Happy Holidays!!

All the stockings are hung and the presents are wrapped...phew another December flew by. The weather has been below zero here for over two weeks. We really wanted snow for Christmas, but with the temps this cold we can't let the kids out for too long or at all. Eric found an old John Deer snowmobile, so we are hoping to entertain the kids with rides for Christmas. Well I have to yet again go put on my black and white referee shirt and dissolve yet another tiff...Happy Holidays to you all!

Basketball season

Last weekend was the first Basketball game of the season. We enjoy going to the games. The kids like it too...concessions, running around, etc. Brings back memories. There are two Varsity games, girls and boys. Each half time the kids can shoot free throws for a chance to win a 2 liter pop ($1 per try). Colter made his shot, but Dakota did not. It is so hard when one is sooo excited and the other one is devastated. I hope they are in different sports :o) Jenna is into cheer leading for now, wonder where she gets that! I will have to find a bodysuit before she can wear it to the game. We got another several inches of snow last weekend unfortuneatly it rained prior to that and the roads are icy surrounding us. Good thing all my holiday shopping is done. You gotta love amazon!

Heading for the bus!

Dakota and Colter heading to their bus stop...they could go right out our front door, but they choose to walk down the road to Uncle Scott's unless we are running late :o) We had another beautiful snowfall yesterday. However, this snow was very wet and slushy. I had to throw yesterdays coats and snowpants in the dryer before they could head out the door this morning.

It is safe to say we cleaned out a few candy bowls!

The cousins minus a few (missing Emmie and Alexa)... you can say occasionally we are the talk of the town. We cleaned out more than one candy bowl. Eleven soon to be 12 kids (my sister-in-law Gayle is pregnant) with ages ranging from 10 to 2...we turn a few heads. We will have a new Linder/Fishell kid starting Kindergarten for the next five years. We are very blessed and are very grateful!

Dakota, Jenna a.k.a. "little stinker", and Colter

Our "little spooks" turned 8!

It was yet another crazy Halloween! The boys had 3 different parties and I'm officially retiring from one of them next year. Their first party was at school, the second was a class party for two hours at our house and the third was a family party before trick or treating. The weather was absolutely beautiful!! No gloves, coats, whining :o) I asked my 10 year old niece if she even knew a warm Halloween existed?

The highlight of their birthday was a phone call from Minnesota singing Happy Birthday to the boys on speaker phone!! We miss everyone and it was great to know that we were missed too!

"The Quad Cousins"

First snow of the year

This past Sunday we had our first snowfall of the year. It was beautiful and fun for all! With our new house we have an ideal view of the snow coming down. Jenna wanted to test out our new umbrella first thing in the morning. She escaped out of the house a couple times in flip flops and no coat. In typical Montana weather fashion it is suppose to warm up (the 60's) and the snow will be gone...at least we are hoping to be drier and warmer for Halloween!

Soccer

We finished another round of soccer just in time. Once again Eric and my brother Scott were coaches for our boys. Scobey had enough kids to have two teams in Dakota and Colter's age group. Unfortunately we did not have any other towns to play this year...so it was Scobey vs. Scobey. The plus side was "no traveling". The kids had fun and were sad to see it end. Although, the day after our last game we got quite a bit of snow.

Big Sky, MT

Two days after the fair we took off for Big Sky which is near Bozeman, MT for my cousin Casey's wedding. It was great to see the other side of Montana. It has been awhile since Eric and I have been able to attend a family event. We had a great time and it was a beautiful wedding!







You should see the look on people's faces when we enter a room :o) This would be our crew except for Emmie...we never quite get everyone...yet!

It's a parade

It has been a busy couple of days starting with the fair last week. The boys drove their Grandpa Gary's go-kart in the parade. They didn't hit anyone or anything so that was good. Jenna rode with Grandma Kristi along with a few cousins. After the parade it was fair time and we spent the entire afternoon riding rides.

The great outdoors

Yesterday I spent the day putting the second coat of paint on our trim and washing windows and installing screens to all the windows. I thought I'd share some outdoor views of the house which is still a huge work in progress. Last Sunday we had help tilling the yard and we plan on planting some grass seed and see what comes up. STAY TUNED FOR GRASS....

Living Room

The living room is hard to get in pictures, but here is an idea...


The view coming in from the garage entry...
Looking towards the front entry...

Kitchen

Finally getting around to some updated pictures of the house. Here is my best attempt at the Kitchen/Dining Room...

Kitchen (pictured below)

Dining Room

Jenna's 4!!!

Last week Jenna turned four! She had a "dog" party and loved every minute. Two things Jenna is crazy about...dogs and books. I cannot believe time can go so fast, but we looking forward to all that is to come.

Dakota

Colter

Pony Ball

This year was the first year in a long time that Scobey had enough kids to have a 7-8 year old league..."Pony Ball". This allowed us to separate them from t-ball which had over 30 kids from age 4-6. We even had enough kids for two teams.


Eric coached along with both my brothers and two other fathers. This picture above was their first game and Dakota and Colter were on different teams. Colter is batting and Dakota is catching.

Great Grandma and Jenna

I think they are on book number 8...Jenna still loves books especially if someone is willing to read one right after the other :o)

Play day Track Meet

Last Friday was the year end play day for the elementary kids. The boys participated in the softball throw, long jump, 50 meter race, 75 meter race, 100 meter race and the 200 meter relay. They did the relay with their two cousins and they got second place.

Yes, the girl in the pink shirt is Jenna trying the long jump. There was some down time in between events and all the little kids tried the long jump!

Colter's 1st tooth lost!!

Colter lost his first tooth late Saturday night. We had a bunch of people over for a fire and smores. It was well after 10 pm and Colter decided his tooth was ready. He is so excited!

Snow in April

O.k. I think we are a little behind...it seems like the rest of Montana already had snow but we got a beautiful snowfall last night. It didn't amount to much but it was pretty.

The boys had their Spring Music Concert on this past Thursday and the kids pointed out that at the Winter concert we did not have snow, but at the Spring concert it is snowing!

Great Grandpa Ken's Birthday

Celebrating Great Grandpa Ken's birthday!!

Swingset

Playing on the swing set...the only thing Jenna ever said she missed was her yellow slide. She loves her new green slide...Thanks Grandma Candy! We are trying to figure out where to put the playhouse and than we can start making mud pies. :o)

Cousins

This was taken the 3rd or 4th night in the new house. Both Scott and Chad came over to hang out and Gayle, Leigha, and I went to the movie. You can't see all 11 but they are there.