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!