MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We have had a wonderful Christmas. Sunday, Dec. 23 we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program at church and Darci was gorgeous in her dress from "Aunt" Janet.

Christmas Eve Bret had to work until the afternoon, but Marissa spent the day cleaning, cooking, and wrapping. That evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong's house and enjoyed pizza and visiting. We had to leave early, though. The kids needed to get into bed and asleep so that Santa could come.

Christmas morning the most exciting gift was a little dog named Yoshi. The kids just love him and Bret and Marissa are happy that he is really a very good dog. He'll be a wonderful addition to our family.

Darci's first Christmas has been really fun. She's loved the lights and the trees and the music. She enjoyed ripping wrapping paper and playing in it, and she seems to like her new toys. Mostly she just LOVES Yoshi. She follows him around making funny noises and loving on him.

Xander got the Pirate Ship he asked Santa for and can't wait to try out his new Cars racers.

Christopher is happy with his "Plug N Play" game. And, even though they arenn't Legos, he likes his Spiderman Mega Blocks.

Brett and Shendi Pingel joined us this morning to celebrate and we love having them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY XANDER!!

Yesterday was Xander's 3rd birthday. He chose a Buzz Lightyear theme and we invited all of the family. Last year his birthday was a bit of disaster in that he got really overwhelmed and by the time we opened presents he was in full meltdown mode. We were afraid we would have a repeat of that this year. He was a brand new (older & wiser perhaps?) kid this year. He truly enjoyed being the center of attention. He sang "Happy Birthday to ME" and enjoyed blowing out his candles. He had fun with his cousins and liked having helpers for opening presents.




Thanks to all that attended for making it such a special day for him.
Our only downer to the day was that Christopher wasn't feeling 100%, but even he was able to enjoy the time spent with family.

Starting The Holidays

I haven't posted since Halloween, but it was mostly an uneventful November. Thanksgiving was nice. We spent the days with the Armstrong's and the next day with the Pingel's.

Yesterday we went to the Festival of Trees. We didn't go last year because I was on bed rest. This year being able to go and having it be Darci's first Christmas made it a special event. The kids saw Santa and we saw all the decorated trees, wreaths, gingerbread houses, etc. Christopher loved the "Nightmare Before Christmas" tree and Xander loved the "Star Wars" tree. Darci liked Mrs Claus and LOVED her candy cane. Xander was all ready to visit with Santa and then decided against it at the last minute. Afterwards we went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch and the boys enjoyed the novelty of picking out what they wanted to eat and putting it on their very own trays.

Today we got our first real snow and the boys started playing in it early. It seemed like an appropriate way to welcome in December.

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween today for the first time with a school age child. Christopher had a parade at school and then Marissa was a "room mom" for his Halloween party. She read halloween stories as they finished their crafts.
Marissa took all 3 kids trick-or-treating while Bret stayed home and passed out treats. The kids did more homes than we expected them to and even Darci was a trooper. Everyone enjoyed our little Disney characters. Christopher was Dash from the Incredibles. Xander was Buzz Lightyear. Darci was Tinkerbell. Marissa was a witch. Please no comments from the Peanut gallery that it's fitting.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

Suprised this was the first

Yesterday (oct 27)I spent several hours in the ER with Xander. He was fighting with Christopher over who got to close the van door and Christopher slammed Xander's hand in it. Xander broke a pinky finger. Not really a big deal except that we spent 4 hours in the ER and it has been causing him a considerable amount of pain. He's so clumsy, we're kind of surprised this was a first to the ER for him. KNOCK ON WOOD.

DISNEYLAND

We spent Oct 20th- Oct 25th in Anaheim, CA. 3 of those days in Disneyland and California Adventure. It was such a blast. The San Diego fires were raging and the air was full of smoke. It made for some hard breathing and teary eyes, but it also made for light crowds.
It was HOT. 95* everyday we were there. But there were plenty of air conditioned rides and water attractions.
Xander could have ridden the Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters and Pirates of the Carribean ride a thousand times.
Christopher loved EVERYTHING!!! Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours... everything. There was no rhyme or reason to the order he wanted to ride and we had to explain to him several times that it was too hard to run willy nilly around the park like that.
Darci was surprisingly fun in the park. She loved every character we came into contact with and strangers young and old oohed and aahed on how pretty she was in her Tink costume. Her absolute favorite was Buzz Lightyear. When you are in line for the Astrblasters there is a life size animatronic Buzz and she squeeled everytime she saw him. On our last day in the park we ran into the character ouside the ride and he held her and made her day.
Our 2nd day in the park we went to the Minnie and Friends character breakfast. It was a breakfast buffet with Mickey waffles and just about anything else you can imagine for breakfast. While you eat various Disney characters go table to table and visit with you. All of the little kids dressed up in costumes for this day. Christopher as Dash from the Incredibles. Xander as Buzz Lightyear. Darci as Tinkerbell. And a couple of cousins as Belle and Cinderella. It was fun to interact with the workers and characters alike this way. But it was much too hot for the boys to stay in their costumes.
That very same day we ventured over to California Adventure and let the boys run in the Bug's Land fountains. They got thouroughly soaked, but cooled down.
Good food, fun times, and a great hotel room with bunk beds for the boys. I highly recommend the hotel we stayed at. It's right across the street from the entrance. The rooms are newly remodeled and we only paid $92/night for our room with a queen size bed and bunk beds. A fridge, microwave, and other amenities made it even better.
We were there along with a lot of the Armstrongs and enjoyed spending some of our time in the park with them.

Getting started

So, here I am, trying out the blog thing. Seems like everyone is doing it and it's the way to share pictures and news. Hopefully I can do this in a way to share enough without sharing too much. I'm open to comments and suggestions.