Christmas 2016

The kids' first day of Christmas break was on Friday, Dec. 23.  My sister wanted to go to the mall, so the kids and I joined her.  It was pretty crazy there with nine kids!  We had fun, though.  We had lunch at the food court and tried rolled ice cream.  Yum!

I love watching the kids play games together!

New Christmas jammies!

 

Ready to open presents!

Daniel is beyond thrilled with his Nintendo 3DS

 

 

Andrew loves a toy he can assemble by himself!

Jonny and his tsum tsums

He was dying to get this Nightmare Before Christmas set

 

Everyone got their favorite snack this year.  Jonny wanted cheese balls!

My dad helps me wrap gifts every year (thanks Dad!), and we ended up with an extra Justice gift box.  We figured Nathaniel would be a good sport about it, and he was.

Wheat Thins for Daniel--again!

 

Emily loves getting new clothes!

 

On Christmas morning, we opened all of our presents, cleaned up, had aebleskivers for breakfast, cleaned up again, and went to church.  After church, we came home to prepare dinner--steak, chicken, shrimp, etc.  Michael's mother and sister Erin came over for dinner, as well as my sister and her family.  Erin wasn't feeling well, so they left early.  Here we are at the end of the day: 

Baby time!  She always wants to stand up.

 

I thought I'd throw in the picture of Michael and I out to our fancy dinner for our anniversary. 

21 years!

The Nutcracker

Emily's dance studio did a wonderful production of The Nutcracker!  We loved watching Emily perform in the soldier dance.  She spent many extra hours rehearsing last week and it was worth it! 

 

I snuck back stage before the performance to get some pictures of her in her costume.  Later, they put cute pink dots on their cheeks.

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures
My dad, my sister Betsy, and Michael's mom were all there for the performance.  Everyone wanted their picture taken with our beautiful star!

Great job, Emily!  You were wonderful!!!

A Fun Week with Papa

Papa was here for over a week, and we had a great time!  Here are some of the highlights:

 

 

Christmas piano recital--all five kids!

 

Here they are with their teacher.  They did a great job!

  

 

One of our favorite traditions--decorating Christmas cookies!

 

All ready for church

 
Nathaniel was in a car accident recently.  He is OK, but our 2005 Honda Pilot wasn't.  I was very lucky to find this "twin."  The model is the same--the only difference is the color. 

 

Look at that happy teenager!  No more driving Mom's minivan to school!  Woo hoo!

 

Out to lunch after a busy day of shopping--Joe's Farm Grill

 

Emily's band concert.  She plays the flute and is first chair in her class.

 

 

Work brunch and gift exchange--so fun!

This past week was especially busy for us.  Emily had so many rehearsals for her Nutcracker performance (more on that next time).  Add in shopping, wrapping, Cub Scouts, etc., and it was a super busy week.  Hopefully we didn't wear Papa out too badly!  We miss you already, Dad!

Halloween 2016

Nathaniel--50s greaser
Emily--cat
     (both Nathaniel and Emily made their own costumes)
Andrew--Captain America
Daniel--(black) Spiderman
Jonathan--Spiderman
Christine--Minnie Mouse
Michael--Jake from State Farm (red shirt and khakis)

Here are the boys at our church's Trunk or Treat

I won second place in the pie contest with my chocolate pie!

 

 

Ready for Trick or Treating!  Emily went with friends and Nathaniel was stuck doing homework, poor kid. 

Halloween night--look at all the loot!  They even got a few full-size candy bars!

It was a fun Halloween!

May Miscellaneous--October Edition

Snuggles with cousin Sarah

 Andrew is ready to go on his first Scout campout

Emily got her braces off, October 17

These two look so cute sitting and doing their homework and music theory 

Emily's Evening of Excellence at church

This was the day Andrew babysat for the first time while I took Emily to the orthodontist

Sometimes Andrew practices his piano before school so he has more time to play with friends in the afternoon

Daniel had a great time at the Cub Scout activity.  At the end, the fire truck came and the firemen sprayed water on the boys.  It was really cool and they loved it!

Emily, ready to perform at the community Trunk or Treat