Tis the Season.......to count our Blessings!

It's that time of year again when we all gather together to celebrate Christmas! Yes - the birth of our glorious King! and the kids really enjoyed opening their gifts, playing together, and even eating together! All the grandk-kids enjoy each other's company..... it is so much fun to see them interacting. I really only got this one group picture of all of them together that WASN'T blurry. I think Santa should have brought me a new camera, but I did get an IPad and oh what fun it is........ there for a while I never got to use it - all the kids would pass it around and the only time I got it was when they went to bed! Enjoy the pics below!

 Little Bear, Buggy, K-Sis, K-Lilsis, K-cowgirl, Moose, and K-Man. We love them so!

 Little Bear didn't want in the shot.....but six did!

 

Isn't he cute!!

 Bugs with a present from Nana and Papa...

 Now K-lilsis can dance, dance, dance.

 K-princess. She got a new bible and bible cover!

 Buddies in the truest since of the word. Both of them have Madden Wii Football! :)

 Boy does K-cowgirl love to craft!! and horses...

 and a new coat to go duck hunting with Daddy!

 Moose was so excited I didn't get the front shot!!

 Shawn getting shells - he does need an arsenal!

 Carrie with her new Kitchenaid - I LOVE mine!

 Theresa with her new Kindle :)

 and Eric with his new hiking boots!

and the man who makes everything possible!  I love him so much!

We are so blessed that God has given us our wonderful boys and beautiful wives and grands!

May the joy of this season extend into the New Year 2012.

K-cowgirl and Little Bear - they really enjoyed playing with the trains and each other!

It's hunting season.....

Since I haven't blogged for quite sometime, the chain of events will take several blogs to catch everyone up.... The month started off really busy, visited my gal pals in Salina for a weekend. Caught up on each other's lives and enjoyed shopping, getting a massage, and eating out. Gayla came down the following monday and we cooked freezer meals together. Let's see..... lasagna, bierocks, yes dessert crust, several cooked meats, pumpkin bread, etc. What a wonderful way to be able to spend more time with the family and not worrying about your meals - especially when you have 11 more mouths to feed! The next day, I continued freezer cooking by making pulled pork in 2 crockpots and egg burritos for breakfast. Let's just say everything seemed to be a hit!

Eric & Theresa came down before Christmas on the hunt for deer and they bagged 2 and they are already in the freezer. That should really help out with meals for the year. So this blog has some of their pictures when they were home hunting and some of the kids. For some reason I didn't get a lot of pictures but we did have a lot of fun! Always lots of things to do......

 Getting ready to go hunting..

 Katie helped me to make glutten free brownies and

 Kelton is ready to go hunting!

 meanwhile Kon is ready to roll!

 Are we getting decked out to go hunting???? Hmmmm - doesn't seem to fit..

 Nighty night Bear.

 This is Papa's way to entertain. Riding around in the office chair. Always a hit....

The hunters ready to go.....

Papa Hunter, Mama Hunter, and Baby Hunter......

What a great way to get the whole family involved in a worthwhile activity. Meat to EAT!!

Next time, the blog will be Christmas.  Merry CHRISTmas to all....

Thanksgiving at Grandpa Guys!

We always love going back east to visit Bruce's dad and seeing the home place. There is always so much to do and see. This time the garage required a little attention - it was leaning to the east pretty hard so the guys got the tractor and wenched everything into place. Jo, Bruce's sister, and I were in the house preparing Thanksgiving dinner and talking to Bernie. Jo brought her friend John home for a visit too, so he is in some of the shots. Didn't get a whole lot of pictures but everyone had a great time. We stayed in Independence so we could visit a little longer and that way we didn't have to rush home. We were all exhausted but had a great day!

 Bernie was pretty entertaining while we were there.

 I love this picture!! What are they looking at?????

 The home place....

 Jo and Dad (Grandpa Guy)!!!

 Bruce working on the garage while John looks on.

We have so much to be thankful for.... and the top of my list is always family!

Framing the screened in porch!

Who doesn't know we live in tornado alley? Usually hail, wind, and driving rain all accompany our severe weather in south central Kansas, except this year - we had NO rain. Well, to make a long story short, I quit going to the cellar because of getting beaned on the head by hail, and scared to open the cellar door - so I requested a cover over the cellar to prevent this. My husband never does anything halfway - so below are the pictures as my "cover" is getting constructed!  It is going to be a beautiful screened in porch - shaded and ventilated without bugs! :) What a guy!

 The beginning - and guess who is "helping". I asked Bruce how he was gonna build it and he said he just has to start and see what happens.

 Framing the deck area. Had to revent the dryer.

 Temporary plywood flooring to keep the framing underneath dry. Good thing he put it on cause we got

1 1/2 inches of rain after the decking was on.

 Stairs will also go toward wash house.

 The new composite flooring we got at Starr in Wichita.

 NICE.....

 Framing the walls..... My work on it has been minimal! Hold the chalkline. Hold this board level - or plum??? Fetch this or that! I'm good at being a gopher....

 and now roof joists are in place...

Right now Bruce is out putting the plywood decking on the roof and he is hoping for a warmer day on monday since the roof requires at least 50 degrees for it to seal. Isn't it nice?  I'll keep you posted - steps are all temporary for now. The dogs are just now getting to where they'll use them.... Emmy & LT would just jump up on the decking but Penney would run around to the east door. Yep, things are looking great, and I love it! Hopefully the screen doors will be on when everyone is back for Christmas.

Four Generations of Papons!

Bruce and I got to take last Saturday off to go pick up Eric and the kids to go see Grandpa and Bernie. The kids was excited to get to watch movies on the DVD player and Konnor snacked and played with toys on the way over. We didn't stay too long, but long enough for Grandpa to see the kids and questions them about their activities, school, etc. Konnor was always so funny - loved showing off for Grandpa and exploring the new surroundings. We didn't get to play outside because of the awful wind but hope to go back over in the spring with the kids and go to the Independence park which has a beautiful old carousel and a fun train around the park. I know they would enjoy playing there and visiting the zoo.

 The Papon klan.

Katie's working on her art!

 Konnor running around the house!

 Kelton taking it easy!

 Four generations of Papons.....it meant so much for Grandpa to see the kids...

Konnor was a little wiggleworm.

The oldest and youngest Papons.

I love this one!

Konnor trying to escape! but it didn't work....

We really enjoyed the day but it was so fast - need to spend the night next time so we can go see the farm, park, and cousin Jeaneane. Somehow we didn't get a picture of Bernie. We are going over for Thanksgiving so we'll try again to get some pictures. Jo, Bruce, and I will spend the holiday - we haven't done that for a while... Happy Thanksgiving to all!