My Boys!

Monday through Thursday mornings are spent with my boys!  We have a good time (even though Sammy naps for most of it) playing around, running outside, zooming cars, building legos, and anything else Thomas can think of. 

Blocks

Baking

Feeding Sam

Tinker Toy Time

Nothing better than a fort

New Year's Trip

We headed to Emerald Isle to celebrate the New Year!  The weather couldn't have been better and we were on the beach (and some of us in the water :) every day.  Even though Sammy didn't sleep well, I wouldn't have wished to be anywhere else!  It was our 10th year ringing in the New Year with good friends at the beach.  We are so lucky to have them all in our lives! Kelley and Kim took a lot of great pictures which made it hard to narrow down.

First up, our customary walk on the beach.  Sam was snuggled in and ready to nap.

My big guy

Abby and Sidney were a big hit with the girls

 Getting chased down by the waves ....

the wave won!

 Digging is his passion...

much like his father :)

Sweet Sierra loving on her mom

Nick, Sterling and Chris created an awesome castle.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

Football was the other highlight of the trip

 

 

The girls jumping the waves

Nicole (8), Maddie (7), Aniela (4) and Grace (9)

I hope they are doing this same thing ten years from now!

(not a bad picture for an iPhone :)

 Sierra checking out Thomas

The whole crew out to dinner on New Year's Eve ... all 23 of us!

(minus Stone who wasn't in the picture taking mood)

 The kids countdown with sparkling cider

 Abby curled Aniela's hair and she loved it!

SAM!

Christmas Day!

We woke up and Santa had arrived!!! The kids were very excited to see he had eaten his cookies and left them presents. We opened Santa's presents then headed up to Dave's house to open presents from Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jill and Uncle Joe.

Sam loved the paper!

Very excited about her Princess Castle!

Cars Race Track was a big hit!

 

Getting the fire ready for Christmas with Pop

Helicopter was his favorite gift of the day

Putting Uncle Joe to work drilling

Testing out her new makeup on Aunt Jill

Cutie pie!

Christmas Eve

We traveled to Pennsylvania for Christmas.  We had an easy ride and the kids were very cooperative.  But everyone was happy when we arrived.  Pia and Aniela picked up right were they left off and were best buds all weekend.  We had our annual hot dogs & marshmallows on the fire for Christmas Eve.

Sammy happy to be out of his carseat after 12 hours!

 

The girls ... Aniela, Tela, Pia, Mira and Eliza

 

 Been a long time since there have been 6 kids under the tree!

Paul, Mira, Aniela, Sam, Pia, Thomas

Setting out Santa's cookies and milk

9 Months Old

Sammy is 9 months old! He is getting to be such a big boy and changing all the time.  He has started crawling and loves to stand up while holding our hands.  He has the sweetest laugh and is always laughing at his sister and brother.  He has starting doing really well with eating puffs and will start some table foods soon.  He loves to play with his spoon and pretend to feed himself.  We can't wait to enjoy Christmas morning with him!

SNOW!!!

We finally got some snow this winter! 6 inches! We headed out first thing Saturday to do some sledding. Aniela had a great time and enjoyed everything. After lunch we headed over to the Midhas to sled down their hill and even Thomas enjoyed some sledding. On Sunday we did some more sledding and built a snowman.

Watch out world

Here we go, our first run!

Maddie and Aniela

Thomas wasn't sure what to think

The cool ones

Hanging out

Big sister holding on

The masterpiece

The best ride

Chilly Ride

Thomas took his first ride in the Big Red Car. He had a lot fun beeping the horn but he kept trying to stand up!

New Year's Eve

For the eighth year in a row, we spent New Year's at the beach with our closest friends! Nothing better than ringing in the new year listening to the ocean!

Cold weather! Not much beach time this year!

A collective effort on the Gingerbread House

Sparkling grape juice for the kids

The kids countdown at 8pm!!

The dawning of a new decade ...