Christmas Eve - 2010

We had a wonderful night on Christmas Eve.....Uncle Jim was able to join us for church and he also stayed for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Perkins (-: Isn't that what every family does after Christmas Eve services??? We started doing this the year that Kate was born, and if we are in town, and/or weather permitting, you will find this Cairney clan enjoying some Perkins fare on Jordan Creek Pkwy......pancakes, omeletes, bacon, etc,., YUMMY -- Doug and the kids especially love it! Once we arrived home, we opened some gifts, read the Christmas story together, played with our new play-doh cake making station and prepared the cookie plate. Kate was very excited to help with this, Ben not so interested.

Uncle Jim and Ben at Perkins

Family Photos

The Cairney's, The future "Loftis couple" & the Stoltenberg's

*** and of course, our new, pillow pets - Leroy the Lion and Kong the monkey!

** Mom and Dad- I am hoping that Nicki has some photos of you guys that I can post soon......

more photos - pender Christmas

Mr. Ben, passed out after a very long day of fun!!

The finished Lego Star Wars plane.

Wendi, Nicki, Dad and I.

William & Jon

Pender Christmas sledding fun

Here is Ben, enjoying the snow.

It was a beautiful full moon last Saturday night, mild temperatures - perfect for late night sledding after dinner!! So Jon (future Uncle) decided to take Jon, Kate and Ben sledding. They had so much fun.....even though I am not a huge fan of the cold and ice, I do love sledding! We had all been sledding that afternoon too with Papa down another one of our fav hills in Pender.

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Jon, Kate, Ben and little Jon -- all enjoying a beautiful winter night!!!

Pender Christmas

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Ben was so very excited about his Lego's!

Aunt Nicki loved her Christmas Peeps from Kate.

The kids loved their pillow pets!!

Here is Miss Kate stretching her back....with Papa's help.

After Grandma's funeral, the kids and I were so very blessed to be able to stay in Pender for an extended visit the rest of the week. It was so nice being able to spend that time with my Mom & Dad, aunts, uncles, and just overall quality time in Pender (which we all love). We made our regular trips to Popo's, the library, Grasshopper and of course the baseball fields (except this time of year, it is for the sledding hills!)

Ben enjoyed many games of war with everyone - especially his great Uncles Ron and Uncle Brad. That boy just has a way of putting a smile on every one's face!!!

All weekend we enjoyed delicious treats and spirits, reminisced about many memories with Grandma and our family, and just had an amazing time together!!! Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting a wonderful weekend - we love you both -- Merry Christmas!!!

Grandma B

On December 11th, a very special person in our lives left this Earth to live forever in heaven; my Grandma or "Grandma B.B." according to Kate and Ben. When my Dad called that Saturday morning to tell me the news, I thought, "How can this be? We were just all at her house for Thanksgiving dinner, went shopping, out for lunch with Mom, etc.," After the initial shock wore off, the sadness began, and I started to think of all of my fondest memories of Grandma. Here are a few of the ones that come to mind: the many sleepovers that I had at her house with my cousins, the endless rootbeer floats that she used to make us in the shiny tin cups that would get "so cold" on the outside once the ice cream got frosty, her yummy baked goods, her pink powder puff, how she loved playing games with all the kids, how her face would light up when ever we were all around, her laugh, her always willing open arms for a hug, the excitement in her voice while we were planning our trip to California this Fall & how very grateful she was for everything that we did to make that possible, how much she loved her friends/family, her extreme happiness during Christmas time (she used to have the most decorated home that I have ever seen --- including tinsel everywhere with crazy chasey lights!!!), the social times at the Senior Center, how fond she was of her church and love for the Lord and also, how much she loved and missed Grandpa B. They were an amazing couple! They spent many weekends going to dances doing the polka, waltz, etc., and I just know that once she saw Grandpa again, he twirled her in his arms and off they went....dancing the night away!!!

Although it was so very hard to say good-bye to her last week, I take much comfort in knowing that she is now singing and dancing with our Lord Jesus (and Grandpa (-:) hugging all of her friends/family members that had passed before her. I love you Grandma, thanks for everything that you have taught me & for being such an amazing person!!! XOXOXO -- Keri

A weekend of "first's"

On Sunday evening, I had the extreme pleasure of accompanying Miss Kate to her very first Broadway theatre show. Mary Poppins was in town and I do not know who was more excited to see it.....her or I??? The show was fabulous!!! I spent a lot of time just watching Kate's expressions, eyes, and smiles just twinkle as they changed the set, the costumes, etc.,.. she thought that it was "so cool!" I would describe it as magical...."practically perfect" in every way (to quote Mary herself!!) We decided to make an evening of it and have dinner downtown also. Kate chose Spaghetti Works....she loves the salad bar there, the bowtie pasta, and to top the evening off, our server treated her to a very "belated" birthday ice cream sundae! For those of you that know our Sissy well, you know that she was loving this ( -:

As the show ended we walked to the car hand in hand, tapping our feet, humming "just a spoon full of sugar" and were smiling ear to ear. What a fun night it was, one that I know I will always cherish and think that Kate will also --I love you sissy, and hope that you will come to enjoy and love the fine arts, theater, and musicals just as much as Mommy does!!

