5 MORE DAYS......

Till we go to Mexico/Arizona!! I am so superly excited. Except for, it was colder in Mexico yesterday than it was in Illinois!! We looked at the weather for Arizona and it's supposed to be in the high 60's. So not too warm. :-( We're going to be in Mexico for 4 days, although I wish we were staying longer. And then, we're going to be in Arizona for 5 days, staying at a condo.

Happy New Year!

Love ya'll bunches n bunches!
wendi

Merry Christmas!! (even though it's a little late) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas like I did. It was full of family, food and fun.
Saturday was the Pfaffmann Christmas at Uncle Jack's. We watched The Polar Express and as usual, ate too much and then went on a walk.
Sunday was our own family Christmas. After church, we picked up Bernardi's chicken(which is the best chicken EVER!), and then opened presents. I got a lot of stuff for my room and keyboard. Oh, I never mentioned, I got a keyboard for my room about a month ago. I love it!!!
Monday, Christmas Day, we went to church and then went straight to Grandma Schick's. As usual, it was very crowded, but we survived another year. A whole bunch of us played Apples to Apples for about 3 hours. After supper, all the cousins(or most) went to Traever and Andrea's to hang out.
Tuesday was the big Schick Christmas. It was at a church that had a gym, so that was good.... but it was still boring as ever. Afterwards, Jenna spent the night. And then.....Wednesday was day care day! Aunt Jeanne, Jill, Kate & Rachel went shopping for a while so they dropped off all there kids. Then Jessica dropped all hers off. So there was: Amber, Holly, Benj, Wes, Brenna, Kyle, Trenton, Raegan, Ashlyn, Kristy, Eric & Luke. It went great until:
-Trenton hit his teeth against the table and his teeth were bleeding like crazy
-Regean and Ashlyn wanted to eat at the same time
-When Heidi wasn't watching Ashlyn and she kicked her baby food onto the floor with glass and baby food everywhere and everyone stepping in it
-After eating, Reagan spit up all over him, me, and the floor
-And when Brenna spilled cherroies all over the floor.

May I might add that this alll happened within a minute period.

And some pictures!!

The 16 Kids (counting us older ones)
Uncle Tom, Wes, & Baby John
The pile of cousins - L to R:
Jenna, Heidi, Me, & Josh
Linds on the bottom, Ryan on top of her.

Have a great day!!

Happy 83rd Birthday, Grandma!

Monday night was my Piano Recital at Mrs. Schupps. It went good.
Tuesday we went Christmas shopping in Bloomington and then went to BroMenn Hospital to play violins. There was 20 something people there in this huge lobby and it sounded awesome. Afterwards, we went to Pizza Hut.....Cliffie is too cute!!
Wednesday morning I went and helped Linds at school. She picked me up at 7:30 and school got out at 2:15. I don't know how she does it everyday. When I was leaving she told me, "now you know why I always feel like I was ran over by a tractor." :0) The kids were cute but very excited and hyper for Christmas. Straight after helping Linds I went to Kidders and played the piano there. I got a new music book! YAY! :0)
Today is Grandma Schick's 83rd birthday! The adults are going out to eat at the Fish House and then everybody(counting all the kids) is going back to Uncle Tom and Aunt Carol's for a party and cake.


Grandma Schick, 83 Years Old!!!

And...Our 2006 Christmas Letter

Well, Christmas is inching closer, and since nobody got around to writing the Christmas letter earlier, I (Heidi) got assigned the duty last night. So here it goes.
Dad is still busy at work. Even though we don’t have lots of news about him, he faithfully takes care of us all, starting the woodburner each morning so we can wake up to a cozy warm house, and a million other things. Lately, us girls have kept him busy setting mousetraps.
Mom is still home schooling the younger kids, so she stays busy with that. She very much enjoys her great nephews and nieces. Sometimes we wonder if she thinks she’s a grandma to them - she sure takes “grandma rights.”
I just finished my last semester at Illinois Central College, and am looking very forward to starting at Methodist College of Nursing in January. I quit working at the nursing home this summer, and it’s given me lots more free weekend time, which I gladly take advantage of.
Adam got a buck with his bow this year and boy, were we proud of him! He took Driver’s Ed this summer and has been making good use of having his permit. It’s scary. He worked a lot this summer baling hay, helping Uncle Tom, and mowing. He could hardly stand it when all his activity stopped after an emergency appendectomy in July. He loves fishing, hunting, and trapping. Too bad those aren’t subjects in school. Mom is a little less than thrilled about his coon skins laying in her freezer.
Wendi continues to charm our ears with her piano music, and her violin music is getting closer. She’s starting her second year teaching piano lessons to my cousin’s two girls, as well as Luke when he cooperates. She loves kids and babysitting, is a professional shopper, and enjoys talking and being with her friends.
Luke continues to be, well, his unique imaginative self. He loves helping Adam with trapping, playing outside in his forts or sandbox, or turning our living room (and most of the house) into a farm, complete with soybeans and corn all over the floor. He was excited to be able to ride with Uncle Tom during harvest, and is pretty sure he wants to be a farmer.
As usual, this summer took the family (minus me) to St. Germain, Wisconsin. I stayed home because I was taking two summer classes. I had a great time, and I heard they did too. Some of the excitement included lots of fishing, good food, playing guitars in the van on the way up, family time, and a grease fire that burned the grill to the ground (long story).
Well, that is our year in a nutshell. We love hearing from all of you and getting your cards, letters, and pictures in the mail. May God bless you with His presence in this Christmas season.

With love,
Max, Mary, Heidi, Adam, Wendi, & Luke

Christmas Picture

This is our nasty 2006 Christmas picture!

gingerbread house disaster and piano recital

Wednesday I babysat and it went CrAzy. Jamie said she bought a Gingerbread house kit, and if we wanted, we could do it. I thought it sounded like fun, so we proceeded to create a beautiful gingerbread house. First, you must know, I’ve never made a gingerbread house in my life. (Sad, I know)  I was putting the house together, when the boys broke one of the pieces.  Now what was I supposed to do? I was clueless since I had never made a gingerbread house before. They ended up breaking 2 other pieces, and it took me 2 hours just to put it together. After I put it together, it fell apart several times. There was no chimney ‘cause they ate it while I was out of the room for a moment. We started decorating it after 3 hours of trying to put it together. They went nuts on the sprinkles and they were everywhere!!
Thank goodness, Jamie thought it was darling when she came home. I have now learned my lesson. Never make a gingerbread house with two 3 year olds and a 1 year old.
     Thursday night was Amber and Holly’s piano recital here. It went really good except some of the duets didn’t go the greatest.
     Tonight is Kendra and Tess’s choir concert. Jenna’s coming with me, and then we’re going to her house. Maybe we’ll go rollerblading since it’s so warm out! :-)
     Have a great weekend!

No time for blogging..

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I last blogged, which is very unusual for me. But, I’m too busy to blog. So I’m blogging now, but I only have a few minutes cause I have to go help make hot ham n’ cheese for 4-H caroling tonight.
     My Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful.
     I love the snow. I went snowmobiling all day Saturday and for a while yesterday. I love to snowmobile. Except with the one’s the boys have, it seems like there’s more exhaust than snow.
     Yesterday I went shopping and got a boat load. :-)
     Last night I played violins at the home, and there was 4 people there counting me. Not good.
     This month is really busy, so I won’t have time to blog.
     So this is bad, I wrote it in like 2 seconds, but I’ve gotta go help with sandwiches.

     P.S. Kate, I’m so sorry!!!! :-( You have my sympathy. Call me!! :-)