knup.net » Holidays

2010 Visit from Santa Claus

knup — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:33:30 +0000

On this past Saturday we had a family party at our friends house in Morton. They were having “Santa” visit their house and letting all the kids sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. We also brought a present for each kid and they put it in Santa’s bag of gifts to give out! It was a lot of fun. Alyssa was the very first person to sit on Santa’s lap. I honestly thought she was going to freak out but she went up there and did it like a brave little girl Then Drew was next. He of course was fine. The only odd thing about Drew’s discuss was Santa asked him, “Do you play baseball?” And he answered NO. lol ok whatever. Bryce was last to go up and he went on Santa’s lap like a trooper as well. He looked a little nervous but what do you expect. They each got a little gift and a candy cane and loved the whole thing. Great idea!!! Check out the pictures from the event below:

Happy Cinco De Mayo

knup — Wed, 05 May 2010 23:13:06 +0000

Enjoy the Mexican tune!

bahia principe – bienvenidos.mp3

Happy Easter to everyone

knup — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:09:42 +0000

Would like to wish all you family and friends a Happy Easter. Enjoy the day with your family and remember why this day is so important! Jesus rose from the dead!

Also, I have some posts on the horizon here with some updated pictures and videos of the family and our latest Branson vacation! Be on the lookout.

Relaxing New Year

knup — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:33:25 +0000

I want to wish everyone a very happy new year from the Knuppel’s. 2009 should be both a great and challenging year. Hope you and your families had a wonderful New Year’s eve. I know we did.

Our’s was pretty uneventful. Drew and Alyssa went out and spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Peterson’s house. So it was us and Bryce. We had plans to go to a dinner with B, but he wasn’t having it. Of course he chose to take his late nap right over dinner time. Oh well. Sarah and I ordered in Pizza Hut pasta and just chilled. Then around 9:30 some friends came by to bring in the new year. We played WII and some games. Greg got a kick out of watching the “Pussycat Dolls” and Sarah had some nice comments about Dick Clark. “Poor Dick”. Lol. It was a great night and Bryce didn’t interrupt once. WOW!

How was your New Years Eve?

Christmas is finally over

knup — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:55:44 +0000

We had our last 2 Christmas gatherings finally. On Saturday we met at the Kowerko’s in Bloomington for the Peterson side of Christmas. Was a great time. Food, movies and some presents. The kids had a fun time chasing each other through the basement and doing what kids do. The adults did a “gift card exchange” so that was fun and easy. We ended up getting Pizza Hut and The Buckle as our gift cards. Perfect, since our kids love Pizza Hut.

Sunday was supposed to be the Friedrich Christmas but Joel and Ashley changed those plans. They had little Morgan Peterson on Sunday morning! So we moved back xmas to Monday night instead. Friedrichs as fun as well though our kids were a tad crazy that late at night. Drew got some “spy” walkie talkies and was loving those. Lissy got a new camera that she loved too. I got a sweet Cardinals blanket made by hand by Brooke! Awesome.

So Christmas is over. A big thanks to everyone who hosted Christmas, thanks to those who got us gifts, and a special thanks to my family for putting up with me over my work vacation Back to work I go – soon.

Knuppel and Meeker Christmas

knup — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:46:43 +0000

Three more down. Two to go. We enjoyed the “Knuppel Christmas” out at my mom and dad’s on Christmas Eve. We traveled out to Manito in the morning and stayed all day. Enjoyed a brunch of some of my favorite foods (mom makes that great coffee cake every Xmas). The kids were just itching to get presents so after the brunch we had some opening to do.

The gift opening was a little stressful as the kids didn’t understand the concept of, 1) you go pick a gift under the tree, pass it out, then the person opening picks the next gift. Drew understood it ok, but Alyssa just thought every time she picked a gift it should be for her. And they are both impatient and didn’t like waiting to see where “their” gifts were. Grrrr… Oh well, we made it through and kids will be kids I guess. Some of the key gifts.

Rodney got a new Nintendo WII…
Sarah and Carlye got each other the exact same gift. Great minds think alike – or something like that.
Bryce got a sweet little horsey rocker. He loves it.
Drew and Alyssa got several toys that they both love.
Ryan brought out the “hat grab bag” this year to extend all the guys gifts.
Mom got the buffet warmer from dad.
Randy with his external hard drive.
Sarah and I got our extra bar stools we needed.

