Happy Birthday Chris!

Top 10 Reasons I Love My Dad by Connor

1. You take me skiing

2. You watch Pawn Stars with me

3. You help me when I am sick

4. You built me a baseball field

5. You came with me to buy me a DSI XL

6. You take me on bike rides in the field

7. You have an awesome new job and we are moving back to Michigan

8. You let me mow the lawn

9. You play catch with me

10. You let me help you

Top 10 Reasons I Love My Dad by Caroline

1. You took me to see Tangled and bought me a snack pack

2.You fireman carry me to bed

3. You cook a good breakfast

4. You hug and kiss me

5. You watch movies with me

6. You let me play on the computer

7. You make me laugh

8. You have a new job and you are having a great time in Michigan

9. You love me

10.  "I just love him!!!!"

Happy Birthday Chris~we hope you have a fantastic day.  We love you and miss you!





New Year's Eve 2010

Chris flew back to Detroit yesterday and Connor was with a friend so that just left Caroline and me to ring in the new year. 

We decided to have a little party of our own...


 This is what we watched :)  Absolutely adorable and a perfect movie for a "girls night!"

Caroline tried her hardest to stay awake until midnight.  She went upstairs to watch a movie at nine o'clock and this is what I found half an hour later when I went to check on her.  I hate to admit this but I didn't make it either.  Oh well, we'll try again next year.

Happy 2011!

Christmas

A few pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Caroline made sure that Santa had plenty of cookies and milk at our house.


Sprinkling the Reindeer food on the front lawn. (Can't forget about those poor reindeer!)


This was Caroline's favorite gift~a Walking Puppy from Nana and Papa. She has named her puppy Lilly and Lilly came with us to the airport to pick up Daddy :)

Connor wanted video games this year (anyone surprised?? no? me neither.)

Santa brought Caroline the Ramona and Beezus movie. She was so excited that she was screaming "Ramona and Beezus...I CAN'T believe it!!!

Connor got the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. He can't wait to see it and asked if we could have movie night tonight~with popcorn.

It was a wonderful Christmas although Caroline told me that she wasn't happy AT ALL that Santa thought to bring her socks :(

Christmas Concert

Caroline had her Christmas concert last night. We took this picture for Daddy so he could see how pretty she looked :) See the white fur ball curled under the tree? Sabrina and Katie can be found snuggled under there all day long...



I wish I could have gotten a better picture but unfortunately this is the best one I have. The kids sang us 10 songs~Caroline's favorite was Away in a Manger. (It had hand gestures with it..super cute!) The little boy behind Caroline and to the right is our friend Kyle. As usual Kyle sang with gusto and big hand movements:)

Here is my videographer for the evening. Connor did a great job capturing everything for me and even uploaded it and e-mailed the video to Dad and Nana! Thanks Buddy, I couldn't have done it without you!

After the concert there was a Winter Carnival and the kids played games. They even won prizes like candy canes and Christmas mugs. Caroline just went fishing and caught a candy cane! Imagine that!

This is Caroline with Gavin. She tells me that he isn't her boyfriend but they are inseparable and Gavin told his Mom that he "doesn't even mind playing kitchen and dolls as long as he gets to play with Caroline." He also mentioned that he thought she was "just so pretty!" Thumbs up for the tie Gavin, I always liked a well dressed man myself.

Deck The Halls...

With salt dough ornaments! Caroline had a playdate with her friend Kyla yesterday and the girls decorated ornament after ornament...hours of entertainment....

Here are the finished ornaments~aren't they "pretty?"

Of course the best part is actually hanging them on the tree!

Gingerbread Houses

Well...actually graham cracker houses :) The kids really needed something to do today, so we put on some Christmas music, dug out the candy and continued our tradition of making these sweet little houses.

Caroline worked very hard planning out just where she would put her decorations. Notice her cute little apron~a present from MOPS! She thinks that she looks just like Grandma Lori in her apron and we all agree!

Connor went with a more minimalistic approach. A little here and a little here. Doesn't that Frankenstein face just scream "Merry Christmas?" (And yes, he ate just as much candy as he put on his house. It's one candy for the house...one candy for me approach for Connor!)

Change

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies..." ~Author Unknown

Not only has our weather changed but it seems our journey has changed as well! Chris left this morning to start his new job back in Detroit. While we had a tearful goodbye, we know that this is a good change, one that will eventually get us back to family and dear friends. It was wonderful to have a few weeks of "vacation time" before Chris left and we enjoyed every minute of being together. Up until last week we were having the most beautiful fall! Temperatures were in the 60's and the sun was shining.

Here are a few pictures that we took on a hike thru Two Moon Park.

And then this happened: SNOW..and lots of it! The best part of this record breaking snow fall was that the men snuck in a full day of skiing in Red Lodge. Connor really enjoys these special days with Dad.

Last night I wanted to get a picture of the kids to get a jump on our Christmas Cards. Well, after many, many attempts this is the best I got.

Safe travels my dear...we miss you already! I am excited to begin this new chapter of our lives together :)