Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We spent Christmas with Mike's family in Chamberlain. We were able to snap a few family photos. I thought they turned out pretty well!

We usually open presents on Christmas Eve. We decided to go to church first, eat, and then open presents. The kids were itching to open presents all day.

Mark and the kids organized the presents into piles. They were pretty proud of themselves. They handed the presents out to everyone when their turn came up.

We decided that we'd buy one toy for each kid. They have so many toys already and I'd rather buy them things that we can do as a family. One of their presents from us was a family pass to the Washington Pavillion. They have a lot of neat activities for kids. We will also get them a pass to the pool this summer.

We let the youngest go first and the oldest go last. Lucky Riley! She was pretty happy with her wedding Barbie Dolls from Mom and Dad.

Mia received some cute clothes from Grandma and Grandpa.

Ethan put a light saber on his list. It lights up and makes noise. 

Uncle Mark is a Lego freak. I think he passed his obsession to Ethan. All Ethan talks about are Lego's.

Mike is obsessed with the Miami Dolphins. Doesn't he look cute?

I'm obsessed with make-up. Thank you Mark for the new Naked 3 eyeshadow!

Grandma and Grandpa bought the kids the new Disney Infinity game. They've had fun playing it so far. 

I gave each of the kids $20 and let them pick out presents for each other. They had such a fun time buying presents for one another. They were even more excited to watch each other open them. Mia had Ethan and she bought him a Star Wars mask and a Spiderman DVD.

He really liked his presents!

Ethan had Riley and he bought her the Frozen dolls, Elsa and Anna.

She really liked her presents too!

Riley had Mia. She bought her a doctor's kit and a little Doc McStuffin sign that she can write her name on.

Mia also liked her gift! We will definitely do this again next year.

Grandma and Grandpa bought each one a sleeping bag and a set of pajamas. They used their sleeping bags that night. I thought they were a really neat gift!

Riley saw this Cinderella dress-up kit at JCPenney's and carried it around the store. Grandma Andrea told her she couldn't buy it for her that day but surprised her with it for Christmas.

Mia is also starting to get a little into Lego's. Mark bought her some Lego's to put together.

Mark bought Ethan a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Lego set. 

They all received coloring books and markers. 

Tom and Andrea bought me some coffee. One of my most favorite things ever!

The girls are obsessed with sharpie markers. I bought them a huge package thinking they could share. It looks like it's going well, right?

Mike and I bought Mia a mermaid Barbie set. She saw it at Target and just had to have it.

Mike and I bought Ethan a TMNT Lego set. He absolutely loves putting Lego's together.

Christmas went really fast this year! We went ice fishing for a bit while we were in Chamberlain. (The kids and I lasted 10 minutes. It was pretty boring.) Mike and Tom were out there for a couple of hours and caught one fish. We ate some good food and relaxed the entire weekend. Before we knew it, it was time to head back. I hope your holidays were fun and relaxing!

Party Time!

 Ethan and Mia wanted to celebrate their 6th birthday at a pool. We decided to rent a room at a local hotel with a cool kid pool. The kids had a blast swimming.

 Ethan was getting pretty good at walking across the floatie things. That's him sitting on the wood log. He liked to hang from the rope and then start swinging back and forth. He'd then knock every single kid off the floatie things that happened to be hanging onto the rope. It was pretty funny.

 Both sets of grandparents came along with Steve & Sarah, Uncle Bernie, and Billy and Rachel.

 The kids were brave and went down the water slide. Mike and Steve were at the bottom to catch them.

We went to Hy-Vee a few days before their party and I let them pick out their cakes. Ethan wanted a cupcake cake with the Avengers on it. Mia chose a cookie cake with Ariel. I thought they both turned out well. They were happy with their choices.

We ate pizza while the kids were swimming and then went back to the room to open presents. Everyone was so generous. They each got a fishing rod.

They also got some art supplies. They love coloring! 

They were pretty pooped by the end of the night. They all slept really well. We woke up the next morning and went swimming one last time and then headed for home.

Meet Lulu

Riley just had to have her own guinea pig. She named hers LuLu and she's the one that's black, white, and red. She's two months younger than Little Squeaks and they are sisters.

Riley is over-the-moon happy. Riley shares her guinea pig a little more than Mia. Mia won't let anyone hold Little Squeaks and that's part of the reason why Riley wanted her own.

These guinea pigs are so sweet and calm. Not a day goes by that they aren't held. They've nipped the girls a couple of times but that's because the girls squeezed them a little too hard.

Mia and Riley clean out their cage once a week. One will vacuum up the poop and the other will clean up the pee. They also feed them and help get them water. They've really impressed me as far as how they help take care of them.

Ethan said that he wanted a guinea pig but I told him he'd have to help clean out their cage and so he changed his mind.

Happy Birthday, Ethan and Mia!

 Ethan and Mia's birthday fell on a Thursday this year. They went to school that morning and arrived home about 4 pm. We decided to go to the mall and play at the bouncy house place. They had fun horsing around.

 I've taken them to the mall maybe 1-2 times when they were little. It was quite funny because they couldn't figure out what the mall was all about. They kept asking where we were at. I think they were intrigued by all of the different stores in one building. I guess I need to get them out more.

 Santa Claus happened to be at the mall when we went to the bouncy house. The kids were extremely excited to see him. They did really well sitting on his lap and telling him what they wanted. Santa said his favorite cookie is chocolate chip and that his reindeer and sled are at the airport.

Mia wanted to go to Red Lobster for supper (surprising, I know!) Mark and Kelly joined us for supper.

The waiter let the kids touch a lobster. They thought that was pretty cool. We told the waiter it was their birthday, so they sang to them. It was so cute.
                                      We called it a night after supper because the kids had school the next morning. My babies are growing up so fast. I wish time would slow down!

Happy Thanksgiving

 I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We celebrated at Sarah's house this year. My entire family came for the weekend. The nice thing about both Sarah and I living in the same town is we have plenty of room to host our huge family. (There are 20 people in my immediate family.)

 I didn't take many pictures that weekend but I did snap a few pictures of the kids doing a gingerbread house. It turned out really cute.

My brother-in-law Shayne ended up getting the stomach flu on Thanksgiving. That night, my sister, Amber got it along with Ethan and Riley. By the next morning, Jenna, Margaret, and Nathan got it. The next day, my dad got it. The day after that, Kelly and my mom got it. It was HORRIBLE. I had all of these puking people at my house. We lysolled everything but my house still felt gross. I was absolutely amazed that Mike, Mia, and I didn't get it.

There was no black Friday shopping for me. Everyone was puking! There's always next year.