Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve brings our annual celebration with Jenn's family.  All day the boys kept asking how long until Jenn and family would be at our house.  They were excited to play with Eden and Elam....and to open more Christmas presents! 

 Jenn brought these fun glasses for the celebration.  

We tried to get a group shot with the selfie stick and I think this was the best one we got.  It looks like David's eyes are closed, but we got everyone else looking AND smiling.  WIN!

The kids were excited to open their gifts, Karsten was thrilled with his magic set and Liam's board games were a hit and got opened right away!

We had a delicious dinner - Scott smoked pork, Jenn made eggrolls and Oreo truffles, David brought a delicious selection of cheeses, and I....well, I coordinated. When there are so many great chef's around, who am I to interfere?

Why is Karsten getting so darn tall?  

This week, Google has been showing me the past New Year's photos of the kids....time seriously needs to slow down, they're growing up far too quickly!

Here's my PSA for the year - drink more water! Happy to add you to the distro if you like - you too can get a picture of my smiling face reminding you to drink more water.  Also, coffee, tea or Vitamin Water does not count as water.  :)

Friends since eighth grade - wow, that's a long time. That means 2017 is our 25th friendaversary!!

Jenn was concerned that we were not looking right at the camera's lens, so she kept trying to point to where we should be looking right when I would click the photo.

I would say that the guys thought we lost it, but they're likely used our random hilarity.

Happy 2017 friends. I hope this year brings you much good health, happiness and time with your loved ones!

Christmas Countdown - Day 22 {Crown Center}

One of my favorite Christmas Countdown traditions is to go to Union Station and Crown Center to enjoy all of the Christmas Decorations. The decorations are gorgeous, the atmosphere is festive, and it gets us even more into the holiday spirit! 

This photo doesn't do the decorations justice at Union Station.  The boys are pretty adorable, but in person, the Christmas decorations in the Grand Hall at Union Station are gorgeous!

Proof that we were here too!

We typically pack a picnic dinner and eat it at the tables by the windows.  For a few years we ate at one of the restaurants at Crown Center, but then gave up when we either had to wait too long or weren't happy with the food quality.  Crown Center has gotten several new restaurants lately, and Spin! pizza was open right where we typically eat.  So, we decided our picnic dinner would keep until the next day and we enjoyed some pizza while watching the lights!

I'm loving the annual family selfie with the Christmas tree lights!

The boys love these wooden cars, trucks, trains that they could climb on.

A kind couple spotted me taking the above photo of the boys and asked if we would like to get in the photo as well.  So nice!

These two were great at posing for me on all of the vehicles.  If I wasn't quick enough, they called me over to take their photo!

 What a fun night!

Not again...

Liam finished his last dose of antibiotics from his most recent case of strep on Sunday.  This morning, he complained that his tummy hurt, but I assumed he was just hungry and needed to eat breakfast.  He ate breakfast and said his tummy felt a little better but still hurt.  

The boys were going to my parents house for the day because both Scott and I still had to work and the boys were already on Christmas break.  When we got to my parents, Liam was saying that his tummy hurt, and I was telling my mom that he  had been complaining about it this morning but I thought it was because he was hungry, but it hadn't gone away yet.  Right then, he got sick on her floor.  Sigh. 

Mom of the year award for not listening when your son said his tummy hurt.  I panicked and thought that this upset tummy meant that the strep hadn't gone away and was creeping back in.  Typically, Liam is one of those kids who gets an upset stomach with strep.  So, I loaded him up and took him to the walk in hours at the doctor to get a strep test.  

By the time the doctor saw us, Liam claimed to be feeling fine - his throat didn't hurt, his tummy didn't hurt and he just wanted to go back to Grandma and Papa's house to play.  The doctor did a strep test which came back negative, but they still sent it out for the lab culture.  When this happened in September, the lab culture was positive, so I was hoping this wasn't the case.  

He had big ole crocodile tears when I told him I thought I should take him home so he didn't get Karsten or Grandma and Papa sick, so after chatting with my mom, I took him back to their house with plans to pick him up if he got sick again.  

The doctor had said he should have Gatorade or Pedialyte to help restore electrolytes.  I explained that Liam would not drink any of those things, he only would drink water.  She suggested Chicken Noodle soup broth - winner!  So, he ate broth when he got back to Grandma and Papa's, then was ravenous for the rest of the day.  Luckily, this seemed to have been an isolated case - perhaps something upset his tummy - who knows.  I'm just glad it passed quickly and wasn't strep...again!

Christmas Countdown - Day 20 {Decorating Ornaments}

I'm a sucker for clearance or a good sale, and after Christmas sales are the best for craft projects.  I picked up these ceramic ornaments in the clearance section last year and put them away for our Christmas Countdown this year.

Karsten's Christmas Party

Karsten's class had a fun Christmas party.  They had a hot chocolate bar and decorated Christmas ornaments with their finger print in the shape of reindeer.  

It's always fun to be able to celebrate with Karsten and his friends (although, after 30 minutes, I am ready to get into the quiet car! I don't know how his teacher does it!)

After the party, we went to lunch with some friends to kick off Christmas break! 

Christmas Countdown - Day 19 {Christmas Goodie Bag}

The countdown to Christmas vacation is hectic and homework makes the night pretty short.  Tonight, after we got everything done, the boys had just a few minutes before bed to choose something from the Christmas goodie bag.

Sledding fun

The boys couldn't wait to get outside and play in the snow.  Karsten wanted to sled, but Liam just wanted to play....and push Karsten on the sled. 

Liam managed to convince Karsten to try pulling him up the hill - this was pretty funny to watch.

Liam didn't want to get ON the sled, he just wanted to push Karsten.  But, that never ended up too well.

But it always ended up in lots of laughs!

We had a few wipeouts but no injuries!

He wanted to make a snow angel but didn't want to lay in the snow because it was too cold.

I love the action in this one, he would have kept playing had we let him, but it was 5 degrees outside so we cut the playing short and went in to have hot chocolate.

Christmas Countdown - Day 18 {Christmas at the Park}

I've always heard that Christmas at the Park at Longview Lake was super cool and on the list of many people's Christmas traditions.  We decided to check it out this year and see if we should add it to our annual Christmas Countdown.  

Apparently the lines to get in can be up to an hour on weekend nights, so we planned to get there tonight shortly after it opened.  We ended up waiting about 10 to 15 minutes to get in, but they do such a great job with lights along the way, you don't really feel like you're just waiting.  

The lights did not disappoint, the boys kept exclaiming each time they saw something new and exciting.

They said they liked it and we should definitely come back next year!

This is what happens when you forget your flash is on and you hold your phone up to the window to take a photo.  It's not actually snowing, this is just all reflection.