It's beginning to look like Christmas

This past week the kids had their Christmas concert at school. M was so excited to be a part of it this year. She has watched her brother perform the last few years and finally she is old enough to take part in it. They both did wonderfully and the show was enjoyable - not just our kids but the whole show. Here is a little sampling for you all!

Unstoppable!

Look who is moving now!

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay

My, oh my, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine headed our way - zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay! What a magical time we at had this past week at Disney World. We were lucky to be able to spend almost a week just playing down in Florida. While we were there, we also got to visit with J's sister. Nana and Gipa came down for the week too. It was wonderful.



This trip, we spent three days at Disney. One day at Magic Kingdom, one day at Disney Studios, and one day at Animal Kingdom. We did have some cold weather and rain but overall it was great. The kids all enjoyed our time there and loved just about everything. I think in the end, the favorite was still Magic Kingdom. Our kids are still young enough to be just giddy about the Disney Magic. The princesses were a huge hit, as were the rides. What a fun time!

At Disney Studios...
The big kids loved The Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster

Playing in front of Cinderella's Castle

Dumbo! Little C just kept saying "my turn again!" She loved it!

More fun rides!


Our little parade magnet. Once we took the baby out of the stroller, we got a lot of action!

After a rainy morning at Animal Kingdom

Cinderella! Need I say more?

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

One of my favorite times of year is when we put up the Christmas tree. I just can't get enough of all that Christmas cheer - especially when the family is full of cheer too. We crank up the music and go to town turning our house into a Christmas wonderland. This year was a little bittersweet for me though. Knowing that we have the movers coming on the 28th of December caused me to think twice about all my decorations. In the end, I decided to forgo the garland on the stairs and some other of those extras, knowing that I did not want to take it all down the day after Christmas to get ready for the movers. But, even without it, we still had a great time getting our tree up and starting the Christmas season off right!

Dressing up or dressing the tree????

Christmas Joy!

The beauty in our tree comes from its mismatched imperfection. All of our ornaments were made by someone in the family(mostly at a young age), or are souvenirs and gifts. There is no rhyme or reason to our hodge podge Christmas Tree and I just love it that way! We get a new ornament on every family vacation. This makes putting the ornaments up a very fun event - it is a trip down memory lane every year.

Enjoying all our family ornaments.

So much to be thankful for...

We are so thankful for our family and our friends. We are have so many wonderful people that love us and support us as a family. We are truly blessed!

This Thanksgiving we headed to Nana and Gipa's house for a weekend of family fun. We have all been sick so we were not sure we were even going to make it this year. Everyone was still suffering a bit from a cold but we had a good weekend in spite of it all. We had our big Turkey Day dinner at Mimi and Papa's with all the extended family. The kids had a fun time hanging out with cousins and we had a nice time visiting. On Friday, Nana and Gipa took the kids so we could get some Christmas shopping done. It is always nice to spend some time shopping - especially without little ones in tow!

Gigi and the baby

Nana and the baby

Hanging out with Mimi

Falling behind...

This fall I seem to be falling behind in all sorts of things like updating our blog. It has been a few weeks again. We have been pretty busy with the usual daily activities that go with a family of six! The kids are gearing up for Thanksgiving break and very quickly after that comes Christmas. Where does the time go?

We have had our fair share of being sick this fall. Right now half the family is sick and the rest of us are hoping to stay well. We are planning to head to see family for Thanksgiving so I am hoping this flu bug does not put a wrench in our plans. We are all ready for some turkey, pumpkin pie, and of course a healthy dose of grandparents and cousins!

So, what have we been up to? A few weeks ago we had the baby dedicated at our church. It was a wonderful day. We were able to have grandparents as well as great grandparents in attendance which made the day extra special. As always, it is a great opportunity for us to share our faith and join together in praying for our littlest family member.

The sweetest baby enjoying her day.

The whole family after the service

A trip down memory lane

A few weeks ago, we went back to our alma mater for homecoming weekend. Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with the three oldest kids while we took the baby. We had a great time wandering around campus and visiting with friends. While we were wasting time together, we decided to take a few self portraits of some of our most important places. Enjoy our picture diary of a weekend remembering where it all began!

In front of the TKE house where we met.

Enjoying the quad. This is the building where we both lived the year we met.
In front of Post Hall - just another place I lived.


A favorite study spot in the library.
In front of the bowl...

