Tweny-Ten begins!

JANUARY 2010

Alli with the annual tradition at Great-grandpa Proctor's--the singing Rudolf.  We made a loop to visit Vaughn on our way home.  The girls loved it and so did Vaughn.

The girls with their Great-grandpa Proctor.

We finally got a big snow!  1-7-10

Alli loved pulling Carrie around on the sled.

Hannah and Alli did a great job keeping the sidewalk cleared.

The girls' amazing doll house creation made of blocks.  They played all day for several days with this.  Each room was completely detailed with furniture, food, doors, etc.

What better way to enjoy a cold evening than to roast marshmallows in the fireplace!

Not a great picture of Hannah's first black eye.  She and Carrie bumped heads.

Carrie helping make macaroni using her new apron set. 

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Then we received the sad news that Michael's grandma, Christine Weede, went to be with her Lord.  We traveled back to Iowa to be there with the family for the services.  The weather was terrible on the way there:  blowing and drifting snow making visibility difficult.  But everyone made it there safely.  It was such a neat experience to see what a difference IO and Christine had made for Christ in their commmunity (Bloomfield, IA).  Their lives have made a huge impact in God's kingdom, and I am thankful for the heritage of faith they have passed down to their decendents.  As always, when a grandparent dies, there are stories we wish we could hear one more time, advice we wish we had gotten, and pictures we wish we had taken. 

The decendents of IO and Christine Weede.  Three daughters, 8 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren (I think).

The daughters of IO and Christine Weede:  Jane, Diana, and Kathy.

the last part of DECEMBER 2009

Mike and the girls sledding in about an inch and a half of snow!  12-19-09

Crazy Carrie 12-19-09

We caroled our neighbors and friends and delivered a fresh loaf of homemade french bread. The girls loved it!  12-22-09

Christmas stockings!

The girls are clearly paying close attention to Daddy reading the Christmas story from the Bible before we open presents. 

All the gifts and the bright, shiny lights.

Hannah proud of her gift to Daddy--a golf ball that says, "#1 Dad".  At her school they had a Santa shop where she was able to buy some special gifts for each of her sisters, Mike, and me. 

 

Hannah with her gifts.  Books, movies, a coat, Strawberry Shortcake, a Barbie, and the Nutcracker she has been asking for since this fall.  Alli gave it to her and she was sooo thrilled! 

Alli with her gifts.  Beauty and the Beast Polly pocket doll set, shirts, books, and movies, and a Barbie.

Carrie with her gifts.  Blocks, books, movies, a "Charlie-dog", and apron set. 

Then the long van ride to Illinois for Christmas with the Humphrey family.  Here's Hannah being silly.

And Alli being silly.

Grandpa got to plow snow with the grandkids this Christmas!

Grandpa and Grandpa Humphrey wanted to sleep under the Christmas tree with the girls!  The LOVED it!  (and Gpa &Gma said they did too!)

The oldest Humphrey-family girl cousins.  Moriah, Alli, Ruthy, Hannah.

Decorating pretend cupcakes was fun.  Ruthy, Alli, Hannah

Grandma and Grandpa again hosted a sleepover, this time with all the grandkids, while the Mark and Rachel and Mike and I went on a double date.  We had fun in Burlington, and (aside from the Barbie movie the girls insisted on watching) the grandparents and kids all loved their evening!  When we came back from Burlington they were all asleep in various positions on the living room floor--so precious!

2009 Humphrey family picture.

.........

We left for Keokuk and on the way we were following a car that ran off the road into the ditch.  The driver had had an epileptic seizure!  The strangest thing about being from a small town area is that everyone knows everyone...even after we've been in Indiana for 8 years.  The guy happened to be someone we knew, so we helped him get home and to the wrecker's.  Delayed our arrival to Keokuk by a couple hours with all the running around, but the kids learned a valuable lesson about helping (I hope).  So, here come the Keokuk pics...

As soon as we arrived in Keokuk all the cousins were sledding, so Hannah joined Conrad and the rest.

Alli cuddling with Papa Gene.

The youngest three Proctor cousins: Caroline, Alli, and Carrie.

Proctor girl cousins (minus Carrie).  Clockwise from left:  Lydia, Clara, Grace, Alli, Joy, Caroline, Hannah, Hope.

2009 Proctor family picture.

Some recent pics...

Alli's preschool had Santa and Mrs. Claus come to their Christmas party. They were so sweet and had a list of things to say about each child. The kids sang them two songs they had rehearsed, and they baked cookies and decorated a gingerbread house for them, too!

The first snow of the season. About a 1/2 inch! We got all bundled up and played out in it for about an hour. It was great for snowballs and the girls (and daddy!) had lots of fun. Charlie liked it, too.

