Christmas Eve

 We had a great Christmas Eve this year, even though we were missing half of our family.  We had a yummy turkey dinner, of which Jill was the main cook!  She also made a delectable Cherry Cake and two banana cream pies because she couldn't decide which one to make, so while we made room for desert, we played a few games.   The first one involved sucking through a wrapping paper tube to pick up an ornament and hanging it on a string.  It was much harder than most people thought.  Kenny was the only one successful.  And he said he didn't want to play minute to win it games because he was NO good at them.

Maybe it's because he's full of hot air?  I'm just sayin' . . . .

  The little ones got to hang the ornaments without using the wrapping paper tube.  THAT was hard enough for some of them.

The next game was played using a flat box to "blow" or "wave" the ornaments over the line without touching the ornament. 

                        Kenny had great form, but Kara won this one, getting ALL the balls over the line!! 

 Then we had to throw snowballs . .  or marshmallows . .  through a Christmas wreath into a bucket that was behind the wreath.  The person with the most marshmallows won.  Aiden was first at every game!  He was always the ice breaker. 

He was the first to come up with the idea of throwing a handful of marshmallows at the target, hoping at least one would go in.  A strategy his Mom tried out later on her turn.

                                                          Didn't work for her, either...

 There were several more games, one of which involved a snowball fight, boys against girls, using wadded up pieces of paper as snowballs.  The girls won, of course.  That would have been a fun game to get pictures of, but I couldn't throw snowballs and take pictures, so the pictures were sacrificed.  I think it was the right decision :)

At that point Aiden came up with the idea to unwrap one present on Christmas Eve, something I always let my kids do, and Jill planned on doing, but Aiden thought we should do it at Gramma's too.  I told him we could do that if I got to pick out which present.  He said, "O.K., but it better not be clothes."  That made things just a little harder. 

Charlie got a wooden pegs bench and hammer, which I had given to Drew for Santa to give to Charlie, then took it back so she could open it on Christmas Eve.  Yup, I'm one of those!

I had to steal this off the top of Capri's present.  It is a Rapunzel blanket.  Capri LOVES Rapunzel, she always asks to watch it, she was Rapunzel for Halloween, so I thought she needed a Rapunzel blanket.

And Aiden got a book.  But, hey, it wasn't cloths :)  And he started reading it right away, so I think maybe he liked it.  This was the best picture I could get of all three in front of the Christmas Tree.  Stinkin' cute kids.  They make Christmas fun.  We OH SO missed the rest.  Christmas is a hard holiday to share : )  But we appreciate those other families who share with us.  It is now Christmas afternoon, the house is quiet and outside it's beginning to snow a little.  Christmas has almost come and gone and soon it will be time to close out another great year.  We have been so very blessed throughout this one.  Merry Christmas world, from the Cozzens Clan!!

Putting up Christmas Lights With Charlie

 This little girl LOVES to be outside.  So, when I came home from working at the seminary and asked her if she wanted to go outside and help me put up Christmas lights, she was happy to oblige. 

 But really, I spent more time taking pictures of her than putting up lights.  They were almost done, anyway . .

 What is it about the girls in this family?  Charlie and Kaylie both LOVE to play with rocks.  Charlie also likes to walk around with one in her mouth.  I don't get it. 

 She started showing off for Papa when he came home for a minute.  I couldn't get her to smile, but Papa could. 

When I DID finally get focused and busy putting the lights up,  I turned around to find Charlie had climbed to the top of the tall ladder.  She's a little daredevil, that girl.

 So I gave her a string of broken lights to play with, and she spent the rest of the afternoon dragging them around the yard. 

It has been so much fun having this little girl live with us for a few months.  We have become bosom pals, and I'm really going to miss her when she moves out.  There is just something wrong in a world where grandkids don't live with their grandparents, isn't there?  

Christmas Cookies

Jill has started a Christmas tradition with her kids that I always wanted to do, but never had time to fit it in.  She helps them make Christmas cookies.  So, for Family Home Evening this week, Jill brought all the stuff we needed to make and decorate sugar cookies.  And the kids had so much fun!  

 Even Charlie got into the spirit of Christmas cookies.  Drew helped her cut out a little mitten, and then she just sat on papa's lap and ate the icing :)

Aiden very graciously delivered his to the neighbors across the street.  There just happens to be a really cute girl in his class who lives there.   But I'm sure he would have shared anyway.  He's just that kind of kid :)  And the rest, of course, we gobbled right  up.  They were delicious!!  A simple but fun Christmas tradition I hope we can keep going through the years. 

A Basketball Thanksgiving

 After a GREAT Thanksgiving dinner, we went on an after dinner walk to the Rotary Park to play some basketball.

 This kid is so funny.  If you are trying to take a picture of him he will either pull obnoxious faces, run away from you, or complain that all you care about is your stupid camera.  But give him a basketball and he turns into a little poser :)

                                   Some nice action shots of these little future basketball stars.

                                    And beautiful Princess Capri sitting on her basketball throne : )

We ended the day by raking up some leaves for the kids to run and jump into.  We got some crazy looks from people as we were raking up all the leaves in the park, but the kids had fun.  And that's what matters!!

Senior Pictures

I love taking Senior Pictures.  I love pinning poses, kidding around with teenagers trying to make them laugh, and I love how excited they are to have Senior Pictures taken.  Even the Boys!  A few weeks ago I took my friend, Darleen's grandson, Kyler's seniors.  He is HUGE into baseball, so we had a lot of fun with baseball shots.  Here are are few of my favorites.

I kind of love these.  I was using spot metering, so a shadow from the chain link fence showed up in the pictures.  I don't mind the chain link shadow, because I think it adds to the story the photos are trying to tell.  It's all about baseball.  I also love the shadow of Kyler.  Jill took a few that she over exposed enough to get the chain link shadow out.  They are really good!  Some of Kyler's favorites. 

I love the angle of this one.  He is leaning over an old gate at an old barn, and I'm glad I thought to take a few shots with the end of the gate straight on.  I think it adds to the dimension and interest of the photo.  I also love his smile here. 

I love this pose, but this is one where I wish I had asked him to turn his head a little to avoid the shadow on half his face.  The right side of his face was so bright I really had no choice but to photoshop this one to black and white.  I did lower the opacity slightly to let the red from his shirt show through because this is Kyler's favorite shirt :)

I love everything about this photo.  The composition is good I think.  I left an open space for him to gaze into, the muted colors in the background are so pretty, and I love the texture on the trunk of the tree.  And Kyler is pretty handsome, too!

Just another pose in the woods.  It was a fun way to spend a really cold weekend morning. 

Weekend With The Torgersons

 Kimbrey invited us up to watch the boys play in one of their last soccer games of the year.  It was a very quick, but very fun weekend with these cute kiddos and their Mom and Dad.

 Brody has some serious soccer skills!!  He was so cute to watch.  And he did GREAT!

 Here is Kaylie eating her candy necklace we brought for her.  I didn't think she would figure out it was candy so quickly!! 

 Not to be outdone by the boys, Kaylie showed us her t-ball skills :)  She has the right idea!

 Then we went to watch Chase play his soccer game.  He did AWESOME!  Scoring two goals!  But first, he played goalie and saved several scores :) 

Then, they put him in as a forward.   Looks at that fancy footwork!  Brennan would be so proud. 

 Here he is setting up for the first of his goals.  Getting around the other team . . . lining up with the goal . . .

 Then he shoots, placing in perfectly to the left of the goalie, just out of his reach.  SCORE!!!

Thanks Kimbrey, Daniel and kids for a fun Saturday cheering for our awesome grand kids!   It's what we love to do the most :)