Happy New Year 2010

Just a little glimpse into the latest New Years celebration, this year hosted at our house. We have a group of friends we hang out with regularly, and New Years, of course, is no exception. The kids always love a good excuse to stay up late, and a glass of sparkling grape juice is always a special treat. Enjoy some of the highlights of our evening!

Christmas 2009

the new "fake" tree...I rather like it :)
lookin' a little tired but still goin' strong
Nik and Maddi
Band Hero says they "rock!"
our little drummer boy
Maddi and her new red shoes
Jake, Drew, and Lars
Maddi and her new "tendo ds"
Marie and Kent
Drew, Jake, AJ, Lars (still in pjs...), and Nik



Another great Christmas celebration is complete! Everyone was able to time their travel in a way that the weather wasn't too horrible, and for the second year in a row we turned the event into a giant sleepover. 11 of us in all, and we all managed to stuff ourselves, play games, and even watch a movie. Ok, I fell asleep during that, but, in my defense, I had been woken up at 3:30am by Drew because he was ready to get up and open presents! (For the record, I made him go back to bed until 6:30!)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Christmas Eve Pizza

This year for Christmas Eve, Jamie had to work at the hospital so I was left wondering what to do with the kiddos to take their minds off of desperately wanting to open presents. My mom was able to brave the weather and made it over in time for the festivities and we decided that it might be fun for the kids to make their own mini pizzas!

My mom cut up/prepared 6 or 7 different toppings for the kids to choose from, and then we made some dough. We precooked it for a few minutes just to let it get set up, and then we took it out of the oven and cut it into 3 strips. Then we gave the kids Christmas cookie cutters, and voila! pizzas were made! They had a blast decorating and eating them and it was a fun activity to fill the time.

Hotel Havoc

I have a kid who is ALMOST 10...December 28, to be exact. When to plan birthday parties for him can be a little challenging given the *other* excitement this time of year. In fact, last year we never did manage to put together a party for his friends, so THIS year, I was going to be on top of it. I mean, it's not every year that you get to join the ranks of double digits, right??

There is a hotel in town that has a big waterslide in it, and that is where Drew decided he wanted his party. We debated as to whether or not we should have his friends stay overnight like our family was going to do, but Drew was persuasive and so we gave in. 6 friends in all, plus our 3 kids. I was impressed by the amount of pizza that boys this age can manage to inhale! They were very well behaved and Jamie and I enjoyed ourselves as well.

I think the pictures speak for themselves...the kids had a blast, they stayed up WAAY too late, and did I mention that the kids had a blast??!!

Happy ALMOST Birthday Drew!

Teacher Gifts

Every year, I develop grand visions of the perfect teacher gift...handmade by the kids, very meaningful, of course cute and useful.... you get the idea.

Well, our first blizzard of the year was coming and I was so proud of myself that I thought far enough ahead to go out and purchase some items for the kids' Christmas boxes that they were going to make for their teachers. I had convinced myself that my usual last minute purchase of GIFT CARDS was getting a little dull, and I had grand plans of the kids decorating boxes, putting hand stamped coasters in them, and attaching a nice Christmas mug with some fancy hot chocolate packets. Thrifty, cute, and most importantly--handmade by the kids! Awwww---what a vision!

Blizzard in full swing, I start arranging all of our craft items on the table. I though I would start with the easy one, stamping the coasters. I bought 3 1/2" x 3 1/2 " tile squares from Lowes, found a cute Christmas(y) stamp, and thought this would work great. It did...but only when I did it. When the kids tried it, the stamp slipped and made smudges, or only half of the stamp would get pressed down properly...you get the idea. We made "happy accidents" with most of our tiles, rendering them useless, at least as gifts anyway. Let's move on to the boxes.

I found the 4"x4" boxes at Michael's and cut out strips of scrapbook paper the kids chose to decorate their boxes with. With help from the ever popular Modge Podge, the kids glued on their strips of paper and actually created some very cute boxes. Not sure at this point what we were putting in them since the coasters were a bust, but time was still on our side.

By this time the kids (and I) were a little crafted out, so after the boxes dried I decided to put them away for the next week and figure out what to do with them later. Fast forward one week, and it is all of the sudden time to take the gifts to school. D'oh! What are we going to do with those darn boxes!? Well, once again, down to the wire it is, and I decide that candy (sooo original!) and a nice (dull/boring/insert euphamism here) GIFT CARD would fit nicely into the box. So much for meaningful, but the kids were proud of them and the teachers loved the fact that the kids made the boxes--or at least they were kind enough to tell them that.