Puzzles are a little tradition that this Cairney family always enjoys. We broke out our first one on Friday night, can't wait to see how it turns out! Kate and Daddy are getting started on the edges.

We also got our tree last weekend. Kate and Ben were very helpful with the decorations and watering the tree all weekend. We chose a Frasier Fir.....I just love the coziness of how the house looks this time of year.

Thanksgiving - 2010

This weekend we were able to head back to Nebraska on Thursday morning and spent the day at my Grandma's house in West Point. This was such a special time, and I am super bummed because I did not get my camera out in time to catch any photos....Kate and Ben helped her decorate her tree (they had such a fun time doing that), my Mom, Aunt Karen and I helped her get all of her holiday decor in place and the guys did the outside details.....her little house looked great and she was tickled pink!! We had a wondeful meal and I even debuted my very first pecan pie.....a little brown, but everyone loved it! So many wonderful memories made that afternoon......then that night we headed to Pender and the rest of the clan arrived. The kids were so excited to see the Stoltenberg's and Aunt Wendi they could hardly stand it! There is just nothing like fun times with cousins and Kate and Ben are so blessed to have them on both sides of the family. Nicki, Mom and I headed to Sioux City on Friday morning to do some shopping -- we had such a fun time! The rest of the weekend went way too fast but was spent playing games, enjoying the gorgeous weather outside playing football, basketball, jumping on the trampoline, going for walks, playing games, cards, and snuggling up for some TV time. Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting us all this weekend. What a perfect example of how blessed we are, not only on this holiday, but each and every day of the year!!!!

Kate, Ben, Jon and Doug playing the "horse race" game.

Ben, Kate & Aunt Nicki enjoying some TV time snuggling in Papa and Nanny's room.

ISU /vs/ Creighton basketball

We had a great time cheering on the ISU Cyclones last Sunday with the Wheeler men. They played Creighton, so it was the "battle of the birds"......ISU won with a last second shot at the buzzer (which later was realized that the time had run out) - BUT, the cyclones still got the "W" It was a great game, tons of excitement, yummy snacks and we all had a very fun time!!! Thanks Capt. for getting the tickets........

Bodie, Ben and Kate at the game

A new "do" for Kate

Well, after atleast 1+ years of growing her hair out, Miss Kate decided she was ready for a change. Last Saturday we headed over to see Kristina and chop-chop......almost 6 inches later - here she is! She had really wanted to donate the hair but it had to be 8 + inches for that....I may be a bit partial, but I think that it looks absolutely adorable!!

Family time in Omaha

We were in Omaha last weekend for the Westerhold/Blessen Nebraska wedding reception. You may remember, this was our Sacramento wedding trip that we had in September. And once again, we had a wonderful time celebrating with Tina, Nate and our families. It was extra special, because my Uncle Brad and Aunt Jan were able to drive back from Colorado for the weekend and it was wonderful to catch up with them. My Grandma was just tickled to get a photo with her kids, grandkids and great-grand kids too. It does not happen very often anymore that we are all in one place at the same time.

Mr. Ben was so very excited about the dessert that evening. I did not even have the heart to tell him that the cupcakes were for the "Blessen" wedding. It was so cute that he thought they were all for "B" Ben (-:

Girls weekend

A few weeks ago, I had the EXTREME pleasure of hosting some of my dearest girlfriends....for the ENTIRE weekend!! It was so much fun! I do not even know where to begin. Some of these ladies have been in my life for the better part of 37 years, some, only as few as a decade, BUT, they are all so very near and dear to my heart. I thank God for them each and every day.

Our activities for the weekend included some shopping, shopping, shopping, (have I said shopping yet????), snacking, cheering on the HUSKERS!! wine drinking, advice swapping, recipe trading, shopping (-:, laughing, crying, hugging, and SHOPPING!!!! Does it sound like we had any fun?? The only downside of the weekend, was that once again, the weekend went way too fast. Thanks to all of our husbands, family members and friends that helped out with our kiddo's this weekend so that we could all have this special "girl" time together -- it was amazing and we can't wait to do it again soon!

Jen, Colleen, and Tina, we missed you all. Can't wait to see you all soon......Love you all, Keri

Soccer Season - 2010 - Ben

Mr. Ben also finished out his soccer season this weekend. He would probably say that the highlight of his season was his arm being healed enough to finish out the last game with some more goals!!! Way to go Ben - we are very proud of how you hustle out there. Him and I celebrated the day with a final round of miniature golf together on Saturday. We had a great time -- it was also a treat because as you can see in the pictures, he got his cast off on Tuesday - Horray!!! Now we are just wearing the "splint" until the end of November to give the arm a little longer to heal. Thank-you to everyone for your kind words of encouragement and prayers for healing!!! They worked (-:

Soccer season - Fall 2010

Kate wrapped up her soccer season last weekend. She had a great time playing again this fall and seems to really enjoy herself out there. She would say that her "foot work" really improved this season, and I would have to agree......we are proud of you Kate -- way to go!!!

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful night for Trick-or Treating here in West Des Moines.....the storm trooper and soccer player got tons of yummy candy and had a very fun time running around the neighborhood with their pals. We could not have asked for more beautiful fall weather....Happy Halloween everyone!