Christmas Recap

lots of this...presents and fun


what a beauty


lots of family time...they are almost to big to fit on his lap anymore.

just the four of us

thads family and a huge collision that resulted in a bloody nose

a happy little boy with his lego castle


Another Christmas done and gone and it has taken me forever to write about it. We opened our gifts here with the kids on Christmas eve morning....sydnie opened her camera and i think just about had a heartattack...the only thing she could say was oOOOOOOOOO. Noah of course loved his legos and we spent the rest of that morning playing games and building legos. Then we headed down to my parents house for the evening. We had our traditional pizza and games. but this year we had the kids put some reindeer food (some oats, glitter and sprinkles) out for santa. Noah went crazy. He told us he was going to stay up all night to wait for santa and then while we were outside he swore that the "big shiny light" up in the sky was santa so we needed to hurry and get the food on the lawn. He kept checking the sky and watching for santa every few minutes. Then he told us in no uncertain terms that he had just saw santa and that he was on the way here. of course when we told him that santa only will come if the kids are sleeping, he wanted to go to bed right then! So cute. Sydnie had fun with it as well, but noah just believed.

The next morning the kids woke up and noah was so excited that santa had come to visit. we started off our morning with a wonderful breakfast and then started opening gifts. Noah could hardly stand to wait...he has been really anxious this year and a little annoying with the whole present thing. The kids were super excited when cousin ryen showed up in her pjs...they thought that was cool. They seemed to really love all of their gifts from grandma and grandpa. They each got a pair of heelys. which sydnie decided she did not want, if falling was involved!!! haha.

Once we had eaten and packed it was time to head back up to our neck of the woods for thad's family christmas. we ended up having our celebration at a local church this year and it was fantastic. there are so many of us and lots of older kids that need something to "do" we had so much fun and the only issue of the night was a major collision with sydnie and her cousin and syd ended up getting a bloody nose. But she recovered and ended up having a great time with her cousins. She got another webkinz and noah got this amazing lego set from grammie. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

Eight

Birthday girl

a little kitten to pet

a cute little puppy - cousin ryen

cousins

a new webkinz...now she has 7!

a new nintendo ds


A birthday at the pound...seriously. we found out that the humane society does birthday parties and sydnie was over the top excited to go there. they have this fantastic playroom and they do the craft, goodie bags and you get to tour the facilities. The girls loved it. They thought it was the best thing ever. They are second graders who all really love animals, so it was perfect. Sydnie did not even beg me to bring an animal home!!! She of course was spoiled to death with presents and even got a new nintendo ds...something we as her parents had been putting off, but grandma decided it was okay! She got three new webkinz....how many does one little girl need? Her friend has 11, so I think she is shooting for that many. She had one friend stay the night and she is still here this afternoon. might as well make a day of it. they went to target today to spend christmas/birthday money together. I heard them chanting about how much they liked shopping....so cute. How time flies when your beautiful little girl is growing up. She is the best thing ever..................

Have a Very Merry Christmas

Hoping that all remember the reason for the season. That Christ came to this earth as a newborn babe and died for us...to save us from our sins. This Christmas remember why we were created to worship an almighty God, to praise and honor Him. Wishing you and yours the very merriest of Christmas's.

Blogjacked

Dear mom and dad...

I miss u guys. why did u have to fly across the continent. i need my own house to sleep in, my kids to run after, i need my mom to hold me tight and spoil me and my dad to bark at every night. don't get me wrong, this house im at now is okay. i mean they have a dog to play with and a cat to chase and two kids to terrorize and the dad to bark at (ha ha ha). I do get to sleep pretty much wherever I want because I have this mom suckered into doing whatever I want to do. I just give her that cute face, the one were I look like a teddy bear and she will let me sit on her lap.

