Bitter Sweet!

This Christmas has been very bitter sweet. We love being here in Indiana, having our "own" family Christmas, but miss everyone back in Vegas. We missed caroling, our Christmas Eve buffet at Grandma's, and playing games with Thomas' family on Christmas day. We had a great day spending time with each other, opening presents, playing together, and watching movies. I hope that everyone had a wonderful day too!!

I know that some of you are waiting for our pics (Grandma & Papa), so I thought that I would get them up ASAP!! We love you all so much!!

ENJOY!!

Here are a couple videos we recorded...

Just press the play button!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The kids just opened one gift, which are the new pajamas they are wearing, put milk and cookies out for Santa, carrots and oats out for Rudolph, and are now snug in their beds. I can't believe it's Christmas already!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I Double Dog Dare Ya!

I just love watching Marina play in the snow. She will just lie face down and eat the snow right off the ground. So cute! Then she saw that our light pole was covered in ice and thought it would be yummy to lick it! Luckily, she didn't get stuck...and, of course, I HAD to get a picture!

Well, we had a big snow storm this past weekend! It started to snow early Saturday morning and didn't really stop until Sunday afternoon. There was also freezing rain in the middle of it all. After the storm had past, our area got over 5 inches of snow! The kids, of course, loved it, and were outside almost all day on Saturday. We also got a call around noon on Saturday to let us know that church had been canceled for Sunday! So, instead of attending our meetings, we shoveled our driveway. We wanted to make a snowman, but by the time Sunday morning came, the snow was too hard and icy to make one. Here are some more pics!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY HARLEY!!

Holy Moly! I can't believe that it was 6 years ago that Harley was born! Yesterday was Harley's birthday, but I had to work. So, we convinced her to wait and open presents tonight. When she got home from school, I hadn't yet made the cake that I bought. Since I had to go to work, she convinced Thomas to bake it with her. When I got home, half of the cake was gone! I guess it's a good thing I bought two cake mixes, so I can make another one for her party tonight. Whoops! Oh well, I'm glad that she had fun making it with Thomas.

She was so excited to bring treats to school for the first time! She was also super excited when her teacher gave her this crown to wear. She woke up this morning and wanted to wear it to school again. We will be opening presents tonight, 'cause she couldn't wait ANY longer. (I will be missing it anyway, as I was scheduled last minute to work. UGH!) Trent, Beth & Megan will be coming over, so the kids are excited to see them! We tried to get her to wait and do it Sunday, but she just wasn't having it.

We are so glad she is a part of our family. We just wouldn't be the same without her!!

A couple of laughs for Christmas!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Well, yesterday was the first measurable snow of the season! You would have thought it was Christmas by the way the kids got up early to see it! They were all up before 7am and wanted to go and play in it. So, I told them that they had better hurry and get ready for school then, so that they had time to play in it before the bus came. They had eaten breakfast and were all dressed and ready to go by 7:15am!! It was so fun! All day, Marina would ask to go out and eat the snow. So, we went out a couple of times throughout the day.

Enjoy our pics of our First Snow in Indiana!!!

Christmas at the Zoo!

One Friday Night, we went to the Christmas at the Zoo. It was FREEZING! We figured it was only going to get colder as the month goes on, so we wanted to go and see it before we chickened out later. It was Beautiful!! I dare say it was prettier than Opportunity Village. (Trust me, I am going to get in a lot of trouble for that comment!) We even rode the train around, so that the kids could have that tradition kept kind of the same. (Every year, we would go to Opportunity Village with my family and ride the train, and just play and have fun.) After the train ride, we decided to go and see Santa. All of the kids, except Harley sat in his lap and told him what they wanted. Marina was so cute. The bad news is my camera's batteries gave out after only one picture.

I LOVE this picture because we had all of the kids bundled up, and wrapped their faces in their scarves to help keep their faces warm. Well, I said, "Say Cheese!" and Thomas looked at me and said," You can't see their faces anyway!" Oh...yeah...

Jolly Days at the Children's Museum

We decided to go to the Children's Museum last Saturday for their Jolly Days. They had a Yule Slide, Ice fishing, an Ice castle, and a cookie shop. It was a lot of fun! The kids had a blast on the Yule Slide which is a slide that goes from the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor. Even Thomas got in on the action and made a few trips down it. It was so much fun!