Dear Mom and Dad,

Note from the author:
Mom and Dad left today for a trip to Tennessee for over a week. 
"Dear Mom and Dad" will become a post that I will do daily so that they will be able to know what we did during the day, as well as see pictures. 
I hope that you all enjoy a peek into our everyday lives as well :)

As I write this the family room is a buzz with the normal evening crazyness. Each child seem to have an extra bunch of energy tonight.
Caleb is on the couch trying to read a book while Joey is jumping on top of him. Zachary is playing with the puppet that he made today with Nathan and Brooke. Mikaya is "reading" a book to Elijah. Andy is rolling a ball on the floor. Makayla is toddling around playing with a toy van. Jaden is climbing up on to my lap. And Jesse is getting out a book to read.
Of course by the time I wrote all of this down, each kid has changed what they were doing... a couple of times.

It was hard saying "goodbye" to you today, knowing that you will be gone for so long. But we are glad to hear that you are having a good time.
We had fun today too!

We cranked up the Christmas music as soon as ya'll were out the door. Then to add to the "christmas spirit", we had a contest to see who could draw the best Christmas tree.
After that the kids made puppets out of paper bags. I think Joey enjoyed it the most.... he wanted to make more then one :)
You already know that we are babysitting Andy and Makayla this evening. I think Andy misses his Grandpa :)
Kerri did some mending and lots of cleaning. I made hamburger buns for tomorrow as well as pizza crusts. Was a busy day!

We only had one small incident today in which Joey got a burn on his arm from the wood stove. But other then that, it was a "quiet" day :)

Notes from the kids:

Caleb says that he loves you and misses you. He wants to know if you like your hotel? And he also wants to know how many more days it will take you to get there?

Zach hopes that you are having a good time. He wants to tell you that he made a puppet, and it was really fun. He says "the girls gave us a icecream sundaay and they were really nice to us."

Jesse wants to let you know that he played with sleds outside, and that now we are playing with balls inside. He says that he hopes you are having the greatest time ever and he can't wait until you get home!

Nate want to tell you that we got 30 eggs today. He says that today was fun. He wants you to be safe and make sure you have phones! He hopes that you have fun!

Brooke wants to let you know that she made puppets and had a contest.... she said that she hopes that you had a good day too. She also said that she played outside on the sleds and she helped Nate fill the chickens water. She giggled when I told her that you went through Brookings, South Dakota. :)

Mikaya wants to tell you that she loves you and misses you. Also that she will never forget about you! She says that she did puppets and she did the best christmas tree :) Also that she had fun playing outside with the boys. And she will never forget your kisses. She says to be careful when you are traveling!

Joey says that Jesus loves him.

So, that was our day!
Love you and hope that you are having LOTS of fun!!!!!

Love Jennifer