Christmas morning

Noah reaching in to see what "Santa" brought him!  Noah and Savannah are still "Santa believers" so Parker is constantly winking at us when we say how smart Santa is to know exactly what toys/books to bring them! We'll see if they figure it out this year!?!

 Sleepy Savannah is still trying to wake up before she can open her stocking!

This right here is my favorite part of Christmas morning~ my family all gathered on the couch to read about Jesus' birth!  We spend all Christmas season reading our advent devotions but THIS is always the one that gets me teary and extra thankful! After this our kiddos get to tear open their "3 Wisemen" gifts!

 Who knew??? Kit can snowboard in a pretty trench coat!  Savannah and Kit both received helmets and later in the day Kit got the snowboarding suit from Uncle Teag!

Ha~ it appears that Savannah is still yawning! What a perfect Christmas morning with my family~ I am blessed!

Christmas visitors and Christmas EVE

YAY~ Uncle Tills is home and our 3 are not missing any time~ they are all playing games with him!

Savannah was also so excited to get a little girl to play with... here she is with cousin Allison!  It was so sweet to watch these 2 girly~girls play together even though they hadn't seen each other in 1 1/2 years! Allison is a sweetie pie and so adorable!

OH SAVANNAH!  Your style matches your personality... spunky!  She was so excited to receive this "Skhoop" skirt from Miss Rebecca and then she paired it with these mukluks! too fun!

Then, we all had a fun time eating Christmas Eve dinner at the Kroon's home!

Aunt Marlene put a lot of thought into Savannah's gift... The Green Pocketbook and all the accessory to go along with it!  Savannah loved it!

artists all day LONG!

 Even Goofy likes to draw!  Yes, this would be a normal site at our home this winter... 3 kids drawing in their sketch books!  The boys are in a really cool art class and it has inspired all 3 of them to draw nonstop!

gInGeRbReAd houses 2012

The "Village Gingerbread Home" set is our new favorite!  It was a hit- we only have to buy one Gingerbread set and all three kids have their own little house to build!  

Noah is the BIG 6 year old!

Noah Hatcher~ we are so blessed to have YOU in our family!  You are now 6 and it is just so hard to believe!  Over the past 6 years, you have taught our family some very valuable lessons but the most important one is that... serving others brings so much JOY!  Noah, you love to sit back and watch others, you are very observant of what others need and you patiently wait for others to do their "thing" before you ask for your need!  I love you buddy and I am thankful that God has given you such a tender heart!

Noah was pumped to receive the Kroon 6-year old gift... a sling shot!  We spent his birthday up in Hatcher's in subzero weather letting him shoot his slingshot and test out his new backcountry ski backpack!

His birthday continued with a Ninja party with some of his favorite people and best bday~buddy, Thomas!  These awesome Ninja cupcakes were made by Miss Pam and Claire~ they were a yummy hit!

In preparation for Noah's party, I asked Parker to make some LEGO decorations and this is what he whipped up in no time!  Cool Parker!

Finally, his 6th birthday was topped off by a sleepover with Thomas!  They spent most the evening playing Noah's new Wii game and in the morning they put together as many LEGOs as they could before church!

Thomas and Noah~ happy 6th birthday!  We love you boys!!!

ice boating

The start of this winter had very little snow but it was freezing cold so we got plenty of ice boating time!  Noah and Savannah had fun riding along with dad!

Christmas tree hunt 2012

Parker was pumped to be old enough to saw down our 2012 tree!

Noah~ you keep me laughing and you warm my heart!  I love how most the time you're goofing around but then there are other sweet moments where you love to sit back and take in the moment!  I love this shot of you checking out all the ornaments!

And there it is... another silly Kroon tree!  We love our Charlie Brown trees!

3 Kroon boys on one team!

Noah= K, Parker= 2, and Kep= co-coach of a K-2 team!  I LOVED watching my 3 boys out on the basketball court this Fall.  This was Kep's first time to coach his sons and Noah's first time playing ball! The other added bonus was Kep got to coach with Tom and then our boys got to play with one of their favorite buddies, Thomas!  

The Kroon brothers!  Both of these boy improved big time throughout the season.  Parker was one of the oldest on the team so we had a deal with him... he could have fun scoring as long as he was passing the ball and making sure the younger players also got attempts at shooting!  We were so proud of how he kept track of which players had scored and every week he would inform us of who still needed to make a basket!  Good job buddy!  Noah you were awesome out there and you kept us well entertained!  He has this adorable hop to his run and at the beginning of the season his dribble also had a "hop"!  ha! There were 2 different games where he was dribbling down the court and he had it bouncing so high that it disappeared right over his head!  The best part was watching his reaction... huh??? where did it go!?!  Although, by the end of the season, he had his dribbling skills mastered and he scored 2 baskets! Awesome job Noah!

Savannah~ you are the best little sister a boy could ever ask for!  You love to cheer for your brothers and you love hanging out on the sidelines with Owen, Claire and Ella!

Thomas and Noah~ love all the memories these two have together!

What a team!  ha~ and that they were!

trick OR treat 2012

Trick or Treat was super simple and cheap this year!  In AK costumes just never look the same because you have to find ways to bundle them up!  So this year, I went cheap and stuck with costumes that we could layer... boys got to wear their Karate costumes and Savannah wore this silly little "hippy" dress!

This fun bunch of kids had fun running through the Smith's neighborhood, even though it was FREEZing!

hike to snow!

This has been a strange Fall and beginning of winter~ it has been super cold but there has been no snow at our house so we spent many weekends hiking to find some snow!  Rosco loved it more than any of us!

A hike is always more fun with friends along~ especially the Novaks!