I overheard the mom and dad here say that I have two more weeks here.....i think i can make it as long as i know that u are having fun and that i get to come home to my family once this is over. so for now, i will say see ya soon...............think of me often.

much love, chewie

G-House

The newest gingerbread house. This year was a crack up because thad ended up doing most of it himself. Noah was distracted by a new birthday present and only wanted to play with it. Sydnie worked for awhile, but then she declared she was done and off she went. Thad ended up saying that this was the last year that we were doing a house if he had to do it all himself. I just sat there laughing and taking pictures (which is my official job). Someday we will look back at all of our houses and the stories behind them and laugh.

The Many Faces of.....

the i am allergic to light (aka: the flash) face


the mom stop taking my picture face


the I am so cute you cannot handle it face

The I think I am a rock star face (this is the face always used while playing an air guitar)

The many faces of six. Born this day at 11:55am, six years ago.

How Adorable

I can already hear the awwwwsss coming from your lips as you watch this video!! It makes you remember that first time you held hands with your sweetie...okay well we were not floating on our backs asleep in an aquarium...but still. you get the idea.

six

Another year of partying!!! This year our theme was baseball and we had 16 kids at our house!!! HOLY COW it was loud. They were all really good kids and they even helped pick up before they left. Lots of lightsaber fights and a little round of wiffle ball in the back yard. They had a blast trying to get the pinata open, it finally fell off the string and Thad ripped it open. Lots of screaming and a big sugar rush came after that.

This was the first year that I did not go all out. I had nothing planned except the pinata and lots of playing. It worked out really well. I was actually able to just visit with friends. Noah was super excited all day and literally was counting down the time until his friends got here. I did notice that once he had opened his presents he wanted nothing to do with playing...he just wanted to open the gifts up and play.

I asked him what his favorite gift was and he first said his bumblebee transformer, then it was his new webkinz, but he finally decided his favorite gift was this picture frame his sister had made him with his picture inside. AAAWWWWWW....how cute is that. What a little softie. He has such a tender spirit and worships that ground that Sydnie walks on. SO CUTE.

Now we are into recovery mode here...lots of playing with new gifts today and we already logged his frog into webkinz and set up a whole new lily pad room for it. he named it hip hop. now he is building legos and I am ready to take a nap. ha ha. Another year down, another year of good memories.

Meet Wally

our newest addition to our family tradition!!! ha ha.

My friend had heard of this cute little "game" to play during the holidays that helps to keep your children behaving and adds lots of memories in the process. It is called Elf on the Shelf. Your family elf arrives each Christmas season and sits on a shelf to watch the kids and report back to Santa. The kids cannot touch him or he loses his magic and each night he leaves the house to report back on good or bad behavior. So that means that every morning he is in a new spot. That is the fun...where will the elf be?

My kids were a little skeptical last night...but this morning they both woke up and ran around the house to find Wally. They had such a good time and it was fun to listen to where they thought he was and hear there little feet running around.

I cannot wait to see where Wally will appear tomorrow morning. If I remember to move him tonight!!!

Here is more info on our new little friend: http://www.elfontheshelf.com/

Let the Elfin begin....

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1342209796

Conversations.....

This morning as we were coming home from dropping off his big sister....

noah: "she always wants a hug from me."

mom "who?"

noah: "ailany, she just always comes over for a hug from me"

mom: "ohhhhh...do you think she has a crush on you?"

noah: "she hasn't said that, but I am thinking she does"

this just cracked me up because we seem to have a little romancer on our hands. He has been telling all of the girls that he has a crush on them and trying to hug them....even second graders!!! I told him that he can't tell the girls he has a crush on them...then they will run away screaming. He just has to keep it to himself or tell his mom!!! ha ha. We could be in for a fun couple of years with this little guy.

I wish...

I heard there were some flurries of snow north of here this morning.....

I really have nothing new to say.........we have been trying to lay low and get noah's bday party planned. Saving my energy for all the celebrations to come in this month.

We have started basketball for both of the kids....which is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Practices on mondays and saturdays. Sydnie has gotten so much better. She really is loving it this year.

