Jude is a master climber.

Rory loves the swings! It's hard to get her to do anything else at the park!

Jude was actually climbing down from the four wheeler because he was mad at me for trying to take his picture! Tee-hee!

Boy Time

Here are a few pictures of the Hanewinkel men enjoying some quality time together... For your viewing pleasure! Ryan spends a lot of time reading to/with the kids (especially Joel and Jude) and they just soak it up. He is such a wonderful daddy!

Let's Catch Up...

Just thought I would show you all how much fun we had on the 4th of July since I haven't been very diligent about posting updates lately! Joel was super stoked this year b/c he got to shoot off some rockets all by himself! And Jude and Rory, well, let the pictures show you how much fun they had... They really liked the black snakes that grow on the ground when you light them. Ha! More updates and pictures to come soon!

Hi! We're Still Alive!

Hi all! Here's the deal... My batteries are dead in my camera so I haven't been able to get new pics to post on here. For some reason I just can't bring myself to post many updates w/out a good picture to go along w/ it! Why not just buy new batteries you say? Yes, that would solve the problem... If I could remember to leave Walmart w/ the stupid things actually in my bag! Oh well. Until then, peace out.

The Zoo!!!

We took a family trip to the zoo on Monday and it was so much fun! Her are a few pics... Of course, I forgot to pull the camera out when the kiddos decided to play under a little water fall (obviously man made). Oh well.

Rory and me! Joel and Jude are behind me looking at the prairie dogs.

Huge African elephants (these are Jude's favorite at the zoo).

Hmm... Well, it was that time of year for the tortoises! All of the kids around were like "Mom and Dad, what are they doing?" and all of us parents were like "Um, just giving each other piggy back rides, dear.". Joel is still convinced the big one on top was just trying to climb out! :)

Ultrasound

And here it is... Baby Hanewinkel #4's first debut! Due January 23, 2010.

Tadpole Update...

Just an FYI... Apparently tadpoles like the heat about as much as I do... They are all now dead. :( So, sadly the kids were not able to watch them sprout all of their legs and hop away. There is always next year.

Hasta La Vista, Thor...

Yesterday we all said "goodbye" to Thor. After battling w/ some serious behavior issues (and not making much headway) Thor finally broke the hair on the camel's back. The night before last he became extremely destructive in our house after seeing a cat in the yard... He overturned some furniture, jumped on top of my kitchen table, poopped all over the place inside and dragged clothes out of the laundry basket to cover it up, and finally bit me. Ryan and I decided that we couldn't risk the kids getting hurt the next time the dog loses control again, and especially with a new baby on the way. We sadly had to send Thor back to the rescue and hope he finds a good home that is more able to deal w/ his behavior (and doesn't have small kids!). See ya, Thor.

A Day In The Life Of A Hanewinkel

I have to vent. Let me just fill you in on what a day here is like... We'll start yesterday afternoon.
It's a sunny day outside, the perfect day for playing in a sandbox or playing in the water... And that's exactly what my kids were doing. I needed to step inside with Rory for a few minutes, so the boys and their neighbor friend stayed outside at the sandbox. Five minutes later I open the door to check on the boys and all three of them turn to face me w/ a look of guilt written all over them. "What are you guys doing?" I ask them. "Nothing! Hey mom, stick your hand in this water!" they say to me as they all point toward the sandbox. "Why?... What's in it?" I ask. "Nothing!..... Well.. Just some water and sand... And some mud and grass..." they all answer back. A silence falls on the boys as I stare them down, knowing there is more to that answer than they want to tell me. "Well, and some of Thor's poop." one of the guilty party chimes in. "WHAT?!" I yell. That's when the fingers start pointing and everyone is laying blame on each other. I run in the house to get the heavy duty antibacterial soap and drown their hands in it, then I send them over to the hose to scrub themselves off. I sit Rory on the porch and proceed to dump the sandbox (and it's disgusting contents) onto the driveway and hose everthing off. During this time, I take the opportunity to scold all three children on how absolutely sick that idea of their's was and how sick they could have really gotten in return. Another period of silence falls. And that is when little Jude rats the older boys out... "They peed in it too, mom!". Fury burns behind my eyes as I turn to face them. "You did what?!" I ask Joel and Cole. Along comes another scolding that ends with me telling Joel it is time for him to go inside and Cole needs to go home. They were both so remorseful though that I decided to give them some mercy after all and told them that if they would promise to keep their penises in their pants from now on they could play a little longer outside.
After I finally get everyone settled in bed later that night I am so hungry I feel like I could eat our dog. I decide to make some popcorn. As I go out in the kitchen I notice a foul smell... That keeps getting worse the closer I get to the dog. Okay, scratch the whole eat the dog idea. Thor apparently has gas. Yea. I choke through the time it takes for the popcorn to pop on the stove, salt it, and lock myself in my bedroom away from Thor-the-farting-dog and his gag-igniting aromas. I finally fall asleep w/ a full belly... Hilight of the day right there.
So, here we are today... Ryan decides to treat us to lunch at Cracker Barrel! Yeah! Everyone is excited. We get to our table and place our orders... Then Jude says he needs to go to the bathroom. I take him to the bathroom and he informs me he needs to poop so he shuts and locks the stall door, with me on the outside. Not good. While Jude is comfortably perched upon his throne I am trying franticly to wedge my fingers in the door and undo the lock, to no avail. I finally decide to leave him and go find someone to help. A hostess had to come in with a pen and stick it in the door to unjam the lock... Thank God! Meanwhile, I am looking like a really incompetent mother. We get home, have nap time, and Ryan leaves for work. We have now come full circle. An entire 24 hour period in my life... And, yes, Thor still has gas. We will be trying a different dog food for him. He is lucky that everyone else in the family likes him so much right now, because if it were up to me he would really be in the dog house. Har-har-har!
And now, here are some pictures just for fun!

Tea Time!

Just some cute pics of Rory playing tea time w/ her baby doll... She had to dress up for the special event too of course. :) Pretty soon that little corner of her room will be painted to look like a sort of flower garden. I am going to have a blast doing that! I don't want to start though until I know for sure how I want to do it... Otherwise things could get really interesting in her room! Ha!

A Confession...

So, I just started this blog a few months ago. I think I have been pretty faithful about posting pictures and tid-bits about our doings... But I just found Facebook about two weeks ago, and now I feel like I have a secret life. I just need to get this out in the open, you know, lay the cards on the table so to speak. I feel like I married you guys here on blogger, and now I am involved in an intimate affair w/ facebookers... Why does it all have to be so complicated?! I guess, when it is all said and done, the internet is alot like old school mormonism... I am just a (wo)man taking several "spouses" to further my infiltration of the internet kingdom. Okay, I feel better now.

Tadpoles Galore

Alright, I know this picture is pretty disgusting, but I'm sure you will all get over it! We took the kids to a nearby park a few days ago and went to the creek to hunt for crawdads and tadpoles... We totally hit the jackpot. We brought home 6 crawdads and dozens of tadpoles for the kids to keep in a tank here. Well, the crawdads didn't fare so well (they were all dead the next day), but the tadpoles are getting bigger day by day and the kiddos are really excited to watch them all make the amazing transformation into tiny frogs. Once that happens, we will be making another trip back to the creek to let them all go b/c the Good Lord knows I don't need 75 little frogs hopping around my yard. :)