Three from the West Visit Part 2

We start in the middle of our visit with the 'Three from the West".

Since my brother-in-law was in Florida at NASCAR, my sister flew with her two year old son, and 4 month old daugher to visit us this past weekend.

Here is my sister practicing the 'being silly' Olympic event.

The three oldest kids won Gold, Silver and Bronze for their participation in the days activities.

The kids practiced being Firemen and Firewomen.

The kids took turns sliding.

We learned about static electricity after going on the slide.

The youngest was ALWAYS so cute.

For some reason, we ALWAYS need to get pictures of kids in the bath.

I liked having another male inside the house, we talked shop and race cars all weekend!

The kids enjoyed playing and making a mess!

All three kids loved watching Dora!

We all loved having Auntie here to cuddle with us!

I think the two kids from the West enjoyed being with their own Auntie too!

The kids loved watching cartoons!

...and colouring!

...and drooling!

Our oldest loved being a BIG cousin and helping with the baby!

So did our own two year old!

Four happy cousins!

We missed having a baby in the house!

One last hug at the airport!

We love all of you very much! We wish that we all lived closer so that we could see each other more often! Next time maybe we should all go with your Daddy to NASCAR!

Love you and hope to see you all soon!

xoxoxo

Part One will be downloaded tomorrow.

Invited to "a boys" Birthday Party

A few weeks ago, our oldest had a HUGE smile on her face when we picked her up from school. She immediately gave us an envelope, inside which had an invitation to a birthday party for a boy in her class. The invitation said 'bring your bathing suit'. The party was located at a local hotel indoor pool area and there were about 15 kids invited.

We weren't sure how comfortable she would be swimming by herself so we borrowed a 'life jacket' from another friend of hers and I (Daddy) stayed in the pool area to take pictures and be there in case she needed mom or dad. She is used to swimming at our local YMCA with an instructor by her side at all times.

As you can see by this picture, she had no problem at all swimming by herself.

Here she is sitting by the pool in her borrowed 'life jacket'.

Here she is chasing the boys into the pool and showing off her diving skills.

After swimming, she had a choice of dinner - she choose grilled cheese sandwiches.

The birthday boy actually wanted to sit next to her too to eat dinner and have cake.

Here is is being silly and telling Daddy to leave her alone and "Go away!".

Visitors from the West to ring in the New Year

-This picture is out of order-

Grampa bowling on New Years Eve

This year, Santa left a few things for our girls with Grandma & Grandpa from the west.

We were quite excited to see if he brought us a Hippopotamus this year!

Apparantly, we weren't really sure what a hippopotamus was anyways because we called in a puppy first and then a reindeer.

New Year's Eve - Grandma & Grandpa, Gramma & Grampa, Auntie & Friend joined us.

We all gathered downstairs to chat and watch people play the new Wii.

Just to clarify- I have decided that I would INCLUDE everybody at least once playing the Wii for historical purposes only. Unfortunatley, since I was the one with the camera, I do not have any pictures of me :)

Here is Aunties Friend bowling.

Gramma bowling.

Amanda boxing.

Auntie boxing.

Grandpa "Dancing"

Grandma Dancing

The crowd seems very entertained.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2....1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Times Square - January 1, 2010

The next day (or the day after I forget) the girls and Grandma & Grandpa went outside to play in the snow.

WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA & GRANDPA! - THANKS FOR THE VISIT!

SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

4:00 P.M. CHRISTMAS EVE:

PAJAMA CHURCH SERVICE

Both girls & Mommy and Daddy went to church in their jammies. Here we are learning about what communion means and why we receive the bread and wine.

Rev. Andrea asked the 20+ children "Who is missing from the manger inside the stable?" Hannah was the first to answer "Baby Jesus!". I'm so glad she got over the whole 'Christmas is Santa's birthday' thing that they were teaching her at school!

7:00 P.M. CHRISTMAS EVE:

TRADITIONAL CHURCH SERVICE

Daddy went to this service with Gramma & Grampa because he had to read & light the candles.

9:00 P.M. CHRISTMAS EVE
GRAMMA & GRAMPA'S HOUSE

Tradition has been that Grampa reads the girls 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' right before we leave to go to our own house.


10:00 P.M. CHRISTMAS EVE
OUR HOUSE

Since Hannah fell asleep on the way home, only Caitlyn was still awake the leave Santa a snack. This year's snack consisted of: Milk, carrots and low sodium Rits crackers.


8:15 A.M. CHRISTMAS MORNING
OUR HOUSE

Yes, the girls actually slept in as they are usually up by 7:00 A.M. most weekends to watch cartoons. And yes, the baby gate made what will probably be it's last appearance Christmas morning. Tight security around our house Christmas morning!

"Daddy, Santa ate all his food and turned the fire place and Christmas tree light on.. AND he turned on your coffee pot too!" "WOW!"

Now we just need a basketball hoop and a soccer net!

One present was kept downstairs for the girls to open/ discover.

THEY LOVED THEIR NEW DOLL HOUSE!

Hannah decided she was all tuckered out and had a rest at the dinning room table.

2:00 P.M. CHRISTMAS DAY

GRAMMA & GRAMPA'S HOUSE

The girls both got their very own Cabbage Patch dolls from Gramma & Grampa.

Gramma & Grampa got a special gift from everybody.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!