We are babysitting tonight...so two extra kids and an extra dog. Lots of laughter, fighting and noise here today. Hopefully we all survive until tomorrow morning.

Sydnie has a speech tomorrow talking about her Christmas Traditions. We made a tree out of scrap paper and cut out some pictures in the shape of ornaments to put on it.

That is really about all. seriously not much going on in the old noggin lately. actually i think of stuff to say and then forget by the time i sit down at my computer.

This week will be a busy one...finishing Christmas shopping, Christmas parties at school, making our gingerbread house and noah's party saturday.

Decorating!

So to continue the holiday spirit....we decorated our tree on sunday. Thad put the lights on in the afternoon and after dinner we blasted the Christmas music and started the festivities. The kids pretty much run the show and they put all the ornaments on the tree, so of course they are all down low and stuck together.....but the fun is what matters. Sydnie told me this year that she is going to wear her santa hat every time we decorate the tree so that she can get in the Christmas mood. We gave the kids their special ornaments, which sydnie loved and noah hated.

I tried experimenting with flash last night...i really like the top pix where the flash was off and the soft glow of the lights looks beautiful. need to play around with it some more to get the hang of it. i really do like pix with natural light, rather than the harsh flash.

we also watched polar express the night we got our tree....it was a great time to relax and be with family. Good tradition to start.

A Hunting We Will Go............

What a perfect day to get a Christmas Tree. As we drove up the hills in to silverton the snow started falling and by the time we hit Reinhart Tree Farm it was snowing full on. The trees surrounding the farm were dusted in a lite snow. So pretty. Good thing we came prepared....all bundled up. I could barely move I had on two coats and a scarf up to my ears....ha ha. Of course yet again, thad walked up to the first tree he saw and said...."this is it, our tree, it's perfect." We were joined by my mom and dad, brother and niece and thad's SIL and kids joined in the fun as well. This year the tree farm added a beautiful "fireplace" along with a great toy train. The kids look forward to the cider, cookies and candy canes. We always take a picture in front of our tree, but this year noah was being cranky so after about 10 shots we were done and just lucky to have him in the picture...can you tell by the looks on our faces. ha ha. Another year, another perfect tree, more great memories.

Christmas Traditions

So last year I started a Christmas Traditions album and never really finished it....so this year I have been working on it and really thinking about what traditions we have in our family.

Old Traditions:

*we get our tree the saturday after thxgiving

*we go to a tree farm and cut our own down

*the kids get a new ornament every year

*we listen to Christmas music while decorating

*we make a gingerbread house

*we go see christmas lights one night

*we make goodies

*pick two names from Angel Tree

*we watch Christmas movies

*the kids get new pajamas to sleep in the night before Christmas

*we always have a special meal for our family Christmas morning

New Traditions:

*watch Polar Express the day we get our tree. Since the tree has to dry overnight...this gives the kids something to look forward too that evening. We can drink hot cocoa and turn on all the Christmas lights.

*waiting tree - this is the first year that we have had one...so the kids are really excited to start today.

what are some traditions that you do as a family? do you look forward to them ever year?

Reporting Back

so I am here today to tell you that dinner was not that great of a success. The kids walked in the door from school and could smell the broccoli and saw it pureed and could not understand why I would do that. So as I was dipping the chx in the green egg mixture, they saw and pretty much had their minds set against it. So I served them their mac and cheese and chx nuggets and they did not really love it. Interesting. Thad thought they were okay and so did I. I really liked the "buttered noodles". So all in all I think that we will be able to incorporate a bunch of stuff from the book into our everyday life style. I did not try the sweet potato pancakes this morning, becuase I did not want them to turn orange from all the squash yesterday. Tomorrow morning will be the day.

Beautiful

Let the deception begin....

So my mom saw Oprah a couple of weeks ago and Jessica Seinfeld was on telling everyone about her "idea" to puree food and hide it into kids food. She loved the idea so much that she ran out and bought the book for me. I have not been too excited about it, because my kids love their veggies. Once upon a time they cried when given certain veggies, but for the most part they are really good eaters. I have looked at the book, but not given it a lot of thought until last night.

