HAPPY NEW YEAR! (a little early)

Well, we just rang in the (almost) New Year with our own little celebration. I'm posting this so soon because Joe is working tonight so this way he can kind of celebrate with us tonight.

We pulled up the countdown in Sydney, Australia on YouTube and joined in! The kids had a blast with the noise-makers, confetti, and all the stuff they could find to drum on to make lots of noise!

HaPpY nEw YeAr!!!

We love you, Daddy! See you next year!

A look at our merry little Christmas...

New pajamas and slippers on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning all ready to go to church. (Since church is at 9am waited until afterward to open our presents. But we did check out our stockings before!)

These are the Family Trees I made for our parents this year. It took quite a bit of planning to balance it all out but they turned out nice.

Williams . Chandler

The little quote at the bottom

About a week or so before Christmas we took the kids to the South Hills to see a Christmas lights display. It is at a private residence and there is no cost to check it out. We "ooo"-ed and "ah"-ed the whole time.

a view coming down the driveway from the main road

It T's off at the end of the driveway and you can pick which way you want to go...

the "Naughty" way or the "Nice" way. (Of course, we picked the "Nice" way!)

We met Bully the Mongolian camel. Joe fed him a carrot but the kids didn't want a turn after they watched Bully slime Joe's entire hand. Pretty gross but funny!

We heard a lot of "Ho! Ho! Ho!"-ing and came around the corner to meet Santa who was giving big candy canes in exchange for high fives!

The beautiful nativity

We had ourselves a Merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween!

Kate (age 6) as Snow White

Sam (age 5) as Fireman Sam

Alice (age 3) as a Princess

With three kids it's nearly impossible to get them all to pose perfectly for a picture, let alone stand close enough to get them all in the same picture. So we just take what we can get around here!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the Chandlers!

Happy 5th Birthday, Sam!

Sam is one of the funnest kids you'll ever meet. He loves to make friends, tell jokes, and be silly. Sam always has some sort of random song in his head and sings or hums almost everywhere he goes. He is very thoughtful of others, especially his sisters. He is definitely a peacemaker in our home. We are so blessed to have Sammy in our family!

Happy 5th Birthday, Sam!

WE LOVE YOU!

"The States" song

A couple weeks ago, Kate came home from school and sang "The States" song for me...from beginning to end...with no mistakes. I didn't even know they had been learning it. I was shocked that she knew this only a month in to 1st grade! I think I was in 3rd grade when I learned all the states.

Anyway, ever since then she's had it in her head and sings it all the time. She has sung it for us and her grandmas and grandpas but she gets "too shy" to sing it for anyone else.

Today, when I picked her up from school she said she sang it by herself in front of her whole class! Once again, I was shocked! Are you kidding me!?! What happened to being too shy?!? But then she said that the kids who can sing it by themselves earn a chocolate bar! Oh, I see how it is!

The moral of the story:
Kate is not shy when properly bribed!

9.11.11

Yesterday we went to a huge flag display in honor of 9.11. It was so beautiful and there was a perfect breeze. It was interesting teaching our kids about what happened on that day 10 years ago. They're still a little young to really understand the significance of it all. But I know we both know where we were on that day when we found out and we will forever remember.

Dancing Princesses

I saw the girls dancing outside the other day while I was washing dishes. So, like any good mom, I grabbed the camera! (Notice the perfect dip at about :24)

Cabin Service Project

We spent a whole week at the cabin to finish the basement walls and do a few more projects.

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER pics...

Family time at the Cabin

Alturas Chandler Campout 2011

Happy 3rd Birthday to Alice!

Our sweet Alice Love is getting so grown up...she turned 3 on Saturday! All day long she walked around the house singing "Happy Birthday" to herself!

We invited the Comoroskys over for a little birthday party for her, complete with a flower pinata picked out by the birthday girl! Everyone had lots of fun...especially once all the candy had fallen out. They beat the pinata down to cardboard shreds and had a blast doing it! (Of course, the daddies helped too!)

Alice's swing at it...she must have had a bit of built up aggression being the youngest or something

because she really went at it!




Sorry the video is sideways...just tip your head to the left and you'll be fine! :)

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Alice's birthday weekend continued when Grandma and Grandpa Chandler came over on Sunday evening to help us celebrate. The kids had so much fun playing with "Dee-ma" and "Papa," as Alice calls them.

The girls both had fun doing Grandpa's hair...
Alice said his hair was "too skinny" to comb!

A Little of our Summer Fun

I need to play a little catch-up before I get too far behind. So here's just a little of what we've been up to this summer...
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Our big Father's Day Banner for Daddy

Joe had to work on Father's Day so we were able to make this while he was gone and have it all ready when he came home! Each of the kids said little messages that we wrote on the sign. Here are a few of them...

KATE: "I love coloring with Daddy!" "I love when Daddy tickles me!" "I love riding bikes with Daddy!"

SAM: "I love playing Mario with Daddy!" "I love wrestling with Dad!" "I like when Dad gives us cake!"

ALICE: "I like to read with Dada!" "I like to play pirates with Daddy!" "I like when Daddy plays horsey with me!"

Then we attached a bunch of pictures of Joe with the 3 kids.

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Setting up the kids' tent and having a campout in the living room is always a hit.

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The 4th of July

I got the kids all ready in their red, white, and blue and we headed over to Buhl for a parade. It was fun because Joe was working traffic control for the parade and we got to sit right by him and his patrol car/barricade. It was the second best thing to actually watching the parade with him!

"I pledge allegiance..."

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After the 4th, Joe had a few days off so we headed up to the cabin with our friends, the Comoroskys, for some much needed relaxation. So much relaxing, in fact, that this is the only picture I took. I like that Alice has opted out of the pillow pet for a sister pillow instead!

Kate's Kindergarten Graduation

We are so proud of our Kindergarten Graduate!

During graduation, they had each child go up and say what they wanted to be when they grew up. There were lots of "I want to be a cop" and "I want to be a cheerleader." But Kate was truly original when she answered...

"When I grow up I want to be a waitress!"

Kate's Kindergarten Class

Happy Easter!

Cute kids in their cute Easter outfits for church.

I had to post this picture because usually Kate is our little model

but Sammy steals the show in this one!

During the Easter egg hunt in the backyard, Alice would call Sam over anytime she found a "boy-colored" egg and Sam would do the same if he found a "girl-colored" egg. It was so cute.

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

Vegas Baby!

Joe had some days off from work so we took the kids down to Vegas.

Here's a little sample of the fun we had:

Waiting for the Volcano at the Mirage...

Some "must-see's" on the kids' list...

the pirate boat at Treasure Island ~ the Excalibur castle

somewhere inside the Venetian....the girls LOVED the giant butterfly and huge flowers.

Circus Circus was a HUGE hit! Playing games, winning animals, and the circus acts.
Sam especially loved the group of African Acrobats and we were lucky to catch a couple of them after the show.

Fremont Street Experience...

It was fun to see the HUGE screen above the street but it was really loud!

It was awesome family fun and great to make a ton of inexpensive memories!