Hopechest!!!

For my birthday my Grampa Klahn made me a Hopechest!
Gramma helped with the finishing touches, and it turned
out beautiful!! It is so nice and big and BEAUTIFUL!



Elizabeth, how's that for pictures?! Hope there's enough!

Trip: part 6

On Sunday we went to church, went shopping and visited with family until we left at 6pm. We didn't get home till 2am! It was a busy time, but lots and lots of fun.


Grampa feeding Anja


Gramma and her Mom


Cousing Austin, acting goofy!


Princess Gracie

Trip: part 5 - CHARADES!!

Dad put the little girls to bed, and the rest of us played games until 2am!! Here we're playing Charades! We had a lot of laughs.


Zack


Gramma


Ken


Me

Trip: part 4

After the Christmas party, we went to Gramma & Ken's house


Mom's sister Jana, and her fiancee Jeff


Gramma, Ken, Me, Mom and Jana


Uncle Jed with a monkey on his head!


Ken & Gramma

Trip: part 3

Angie, Cousin Jarvis and Maggie


Ike (not too thrilled about getting his picture
taken!), Christina, Megan, Jessica, Me and Zack


Cousin Kara (Alex's Mom, Jeremy's wife)


Mom's cousins Christina, Megan and Jessica

Trip; part 2

Great-Grampa Johnson, preparing the feast!


Zack and his buddy, Cousin Alex


Anja had fun with Aunt Paula!


Gramma (Mom's Mom) with her Gramma!

Trip: part 1

The weekend before last (the 16th and 17th) we went to Upper Michigan for the annual Christmas party for my Mom's Mom's side of the family. This year the party was at Aunt Toni's house. We got there around noon on Saturday, and stayed till about 6pm. We had lots of fun and enjoyed being able to see everyone.


Emmy, Ken (our step-Grampa), Grace & Aleks


Grace giving our great-great-Gramma Syria a hug
(who is 93 years-young!)


Ike, Uncle Dick, Cousin Jeremy and Dad (talking
hunting or fishing or something like that!)


Gramma, Aunt Kathy, Mom and Anja

Trying 'em on for size?

I'm sure most of you girls out there can relate to this; visiting relatives and then they ask "the" question: "Got a boyfriend yet?".

Well, last year we were visiting with my great-grandparents when my Grampa asked me "So, ya got a boyfriend yet?". I said "No". My Mom said "She's too young to get married". Grampa said "Well, I wasn't talking marriage", to which Mom replied "Oh, just trying 'em on for size, huh?". My Grampa said "Hmm, I never thought of it like that before!"

Mary, Did You Know?

One of my favorite things about Christmas are all the Christmas songs. This one is my absolute favorite:

Mary, Did You Know?

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you knew?
This child that you delivered
Will soon deliver you

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little boy
You've kissed the face of God



Oh, Mary, did you know --
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb



Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rules the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heavens perfect lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the great I AM

Family picture

The Klahn Family

back row l-r: Aliisa (me - 17 now!!), Isaac (15), Mom holding Anja (5 1/2 months) and Zack (14)
front row l-r: Aleks (8), Emmy (6), Grace (4), Elsie (2) and Dad.

The above family picture was taken on Thanksgiving at my aunt's house. We had a very enjoyable day visiting with family (some of which we hadn't seen for almost a year) and eating!!

On the 26th was my 17th birthday. Boy does that sound old! It was a very nice, relaxing day at home with my family. And the day after my birthday I went to a friends house and we made skirts together (which was lots of fun!).

On Wednesday we went square dancing with a bunch of friends. It was a Plus dance, (which is even harder than regular square dancing) and was lots of fun!

On Thursday Ike got his temps!! (Temporary license) He got 100% on his written test! I haven't driven with him yet, but I'm sure he does a great job. He drives tractors, and has driven the car/van around the yard so he'd familiar with driving.

On Friday we had a huge blizzard! I'm not exactly sure what time it started, but it went steady from at least 5am until 1pm. We got anywhere from 8-12 inches of snow. There were over 700 accidents in just 4 counties around here. My Dad goes to work really early (5:45am) and the roads were pretty bad. He was almost to work when he hit a slippery patch in the road. He spun around (so he was facing the opposite way), slid across the other lane, and then his truck (small truck) tipped over on its side (passenger side)! Thankfully he had his seatbelt on, otherwise he would've gotten thrown who knows where. Since the truck was on its side he was hanging by his seatbelt. He was able to climb out, and then walked to work (he was really close). After milking they took one of the tractors and tipped the truck back over and towed it to the shop. Yesterday Dad was able to get it running. Everything works perfectly! There is a bit of a dent on the passenger side, and the mirror is gone, but other than that it's fine! The funny thing is before the accident the seal around the passenger door wasn't very good so some air came in. After the accident something happened so that now no air can get in! That was pretty funny!

Last night Mom, Ike, Zack and I went to a square dance with some friends. It wasn't plus, but it still was lots of fun. The caller was really good.

Today our whole family went to see the new movie, The Nativity. I really liked it. I have never seen a movie that was just about Jesus' birth. The movies I've seen have been about Jesus' life and death, so I really enjoyed something that focused on His birth.

This weekend we decorated our house. We don't have a Christmas tree. We hang garlands instead. We have at least 4 garlands with lights. When we turn all of the lights off and have the garlands plugged in it looks soo pretty! When we get our camera back (some friends are borrowing it) I'll have to take some pictures.

Love,
*~*Aliisa*~*

Mr. Somebody

Mr. Somebody

Yes, that's me.

You know, I am the one that Everyone

calls in need of assistance or

Someone blames when in trouble.

I hear it a lot, don't you?

"Somebody tie my shoes!"

or

"Can Somebody feed the dog?"

What's that?

You say you have not seen me before?

I don't see how you could not, but that's

what Everyone says.

So, I am used to it.

Of course, if a person calls for me

Someone gets there before I do.

I do not know why but that is the way it happens.

Well, now that you know me, let me introduce you

to some of my friends.

Someone, No-one, Everyone,

Nobody, Anyone and me Somebody.

It gets confusing here at times,

like when I ask

Everyone if Someone

cleaned the kitchen.

They just said No-One did it,

So somehow it did get done.

Right now though, I need to see if

Anyone fed the dog.

-Mr. Somebody

I'm sure most of you big sisters can relate to this!

Written by JoyAnn Pankratz, printed with permission

It's finished!

It was difficult functioning when everything from the living room was in the dining room, but it was well worth it!


Elsie was fascinated!


Half of the living room


The other half
(Elizabeth, doesn't it look MUCH nicer?!)


Hang on, Grace, it's slippery!

New flooring!

Ever since we first moved in here almost three years ago, we've tried to figure out why our landlord put cream colored carpet in the living room of a house he was going to be renting to a family with six children (that was all we had at the time!). We have tried so hard to keep it looking nice, but it just was not possible! So, finally, we convinced our landlord to let us put laminate flooring in! On Friday evening Dad and the boys (with help of the little girls) ripped out the carpeting, and on Saturday carpenters came to install the new floor!!

Horse ride!!

As an early birthday gift, Dad took
me on a trail ride yesterday! It was about an
hour long through woods and fields. We got to
walk, trot and canter! It was sooo much fun!


I LOVE the way my skirt is in this picture,
all spread out behind me.
I didn't even try to make it look like that, and it
turned out great!


Me and my Daddy!