Pretty toes!

Thanks to Grandma Roth for all these pictures---she bought Paige (2 1/2) her OWN nail polish for Christmas. Yes, a bag with 6 different colors. THANK GOODNESS they are all light/pale colors. But, because they were Paige's--she did not want my help. "I do it!!" is all we heard.


Here she is--carefully working on her nails.

And, then she worked down to her precious little toes.
She really did a good job--considering she's 2!!

Isn't this adorable...her tiny hands and feet.

What 2 year old paints her town toe nails?

Too funny--she wouldn't let me, her MOTHER, help her...

but she would let her brother (3 1/2).

Doesn't he look like he is intently working!!

And, Tyler wanted to help too, so he went to my bathroom to get the......Scope?? He knew we needed cotton balls and something in a bottle. I was laughing so hard it took me quite awhile to explain to him that was NOT the nail polish remover!!!

I never did get to help Paige. She had quite the time on the kitchen floor.

I'm sure there will be much more nail painting days ahead of us!

It's a GOOD day!

What constitutes a good day? Well, today it is a SPARKLING clean house and a beautiful Spring day (yes, Spring day on Jan. 22!) What else makes it good? I got new jewelry in the mail and I have 3 jewelry shows in a row--which means I will have LOTS of money this weekend! Now, that is a good day!

But, back to my CLEAN house. I started at 8:45 this morning and I am mostly done now. It hasn't seemed bad though. I have had a cleaning lady for nearly a year (maybe not that long) and I LOVED it! I would come home and my whole house would be clean. She would come every 2 weeks. So, in between I wouldn't stress too much about dusting or vacuuming, because I thought, "I am paying her....why should I do it." This was good for me. I LOVE a clean house. I love vacuum marks on the carpet, so I actually don't mind cleaning. Actually, I like cleaning, if I didn't have 3 kids to take care of at the same time or 3 kids to mess up the house as I am cleaning it!! (When Steve and I were first married, with no kids, I vacuumed our little house at least every other day, sometimes I'd vacuum the front room every day---just to see vacuum marks. I also cooked every night then too :)

So, I am going to try being the "cleaning lady" he he. I am going to really clean my whole house, every 2 weeks and try to not too worry about it too much in between. Did I say my floors were SPARKLING?? They are...and I love it! It's just such a good feeling.

And, my little kids did GREAT this morning. We rocked out to Christmas music all morning while I was cleaning. (yes, we're still listening to Christmas music here--EVERY day.) At one point, Paige and Jaden were both jumping on the couch to VERY loud music. (I do not allow jumping on the furniture.) But, today I just looked the other way--I was getting my house clean, they were having fun.... I know maybe not the best parenting move. But, it didn't last too long!

So, here's to my clean house! AAUUHHHhhh.... and now it's time to shower and play in my new jewelry!! All, before the little ones wake up from naps!

Balzer family pictures

The last family picture we took with all the kids and grand-kids was when I was PREGNANT with Tyler. So, that has been 6 1/2 years ago. In this short time, we have added Amanda to the family and 6 grand-kids! So, it was time for a new family pic!!

Mom of course didn't like this picture of her and dad, but what's not to like, I actually think it turned out really good.

Here we all--all 15 of us!! Since we did the pictures at Christmas time, when Jason and Stacy were home, we couldn't do fun outside shots, so we went to JCP. They actually did a great job. On a side note--it ended up being a beautiful December day when we got our pictures taken, so we could have been outside, but who knew.

The BOYS!--Jaden 3 1/2, Jeremy 8, Tyler 6, and Mason 10 months.
Tyler has a bit of trouble smiling for pictures !! I think he always gets caught "Saying" cheese or whatever funny words they tell him to say!

And, the GIRLS!!! This is one of the main reasons we decided to take all these pictures. The girls all got matching Tu-tus for Christmas, from Grandma and Grandpa. We thought it would be fun to get pictures of the girls in their matching skirts.

