Married to an Old Man

This has to have been one of the quietest weeks we have had in awhile.   It was actually nice to have the first week back to school and ‘real life’ be uneventful.  It gave me a chance to get Christmas decorations packed up and put away.  It also allowed the kids to play with all their new Christmas presents.

Drew celebrated his birthday last Sunday, January 2nd.  Ed and Jamie came to church, ate a fried chicken lunch with us, hung out, and ate a chili dinner with us.  I think Drew enjoyed his day at home, hanging out with his brother, and eating foods he loves. 

The kids started back to school fine.  I wondered how Lindy would do after a 2 week break, but she was fine.   Neither had any problems slipping back into the school routine.

Wednesday we did go to music class.  Lindy and Will were the only kids there this week but they still had class.  We only have one more week of this session of music class but we are planning to do the next class. They love their class so I think we’ll keep going. 

Thursday afternoon we headed back out to our old Stokes County stomping grounds to see a friend from our old church.  We had a really nice visit with her and ended up going to get dinner with her.  It’s always good to stay in touch with friends, even after you move.

The most fun the kids had this week was getting to go to the Children’s Museum on Saturday afternoon for their friend Berkley’s 4th birthday party.  They had snacks and cake, watched Berks open her presents, and then got to go play.  They had a blast.  They have a new, expanded part with these clear plastic tubes that you put yarn balls or scarfs in and they fly through the tubes.  Will played in that part so long.  He had so much fun putting in a ball and seeing where it came out! 

We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow, a similar storm to what came on Christmas Day.  Because we were traveling to Ohio the next day we were NOT excited about that snow and didn’t go out to play in it.  Now that we have nothing to do and we aren’t going anywhere, I want snow.  Lots and lots of snow!  Bring it on! I just hope the freezing rain and ice they are saying might happen at the end of the snow will stay away.  Snow is okay, ice is not.

This child is turning into a silly, wild child.Fun with Daddy on his birthday.She walked around in my vest all night.  What a goober!Birthday Chili!Happy Birthday to the best Daddy ever.  Birthday brownies – at his request.Lindy has started using her new chairs to watch tv.  (I can’t figure out what the strange thing on the wall is in this picture).Good looking boy modeling a new sweater. They were happy to go back to school!I pulled out Lindy’s vest and she LOVED it.  She wore it all night and wanted to wear it to school the next day.She was scolding Jack.Will has been loving the big puzzles he got for Christmas.Lindy has really enjoyed her baby stroller.  Except she likes to push anything but babies.  And most often it’s been the dish towels.  I finally got her to push a baby by the end of the week.Berkley’s 4th birthday party!  Watching Berks open her presentWill, Berkley, and LindyWill LOVED this contraption!My friend Wendy and her mom, Carol.This was the look on Will’s face most of the time.  He was so excited and having so much fun!Before church today.

A Week at Nana and Papa’s House

We got to Ohio on the 26th and we stayed until January 1, 2011.  We had a blast playing with my parents, my sister, brother-in-law, Hayley and Rylee.

The cousins really had a great time together.  Hayley is 7 and Rylee is 2.  She is about 10 months younger than Lindy and Will.  Even so, she is bigger than both of them!  Will and Rylee had a lot of fun together - when they weren’t fighting over a toy.  They seem to play a lot this trip.   Hayley was a great helper and babysitter.  Lindy seemed to hang around the adults a lot more than the other kids but she’d join in for some running of the laps and for the cooking.  My parents have a kitchen and food that all the kids still play with.  Hayley sets it up as a restaurant and ‘cooks’ us food and has her ‘employees’ deliver us food.  My dad thinks it is crazy that they all got new toys for Christmas and they still spent the majority of the time playing with the old kitchen. 

On Monday we celebrated Christmas and had our Christmas dinner.  Tuesday the guys went to the movies and the girls hung out at the house.  Wednesday morning the entire family checked out the Cleveland Children’s Museum.  Having just recently been to two local children’s museums, the Cleveland one was really disappointing.  It was tiny and over-crowded and one main exhibits was closed.  The kids had fun and really that is all that matters but it left a lot to be desired.  We ate lunch in downtown Cleveland and took the kids home for naps.  The girls went and did a little shopping after we got home.  Thursday the girls went shopping and then we took Hayley to see Yogi Bear.  Friday my sister and family left and my mom and I took the kids and went shopping for my birthday present – a new coat. 

We had a very tame New Years Eve.  We just had dinner at home and we were all in bed around 11pm.  It is the first time that I don’t remember at least staying up to watch the ball drop.  We were driving home the next day and we wanted to get a good nights sleep. 

Saturday we packed up and headed out around 9:30am.  We pulled in our driveway around 5:30pm.  We had a great time but it is always good to get home. 

Here are a few (hundred) pictures from our week in Ohio.

Uncle Lee teaching Will to golf.Will liked playing with Kate.The kids watched way more tv last week than normal.  I thought I might have to detox them when they got home, but they have been fine.We played this game called Cuponk.  It was really fun and provided some ridiculous pictures!  You try to get a ping pong ball in a cup.  You draw a card and it tells you how you are supposed to do it.  With an ice cream scoop.  Bounced down the steps.  Off a couch.  All kinds of crazy ways.I straightened Hayley’s hair one morning.  She looked so different but so pretty!  She hated it!The best was when you had to put it between your feet and jump and get it in the cup.  Look at the vertical leap on this guy!A meeting of the iXL’s.We celebrated Drew’s birthday  (which was Jan. 2nd) before my sisters family left.  Hayley made signs for his chair.  It was also my sister’s 10th wedding anniversary.Trying to get a picture of these four kids proved difficult!But I got one!Pretty decent group shot done with a tripod and the timer.  How everyone is looking and smiling I will never understand.