Tonight Carrie and I were playing with a plastic nativity scene. I made the angel say, "Peace on Earth," and Carrie said, "No! Not pizza on Earth!"

Alli and Hannah were pretending they were fancy ladies who were going on a date with daddy tonight. Hannah was mostly the narrator and waitress for Alli and Daddy's "romantic" date. Daddy asked Alli if she wanted to go to a pretend movie and out to dinner, and she answered, "Well...I can't really...because I'm allergic to...sticks! So I can't go anywhere that there will be sticks." So they went to the theatre where Hannah narrated while she, Carrie, and I acted out several of their favorite movie scenes. Fun night!

Hannah has been complaining of not feeling well for several days. But she doesn't have any real symptoms. Maybe she's just beginning to get a cold. She whines about it in the mornings before school and wants to be able to stay home. When I told her that she was still going to school she asked Alli how she felt. Alli replied, "Yes, I feel awful! My head hurts, my knees hurt, my two ankles hurt, and when I talk it feels like fuzz in my mouth."

Hannah is impressed with Alli's flexibility, and she was telling me about it yesterday. She said, "Alli is so flexible! She can do the splits, and her skin is even flexible, and her mouth is flexible, and her hair is flexible, and even her brain is flexible!" (It is true that Alli can do the splits, and she stretches her skin to show us how stretchy it is, and when she makes silly faces she pulls her lips way far out to the sides. I suppose you could even say her brain is flexible--she definitely sees things in a different way.)

funnies

Alli, Hannah, and I were talking about the gifts the wise men brought to baby Jesus. Hannah asked what myrrh was, and I answered, "I think it was a spice or something, I'm not sure." Alli corrected me by saying, "No. It was like playdoh, only the kind you play with at church."

I overheard Hannah telling Alli that she had God's word in her heart. Then Hannah explained by saying, "I have God's word in my heart: in the middle, in the outside parts, and the inside parts. I even have it in my blood and in my bones and the parts that are outside my bones--I don't remember what that part is called. And even in my stinky feet!" Alli sweetly replied, "Oh, is it in your cute little toes???"

November pics...

Here are November's pictures...

It finally dried out enough at the beginning of the month for us to play in giant piles of leaves. Here Daddy taught Hannah how to run the leaf blower. She loved it! I think I might remember raking leaves at her age, but a leaf blower?! :)

Carrie!

Alli!

Hannah!

All three girls!

Carrie and Daddy

The girls climbed up the walls of the "human fooseball" court at camp. Alli was fearless, while Hannah was pretty cautious. Carrie didn't climb up the walls, but she hung on one of the long poles and crawed up onto it. Then, you know that awful feeling that you should have known better, well I felt that when she fell off the pole. It was like slow motion and I couldn't catch her, but she wasn't hurt much. :)

We had the privelege of having Eldon and Gayneita Shaw over for dinner November 9th. They are missionaries suported by our church. They serve in lots of countries, mainly in the West Indies, doing leadership training and putting on illusionist/clown shows for the children. We loved listening to their stories about places they'd been and they made some fun balloon animals for the girls.

Showing off their balloon art.

November 12th, Hannah had a play date with a girl from her Kindergarten class. They had fun dressing up and playing outside. They were so fun to listen to, and they included the younger girls, too! Hannah was so excited for this day, and at the end of the day her friend invited her to a play date a couple days later. So we went, but I got lost on the way there! I was so embarrassed that we were 45 minutes later than we planned. I couldn't believe it! But they had fun!

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[Here we are at Thanksgiving! Just kidding...I forgot my camera, so no pics of our fun day. Maybe I can get some from Julie, but the details are in the previous post.]

We decorated for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving, and that included making Christmas treats like chocolate covered pretzels. The girls thought this was super fun. It never occured to me until now that it's just a homier version of fondue. :)

And here they are decorating the Christmas tree.

Hannah at Franklin Skate Club. She was invited to a birthday party at the skating rink (again, details in previous post).

Hannah, Emma, and Makayla.

LIMBO!

Mike-the-wonderful made an extension for the bottom bunk so it's now a full size bed! Right now Hannah and Alli sleep there, but soon it will be Alli and Carrie. Alli doesn't want to move to the top bunk yet so this is the best way to get Carrie out of her crib. I think it's beautiful and it's sweet when the girls love having "sleepovers" together.

We had the windows, gutters, and siding replaced--yay!!! That was a long overdue project. We are so glad to be able to open our windows now (they were so rotted that we painted them shut just to keep the trim on when we moved here 4 years ago) and to be rid of that hideous yellow siding. But I'm so glad that the old windows were not drafty (maybe that's because we painted them shut) and the roof doesn't leak, and so many other things that God provides for us. The next project is the front door and the shutters. Mike rebuilt the shutters that were there and we're painting them the same almond color as the door/windows/gutters.

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I think that's it for now! :)