Christmas with the Grandparents

It's hard to believe Christmas has already come and gone! We have a magnetic nativity scene on our refrigerator that the kids have had so much fun with...of course Mary went under the refrigerator within the first 30 seconds of it being up, so the angel had to double as Mary. :) It's also been fun to hear Ailie really be able to sing Christmas carols this year. She loves "Away in a Manger" and "The First Noel."
This was our year to spend Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Wetterlund's in Greenville, so we had our Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa McCuen last Friday night and then headed out for South Carolina on Saturday morning. The kids got lots of fun presents from Granny and Grandpa and Aunt Laurie that kept them entertained on the trip down, especially Ailie's Chapstick, which she is literally addicted to!
We got to Greenville around 9:00 pm on Saturday and talked with everybody for a few minutes, then unpacked the car and got everybody down to bed, so we could be up early to go to church with them in the morning. We had such a fun time visiting with Uncle Jim and Aunt Jenny and the cousins, Isaac and Hudson, and also Aunt Mary and Uncle Matt and of course Grandma and Grandpa! We opened a few presents on Christmas Eve and then more on Christmas morning. Lots more fun things for the kids to play with! Jude especially enjoyed their dog, Dusty. He followed her around quite a bit hugging her and Ailie tried to feed her the dog food one piece at a time. :). Wednesday we did some shopping and then drove around and looked at some Christmas lights at night. Thursday morning we headed out around 8:30 to go back to South Bend, but we made a stop at a bakery in Hendersonville with Grandma and and Aunt Mary for donuts first! We will do our family Christmas on New Year's Eve day, so the kids have had many exciting days to look forward to!

Birthday Celebration!

Laci had her 9th birthday today, 11/18! We can't believe how fast 9 years have gone by! Where did our little "peanut baby" go? We celebrated her birthday yesterday, Saturday, since we had a busy day with church and a teen afterglow after the evening service today. We started the day with cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs while she opened Micah's present, a necklace, and Daddy and Mommy's present. We wrapped a little note we wrote to her in a little box. When she opened it she had to read it out loud. The note told her she was invited to spend the day with Mommy getting her ears pierced, her nails done, shopping, and eating lunch wherever she chose. The look on her face, which you can see in the picture, was priceless when she read that she was getting her ears pierced! We have always told her she would get them pierced when she was 13, so she has been begging us, but was convinced she had to wait 4 more years! She had so much fun, and we couldn't get to the mall fast enough! She said this was a birthday she would always remember! We finished the day with ice cream cake and Ailie and Jude's present...a penny whistle.... Also a present she has been wanting. I'm sure we will enjoy many days filled with lots of music! :).
We love you, Laci!

Trip to Med-Point

This Thursday, Jude was playing at Ailie's play kitchen which is right by our breakfast table and right next to a step down into our family room. Somehow he fell backwards off the step and hit his chin on the metal transition strip on the carpet. We could tell it probably needed stitches since it was a deep cut, though not very long. We took him to Med-Point where they were able to glue it shut. He was not happy to be held down while they glued it or while it dried, but we were glad he didn't need stitches. He has been a tough boy and only fussed about it a few times. We are thankful that with 4 kids, he's the only one so far that we have had to take in for stitches, and our only other major injury has been Laci's broken nose when she was three!

ND Game!

Dave and Micah have been wanting to go to a Notre Dame game all season and have been waiting for a free Saturday when they could go. Of course, tickets are outrageously expensive, especially this season since they are undefeated. They decided to go down to the game and see if they could find somebody selling tickets they didn't need, and they found two for a good price. It looked like it was going to be their first loss, but it turned out to be a nail biter that ND won in triple overtime! Probably the most exciting game they could have been at! Needless to say, they had so much fun together and we have been hearing stories from Micah all day, including the one about how embarrassed he was when they won and the older lady sitting in front of them turned around and hugged him. :) Looking forward to more games hopefully next season!!

Pumpkin carving!

