Twelve

We have a TWEEN in the house...
Ben is 12 =)

Happy Birthday Ben! We LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE you!

January 1, 2008 in the Gottsch house... 1/366

Happy New Year!
I woke up (admittedly around 11:30am!) to a disaster area in my house. It had been building for a couple of days, but the kids took full advantage of my sleeping in (I was up till about 3am - and no, I wasn't partying, I just can't sleep when Robb isn't home!). So to ring in the new year we CLEANED! WooHoo! I got the tree down and the kids picked up all their things, cleaned their rooms and vacuumed!

A great reason for procreation...

So here are a few pictures from our first day of the new year!

It smells good in our house =)


Just how do you store the Christmas lights so they don't get broken or tangled??


I need to get organized... my desk is scary.


I actually cooked a hot meal for lunch!


Ben, however, was not impressed... (BTW everyone else loved it enough for seconds! Looks are deceiving!)


Today was the first day for allowance payout! After a month of being on the quarter system the payouts were as follows:
Peter = $9.75
Ben = $6.00
Noah = $8.25
Elle = $8.75
(they start the month w/ $10 in quarters and I have taken them away if there is disobedience, disrespect and lying)



I hope you enjoyed our day in review - I am going to attempt to post at least one photo per day so let's see if we get in 366 posts for 2008!

Just a couple more pictures...

Seriously, my kids think I need to find some other guinea pigs for my lighting set up so if you are interested...



We managed to clean the kids' bedrooms out today. Pete tackled the boy's room and did an awesome job and I took on Elle's room... That girl has WAY too much stuff (I need to 'clean' when she isn't there - she didn't want to let go of much...)

Robb has been demolishing our main bathroom and in the next couple of weeks it will be going through a long awaited transformation! I should have taken pictures of Robb tearing out the old cast iron tub! Wow, that was a job and a half! All that stands in the bathroom right now is the stool and that will probably go tomorrow so that they can prepare the floor for tile. Robb will also build the new tub enclosure and drop in the new whirlpool tub. YAY! I am SO excited! I will make a point to take and post pictures - I promise!

Merry Christmas!

It is 11:00am and:
I had mint M&Ms for breakfast
The kids and I are still in our pajamas at - oh wait, Peter IS in jeans (the show off, but truth be told he probably slept in them!)
Robb is still sleeping (zzzzzzz...)
The kids are all cooperating!
I actually got TWO decent pictures to show you (and several others! Sorry Kristen, Craig - I had to do it!)
My house is a complete disaster area... oh wait, that is nothing new!
There are legos EVERYWHERE!
There are nerf darts EVERYWHERE
The kids have thanked us a million times!

Thank you God for this glorious day and the miraculous gift of salvation in Jesus Christ!
Blessings to all!

City Kids on the Farm

We headed up North to Creighton/Plainview this weekend for a wedding and the kids got to spend an afternoon on Alden and Lisa's farm. Alden thought they should get a little education on the Hog operation - I am sure that the kids will one day be spending summers up there like their dad.

They learned how to move the little pigs...




Jackson even got aquainted (he had a thing for their ears... I wonder why?)


Noah was quite fond of them






Ben wasn't so sure, but he thought the babies were cute


Jackson was a little too fond of them...


Then it was on to the chickens




Elle and Ben thought they'd bring this egg home to hatch on their own...ummm after I found out Ben had it under his pillow to keep warm I had to put an end to that.


City kids!