Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Nov/Dec...

I really have good intentions of keeping my blog up to date...but as you can see, I have failed.  We have had a great couple of months.  We had my side of the family over for Thanksgiving.  My mom and her husband came from Michigan, my dad and brother came from Kansas and my brother and his family came from Kentucky.  We had a great time catching up and watching the cousins play together.

The kids all earned new belts in Koguryo Tang Soo Do.  The boys are now orange belts and Maya is 2 belts below them as a yellow belt.  They all still really enjoy doing martial arts and are aiming for black belts...in many years, of course.

December 2 was Chad's 40th birthday.  I surprised him with a visit from his best friend, Jason.  Jason flew in on Friday.  I told Chad I had a doctor appointment that day and that I needed him home to stay with the kids.  I went to the airport and picked up Jason.  When we got to our house Jason went to the front door and rang the bell.  When Chad answered it he was so surprised to see Jason.  It was so much fun!

We had a perfect Christmas!  Working up to Christmas we had a "Minivan Express".  One night when all the kids got ready for bed we put tickets on their pillows, like the one from Polar Express.  We loaded everyone in the car with blankets, loveys,  hot chocolate, popcorn and had the movie Polar Express playing.  Even Lola came along for the ride.  We went to see the lights at Alum Creek.  The kids loved it!...Chad and I did, too!

We also did our annual Christmas cookies. (My least favorite party of our holiday traditions!)  The kids LOVED helping roll out the dough, but they especially loved playing with the flour.  They had so much fun that I let them go crazy in it!  Our babysitter helped us frost and decorate the cookies...again my least favorite part.  They turned out ugly as usual...but they are good!  

We did lots of holiday crafts making paper snowflakes and cards.  Maya and I went on our annual girls  day out going with friends to lunch and the Nutcracker.

Christmas day was great!  I didn't take too many pictures this year.  I didn't want to miss anything with worrying about getting a picture!  We opened presents and spent the day with our friends, the Zaczepinskis.   All the kids got what they wanted from Santa.  The boys have been playing with their 3ds's and Maya had been in Barbie heaven! 

The first set of photo's I posted are of Adam and Maya sleeping.  For some reason they both really like to make beds in random places.  Adam has slept on his floor, playroom floor, my bed with Maya snuggling him, and in a bucket!...and I caught him sleeping with a santa hat, too.  Maya likes to sleep in her room but in different spots.  Jack doesn't want any of that...he likes his bed on the top bunk and doesn't want to be messed with!






 




 































Saturday, November 10, 2012

Halloween and Aruba!

We had another great Halloween!  Grandma Nancy was able to celebrate with us since she was going to be staying with the kids while Chad and I went to Aruba!  The kids had classroom parties and then went to Koguryo for a party.  Trick-or-treating wasn't so great.  It was cold and rainy.  The boys were fine but Maya made me carry her.  We only stayed out for about 45 minutes.  Last year the kids stayed out for 2 hours.  















Island time, baby!  Chad and I were able to take a quick vacation to Aruba.  This was my first time leaving the kids.  I was nervous about leaving the kids, not because I was worried about them, I was worried about me.  This was the first time I've been on an airplane in 5 years!  Needless to say, it was a great trip.  We were able to relax and spend time together!  

Major thanks to Grandma Nancy who did a WONDERFUL job taking care of the kids, dog, cat and house.  Even though the kids got sick and had fevers and threw up, Jack lost his lovey, and Lola refused to eat, she held it all together.  Thanks, Nancy!