Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful day we had yesterday with the boys. We had a beautiful White Christmas without having to shovel the snow. But today we had about a foot to shovel. Yippee! The boys had a wonderful time opening presents. We were thoroughly spoiled. We had so much fun playing with all of our new toys together. It was fun having daddy home two days in a row to play and help command the troops.

We have been so blessed this year. We have had plenty of adventures but we have had a lot of fun watching the boys grow and change every day. We also feel fortunate that Lex has good, stable work during this tough economic time. He has worked very hard to learn new things to do his job the very best he can.

We hope you are happy and enjoy life's little adventures!

Christmas Vacation

Oh wow it is so good to be home in our nice cozy beds. I could do without all of the snow but Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas without it. Although it was so nice only having to dress the boys in t-shirts and bring their jackets along for when the sun went down.

We had a tad bit of a rocky start to our vacation but we all endured and made it to the fun part. I will spare you all of the gory details but lets just say the barfy flu hit Jaron as we were loading the car to get to the airport. At first we thought it was just excitement and nerves, but after a very long 2 hour flight with a barfing 4 year old, we found out it was a real bugger of a virus. Travel Town was absolutely no fun with Jaron being so sick so we decided to all grab dinner and head to the hotel. After a few loads of laundry and a good nights rest Jaron was healed so we could go play at Manhattan Beach. It was beautiful and the boys thought it would be fun to play in the waves until they actually felt the water. So instead of swimming we chased eachother with seaweed and played jump rope. There were no shells to be found on this beach. oh well. After a quick lunch we headed our crew to the next hotel in Anaheim.

Our friends headed off to visit some family in town so we headed to the pool. The air was a bit brisk but the kiddy pool and the hot tub felt nice. The big pool was good for a few races for daddy and Jaxon but it was a tad bit too cold. It was kind of fun playing outside in the pool knowing all of our friends and family back home were bundle up in their winter coats. We went home to our new hotel room for dinner and then out for a little walk. Well we thought it was going to be a little walk but the blocks are bigger than those back home and we got a little further away from home than we planned but we got to see Disneyland and the boys were so excited for Monday morning.

We were all excited until about 2 am when daddy got the barfy's and mommy knew it was all over for his day of fun. So mommy and the boys got up and noisily headed off for breakfast to meet our friends for our first fun filled day at Disney. I was so sad daddy couldn't be there for their first experience, but I wasn't about to keep them in the hotel for the whole day either. Good thing Rob and Lynleah were so kind, patient and helpful. It was a little adventerous getting 3 adults and five young children on and off all the rides but I dare say we had a good time. By evening daddy was feeling well enough to give us a call while we were waiting for the Pixar parade (which was amazing). Then our next adventure began... Jaxon tried to hurdle the strollers but didn't quite make it. he caught his foot on the wheel of the stroller and flew threw the air landing with a thud on his hard little head. The thud was loud enough to make everyone within a 100 foot radius turn and look. So we headed off to the mouse hospital to get him checked out. Thank goodness for his hard head. After a band-aide and some tylenol we got to see the end of the parade. That was entirely enough excitement for one day so we decided to watch the fireworks and head home for the night.

The rest of the days at Disneyland an California Adventure Park are a bit of a fun filled, fuzzy blur. We had so much fun and we just couldn't get enough of the excitement. Jaron was so worn out on Wednesday we decided to start heading toward home by about 6pm. Before we even hit the front gates he was out cold in the stroller. He slept through dad running into a garbage can, the lego store and being slung over daddy's shoulder to get on and off the shuttle. On Thursday we thought we would let the boys ride a few rides and head to Uncle David and Aunty Yoch's house. Well, we actually finally got them to leave when California Adventure park kicked us out. By the time we got to Aunty and Uncle's all three boys were out and we just carried them in and put them to bed.

It only took one day for Jaron to become attached to Aunty and Uncle. While we were at Santa Monica Pier he kept saying he wanted to go back to "Andy's" house. For some reason that is the pet name he chose for her, because he does know how to say Aunty. It was wonderful to see them and we are sad that we won't be back for New Year's. We will really miss eating all of the delicious food and seeing everyone.

