zeke's cookie party...

Sorry we haven't posted for awhile... busy with getting ready for Christmas!

Zeke had a cookie party the week before Christmas with a few of his friends... but first he decided to take the camera and take a few pics of his own...

Hmmmm...interesting....then friends arrived and the party began!

Mason & Abby playing & singing

Jeremiah spent most of the morning with the safety googles on...good thing too as he was hitting himself in the face with the bat!

Breakfast time...scrambled eggs, ham & fruit

Of course I had some of my beaitiful friends to help me out with this crew!

Donna & Val (& Chris was there later too!)

The cookie decorating begins! Emma & Anna begin ever so precise...

The girls table...Abby looks like she's praying, what a little angel :)

Boys table - Zeke mostly just eating candy!

Oh! Gotta give him some eyes...

and lots of sprinkles for the finished product!

All done! (from L to R) Zeke, Abby, Emma, Anna, Mason, Sam & Jeremiah. We read the Christmas story, sang some songs - Jingle Bells (with some bells), Away in a Manager, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and the ABC song (by request) and did a book gift exchange. Lots of fun was had by all. We will have to make it an annual thing for sure!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year! Many blessings for 2010 - looking forward to a great year!

snow days...

Here are some pics from yesterdays snow day...still home today!

Waffles on the couch

Gingerbread house time!

This kit was awesome!

Front of Ezekiel's House...

and back!

Look at all our snow...we had fun sleding yesterday but today the snow is too deep!

a few of my favorite christmas things...

Happy Snow day! This is the best time of year! Some of my favorites at Christmas time are: going to church Christmas Eve, celebrating Jesus' birthday, spending time with family and lots of SNOW! Here are a few pics from around the house that are also my favorite...

Baby's 1st Christmas Ornament from 1979 (mine!)

Zeke eating 7 layer jello (this one is for Grammy!)

Putting up the Christmas tree and other decor

Some fav ornaments...

S'mores (I have a different one for each year Shiloh & I have been married)

My Dad's ornament that he had on his tree growing up

Our Tree

These 2 are also my favorite!!

Zekey & I had a great day today playing out in the snow, decorating his gingerbread house (mostly just him eating candy!) and reading stories. Tonight we are going to watch Charlie Brown's Christmas and make enchilada's...mmmm

Probably another snow day tomorrow...hope we save some snow for Christmas!

jingle bell craft

So here is my cute little craft that Zeke & I made today:

My friend Erin's blog gave me the idea and she saw Pottery Barn do something similar and charge a whole lotta $$ for it. I got these bells at the dollar store and used a vase i already had. The bells came with 16 in a pack and i bought 2. So I'm trying to decide if I should fill the vase up farther or get some red ones and switch out the blue. Your thoughts?

I have much more red/green decor for Christmas, but blue is kinda fun, plus it does match my winter craft from 2 years ago (my beautiful signs that took soooooo long to make!) Also I could leave it up come January as well.

Just thought i would share what Zekey & I did this morning as he helped me take apart the bells. I am making chex mix in the oven at the moment while Zeke naps. Tonight we are going to see "Behold the Lamb" at Lincoln Berean church. We are bringing Zeke with us (but didn't buy a seat for him) so hopefully all goes well. We are at the very top of the balcony so I'm not too worried, plus I will bring snacks. That is how you keep Menter men/boys happy...just don't forget the snacks :)

black friday

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving with lots of yummy everything...especially the stuffing my favorite! I made green bean casserole which is very American and very delicious! We had a time of prayer in the morning and then we did some worship in the afternoon after lunch and I'm so thankful for my family here in the States and how welcoming and loving they have always been to me.

The next morning was Black Friday. I had never heard of black friday until i moved to the States. All i knew of was Boxing Day sales the day after Christmas. Black Friday is kind of similar, but has way more deals, doorbusters, early hours and crazy shoppers. Plus, looking back, who wants to buy stuff after Christmas is over?

For the last few years i have gone black friday shopping with my mother-in-law around 8am. This year I decided to try and get up early and go to walmart around 6am after the rush, but i was awake at 4:50 so i decided to take the trek and see how fabulous this early morning shopping was. This was the item that motivated me:

Fisher Price T-rex MountainIt was on sale for $18 which was a pretty awesome deal. I made it there right at 5am (since we live close) and people were already coming out with their purchases, it was crazzzy! I did manage to find a parking spot and as i went in i made the first "rookie" mistake of grabbing a cart. That thing slowed me down big time, and i eventually ditched it. So my story of the dinosaur mountain... i went to the toy section right to where the Fisher Price/Imaginex stuff is, but of course on Black Friday, all the deals are down ONE INSANE AISLE...this was one of the worst ideas possible and had i not been in early morning delirium i may actually have feared for my life. My favorite line that i overheard was "Take a chill pill!" ahhh that made me laugh...

Anyways, back to the aisle, i was getting closer down the crazy aisle (still with my cart) and was almost to the toy i wanted for Zeke, when the guy behind me, squeezed by my cart, went in front of me, grabbed the last Super awesome Dino Mountain and shouted "I got the last one!"

I was bummed big time, but went on my way down the aisle and did managed to grab 2 sets of fleece p.j's for Zeke (one for this year and one for next) for $3 each. I also managed to grab a Candyland game for $5 and a 2 Qt crock pot for $4. While these were all great deals, the 40 minute wait in checkout definitely was not worth it, but it was something i needed to experience firsthand.