We had this great dinner of porkchops, squash, steamed broccoli and bread. The kids freaked out about the squash.....this is not new. They used to love squash, but lately you would think it had arcenic in it!! So I finally picked up the book and read...decided to make some whole wheat french toast this morning, with the deceptive ingredient of squash mixed in. They wolfed it down...not even a mention that it was whole wheat bread!! I laughed inside as I schemed a dinner with healthy ingredients without the knowledge. So this evening I will be trying her famous Broccoli chicken nuggets and butternut squash pasta, served with some fresh veggies as well.

I am not entirely sold on it yet....we will have to see if the recipes continue to be hits. I am super excited to try the banana bread for snacks. It took me about 30 minutes to find flaxseed meal in the grocery store today. I am excited to put that on everything they eat!!! lots of good stuff in there. So not to go all granola on ya...but maybe just maybe this will be the start of some good stuff in our house. If you are interested in checking it out here is the website......http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/

Thankful for

Thankful for Guitar Hero - where is the johnny cash?


thankful for a sense of timing and long steady notes


Thankful for training mode - lil' guitar hero

Thankful for laughter and a fun grandpa

Thankful for cheesey little girl smiles

Thankful for this....him and I together

Thankful for them...and a beautiful week at the beach

Thankful for her....crimped hair and a sunkist smile

This week has been so great. Our family was able to go away togethr for 4 days to Depoe Bay. Lots of swimming, hot tubing, movies, crafts and sunshine. We watched Home Alone....forgot how snotty the kid is at the beginning and of course there was a few swear words...which we forgot about so we had to have the talk with the kids about not saying those. Overall good times. Then we headed to Randal and Jenn's house to have a little sleepover the night before thxgiving. We played guitar hero. the girls watched private practice, while the guys watched a guy flick. The kids has so much fun waking up in the morning...noah kept opening ryen's bedroom door to check and see if she was awake. Those two are peas in a pod. Ryen had to be doing exactly what noah was doing at all times. They both drug out blankets and rolled around on the floor with them. when we sat down to watch a little tom and jerry....noah layed out his blanket, then layed down with ryen right beside him...her hand laying on his arm. so cute.

so let's talk about guitar hero....so thankful we do not have an up to date game system or I would be ignoring everything to master the hero!!!! loved it so much. by the end of the day and about 15-20 songs I was finally ready to move onto medium mode....I know, I know I should not have started on easy....but hello, have you played this thing!!!??? We were late to thxgiving dinner with the family because randal and i were battling each other. So he decided to pack it up and take it over to mom and dads. we finally talked dad into playing it.....he did pretty good. but he really wanted some johnny cash to play (easy guitar picking is his style). My mom just kept complaining that it was too loud and she was getting a headache from "that type of music".

Oh how the holidays bring the family together!!!! well that and a little video gaming!!!

Happy Birthday Princess!

Ryen turned 2 and had a great little party last night. She was hysterical...once she saw her elmo cake, she sat down at the table and was begging people to give her a fork....fork, fork, fork. Finally they sang happy birthday and she dug into her cake. Then it was present time. She was so preoccupied with her two boy cousins playing with her toys she did not want to open her presents, until she found the princess shoes! gotta love it. Of course her mom, jenn, blames me for her love of princesses, because I gave her a backpack about a year ago with all the princesses on it. I guess the rest is history...and to make it worse we gave her dress up clothes last night and a crown and a wand. SUPER COOL!!! So much for not having a girly, frilly little girl. I think it is instinctive in all girls to want to dress up and be a princess with high heeled shoes and a crown. I see many hours of dress up for ryen in the future. Now she just needs that cute little disney princess throne for christmas and she is all set!!! wahahaha....that is my evil laugh. my plans to turn ryen into a girly princess are working!!!!