Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas letter

Here's my Christmas letter for those of you who didn't get one. Please don't hate me, but I only mailed out about 10-15 cards/letters this year mostly to family. If you didn't get one.....I have extra if you really, really want one. I know, I know...you're all waving your hands saying that you want one. Ha! I downloaded my card from here and put my own pictures.


December 2009
Hello All!
We hope you have had a great year. It’s hard to believe that it’s almost 2010 already. Where has the time gone? We’ve have a lot of fun over the past year.
This past July Klaire Riley Alma was born on July 31. She was the smallest of our babies…only 8 lbs and 7 oz. (Mommy was very happy about that.) She has been such a joy to our family. She’s all smiles and such a good baby.
Makenna has entered her terrible twos. She’s been showing those to us every day. She’s finally decided it might be more fun to talk instead of simply pointing and saying, “uhh…uhhh.!! However, she’s always ready to give us a smile and a hug whenever we need one.
Kaleb is five and has started school this year. He’s been telling people that h e’s going to be a pirate when he grows up, so he doesn’t think that school is that cool.
Jakeb is in first grade and loves to build. He’s also been losing his teeth left and right. He’s hoping that at Christmas he can say, “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”
Luke is in third grade and is famously known for loving games. Luke is also always willing to try something new. He loves to ride his bike, climb trees, and play on the computer.
Blake is in fourth grade and is talking about being an archaeologist when he grows up. Right now his dream is to go to Egypt and discover some more pyramids.
The kids are all involved in Master Club at church and singing in the children’s choir. It's so fun to hear them sing. They are also doing well in homeschooling, and they will all agree that their favorite day of school is co-op. Co-op is when a group of homeschooling parents meet together and offer different classes for all the kids. Kids love it, and so do the moms.
This year we were able to take our first family vacation. In September, we went to Disney!!!!! We had such a great time. We visited Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and toured the Orlando area. We stayed at an awesome resort and the kids played in the pools there whenever they got a chance. Everyone wants to go back next year too.
Another exciting part of the year was when God blessed our church with a new building. Morning Star Baptist Church (
http://www.msbc.com/) has their new home. It was finished in October, and we’ve been loving it ever since.
Marshan has been keeping busy with homeschooling, co-op, Master Club, and leading children’s choir; not to mention just chasing after six kids. It’s crazy some days, but it’s a lot of fun.
Eric is still working at Fisher Design. He’s recently started a side business out of the home selling mortars for fireworks. Between family, church, Fisher, and mortars he keeps busy. He’s also keeping track of how many days until Fourth of July – 197 days!!!
Regardless as to how busy we are, we can always make time for family and friends. We would love to see any of you if you are ever in the area. If you ever want to check out what’s going on in the Alma household, we invite you to check out our family blog:
http://www.marshan2.blogspot.com/.
We also hope that you all remember the true meaning of Christmas about how God is good and sent His only Son to earth as a baby to make a way for us to go to heaven one day. Jesus truly is the reason for the season.
Merry Christmas!
The Alma’s – Eric, Marshan, Blake, Luke, Jakeb, Kaleb, Makenna, and Klaire





Saturday, December 12, 2009

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

lil' Santa







Christmas pictures

I took some Christmas pictures this year of the kids. Here's the Christmas card that we're planning on sending out.....hopefully. If they don't get send out snail mail, I'll be sending them out email style! I also took pics of them individually. Maybe I'll save those for another post.


Putting up the Christmas tree

We've put up the Christmas tree in multiple places throughout the year. But I think everyone agrees in front of the window is the best place for it. We rearranged the whole living room so we could put it there.



4 months old



Check out the little princess. What a big girl, huh? She's rolling over and more active than ever. She's never still. She's such a happy baby.

Blake's pyramid

Blake saw this in a Toys R Us paper and wanted it.....BADLY. I told him he would have to buy it with his money because there was no way I was gonna spend $85 for a toy (and that was the sale price). Now, you have to realize, Blake LOVES Egypt. He loves pyramids, mummies, King Tut, archeology, and absolutely anything to do with Egypt.
Well, he became quite the entrepreneur. He earned quite a bit of money by raking leaves. He actually would go door to door and rake the neighbor's leaves to earn money. Regardless, by the time he had enough money, the pyramid was out of stock EVERYWHERE. Apparently, it's a must have item this year for Christmas. We searched online and in stores and everywhere. Finally, Eric found one for FULL price which I'm not even going to tell you all how much that was. We didn't tell Blake that Eric picked one up because well, we wanted it to be a surprise. And man, was it! Check out his excitement!


NOTE: The pyramid went on sale the next week, so I got a price adjustment for the $85. Yea!

snaggletooth

Look who lost a tooth in Michigan none-the-less. The tooth fairy in Michigan leaves far more money than the tooth fairy in Ohio!

ROLLER SKATING

Master Club went roller skating. It was most of the kids first time ever skating. It was a hoot. Blake and Jakeb did okay. Luke didn't do too bad either, but when he fell....he fell HARD making him not want to keep trying.






Kaleb's birthday

div>We were in Michigan for Kaleb's b-day again this year, so he lucked out and got two birthdays. We celebrated at home on the Tuesday before his b-day. He chose to go to Golden Corral to celebrate (which was great cause that meant I didn't have to make a cake!) He ended up getting a cake from his Grandma Alma which was ten times better than anything I could have made. This set of gifts was from Blake. The $1 and rock were taped on the Reindeer's back! Loved it. Oh, and don't forget the spooky SPIDER on the left.

His stash from everybody.

Check out that Pirate!



He loved the costume so much that he wanted to wear it to bed!

These are from Michigan on his actual birthday. Isn't the cake great? And this would be his goody box from T-Rex.


Who says grown-ups can't play dress up?

>Murder Mystery party at church - even baby Klaire dressed up like a pirate! I was the governor's daughter and Eric was a bucanneer. Mismatched night at Master Club