Kjos Family Christmas Gathering

The weekend of January 4-6, my family gathered together at my sister Brenda's home in Watertown, MN to celebrate Christmas together. Although we didn't have a great turnout, those of us who were able to make it had a wonderful time.
On the 4th, Mom and I took the little girls with us and headed to Brenda's. We arrived shortly after 4 p.m. just before Brenda arrived home from work. That evening we met Brenda's and my good friend Liz Theisen and her 3 girls in Waconia, MN for supper at the neighborhood McDonald's. Shortly after we arrived there, Jay and the 4 older kids (who all left after they got out of school) joined us for supper. We had a wonderful time visiting. It's a shame we don't get to see each other more often.
After sending all the children (9 in all) to bed, Mom, Brenda, Jay and I sat around and visited until late, catching up on everyone's news. What fun we had spending much needed time together before the big dinner party the next day.
On Saturday, we while Brenda and I worked to get things organized for that afternoons gathering, Ian, Christopher, Jeremy, Jessica, Renson, Delaney, Rose, Jay & Hannah went outside to do some sledding. The weather was just perfect for the weekend and kept the kids busy most of the day.
Just as dinner was ready, my sister Karen and her daughter Eda showed up to join the celebrating. It was great to see them since it had been quite awhile since we had been together. Below are some pictures from our party.

Photos from top to bottom, left to right: 1)Brenda, Karen, Linda & Mom. 2)Grandma Kjos with her grandkids in attendance: Back row-Hannah (sitting in Grandma's lap), Ian holding Lily, Jeremy, Christopher. Middle Row-Jessica, Rose, Delaney, Renson. On the floor-Eda holding Samuel & Caleb. 3)Goofing around. 4)Grandma opening her DVD/VHS combo that the siblings went together on for her for Christmas...Hannah has to help her of course! 5)Christopher and Jeremy lounging. 6)Jay and Renson playing Renson's new Battleship game he got from his cousin gift swap while Ian looks on.

Christmas 2007

This years Christmas marks the 4th year we have spent Christmas together as a family. The first year we celebrated it a week late since we were taking care of wedding details. I am in amazement more and more as I work to put together this blog that time has gone by so quickly. God has been so good to us and provides for all our needs. Here are some pictures from our Christmas this year...proof of God's provision!










Photos from top to bottom, left to right: 1)The Hoffman/Ladwig children in front of the tree, 2)Lily & Hannah in their Christmas dresses, 3)Hannah & Lily nose to nose under the tree! 4)Ian with his Nascar throw, 5)Christopher with his ipod touch, 6)Renson with his gifts, 7)Delaney with her gifts, 8)Lily(holding her "Learn along Lily") & Hannah(holding her new books) "resting" in their new nap mats.

Cross Country

Both Ian and Christopher ran cross country this fall...Ian for the high school and Christopher for the middle school. Abbotsford combines cross country with Colby. The picture I have shown here is one that Ian took for the yearbook while he was in Publishing. It's a great picture of Christopher running like the wind! :)

2007-2008 School Pictures

Ian - 10th grade, age 15
Christopher - 8th grade, age 13
Renson - 5th grade, age 10
Delaney - 2nd grade, age 7

Delaney's 8th birthday

December 9th we celebrated Delaney's 8th birthday with a party at McDonalds in Medford with 2 girlfriends from church...Megan Nowak and Calley Neuman. After a delicious meal of chicken nuggets, french fries and ice cream sundaes (and of course playing in the tunnels), Carla Nowak (Megan's mom) and I took the girls to see the movie Enchanted. What a perfectly wonderful princess, fairy tale movie to see with the girls. Carla and I enjoyed it as much as the girls did!

(Photos from scenes in the movie)

Ian's 16th birthday surprise party

November 14th Ian turned 16 years old! I had a hard time believing that I was about to have a 16 yr. old son. Time goes by too quickly! As the date approached, I couldn't decide what we should get him for his birthday. The only thing I could think of is how much he likes having family and friends gather together for parties and of course, to eat (what 16 yr. old boy doesn't think about food!). So we decided to have a surprise birthday party for him the Sunday before his birthday. We new he wouldn't be expecting it since we typically celebrate his birthday with family on Thanksgiving. So, I put together a party invitiation and mailed it out to family and friends near and far. We planned to have the party at the Cutting Edge Youth Center (http://www.fbcmedford.com/cuttingedge.htm) where Ian spends a lot of time. The day turned out great and we had a wonderful turnout of both friends and family. Ian's Aunt Teresa and Uncle Dan came all the way from Eagan, MN just for the occasion. They were also kind enough to take some pictures of the party and send them to me! (very nice since I totally forgot about the camera...at least I remembered the food!) Speaking of food...we had a wonderful spread! Jay made pizzas and we had a fruit and veggie tray, taco salad, chips, pop, cookies and of course cake and ice cream. Thanks to those that helped out and brought some of the food!

Photos from top to bottom, left to right: 1)Ian's birthday banner and buffet spread, 2)Ian's birthday cake made by MeMe, 3)Ian with cell phone & Girl Scout cookies (our gift to him), 4)Ian programming his phone (this phone was Jay's idea...Ian's Aunt Teresa calls it his electonic umbilical cord!) 5)Jay the pizza chef, 6)Some of the party guests (Aunt Lynn, Cousin Bri, Uncle Richard, MeMe & PaPa, and Dan Nowak in the far back), 7)Ian, Christopher and their Uncle Dan.

Hannah's 2nd birthday

Once again, Hannah had 2 birthday parties. One with family and one with her friends. This year she had a "Wiggly, Wiggly Birthday!" Hannah just loves The Wiggles (http://www.thewiggles.com/) so we had to have a wiggly party. Not hard for a bunch of toddlers to accomplish. Here are some pictures from her parties.

Photos from top to bottom, left to right: 1)Hannah's birthday banner, 2)Hannah's party guest list, 3)Singing Happy Birthday to Hannah...waiting to blow out her candles, 4)"WOW! I blew them out all by myself!" 5)Lauren eating cake, 6)Carla & Faith Nowak, 7)See that blue blur? That's Hannah in a wiggly mode! We were watching The Wiggles video Yummy, Yummy. I was leading the Wiggling in my shaking clothes (you have to watch the video to understand that) while the rest of the kids wiggled along. We all had a great time!

Hannah's party later that night with our family was fun too. Besides our family at the party, we invited MeMe and PaPa and Grandma Kjos. Here are some pictures from that.









Photo 1)Hannah & her cake. You will notice that there is an extra candle on the bottom left of the cake. That candle was for MeMe to blow out since her birthday is just 2 days after Hannah's.
Photo 2) Hannah is excited about her new selection of Wiggles DVD's.