Tuesday we had our traditional pumpkin carving with each of the kids getting to pick one part of the face to draw that Daddy would then carve. Micah chose the nose, Laci chose the mouth, Ailie did the eyes and Jude drew some hair. We carved the pumpkin then roasted the pumpkin seeds and had a fun snack of seeds and candy corn.

Cougar Run Day!

Micah and Laci had their first "Cougar Run" today! They had to ask people to pledge money for each lap they ran or to give a flat donation for the science lab at school. The goal for each student was to run 20 laps which was a little over 2 miles for Laci and a little over 3 miles for Micah. They both finished at the beginning of their grade levels and had so much fun! I'm sure we'll have some sore muscles tomorrow. :)

A week of firsts!

This was a big week this week with Ailie sleeping in a "big girl bed" for the first time on Thursday night and Jude getting his first hair cut on Wednesday afternoon.
We read awhile ago that it was best to keep kids in a crib until they are 3 if possible, and since we've moved and it seemed like that would help her adjust a little better (plus we know when she's in her crib everyone and everything is safe for that amount of time) we kept her in it until now. :) We were expecting several times of getting out of bed or playing with things in her room, but she has done amazingly well! She's not gotten out of bed one time!
Jude went to get his curls all cut off on Wednesday since his hair was starting to get pretty long. Mommy was having a hard time not crying, but he looks like such a cute little boy with it cut! It's surprisingly still very curly. He did a great job sitting to get it cut...a pack of "Smarties" works wonders in keeping his attention! :). Now his new thing is to wear a hat, so we aren't sure if he doesn't like his haircut or what? :)
Micah and Laci had their first Grandparents' day at this school, and the first one where they didn't have to adopt grandparents! They had so much fun and got to show them around their classrooms. In Micah's class, they got to see his volcano explode.
Micah also won his first soccer game this week against Lakeland, so that was very exciting!
It's been a busy week, but definitely one to remember!

Birthday Week!

It's been an exciting couple of days with Micah's 11th birthday yesterday and Ailie's 3rd birthday today! Micah's birthday started out with his traditional cinnamon roll breakfast and opening presents. He got some Adidas indoor soccer shoes that he's been wanting, a soccer ball, lockers for his bedroom ( which are a project that he and Daddy will be doing together), and two videos that he loves from his sisters and brother. He played soccer with Dad in the afternoon and then finished the day with supper at "Five Guys" and birthday ice cream cake.
Ailie started her special day off with donuts-what better breakfast is there for a girl that constantly thinks about sugar? :). She opened her presents from Mom and Dad- a play computer, "hello kitty" purse, and brown boots. She got a manicure and pedicure from Mom this morning with pink sparkly nail polish and played outside, then opened presents from her brothers and sister at lunch. Grandpa and Grandma McCuen and Aunt Lauren came over to celebrate both birthdays tonight. Ailie had her choice for dinner-chicken nuggets, guacamole and chips and fruit salad. Micah got money and a gift card and Ailie got things for her new purse and an art box full of supplies. Her favorite thing was the tic tacs -the box was almost gone by bedtime. :).
Such fun days! Can't believe how fast the time goes by...wish we could slow it down! Each new stage is so exciting and we are so thankful for each one of our kids that God has given us!

Happy Birthday!

Dave's 36th birthday was today. We had a special breakfast this morning, then Ailie and Jude and I surprised him by bringing donuts to work for all his coworkers to celebrate with him. Ailie helped me make his favorite dark chocolate birthday cake, and he opened presents tonight. I am so thankful for every year with him! I don't know what I would do without him! Definitely the best husband and father in the world!! Love you Sweetie!

Labor Day Zoo Trip

We went to the Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City on Monday. It's such a fun little zoo with lots of great animals that you can see up close. They also have a petting zoo which the kids loved, because they all (even Jude) got to feed the goats. After the zoo, we went to the outlets for a little shopping for our 3 September birthdays that are coming up and then ate supper at Jimmy Johns. After supper the kids ran around on the football field outside the college football hall of fame in downtown South Bend...such a fun day!