Happy Halloween

Trick-or-treatng was lots of fun last night. The kids all had a blast of course. It was cold so we really had to bundle up but the little girls costumes were nice and fuzzy so that helped. In attendance was our super sleuth detective/spy, little bo peep and her two little sheep. C just kept saying "me, me, me" at every house. Then she was never quite sure what to do after they gave her candy. She just stood there - sometimes she tried to go in the house. Very cute!

My Little Pumpkins!

This morning we took an outing to the pumpkin patch. We normally get there earlier in the season but for some reason this year we were running behind. I think it was all those October birthday parties! Unfortunately we had to take this pilgrimage alone since Dad is out of town for work. It was a little bit of a logistical nightmare. How do you manage 4 kids and all the pumpkins? Well, a baby b'jorn, a wagon, and a good friend are how we did it. We were lucky enough to have my good friend and her two kids with us so everything went smoothly. Aside from the chilling winds and damp air, we had a great time. C was happy that she could run around and fortunately she was not scared of pumpkins this year. And little W was a trooper and seemed to think the pumpkins were just dandy! Afterwards we all warmed up by heading to Noodles. Yum!

Happy Birthday!

Today we celebrated another birthday in our family. Little A turned 9! We had a fun party with some friends at a local laser tag spot. The boys had so much fun shooting it up - apparently they are all natural born killers! A was thrilled to have fun with friends. Nana and Gipa came up for the day too so that was a treat. He loved opening presents too of course. I think the favorite was the new skateboard, followed closely by the book "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." Of course a book mom has been avoiding but he was THRILLED to get! Enjoy the pictures.

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was little C's 2nd birthday! What fun. She was supposed to have a little party with her some friends in the morning but unfortunately big brother has been home sick so we had to postpone the party. But, we still celebrated as a family last night.

Her favorites these days include Elmo and anything Sesame Street so I made an Elmo cake for her. She loved Elmo but was not sure about the fact that he was a cake. It took a little while for her to understand that we were going to eat that Elmo!

She had a fun time opening her presents as well. She got a new scooter from her grandparents - she was thrilled. Now she can be a big kid just like her siblings. We got her a zebra bouncer which seems to be a big hit too. It was a very fun birthday!

Bon Appetite! Let's Eat!

Our sweet little baby is almost six months old now and has just started eating cereal. She seems to like it so far. Although it is exciting that she has reached a new milestone, I am sad that she is growing up so fast. The fact that she is eating cereal now really says that she is no longer my itty bitty little infant! She does not just curl into you and snuggle anymore when you hold her - she wants to be up looking around and checking out the world. She talks to us all the time, and lights up when her big brother or sisters come into the room. She is really becoming her own person now! Here are a few pictures from her first experience with food. Of course, most of it comes right back out the first time you try.

School is in session!

School has started and the kids are getting back into the routine. Both big kids seems to like school well enough and like their teachers as well. Now that M is a big girl and in kindergarten, she has a whole new set of worries. Her biggest stresses seem to be lunch and recess. It is a little intimidating to go out on the playground with all those 5th graders. And hot lunch is a little complicated! Now that a couple of weeks have passed, she seems to be getting more used to things and it not quite so scared. Here are a few pics from the first day of school. As you can see, M was thrilled but A, not so much!

The FROG Days of Summer

The last few days of summer were spent anxiously trying to get all the playing in that was possible. A and M played all day outside and loved every second of it. One day they found a toad in the yard. They appropriately names him Jumpy Spots. They spent the entire day playing with the frog - poor thing! They created a home for him and thought he must have been soooo happy to be found by them. I did make the rule that he had to be released by the end of day so he could survive. As wonderful as the "habitat" they created for him was, I thought he was better off free! :-)

Busy Summer Days

Well, it has been a long time since I have posted anything on here. We have spent several weeks traversing the US for multiple family reunions. In addition to that, our computer has been on the fritz. So, I have had trouble getting my pictures from my camera to the computer. Tonight I was able to accomplish that so I thought I would update this blog a bit.

The kids have had a wonderful summer so far. We have been able to visit with grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, second cousins, and on and on. Here are some pictures from all our reunion times!

We started our summer travels in Denver visiting my side of the family. It was great for everyone to see W and of course for us to see them. The cousins all had a great time together. It was wonderful to get to spend time with my soon to be sister in law as well. We had a great visit!


After Denver it was on to Michigan for another family reunion. This time we spent 4 days canoeing and enjoying a beautiful setting at a beautiful lodge. Again, we enjoyed seeing many cousins and extended family. And we celebrated Mimi and Grandpa's 60th anniversary. What a blessing to be a part of this wonderful family!