Amanda had this great idea to make the girls matching shirts to go with their skirts. So, I sewed all the girls these fun, matching flower shirts!! They turned out SUPER CUTE!! even if I hadn't sewn for several years! To complete the adorable outfits, Amanda bought the girls leggings to wear with their Tu-tus. CUTE! CUTE!!!

Aren't they adorable!! I think we got some super cute pictures considering the girls are 2,

2 1/2 and 4!

Christmas Day

Our last Christmas post!! Grandma and Grandpa Roth's house! We got there about noon--after opening gifts at our own house. First we open "stockings" from Grandma (and Grandpa). Grandpa Roth gets his name on the stockings (and gifts) even though Grandma shops for MONTHS for all the perfect gifts for everyone!


Here's Paige, sticking her hand in her "stocking". Our stockings are full of personal items. Fun socks for the kids, lip balm, underwear, Dora candy, toothbrushes for the kids, books, and much more! Steve got under-shirts he badly needed and I got scrapbooking stickers (plus much more...)

Here's Jaden opening his Leapster. Now he can play like Tyler!! He got a Leapster game, new clothes (shirt and pants), a game, a Barney Dance Mat, a Barney CD with his name in it (super cute)...

And more of the boys opening! Tyler got a cool remote-control motorcylce (to play with outside!). He got a remote control helicopter, a Leapster game, K-State outfit, Madagascar 2 CD,...

All the grand-daughters all got new coats. Here's Paige wearing hers. She LOVES the gloves--they are attached which is great for me--I never have to look for them! She also got this bag with snap together dolls. They are so cute. The clothes just snap on and off, so Paige can do it herself. She also got Princess sheets for her new big girl bed and boots...

And here's Tyler---what a cute picture. I think he was having a good day--days--or maybe week!!

And, it looks like Jaden was having as much fun as Tyler!

Tyler decided this year that Christmas was his favorite holiday. Of course it is......

Christmas Morning with 3 kids

Jaden woke up first (from sleeping in the basement with Tyler). He came in our room about 7:15am and asked when Santa would be here. I said I didn't know so crawl in bed and go back to sleep. Not knowing better, he crawled in bed and actually went back to sleep!! About 30 minutes later, Tyler comes RUNNING and YELLING, "Santa's been here...." and we all hop up! We try to stall the boys so we can get our cameras ready. Paige had slept on her Princess couch on our floor, so she woke up too, when Tyler came in yelling.

Jaden found his Santa gift first...a Hot Wheels Bike!

"It's what I wanted," Jaden said.

Paige had a note next to her stocking from Santa --

saying that he put her gift up in her room.

So, the kids take off RUNNING to Paige's room.

Of course, they knew what it was.

Tyler said, "Paige, it's your big girl bed!!!"

Here's Paige sitting on her "Princess Bed".
She was loving it!

(When Paige sat on Santa's lap, she asked for a Barbie, that's why she had a Barbie on her bed.)Santa took down the crib, assembled the new bed, and re-arranged her room.

Can you believe Santa had time for all that?

And, here's our Princess when she found out she doesn't get to sleep in her crib anymore.
"I want my baby bed," Paige wailed. She cried HARD for a few minutes.

We really thought we were in trouble.

Tyler also had a note from Santa-- saying his gift was in the basement.

"My Wii," Tyler yelled as he RAN down the stairs.

As you can imagine....all my pictures of Tyler in the basement, discovering his Wii, are one BIG BLUR. (Not a little blurry, but one blurry blog.)

So, here's Tyler doing something with his new Wii remote.

Next we pass out the gifts from mom and dad.

The kids get to open one at a time.

(Jaden looks a little sleepy still.)

Again, Jaden's favorite gift may have been the used Barney memory game.
(Thank goodness for Ebay--I mean Santa.) He also got: dragster cars, a doctor kit/outfit, a remote control Speedracer car, a Batman computer....
Again, Tyler's picture is blurry. He is normally a fast paced kid, but even more so on Christmas morning. Here he is opening books that he can read and activities to do after he reads the book. He also got: transformers, a transformer computer, a claw to pick stuff up off the floor,
and a Nurf basketball goal....

