Cups!

The cousins had fun together.  One of the creative things they did was make sounds by clapping their hands on these cups.  They made a whole routine out of it.  I only got still shots, but if I get sent the video clip, I'll post it to some time.

We made Cheese!

 

This was somewhat of a rush job, so Aunt Kari called it "Russian Cheese."  But it was most like Mozzarella.  And very good too.

Cousin Fun!

The cousins wanted to build a cousin pyramid.  We did that and had fun with other pictures too...

Almost...

 Got her up there the second time...

 The pile... (sorry about the glare from the window)

Ep wasn't too please to be the bottom of this one...

 Smaller stacks...

And then G-ma suggested we take some outside in her big tree...

 

Good times!

 

Ice Skating

We hit the downtown ice rink in Charlottesville on Thursday the 27th of December.

J was the most excited to hit the ice...

 Kam had lessons and Zack puts on the rollerblades that are too big, so they had it down as well...

Spence needed a little bit of help...

 I helped guide him around, but not usually like this...

 Cousin Jacob stuck to the wall most of the time...

 And this a self portrait I took.  I don't think you can tell, but this is not a matching pair of skates.  The left one is darker than the other.

 

I got a blister, but oh well.  All the kiddos had fun.

Back at Home on Christmas evening...

While we were enjoying family several states away, our home town got hit with an ice storm and then lots and lots of snow.  The power was knocked out for several hours in some places and several days in others.  Thankfully our house was among the hour category.
Here are some of the photos friends in our town posted...

 About 18" inches in all.  Our children were sad to miss this belated "white" Christmas!

Christmas Morning 2012

We had a good group on Christmas morning, and they didn't make us get up at the crack of dawn either to open presents.  That was nice.  We of course had to start out with a cousins picture in front of the tree...

 Here's a few crazy shots...

Waiting to start...

Jordan, Peter, Jacob, Jameson, Kristin

 Epper, Earl, Kari, Kammie

 Kate

Spencer helping Sidnie with a large gift...

G-ma Vernetta helped too...

 A Cinderella Doll with a hair styling chair and accessories...

(She was happier for the gift than it looks in the photo.)

Zacky opening a gift...

The "Bow" boys

James and Jamer

 Spence...

 Pete...

We ended the morning with a Marshall vs. Marshall Kickball game with Kammie's new ball and bases.  It was a grand time.

p.s.  The Marshall's won!

And while we played, Miss Sid was busy with some chocolate...

 

Christmas Eve

We traveled to visit Grandma Vernetta in Virginia for the Christmas Holidays.  On Christmas Eve we went to the mall for a little shopping.  It was snowing some.  Sidnie was so excited, so we had to stop and catch snowflakes on our tongues before going inside.  She loved it.

Zack forgot his jacket, so he borrowed a vest G-ma made for his dad when he was little.  Here is a shot of Zack hiding in the vest.  Think headless (and armless) specter...

The cousins arrived on Christmas Eve, so the fun could then really begin.  The older kids got to go to the movie The Hobbit as per the (Earl) Marshall Family tradition of going to a movie on Christmas Eve. 

Gingerbread House/G-ma's Tree

Grandma had a gingerbread house making kit, so the kids were all excited to make that.  Spencer was thrilled since he had seen the kits at the store and had begged his mom to buy one.  But Kammie and Jordan got into it as well.

It has become a family tradition of ours, that when there is a Gingerbread house around, after a few days, we pull out James' BB guns and use the old house as our target.  All the kids and cousins had fun with shooting practice.

G-ma's beautiful Christmas Tree.  I love a real tree.