Lots of great stuff. After presents it was game mania the rest of the day. Played some WII first. Many of the regular games along with some of the new Xmas gifts (Celebrity Sports, WII Music, Princess something, etc). Finally headed home after dinner. Kids relaxed in the van and when we got home prepared the house for Santa. We did the regular things, put out cookies/milk, put reindeer food on the front grass, read Night before Christmas, and more. The kids went to bed early thankfully and they were so excited for the morning.

Christmas morning awoke me with Drew screaming in my ear and running in circles, “It’s Christmas, It’s Christmas, Santa came!!!” I guess I had to wake up. Santa surprised the kids with several toys and clothes. Drew got some of the Cars he’d been wanting and Alyssa got some more princess makeup. The family got WII Mario Cart! Sarah and I decided not to really exchange this year to save some money. Seems like we get what we need during the year. I did end up getting Sarah a new “Envy 2″ phone and the texting package. So all you texters – she can now text with you After gifts we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus over lighted cupcakes. Fun! The kids did realize the true meaning of Christmas so that was neat to see and get on video.

After our own little Christ we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Meeker’s house for the big Meeker Christmas. Talk about packed. Their house had nearly 50 people in it. Ridiculous! The food was unreal as always. Adults voted to not do a gift exchange this year but the kids still did. Drew got a sweet Cardinals pennant and a Redbird deck of cards. Alyssa got a book and some nurses gear. And Bryce, I missed what he got cause I was chasing Lissy around the house for some reason. We did not stay long after lunch and gifts. Our kids had been through enough. Alyssa with no nap for 3 straight days is a recipe for disaster. We made it home before 3:30 and got the kids some rest. Luckily, today is a day to rest as well. Time to enjoy some games with the family and just chill out.

Two more Christmas gatherings to go on Saturday and early next week. Yikes. Check out my Facebook profile for a full gallery of pics.

In other news, Joel and Ashley are scheduled to have their baby on Sunday night!!!!!! Keep them in your prayers as it’s a few weeks early still.

Your Christmas Card

knup — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:42:39 +0000

Consider this post your Christmas Card. We decided not to send out Christmas cards this year for several reasons. 1) to save some money. 2) we lost nearly everyones address thanks to Yahoo losing them. 3) Email and website posting is just easier.

So we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Knuppel family.

First Christmas in the books

knup — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:10:51 +0000

The first of like 6 Christmas get togethers is in the books. We had the immediate Peterson Christmas on Sunday. The family all met for Church and then went out to Steve and Darla’s for lunch and fun. It was awesome because we just did pizza, chicken and other appetizer stuff. Lots and lots of great food and very low stress on the day.

They did a new tradition where each family had to do an “activity”. We sang the J-E-S-U-S song as a family. Drew, Alyssa and Bryce got tons and tons of presents. Great, just what we need. A couple of the hot items were Drew’s spy gear and his “cot”. And Alyssa really loved her dress up kit and makeup. Bryce liked his stack up cars/trains.

Enjoy the pictures.

Meet Santa Claus

knup — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:37:07 +0000

Our kids made the trip to the mall with Sarah to visit “Santa Claus”. As you can tell, Alyssa wasn’t much for Santa. She’s scared of anything dressed up in a costume these days. Haha.

Thanksgiving Weekend

knup — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 04:44:07 +0000

We had quite the busy (and fun) Thanksgiving 4 day weekend. On Thursday we went out to the Meeker’s house for a big Thansgiving meal. Spent most of the day out there watching football, eating, shooting hoops, playing with kids. The normal TGiving activities. Horrible NFL games on and I hope they ban the Lions from Thanksgiving games in the future!

On Friday we relaxed around the house and had some family bonding time. Played games and did some work. Was nice to catch up around the house. At night we had Thanksgiving at the Petersons house. Our kids were a bit on the tired side but overall it went well. We also celebrated Chad’s 35th birthday and my 30th birthday.

Saturday we chilllllled out! Well, I did at least Sarah went to a baby shower for Joel and Ashley. She took Alyssa along and left the boys home. We watched football and took naps. Heaven! At night Sarah took the boys with her to the Festival of Lights parade in East Peoria. I stayed home yet again, with Alyssa this time because she was running a fever. So needless to say I didn’t get out of the house much on Saturday.