Uncle D's visit

Uncle D was in the process of moving from one assignment to another at Christmas this year.  We happened to have some of his things that he needed to pick up in the process.  Yay, we got Uncle D for Christmas!

The kids enjoyed having an extra adult to have Nerf Gun battles with at Christmas.

On the coldest, windiest,  and most miserable day of his visit he got to help cook lunch outside.

I'm not sure how many games of Cattan were played, but his choice in gifts was obviously a hit.  He also wisely brought the Minion movie for the littles which freed up even more time for games of Cattan.

We hadn't gotten to the gingerbread houses before his arrival, so he got to participate.

We introduced Uncle D to our favorite burger place.  It met with his approval.

At his last assignment he was very limited in his shopping options.  He'd been wanting to try the Core's ice cream flavors by Ben&Jerry's and sweetly shared the experience with our crew.

Thank you Uncle D for coming to visit!  We loved having you here!

Merry Christmas!

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house (it seemed) every creature was stirring.  Maybe even a mouse?

We've never had a night before Christmas like this one before.  A certain young man had to be told a 1am and 2am to go back to bed.  Miss A climbed into our bed after that and promptly wet our bed.  As I was in the nursery getting fresh PJ's for her Mr. K sat up and thanked me for the cool car set; the one we set out under the tree unwrapped after he went to sleep.  I could hear Miss E coughing downstairs.  Later I found out that  Miss J was having a hard time sleeping.  Mr. M had asked Miss E if he could borrow her kindle because he was having a hard time sleeping.  Yep, it seems just about all of us were awake through the night.  So much excitement having Uncle D arrive that evening AND Christmas.  :)

Never-the-less ALL of the kids were up and ready to go at 6am to get into their stockings.  I heard the stampede at 6am on the dot.  I dragged myself from bed and was glad I did.  It's so much fun to watch them all discover the goodies in their stockings.  My favorite stocking stuffers?  The matching onesies for Miss A and baby that Rob got for me them.

Our day was a slow relaxing one filled with Nerf gun battles, games, play time with new toys, good food and lots of yummy treats.  The kids had all bought themselves Nerf guns earlier in the month and felt that Daddy and Uncle D should be able to defend themselves against our small army; so they got them their own. :)

Star Wars and Snoopy

Everyone wanted to go see a movie, but the new Star Wars movie was not a good idea for the littles....I got to take the "bigs" to see Star Wars while Rob took the "littles" to see Snoopy.  Everyone thought they were getting a good deal and I was especially thankful to Rob for offering to take the littles.  I'm not sure when the last time was that I got to see a movie in a theater without taking care of a little one on my lap.

Since we're now on Christmas break we thought we'd start the day celebrating.  Miss E made the Wookie Cookies the night before.  Mr M made the Chewy bacon (he's recently become the bacon master in our home).  I picked up the cereal and put together to Christmas themed Obi-Wan Kabobi.

Miss E made herself a Star Wars hat for the occasion.

Woo Hoo, 2nd row!  Oh, wait.  Thats not a good thing at the movies.  We were only 30 minutes early for the showing having already purchased our tickets on-line.  The theater was already packed.  The movie was great anyways and it wasn't too painful. :)

Daddy and the littles had fun in the arcade before and after their movie while they waited for us.

Happy Saint Nicholas Day- Family visit

9 pairs of shoes all lined up and filled!  Our 8 kids and 1 sweet little cousin.

It was so much fun to see the kids slowly get up and get into their shoes.  There was quite a bit of excitement as these shoes were stuffed a bit better than usual.  "Uncle L and Aunt K added to your shoes too!" I told them.  "Oh, that makes sense!  Mom doesn't usually put fireworks in our shoes" *it was just party poppers, but much more exciting than usual.

The day was filled with cousin baths, more games, walks in the snow, sledding, outdoor cooking and naps....naps are important.

We ended our day with a big German/Polish dinner.  The kids all had special outfits from Nana (she made all of the dresses at the request of Miss C).

Family visit day 2

We made a trip over to The Garden of the gods in the morning.  We had a great time just walking around enjoying the sights and each other's company.  By the time we made it back to the cars it had started snowing a bit.

After lunch we played games, did baby's hair, and just enjoyed some quiet time.

In the evening we left Nana with all 9 kids to go out for burgers.  They all had a great time and we did too!

Family visit

My mom, brothers, sister-in-law and niece came to visit this past week-end.  It was so nice to have them all here and I really appreciated the effort that went into getting here.  We started the visit out with dinner, gifts, and then on to Pie Face!

Poor Uncle C had just flown in from Japan the night before.  He was suffering from jet lag.  The kids didn't mind too much and he perked up eventually.

Deck the halls!

We spent Saturday putting away our fall decorations, setting up the tree, putting out Christmas decor, and getting ready to decorate the Christmas tree.  We prepared some of our favorite snacks for munching on while we decorated the tree.

It's always fun to watch them put their decorations up.

The evening was not without it's mishaps, but that's to be expected.

Some of us were just fine watching and enjoying the food.

She was so cute putting the star up.  She had to adjust it to make sure it was just right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a week we've had celebrating and giving thanks!  God is so good to us!

On Monday we went into Daddy's office for a feast.  It's always fun to head in there to say "hi."

That evening we also managed to get the snow tires on the van; before the next storm came through.

On Tuesday the neighbor kids were going to come over for a Charlie Brown style feast, but they got sick.  We missed them, but the kids had a good time watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving shows while eating their popcorn and jelly beans (among other things).

Wednesday was full of baking and sledding.

On Thursday we were blessed to be able to join two other families to share a Thanksgiving meal together.  It was so nice to get to know these sweet families a bit better.  We also learned a couple of fun parlor games.  We were thankful that the storm that came through did not dump much snow, it just made everything white and extra pretty.

The kids enjoyed opening gifts (books) from grandparents.

Black Friday brought a quick trip out for a couple of items AND another Thanksgiving feast!  I always cook the full meal, even when we go to someone else's house....so we took the opportunity to invite friends over.  Mmmm....more yummy food, fellowship and lots of sledding for some of the kids and friends.

She was sure this should come home with her.

Now we're looking forward to a quiet day eating leftovers, playing games, putting away fall decor, and pulling out Christmas!  I'm sure there will be sledding involved as well.  The boys are thankful that mommy voted for 2 sleds instead of just 1.