Verndale Tournament

On to our 2nd tournament of the season and we headed over to Verndale for our Saturday morning outing... Beau had a little bit of a rougher time this time (it might have helped if he was even trying, but I guess) and ended up losing all his matches. He still sported his big grin, so at least he had fun... The other 3 boys in his bracket all tied for 1st so he still came home with a 2nd place medal... Something a little shady about that, but I guess. Brody had a much better showing this time with a 2nd place finish. He got pinned by his first guy and then pinned the next two guys. He was much happier with his results! Eion and Teagen both also finished with 2nd places and Ellie kept her streak alive with another 1st place finish!

Josh and Beau

Beau and his bracket

Brody and his bracket

Grandpa Carl and Braxton

Ellie and her 1st place t-shirt! The boys were a little jealous! :)

Sebeka Tournament!

We had our first wrestling tournament of the season a couple of weeks ago and the boys were definitely ready to do more then just practice! Beau came out strong (with his big goofy grin fully intact the entire time) and ended up with a 1st place finish in his first ever tournament... Brody had a bit of a tougher time and placed 3rd out of a 3 man bracket. He was not as happy as his brother. Next time buddy, next time!

Rox missed picture time, so I snapped this one of Ellie... She ended up with a 1st place finish at her first wrestling meet also! She was pretty excited.

We have 5 of the Kiser grandkids wrestling this year and they are all so closely grouped that it is hard to keep up with all of them during the tournaments. At one point there were 4 of them out on the mats at the same time. Makes for quick tournaments when you are watching all of them! Teagen is also wrestling this year and ended up with a 1st place finish also. Eion got a 2nd place finish for his efforts!

Pine Wood Derby

It was Pine Wood Derby time again a few weeks ago and Brody and Josh were hard at work on Brody's car for this year's race... He rocked a few of the races but couldn't get past one of his bud's super fast car! :) He was happy with his 2nd place finish but was definitely eyeing up the more "creative" cars and thinking about what he wants to make for next year already! :)

Attempt Number 1!

We have been working on Braxton starting to sleep in his "big boy bed" since about Christmas time... This was the first night of attempting and mom was dumb enough to head down with her camera! :) Needless to say he was not sleeping like I thought and was back up soon after this picture was taken. We have had a couple of nights where he has made it the whole night, but most nights involve him getting up a couple of times and then him getting put back into his crib. We aren't too worried about getting him there so we, for once, don't have anyone waiting in the wings to use the crib... We'll get there, eventually! :)

Christmas times 3!

The holidays are always a hectic time, filled with trying to do everything with everyone! :) Since we are mostly only around my family, Cindy gets drug along to all of the "Kiser/Polman" activities, there is a bit less running... Notice I said a bit less! :)

This year was a little wild since we had illness running through our house for the week before Christmas. This meant more time to get the last minute baking, gift wrapping and what not done since I didn't have daycare and we were quarantined, but it also meant juggling schedules! Trying to find somehow to get Brody to his boy scout Christmas party, picking up homework to keep all the kids caught up before break, missing out on Bella's preschool program and then trying to figure out who was going to be healthy enough to go to all the Christmases with us each day...

We began our Christmas extravaganza with Cindy at her house. Since it is just the 6 of us and Cindy it was a no brainer that we were able to do that Christmas with no problem. Then we headed into Sunday and Christmas with my immediate family. This pose a bit more of a problem as we didn't want to expose 12 other kids to whatever was running through our house... Thank God for Cindy and her willingness to have them come and veg at her house, but it also meant Christmas without Braxton and Bella who were the 2 that were still down and out. Monday came along with Christmas at my mom's house for the Polman side... This was our Christmas miracle in the fact that we were all healthy and able to spend the day together, except for Cindy who had now succumbed to something entirely different then what my family was down and out with... It seemed never ending for a while, but we made the best of it and the kids all loved the stuff that they got, even if they didn't get to all open it together! :)

Enjoy the show! :)

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Sledding

At this point in the winter we hadn't gotten a whole lot of snow. Rain we did get though... The kids still had a blast sledding on the icy hill. So icy that they took off running and slid down the hill on their bellies! It was a lot of fun. Braxton had a great time too... didn't last super long but had fun on the sled just the same.

Church Christmas Program

Beau and Bella were in the Tiny Tots program this year. Brody was once again in the "big" kids program. He chose to not have a speaking part but was part of the choir.

Beau was a wiseman. The other boy that was supposed to be a wiseman missed our two practices due to family issues and then froze the day of the program... Never fear - Beau came through with BOTH their parts! :)

Bella was a sheep. She did a great job but would only say her part if she had the actual microphone in front of her, even at practices. My little DIVA! :)

Can you see Brody back there? They had him way in the back... not the best spot for my little shrimp boat! :)

School Christmas Program

I know that I have been a little pokey about getting the pictures up here... Sorry! But, better late then never. Here are my handsome boys at their school Christmas program. Bella was sick the night of her program so she missed out on her first preschool program. Guess there's always next year!

Working out...

My little "teacher"

Bella was playing teacher the other day with Braxton... She sat him down, showed him pictures of the book she was reading him, moved him so that he could see her better - it was adorable!

Hitchin a ride!

Braxton is definitely a daddy's boy and LOVES when Josh gets home. Josh doesn't go anywhere when he is home without his little shadow. It's super cute!

Our Christmas tree!

Santa!

The kids were super excited to see Santa this year. Braxton hopped right up into his lap but then started to panic a bit... :)

Playing...

I love when the kids play so well together! They were having a great time playing "puppy"...

Super Star!

Brody has been working very hard this year in school and he was super excited that he made it to 100 points!