Santa's Visit

This Monday evening, we held the annual Santa Night event at our home. My Eisenhower teacher friends and their children joined us for the very fun evening. Our new friends, the Cofield's, joined us for the first time, and Ashwin's mother and grandparents joined us as well. We had about 30 people (including 12 little kids) this year! As always, Santa was a huge hit with the kids. Logann was a little tentative, and Peyton wanted nothing to do with him. Enjoy the pictures!

Our Pathetic Snowfall

Greetings everyone...now now now, I can already hear our friends from Spokane, LaGrande and Bend laughing their heads off! I know...our snow is pathetic compared to yours, but we might be getting some more tonight! Fingers crossed! The girls still had a wonderful time playing in the snow. Logann and Peyton found some neighborhood friends to do the hard part of building snowballs and snowmen for them! Their poor little gloves weren't very waterproof...and the snow was pretty much slush, so they got soaked right away. We came in and had hot cocoa and enjoyed the rest of the snow from the inside! The sky looks pretty dark to the north of us right now, so you might be seeing some pictures with more white stuff tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Little Binky Head checking out the white stuff.

Logann waiting for her neighborhood friend, Garrett, to make her a snowball so she won't have to get her own hands wet and cold! Smart girl!

Peyton playing with the big girls from our neighborhood.

Logann and Peyton putting the accessories on their snowman (that Garrett built for them so they wouldn't get their hands cold!) Those two girls sure know how to work it...I am teaching them well!

Peyton and Aunt Erin

Logann and her BIG snowballs...(that Garrett made for her of course :)

Last but not least, our Binky Head again!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Here is your Christmas Card/Blog Greeting!

Christmas is full of shiny things

That sparkle, gleam and glow;

These holiday pleasures dazzle us,

And yet, deep down, we know...

That Christmas has its special gifts,

But our year-round joy depends

On the cherished people in our lives,

Our family and our friends.

We hope this finds you happy,
healthy and ready for the holidays!
Merry Christmas!

Love, The Dukes’ Family

I took this video a few nights ago when Logann was doing her homework. Every time she finishes a letter, she cheers for herself, which I thought was quite cute! Anyways, I thought I would add that to our blog! I have been busy making Christmas cards. I am going to post the card on our blog along with our Christmas pictures. This will save me from making and sending the usual 90 cards! This was Brent's idea (my technology guy says we need to switch things up this year!) I know that it might not be as fun as receiving a card via snail mail, but just think...the blog way allows you to listen to music, view more pictures, reply in the comment box, save the pictures to your computer, watch a video, less work for the poor mail man, no postage stamps....boy oh boy, the list goes on and on! SO, you see...we aren't being bah hum bugs this year, we are just switching things up a bit! OK...I am going to get back to making that card! Merry Christmas!

Joke...

George called us tonight and he asked right away...

"Do you know how to make Beaver Cookies Jen?"

I said, "no"

He said, "you beat them for three hours then take them out of the big bowl!"

Go George! That's a funny one!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Go Ducks!

We had a great Thanksgiving Weekend and it was even better by the time Saturday evening rolled around! What a game to watch! The Ducks took care of the Beavers this year didn't they?!!! There were so many amazing plays that we have watched the game twice more since Saturday...thanks to the good ol' DVR!

Christmas Decorations Are Up!

Most of you know that Christmas is my favorite time of year, and that we always decorate way too early. Well, we did it once again! The house is finished, inside and out, and I love it! It was so much fun for the girls to help too. Logann was the master tree decorator! She unwrapped almost all of the ornaments for me to hang on the tree. Peyton was the master tree un-decorator! She took the ornaments off as fast as we could put them on! Logann called the ornaments her "presents" as she was unwrapping them! Some of you might be wondering about the picture of the bags hanging up in our hallway. I got this idea out of "Wondertime" magazine. These bags are the same concept as the traditional paper chain link garland that is used to count down the days 'til Christmas. Well, these are the "25 bags of Christmas." Each bag is filled with a small gift for the kids. We are hoping that this will be a fun and exciting way for the girls to count the days until the big day! The last 5 bags will have pieces of a nativity scene that we bought for them, and Christmas Eve's gift is baby Jesus! We hope that this activity is both entertaining and educational! We'll let you know how it turns out!