This and That December 2017

The plan was to blog about the second holiday weekend in this post. But I have ZERO pictures of the second weekend. We went to another work Christmas party on Saturday and then a family caroling party on Sunday. At the caroling party they even set up a nice Christmas scene on their wall and had accessories to use for pictures. It would have been nice if I had remembered it was there!

But I did take a lot of miscellaneous pics! We celebrated Arek's birthday. He doesn't like cake but loves ice cream. So the kids and I made him an ice cream cake.

Mia brought out her science kit she got last for Christmas. They love these gloves that keep bubbles from popping when you touch them.

Anna had been working hard on the splits for tae kwon do and she is almost there!

The girls put out their shoes for St. Nicholas Day and were happy to see Little Live Pet ladybugs inside.

Anna made a video of our family traditions for her first grade class project. Here she is telling about Easter egg hunts.

There is NO VACANCY at the pet hotel.

Dan did the annual Christmas puzzle pretty much on his own. I'm not all that interested in puzzles anymore.

We love Oli's elf jammies!

Dawn and Bill stayed at our house for 10 days while they got this camper ready to live in. They are now traveling the U.S. in it.

We have several Christmas activities this coming weekend and I hope to get some pictures!

Holiday Weekend 2017 #1

The Holiday season has begun! I am doing the tradition of taking each of the kids out separately to buy Christmas presents for their siblings and dad. I took Mia out Saturday. I did Anna a few weeks ago but forgot to take a picture:( For lunch I told Mia she could have whatever she wanted. She chose an Icee to drink. When I asked her what she wanted to eat, she said a smoothie! I guess she wasn't in the mood for solids that day. Sugar high anyone?

That night Dan and I attended the last of his big company parties. It's always called an anniversary party because the anniversary of ULA is December 1st and they don't want to offend anyone. But make no mistake, its a holiday party!

This year it was at the Bronco training center. This is much closer to our house than the usual venues so we were thrilled. We got there early because Dan had to shake hands as people entered. 

My deer in the headlights picture.

On Sunday we went with the Maciols to Brunch with Santa. Maks and Oli were so excited to talk to Santa.

We might have to work on the kids' smiles a little bit.

Maks is the perfect age to visit Santa. He took it very seriously and had a smile the whole time.

Oli could not wait to get away.

Mia told santa she knew he wasn't real. He had her tug on his beard. It was real! She was quite surprised!

Anna told Santa she wanted a different color bike than we already bought. Luckily it hasn't been assembled yet!

Anna is getting pretty good with picture taking.

And especially with selfies!

I love this time of year!

A Few Little Things

We have a adjusted to being home again after our trip. It usually takes a few days. Mia LOVES stuffed animals. She has been sleeping with quit a few lately. It takes her longer to fall asleep because she plays with them but that's okay because she doesn't need as much sleep as Anna and the two don't share a room anymore.

I still get to spend time with these sweeties every Wednesday!

This has been one of our best purchases ever. Mia uses it almost every day. The tricks are very simple and easy for kids to do on their own.

I am doing the tradition of taking each of the kids out separately to buy Christmas presents for their siblings and dad. For lunch I told Mia she could have whatever she wanted. She chose an Icee to drink and a smoothie to eat. I guess she wasn't in the mood for solids that day. Sugar high anyone?

Thanksgiving Week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Wednesday we hung out at the pool the whole day as everyone was now here. We had a few visitors during the day but mostly just chilled.

The grandpas...



The two year olds...



All the little guys together...except Chase.  Next year.



Wednesday night we celebrated Brittany's 30th birthday with Chipotle! After the all kids were in bed I cut out to pick up the food. For some reason they comped me the food, $140 worth. I asked why but he just said it was on him. Crazy!  And nice! We had a nice adult dinner!



Thursday morning we all got dressed for a family picture!

Waiting to take the picture...which we always do barefoot.



I am truly amazed with one take of ten rapid fire pictures we got one where no one is crying and everyone is looking somewhat towards the camera. As we did the last time, we just set the camera on a ladder with the timer.



Paige with the dog Grandpa bought for her birth. We picked it because it looked so much like their dog, Alfred.

I asked everyone to do something a little different this year. Instead of ordering our Thanksgiving dinner, everyone made something for the dinner. It was fun and at times resembled one of those races against the clock in the cooking contests on TV.  We had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes (vegan and regular), cranberry sauce, and green beans with bacon. We also had Polish potato salad, roasted Brussel sprouts, homemade rolls, stuffed mushrooms, and broccoli salad. 

Becky making the potato salad...

Brittany making the broccoli salad...

Beth made the rolls which were a huge hit with the kids.

We had the obligatory kids Thanksgiving table. The ate almost none of our food. That's okay! More for us!

Friday was a lazy day. Brittany and Joey went hone in the afternoon and the rest of us went home on Saturday. We swam and played. 

The older kids set up their own stores under Mia's direction.

The shoe store. Mia went to her friend's house down the street so she put a closed sign up. Yes, she makes friends wherever we go.

The toy store.

He wasn't getting many customers so Arek made this...

Avery set up a fruit store. The two year olds shoplifted most of her stash..

And as you can probably guess, Anna set up a hair salon.

We may have been a little liberal with screen time towards the end of this last day.

It was total chaos almost the whole time but so much fun!