Bowling Trip

We took everyone bowling on Monday afternoon. We got there just in time, because after we started, the bowling alley got packed with all sorts of people.
I think Pete and Brian got the best scores, but Tom wasn't far behind. I did the worst, but like to think that after the first game I'd do better. Lucky for everyone else we only bowled one game or else I would have smashed all of them!
The boys love bowling...Charlie mostly loves the video games that are in the next room, but will bowl just to make everyone else happy. (Our camera is so slow that it takes forever to take the picture after you press the button, so I think they were originally looking at the camera for this one.)
For Charlie's happiness we played some video games after our game. Bree killed the dance-dance revolution game. If the said camera wouldn't have quit on me we would have pictures of everyone else playing games too. We had a great afternoon at Orchard Lanes!

Christmas Morning

We did really well this year with Christmas. Santa brought everything that the little boys asked for.
When we pulled the stockings out Charlie said, "we need to get the nails too." I was a little confused about what he wanted, but eventually I realized he waned us to hang the stockings up. So Brian found the nails and we worked on getting them in so we could hang the stocking appropriately. He was very pleased to say the least.
This year Brianna was the early bird. She and Tom woke up at 3:30 AM and were ready to go through the gifts. I rolled over and saw the lights on so I went to check who was awake and then we had to wake everyone else up. I for sure thought Pete would maintain his role of earliest riser, but Brianna beat him to it.
Check out the pictures to see the rest of the fun we had. (There's a lot, so be prepared.)

Reindeer Food

Tom got some magic reindeer food from one of his friends at school, so we had to make sure that Santa and his reindeer would see our house and stop.
Tom dumped some out around the front door.
Charlie then put some further out in the parking lot so they'd know were to stop.
Even David went out to help. He put on his night vision goggles so he'd be able to see where the food was sprinkled.
They had so much fun making sure the food was out and that we would have special visitors that night.

Christmas PJs

This might be one of my favorite traditions. This year I found some great jammies for the little boys and Brianna. I wanted to get Pete and Dave some that matched the little boys, but didn't think they would want to wear them. (It would have made a great picture though.)
I thought that I did a good job and everyone would be happy, but I made a mistake and had Pete open the wrong gift. He was a little disappointed with the gloves that he opened when all the others had pajamas.

Gingerbread House

We bought this cool gingerbread house because Charlie kept asking to get one. When we brought it home all three of them kept asking when we could put it together. Brian and I finally gave up so the three of them put it up the other night.
My sister helped by putting the walls together and start the decoration on the roof.
Tom and Brianna were all into putting it the candies on.

Charles was a completely different story. He was jazzed about doing it, but when it really came down to it he would rather play with the calculator than the gingerbread house.
Here's the final result. They (Brianna, Thomas, and Emily) did a really good job decorate.

Tom's Seventh Birthday!!!

I can't believe we have a seven year old! He's getting to be such a big boy. I wanted to have a measure of how much he grows each year, so I thought I'd start taking a picture of him with me each year so we can see him change and grow through the years. (I think it's a good idea, but that means I have to be in the picture too.)
He had a really good day. I made muffins in the morning and then we didn't have church until 2pm so that made him happy. Brian couldn't wait for him to open a gift so he let him pick one in the morning. He picked some cool little toys that are really popular now. Charlie was just as excited and you can tell Brianna's reaction. (She's going to love that that picture's on here.)
After we got home from church he could open the other few things we got for him. He loved the Star Wars Lego stuff. We went to my Mom's house for dinner and a family party. She made him hot dogs, chips, and fruit. Then he got to open even more presents.
It's so hard being the little brother on the birthdays. Charlie usually gets really excited about the gifts Tom gets, but today was a hard day.
He really cleaned up:
Spencer and Jayne got him a shiny blue soccer ball.
Amanda and cousins got him a little briefcase full of Spiderman stickers, crayons, and activity book.
Gram and Opa got him some paints and pain brushes, some ball canvases to paint, and a Star Wars Crayola thing.
Grandma Charlet and Grandpa Leroy got him a cool book about Ohio.
Mom and Dad got him Bakugons, Lego, Star Wars Lego Dictionary.
He even picked to have a chocolate cake with Star Wars guys on the top. My mom was so nice to get the cake and then bought figurines to put on the top--enough for all the grand kids. He had a wonderful day and can't wait to see what the next year holds. (Please enlarge this picture so you can appreciate his really funny teeth.)

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!