I can't wait for next year because I'm sure we'll be on top of it ;)

Thanksgiving 2009

standing by the Yampa River with Mt. Werner in the background

The kiddos downtown

The Lars Man

Taking a break

Jamie and Lars

Drew

Katie and I waiting for food at the Cantina

Cinnamon rolls from Winona's...a MUST!

Steamboat Charm

Oops! Just realized that Christmas is almost here (only 9 more days!!!) and I still haven't even posted about our FABULOUS Thanksgiving trip to Steamboat Springs, CO! Where does the time go?

Actually, I know where it goes this time of year...it goes to shopping trips, grocery store visits, holiday work parties, cookie making--(mostly *EATING* for me), more shopping trips, school functions, planning birthday parties--yes, birthday parties, (I have one that turns 10! 3 days after Christmas this year), wrapping presents, dance classes, basketball games, wrestling practice...ok, you get the idea.

I am actually getting tired just from writing all these activities down, almost makes me feel like I need to rest awhile before finishing up this post! JK! Ok, so without further ado...here goes.

We decided to meet our Denver friends in Steamboat for Thanksgiving this year. The plan was to leave on Wednesday morning, bright and early, about 5am. The Friday before, Maddi's school called and said she had thrown up. "Poor Maddi" I think, sure she'll be feeling better soon. Well, my little whisper of a daughter proceeds to be sick every 15 minutes or so for the next 4 hours, not even able to keep teaspoonful size sips of water in her poor little body. Jamie and I are beginning to wonder which one of us is gonna get it next. Apparently, it was me. By Saturday evening I am starting to feel *funny*, and at midnight, it is official--- same sucky thing; can't keep a thing down for what turned out to be 2 days. At this point, we are starting to question our Thanksgiving trip because a)we realize everyone will probably get this, b)we aren't sure how long it lasts, and c)we don't know WHEN everyone will get it.

Sunday now rolls around and Drew starts to mention that his stomach hurts. Not a good sign. I am still *dying*, Maddi is sleeping so hard I think she may never wake up, Drew is feeling funny, and poor Lars is hungry for some supper. My friend Vicki happened to call and see if we needed anything. At first I said no, and as soon as I hung up the phone, Drew started throwing up. I immediately called Vicki back to see if she would run to Quiznos for Lars. What a lifesaver! Now, this is all starting to sound a bit comical really, because what more could happen, right?? Well, let me share. Two hours later, Jamie comes home from his shift early because he threw up at work, and 3 hours after that, Lars starts throwing up in the middle of the night.

Great. Now we've all GOTTEN it...when will we be OVER it? Our Colorado plans depend on us knowing! By the time Tuesday rolls around, we need to make the call. Since no one has anymore fevers, and for the most part we are just a little weak from not eating much, we decide to go for it. You gotta pay to play, right??

As it turned out, we all ended up being fine, but I think the altitude kicked our butts a little more than normal. We had beautiful weather and the boys did AMAZING on their snowboards. I was so proud of how well they did, and it was great to see how much they improved even by the second day. In fact, Drew and his buddy Alek rode in the terrain park on the second day and were able to start grinding on the rails--there was lots of talk about who they were gonna get to be their sponsors since they were getting so good ;)

As always, we had a great time seeing our friends, and the kids had so much fun with their buddies.

Ice Skating 101

Any ideas on what to do on a *no*school*because*it's*conference*time*Friday? How about ice skating with the kiddos?

Well, that's exactly what we did last Friday with our good friends the Cupps. The kids ALWAYS ask me whenever we walk by the ice arena (which in our town happens to be in the mall, therefore we walk by it often...) if we can go skating, and in true parent fashion I always respond with a lame, "ohhh, maybe next time" type of answer. Can you imagine my children's surprise when not only did they get to go skating, but it was MY idea?? (or at least not their's, maybe it was Vicki's? I don't really remember...) They were SOOO excited to go skating, and we all had a fun time.

Drew and his buddy Ben did pretty well all by themselves. Lars and Matthew did great after a few trial runs, and then could pretty much hang with (or fall with) the big guys. Maddi and Abby relied on lots of hand holding in the beginning, but by the end, they too were ok with trying it out on their own. All in all, they had a GREAT time, and it was a nice way for two momma's to fill the day for some active little kiddos!