It ended up being a wonderful trip and we had much time to reflect on it as we sat in the LA airport waiting for permission for anymore planes to land back home in our beautiful cold snowy city. Thanks for all of the fun and wonderful memories everyone!

Disneyland

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Our trip to Michigan

Our final night of fun. Jaron cried and didn't want to get on the airplane again because he wanted to stay with his cousins. We missed daddy and Jaxon though so we needed to go home even though we wanted more fun vacation with cousins.
On Saturday the boys all got to make a bear/dog at build a bear. They were so happy. They each got such great one-on-one attention from their friendly bear maker. We were so glad that we did not go to the bear factory and make them endure another tour.



The boys just loved their cousin Maddy. Grif liked to copy her - if she was being held so was he, if she was nursing he wanted to. They had lots of fun cuddling and laughing.

The three Ninjas took over the store. They made a good team.

Mom even had fun playing chopsticks on the giant piano.
Are they going to come to the rescue or cause trouble? Hands on Museum was so much fun!

Here we are at the Henry Ford Museum. People looked at us, counted heads and laughed. We were crazy taking so many little ones all over Michigan.
After McDonald's and getting their Madagascar toys they thought they should be part of the movie too.

Grandpa this one is for you. They posed by the tire so you could see your car.



On our way to the Ford Rouge Museum to see the trucks being made. We spent hours in the factory watching the trucks be put together. The best part was the truck elevator that sent the trucks right over their heads. They could have stayed and watched for days. 

Such cute cousins. The boys fell in love with their tie shirts the mom and Aunt Mandi made while they were sleeping.

The boys had a great time together being Ninjas, playing in the bath or chasing each other around. They have such great imaginations.

Our fabulous photographers took pictures for us all along the way but this is the only shot they got most of us in.


Ruben our trusty new friend took us on two very fun carriage rides around Dixboro. It was an awesome way to end our first crazy day.


The leaves were so fun to play in and they were so read. The little ones were all sleeping in the car so we just played in the leaves until they woke up so we could go on our carriage ride and listen to the Christmas story at the little old school house.



Long time no see cuz. The boys were so happy to see each other they could hardly sleep. All they wanted to do was play and play.

Has it been 6 weeks already?

Today we headed up to the hospital again for Jaron as the snow was coming down in a flury. We were going to get Jaron's cast taken off and he was having a panic attack. He did not want his cast off. I had to strap him into the car kicking and screaming. Then they had to pin him down to cut the pretty orange cast off. His arm is healing well but we decided together that another two weeks in a shorter cast couldn't hurt his healing. Now he can get used to using his elbow again. Now he has a bright green cast. I'm sure that we will have a picture of it soon.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was so great! Daddy took the day off but we still went trick-or-treating at his work anyway. The boys looked so cute as Captain America, a Cowboy and a Skunk. They boys got a lot of candy and we probably should have just skipped the night, but what would be the fun in that? 

After dad's work we stopped at Grandma Jeanne's house so she could see the kids and there she was raking the sea of leaves by herself so we decided to help and play in the leaves while we were at it. It was a lot of work but it was sure fun.

Later after a quick quiet time and pizza we headed out for trunk-or-treating with Grandma Pat. I thought I wouldn't like it much, but.... with little ones it was so nice not to trip up and down the stairs to each door. Thanks for the fun grandma!

It was a long fun night and we enjoyed the incredible weather. We didn't have to wear jackets or anything. What a treat that was for mom.

Dog Sitting

Grandma and Grandpa went on vacation to Florida to see cousins so we got to have Riley sleep over for a whole week. Grif and Riley ate together sometimes. Only one time did I catch Grif eating the dog food. He will be healthy and strong from it I am sure.

Practice for Halloween!

Jaron and Grifin had to practice with their costumes on for Halloween. Grif's skunk costume made us all laugh so hard. He thought he was the cutest thing in the world and that made it so much cuter. Every time G saw his costume he wanted to put it on and then he would twirl around and around dancing with a huge grin on his face. Jaron didn't end up being the green monster but it was fun practice and who can let their baby brother get all of the attention?

UEA Weekend

We decided along with the rest of the state to go to Gardner Village for the Witch festival. We had a great time on our witch scavenger hunt and eating cookies, but it was sure crowded. The beautiful weather added to our happy day!