Batman on the loose!!!

Jude loves Batman and now enjoys Robin Hood!  Here's a combination super hero!!

Our Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas on New Year's Eve day, since we spent Christmas in Greenville with Grandma and Grandpa Wetterlund this year. After church on Sunday night, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights then came home and had fun snacks while we watched a Christmas movie. In the morning we got up early, after our early bird, Micah, woke everyone up. We went downstairs and the kids lined up in the hallway for a picture, before they got to see the presents under the tree.
They all were excited about their gifts; Micah got a drill that he wanted for his big present, Laci got a camera, Ailie got a salon chair for her dolls, and Jude got a train table. They opened up the rest of the gifts and then we had breakfast casserole and donuts. After breakfast they opened their stockings and then we played and rested the rest of the day until going to Granny and Grandpa McCuen's for New Year's Eve. As we end this year, we look back at our many blessings, and how many times we have said how thankful we are for the sweet little family God has given us!

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.