Dance Party

For Emily's birthday she got a game for the Wii called Just Dance. The girls love it. All week we have had their friends over and they have played the game. It is really funny to watch them and it is a good workout for them. The pictures do not do it justice but here are some pictures of the kids showing their moves. Sorry, Layla, I know I said I would delete the pictures they took of us, but I had to laugh at this one. Good times, good times!

My Heart Took a Picture

Birthdays are a good time for reflection. I was looking at some of Emily's pictures. She is so darn photogenic and I had such a good time looking at all the cute thing she has done through the years. Here are some of my favorites.

Emily's Birthday

Emily turned 7 on Monday. I can hardly believe it. She was just 2 when we moved into our house and it seems like the time has gone by so fast. Even though we have Devin now I still think of her as my baby (she was for 6 years). She has grown up so much this year. She is now a big sister and has gone from a little kid to a first grader with an attitude. I think she had a fun day. There was no school so we had the whole day to celebrate her birthday. Opening presents. She lost her first tooth on Saturday. I love this picture because you can see the excitement of her face. This is her new fish, Gilbert (get it, "Gil"bert, she keeps telling us this she named him herself and is quite proud of his name). We went out to lunch and went bowling for her birthday. We had a nice relaxing day. We have birthday parties every other year and it was not this year. It was nice to spend the day together with our family.

Can you tell they are related?

The Joys of Sick Kids and Not So Sick Kids

The kids started back to school on Monday. For the most part I try not to think about what they are being exposed to while they are there. But back to school Monday, one sick kid on Tuesday. Riley stomach was bothering her a little bit. Thank goodness she was not throwing up. But she didn't really feel like eating and she was a frequent visitor to the bathroom. Hope that wasn't too much information. Anyway, she mended quickly and returned to school the next day. So the next day, Emily tells me her stomach is hurting and she doesn't want to go to school. Considering Riley's situation the day before I believed. School starts at 8:40. By 9:00 she is running around the house telling me she is hungry and wants to play on the Wii. There was nothing wrong with her. The little faker. I thought about driving her to school late which I have done before when an illness is signifioantly less than imgagined. But Devin was asleep and I didn't see the point of punishing him. So she took the day off for really no reason. I know Layla considers these to be mental health days. Doesn't everyone need the day off now and then? I agree that sometimes we all need that. But she totally lied and faked she was sick. When her teacher saw me and asked me where she was I said she was home having a sick day. Does that make me a bad parent? I guess it depends on if you ask my kids or their teachers.

New Year's Eve

We hosted New Year's Eve at our house. The past two years we have missed Jeramy, Erin, Scout, and Eden. This is the most of the group that was at our house (Justin's family, my mom said she didn't know if she could make it until midnight). We have so much food. Really too much food. Lots of snacks and seafood. We do fried shrimp, clams, and crab legs. Here are Emily and Mariah with some of their cousins. The kids all got along pretty good. It is such a long night for them. Even Cooper, Lily, and Devin made it up until midnight. I wasn't trying to keep Devin awake, but he took a late nap and with everything going on he wasn't ready for bed. Tiffini and Spencer and their kids spent the night at our house so they didn't have to drive back home that night (and Dominic stayed too). The girls were really excited to have a sleepover with their cousins. They were all so tired everyone slept good. It was fun way to start the new year.

Holiday Highlights

Here are some highlights of our Christmas vacation. Justin's aunt had a Christmas party and Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit the kids. It was great . The kids were very impressed. He had a real beard and brought photos of all the improvements he has been making to the North Pole. It was really fun. We received lots of questions about if he was the "real" Santa. We celebrate Christmas Eve with my family and they come to our house for dinner and presents. Here is my mom and dad with Devin. This is Devin on Christmas morning after we had opened presents. He really liked the presents and he did play with his toys not just the wrapping paper and boxes. This is Justin's mom with her pile of presents she purchases for her kids, their spouses, and the grandkids. She does an amazing job getting us what we like. She puts so much time and effort into getting things for everyone. It was a good day. We had a great Christmas. I hope you all had a good one too!