Paige got: Princess dolls, a scooter (which she road around the house for 2 days), Dora book, doll-house furniture, a tent, and a minivan to go with her dollhouse...

It was a fun morning. Of course they want everything opened right away.
We then have to get showered and ready to go to Gma and Gpa Roth's for Christmas again.
We are so blessed!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day always starts with visiting Santa at Druber's Donut Shop--in Newton. The cousins all meet, sit on Santa's lap and then eat donuts--but not too many donuts because we go back to Grandma's house for brunch.

Not sure where Jeremy was and Taylor didn't want to sit with Santa this year!

WOW--they all looked at the camera. You will see, this year they did MUCH better than past years with pictures! Jaden LOVED Santa. I bet he sat on his lap 3 times this morning and hugged him more than once. who knows....

This Christmas Eve Grandma wasn't feeling well, so Steve stepped in and made biscuits and gravy and eggs for everyone. He loves to cook breakfast!

Then, we hang out all day playing games. Here we are playing Slap-Jack. I started playing this with my kids. They love it. However, to eliminate fights, I changed the rules a bit. Tyler slaps the Kings, Jaden slaps the Jacks and Paige slaps the Queens. (They don't know these aren't the real rules.) Then, we added you could slap the cards with your age on it. It entertains them, that's all that matters!!

We snack all day and the eat Chilli about 4:30 before getting ready for church at 6pm. Then, home to open PRESENTS!!

Aren't they adorable!!

The 3 girls in their dresses Grandma Balzer bought them. This is the 2nd year Grandma bought the girls dresses--she loves to do that. And, then I don't have to worry about it ! (Paige's dress is missing a flower on the front sash. We lost it in the nursery at church.)

All the cousins--after church--ready to open gifts! Some had changed clothes.

Our sweet family! The pictures turned out much better when Steve and I got down on one knee, versus towering over the kids!

It's time to open presents--we pass out all the gifts and make piles in front of the kids. Then, we go around, taking turns opening gifts and watching each other. AMAZINGLY, all the kids did GREAT this year. They waited their turn patiently!

Paige got a Princess couch and a princess blanket and pillow. She was ready for bed! She loved it. Lots of doll accessories (strollers, baby bags, bed). She LOVES to play with her dolls and purses. and all the girl cousins got matching pink and black tutus---so cute!

Jaden's favorite gift might have been the $3 used Barney lunch box!! He also got a big book of kids stories (because he loves Gma to read to him), a Hide N Seek Monkey, a transformer, Mr. Potato Head, a hot wheel race track, BIG tub of play-dough, and more.

And, Tyler loves it all!! Operation game, lots of Legos, K-state sweat suit, Nurf dart board, $10 (which is already spent on a transformer!), a Hot Wheels alarm clock (which he loves and thinks he's so big.) and more...

So, it was a fun day!! We left Newton about 10pm. The boys fell asleep on the way home, but Paige was WIDE awake. It took her another hour or so, once we got home to go to bed! I guess she was wound up! The boys slept in the basement together. Paige started there, then to our room because Santa had to work in her room :)

Christmas Eve Eve

Dec. 23rd or Christmas Eve Eve is our family night!! We have made it a tradition that we will do something as a family because the holidays get so busy with extended family. The past 2 years we have had lots of snacks for dinner (pizza rolls, salami, cheese, popcorn, nachos, etc.) Well, this year, Grandma Roth is having lots of that food at her house for Christmas Day, so we didn't want to have it 2 days before. So..... WE ORDERED PIZZA! You can never go wrong with Pizza! So, we ate pizza, played a bit, and then watched The Grinch that Stole Christmas. Whatever version we watched was only 30 minutes and it was perfect. All 5 of us sat on the couch in the basement and all 3 kids actually watched the movie. Then, it was off to take baths.

It's our tradition to give the kids some type of little present on this night. Last year they all got books. So, after baths we gave them their presents to open....New striped PJ's! Aren't they cute! Then, off to bed. Tomorrow brings a busy day at the Balzer's and then Christmas Day at the Roth's!