The rest of the day went very well, as i went out around 8am with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. I managed to find many other deals and i have almost finished my Christmas shopping! My best deal was the comforter i got for Zeke for $15 at Sears and it matches perfectly in his room and was something he really needed (mid-west winds are cold through his window!)

As fun as black friday is, I'm glad it is only once per year and i will continue to enjoy it, but maybe not at walmart at 5am next year...

are you excited?!?

I am excited now that i know how to add videos to my blog... this was our phrase for the summer, said by Zeke (imitating Mommy) when we were road tripping to Ontario to see Grammy & Poppa...

We are excited that Thanksgiving is 2 days away...i will be making green bean casserole and taking it over to Shiloh's parents's house for a fabulous feast! There will be 11 of us altogether.

Zekey is BEYOND excited about putting the Christmas tree up...we got the outdoor lights up last week, but we are waiting until after Thanksgiving before putting up the tree and all the rest of my decor. Tomorrow will be a cleaning day, so that my house can actually be clean before i put up all my dusty decorations!!

We are also excited that my parents will be coming here for Christmas this year. We would have loved to go home, but it is so much $$ to fly. We will miss seeing Mikey, Kayla, Bryan & Jordan as well as all our other friends and family up there, but we are planning another road trip this coming summer! It will be so fun to have Grammy & Poppa here as they have never visited us at this time of year.

We hope you all have a wonderful, family filled, turkey eatin' Thanksgiving...and for the rest of you up North who already had your Thanksgiving, we hope you have a great Thursday :)

humpty dumpty's testimony

Well last Friday night Zeke had his first ER visit. He was over at his friend's house chasing Jeremiah and slipped and hit the door frame. He got quite the "owie" where his head split and ended up with 3 staples in his head. Here's what i like to call Humpty Dumpty's testimony:



He did so great at the hospital and didn't even cry when the staples went in. Yesterday we had a follow-up visit at his doctor's and he got the staples out. He did awesome again and just got a really sad face :( The doctor told me she doesn't usually get to have a conversation with the parent during these visits and said that Ezekiel was very "brave". Later Zekey told me that he was "crying on the inside"...too cute! So that was our excitment this week....Mommy is going to cry when she gets the hospital bill :( But until then, i'm thankful for good health and to finally be over all sickness.

Time to go try and find the outdoor Christmas lights in the basement...wish me luck!

my little wolf...

Here are the long awaited pics of Zeke's costume for Boo at the Zoo and Trunk or Treat at church...

Boo at the Zoo - Logan is a little nervous of this wolf, Anna in her pretty ladybug costume

Mommy & Zeke (i was little red riding hood)

Zeke not impressed with keeping his wolf head on for a picture

Good times with the Runza Rex

Zekey loves all things that are dressed up...this is Homer the Saltdogs mascot

Back home with lots of candy, coupons & stickers!

Our Pumpkins (notice the different shapes in Zekey's pumpkin - i actually let him use a knife to help me!)

3 pumpkins :)

Trunk n' Treat at church

Grandma Menter's safari trunk

Chloe & Amelia (Pastor Mike & Beth's kids) with Zeke

The glazed "i've eaten way too much candy and there is no way i'm sleeping tonight" look

Hope you enjoyed the pics Mom!!

I have some updated pics coming of Ezekiel's excitment this past week...gotta love boys :)

elastic bands at the children's museum...

Hello all!!

Well i finished my 2nd round of anitbiotics yesterday so i hope i am strep throat free!! Here are some fun pics of Zeke at the children's museum a few weeks ago... i love how creative he is (well i helped him a bit!)

Zekey can't wait to put up the Christmas Tree. I told him we have to wait until after Thanksgiving. We may do the outdoor lights this week-end while it isn't too cold.

Last week-end Shiloh & I went to the Fall Youth Convention in Bellevue Nebraska with our youth group (Zeke got to stay overnight with Grandma!). It was awesome and a much needed time after being so sick recently. I was talking with the girls in my room at the end of the night, and it is just so amazing to hear how God is working in their lives - i love it! This has been my 10th youth convention with Rock Solid (they have them in the fall & spring) since living in the States. They are VERY loud, but all problems are solved by earplugs. I don't care that i look like a dork!

This week-end we have some Youth Leadership Training on Saturday morning and we have a delcious dinner at Misty's tonight with the rest of the Youth Team. Should be a fun night. Happy Friday!

we are still here!

Hey all....

Just wanted to let you know that we are still here! My strep throat came back this week and so i'm trying to stay positive and rest as much as possible with a job, a husband and a 3 year old!

Once i get my life back together here i will post some pics of Zeke's costume from Boo at the Zoo and Trunk or Treat at church.

Leave me some comments so i know you are still out there!

pumpkin patch!!

One of our fall family traditions is to go to the pumpkin patch and pick our pumpkins!

Last year we went to Roca Berry Farms, but this year we opted for the free adminssion entry at Sunwest Farms not far from here. The weather turned out to be pretty decent and it wasn't very busy as it was during the Husker game! We went with the Mollo's and had such a fun time! Zeke picked his pumpkin right away and was quite excited about it (little Logan checking things out!)


Ezekiel also enjoyed the funny wooden characters... charlie brown & snoopy were his favorite!

Hayride out into the field to pick our pumpkins...

Bouncy house and carmel apples (Chris is enjoying hers!)

We ended the afternoon with Anna & Zeke sitting on top of the giant spider and another hayride before taking our 3 pumpkins home...

Our pumpkins now decorate our front step until later this week when we we'll carve them. Such fun with my boys!!

Love you monkeys!!