Happy New Years!

The years keep flying by more quickly! See ya 2006, Hello 2007! Hope all of you enjoy your New Years celebrations with your family and friends.

BE SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE!

Christmas Day

A family picture after church. I made brunch & then the kids were allowed to open their presents. Peter noticed the cookies & milk left out for Santa did get eaten! We have been watching a lot of movies and eating a lot! Hope all of you had a great Christmas! One more quick picture under the tree before the mess begins!
Peter had a lot of fun with his presents from 'Santa' this year. He also received a mini new wardrobe, his hamster George, a new puzzle and Chutes & ladder the past 2 weeks.
Kiersten had a blast, but overwhelmed by all the stuff. She couldn't totally keep up with all the unwrapping so Peter was a big help. Kiersten also received some new clothes and a Dora the Explorer pull out sofa (a real little one) the past 2 weeks.

Christmas Eve

The days leading up to Christmas were busy! I had sent my niece, Dianne, her present 2+weeks before Christmas. Instead of taking 4 days (as I was told), it took 8 LONG days, but it made it there before Christmas. I spent 3hrs wrapping all of the kids gifts one night & realized how MUCH stuff they had and blessed they are. Thus I donated 3 huge boxes of toys to a family in the area, most of the toys in great condition, we just had to recycle them out of the house to make room.

I also made over 12 dozen cookies this month for Peter's class and neighbors, I haven't been able to eat a cookie this week! Peter's last day of school was 12/20, but thanks to some thugs who vandalized 25% of the district buses, school was cancelled so we missed all of the activities planned. 2 days prior, our neighboring district experienced the same thing & had to cancel school as well. I appreciate the mild weather, but it sure doesn't feel like the holidays.Kiersten goofing off. It was just the 2 of us for half of the day while the boys went to the Lion's game.Peter & dad at the Lion's game. It was our last game for the season...not sure if we'll remain season ticketholders next year.

It gets more and more painful every year.

My father in law posing for a lil family picture.
We didn't go to midnight mass since the kids were tired & would so cranky so we decided to go Christmas Day.
Setting out cookies & milk for Santa.
Christmas tree & presents before pic. After I had wrapped the presents, we decided to leave them under the tree. Peter was told that the gifts could be taken away from Santa if he misbehaved.

Just a lil shot of Kiersten.

Merry Christmas!

Hope all you have a safe and Merry Christmas!!! We are going to stay at home this year and spend some time here. The summer and fall has been tremendously busy and its relax time! My father in law is coming over for dinner on Sunday night, Pete & Peter will head to our last Lion's game on Sunday afternoon. We'll head to midnight mass and sleep in (maybe?) on Christmas morning. Opps, we will also make some cookies for Santa as well! Then Pete is on vacation all next week so...we'll enjoy some family time!

George the Hamster claims his 1st victim, not a surprise.

A little gory, but not as bad as it looks. We were playing with George this morning, I try to handle him daily so he gets used to be handled. He's still a baby so he's a little jumpy, but overall he doesn't bite & lets the kids pet him as he's running around. After I put him back in the cage and my back was turned, Kiersten must have poked him thus resulting in a nibble from George. We cleaned with soap & water, put hydrogen peroxide on it, neosporin, a bandage and kiss from mommy on the boo boo & she was all better. Though she kept saying "ouch" and wouldn't use her left hand for a while~too cute!

The weekend

Just a lil pic of Kiersten decked out in her winter gear. Last week was so cold here. You'll notice a trend with her eyes closed' when we ask for a big smile (we're working on it!). You'll notice I can't center my paragraphs, bold my letters or use colors either, hopefully blogger will work correctly again someday for me. Its annoying for me too!We made it to the tree farm. This is the same orchard we go to for apple picking & hayrides, they have great deals on trees as well. We were excited to get the children involved.This is Kiersten sound asleep at the farm, she had the right idea, it was bitter cold outside b/c of the wind.This is Peter sound asleep...don't worry, I constantly have to push his head up. It's one of the downfalls of falling asleep in a car. He usually doesn't hang over this far.Pete & I snuck out of the car (luckily you can park right next to the trees) & took a quick look. We found one very quickly & here we are posing for a quick picture! $40 for a 8ft Douglas Fir(I think) and a free half gallon of cider & 6 fresh donuts. On the roof and ready to go. This is our 3rd year coming to Spicer's Orchards and the first with no snow on the ground. We noticed as we drove back home (Spicer's is about a 40min drive away) that we didn't see too many tree lots this year at all, wonder what the deal is? We finally got the tree up in the stand, it takes a lot of teamwork btwn Pete & I (some swearing from Pete too), actually quite comical. This tree is about a foot and a half shorter and not as wide as our tree we got last year, but it'll do.
After the tree went up, I had to take a nap. My thyroid condition makes me really tired in the afternoon, I didn't have the energy to start the decor. I had also woken up early & finished the shopping for the kids so I had a really long day. A couple of hours later, we decorated the tree as a family and Peter is doing his happy dance.
On Sunday, I got the kids to pose for a few pictures. I wish I could get her eyes to open just a little, but I did get 2 nice smiles, wouldn't you say?!
Another picture mommy? I'd rather be playing.
Kiersten acting goofing~she looks like a little wild woman with that long hair all over the place!

Christmas, Holiday cards....

I picked up my greeting cards last night at Walmart (long story, I was supposed to get them done at Costco). I had ordered a variety of styles using 1 picture. I was disappointed that 51 out of the 85 cards had an extra yellow tint to them. After pondering what to do with them on the car ride home, I decided to keep them due to the fact that time is running out. I'm hoping that most people will realize that my children are not that 'yellow' looking & that its a quality issue. Of course, I know the lighting wasn't perfect in the house either, but some of the cards turned out really nice. As the kids get older, it'll get easier to pose them where I want, this year it was chasing after Kiersten and hoping she'd sit still for 10 seconds & maybe catch a smile. So, if you get a christmas/holiday card from us...enjoy! If not, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Years anyway.....Now, we are going to start & finish our christmas shopping this Sat and we're driving out to the farm to pickup a christmas tree, yeah!!!!