Yesterday we picked out a tree. We waited all week--when it was not snowing--to pick it up in the snow Saturday after Brianna came home from practice. The boys were so excited to help. Tom wanted to help Brian get it off the van. You can see how much help he was being. When Brian finally go it inside, he was covered in mud. I knew he would be wet, but not muddy.
Charlie on the other hand helped bring all the decorations up from downstairs.
Thomas picked the tree out and he was very proud of his choice. (It really is a spectacular tree!)
Brian turned on some Christmas music while we were decorating and Charlie started dancing to "White Christmas" by the Drifters (the Home Alone version of "White Christmas.) That was very entertaining.
All the kids worked so hard to get the tree to look nice. They did a really good job putting up the decorations.
Here they all are in front of our massive tree. Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Card Preview

Here's what our 2009 Christmas cards look like. We will pick them up tomorrow and they'll be on their way.

St. Nicholas Day

My mom had a little Christmas breakfast to kick off our holiday season. We went up and she had some Christmas morning casserole, fruit, and yummy cinnamon rolls. She then gave everyone a gift. Brian and I got some money and she had hoped we would go shopping then to spend it, but December Saturdays are so busy so we will have to use it later. Each of the kids got a book.
Here's Tom opening his gift.
and here he proudly displays his new Christmas story.
He couldn't wait, so he had Gram read his book right then.
Charlie is opening his here.
He got this fun snowman story.
Everyone wanted to have Gram read a story to them. Of course there was some fighting over spots.
P.S. Brianna isn't in any of these pictures, but she got a great book too. She was at practice and got to open her gift a little later.

Beautiful Brace Face

Brianna got her braces on today!! She has been really excited for this day to come. She has already brushed her teeth more today then she has in her whole life. We'll have to post some more pictures of her. It'll be about 18 months before she gets them off. Lucky girl!

Another Lost Tooth

This post should have been done a while ago, but I couldn't bring myself to admit I'm old enough to have a child with two missing teeth.
Tom's first tooth fell out on the 15th of November. The new tooth is SOOOOOOOO big that it also pushed out the little one next to it. That one fell out on the Friday night. He really loves that he's lost two teeth.
He is making quite the haul from the Tooth Fairy. She left him $5 for this first tooth. He asked how much I thought she would leave the next time and I told him probably two dollars. He quickly corrected me by saying that he thought she went by 5's and the next time he would get $10, then $15. I don't think he was too disappointed when she left him 12 quarters on Saturday night.

Brianna's New Adventure!

Today Brianna went to the orthodontist. Brian told me they had all these clamps in her mouth to get these pictures. He had to hold in his laughter, but ended up laughing out loud. How could you not.
She will go get the real braces on December 2 at 9:30am. They told her that it would take 1.5 hours to get her ready to go. Poor girl--she's excited, but I wish we could have done it sooner. The projected length that she will have them on is 18 months.
Brian said the doctor was really great and he liked how they have everything set up. We'll keep you posted on her progress.
It might help to make the picture larger, but don't be fooled by Tom's eyes in the background...it's kind of creepy.

It Finally Happened!!!

He's really excited to loose his first tooth. He wanted everyone to see. You can even see the new tooth coming in. We'll keep you posted with the large teeth that will be coming in to take the place of his baby ones.

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Happy Birthday to Dad!!!

We think you are #1! We also feel very lucky to have you in our life.
He picked to go out to eat at our favorite place. Of course we ate too much, but we love going these.
Here's two of the boys with their "best guy." I think Charlie calls him that some times. They really love him!
Tom took this picture of us. It's not too bad and we don't have many of them.
I think this is a really funny picture. I don't understand why they just can't take a nice picture.
Brian is so hard to buy a gift for. I tried for weeks to think about what to get him and he gave me no clues--not to mention the days leading up to the big day I had parent teacher conferences each night. I was going to stop at the store after school, but when I got home I saw two nicely wrapped gifts. I was so excited that he just bought what he wanted. That was definitely not the case. He had spent all of his birthday running around looking for gifts that would make everyone else happy. That is how he lives his life--completely selfless--wanting to make us happy. We are VERY lucky to have him.
He picked up a Cowboys snuggie for Brianna and the two boys got awesome Transformers cars. He even picked me up some new lotions and things at Bath and Body Works. He is FABOLOUS!!!
I did manage to surprise him with a ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. I'll do better next year Brian, I promise. I love you and I'm so glad you had a birthday!!