Happy Birthday Shawner!

I hope you are carried away with fun and celebration this year! I love you little sis'.


(I found this pic on a very interesting website: http://www.clusterballoon.org/ Who knew such a hobby existed?)

Family

Christmas in Omaha

Allison as Angel

Allison played an angel in the Christmas program at church the Sunday before Christmas. She was the most beautiful angel I've ever seen!

Making Christmas Cookies

Allison, Oma and I made Christmas cookies before Christmas. We had a lot of fun! Ali liked licking all the utensils. We also created our gingerbread house (not homemade though). Detail shots of all the treats are included. And since then everything has been eaten, even the gingerbread house!

Christmas Money

Oma and Opa gave the kids Christmas money and this past weekend we were able to take them out to spend it. It was a fun time.

Raimy got a doll and a couple movies. Timothy purchased two building sets. Gabrielle got some Play-Doh kits. Tyler got a couple sets of blocks.

Thanks Oma and Opa!

While I am thinking of it I had a cute little story about Raimy...

We got Timothy some Iron Man stuff this year so I thought it would be good if the kids saw the movie. There are some strong parts that I didn't let them watch. For the most part Gabrielle was disinterested and the older two liked it. Tyler was napping. So, the end credits rolled and the little mysterious bonus clip with Samuel L. Jackson as a recruiter for a special team showed. Then Raimy goes, "Is it over?" I told her it was. Then she said, "It can't be over yet; we don't know who he marries!"

Ha! Such a girl.

Oh, now I am remembering a little thing about Tyler...

This season he was introduced to mint M&Ms (thanks to a package from Becky Gomez). I have never seen a kid do this, but he started peeling them. It was hilarious to watch him meticulously picking at the candy shell.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and that your New Years celebrations are safe and fun. We will be at our big sha-bang at church partying.

Love you!
Angie

WSU Graduation December 2008

In the midst of the holidays a great event took place. On Sunday, the fourteenth of December 2008, the Wichita State University Fall Graduation Commencement Ceremony was held in the Charles Koch Area. Emily Jane Houtz graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Fine Arts.

"My Make-up" by Raimy

This is my Christmas present: real grown-up make-up! It was fun learning and doing it. I felt like I wanted to do it over again and I felt like a grown-up. It was fun!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Have I shown you all the picture of the kids by the tree? If I have it deserves repeating.
Here is our candle ready to light for lunch today.
Had you heard about Allison's candle problem? I will let her tell you in her own words.

How are things going with the candles in the other homes? Is it a tradition we should keep? Suggestions for improvements?

Here is a picture of DaRonn and I at a Christmas party Monday night with our English speaking friends.
Here is a shot of my dessert yesterday after lunch. So yummy!
Houses of Gingerbread. (I put these on my blog, but I thought they went well with this post and you might not have seen them.)
Happy Christmas Eve!!!

Wichita Christmas Trees

Thanksgiving

Advent Candles

So I chatted online with mom and Emily a bit and also got an email from dad that everyone received their advent candles in the mail. I am so happy that they arrived on time. Now I am wondering if they made it all in one piece.

We burned our candle at lunch today after we got the tree set up. It was fun to hear my kids saying the same things I remember saying and hearing when I was a kid and we had the advent candle in our home.

Enjoy the pics! I would love to see pics of your candles in your homes too, if you get a chance.

Much love,
Angie