Taking picutres of Kids

After Aiden's program we had Laura and the kids come over for a bit so they wouldn't be alone all night on Christmas eve since both our husbands were on call and Ben had been gone all afternoon. But soon after they came over Ben called to say he was home, so they only stayed for a bit. We thought it would be cute for the kids to pose for some pictures together...and it was just hilarious trying to get 5 kids to all smile and look at the camera. I have decided to just post every picture I took in order so you can see how wiggly and silly they were :)

This might be the best one of the bunch... ;)

Oh those crazy kids! But we sure love them!!

Aiden's Christmas Program

I'm going to catch up now on all the Christmas blogging I need to do! So Christmas Eve Micah was on call, but a PA (Physician's Assistant) had offered to cover him until about 8:00 so Micah could go to church with us and then go to Aiden's program. So we hit up our church at 5:00 and then headed over to Aiden's preschool church by 6:30 for his service and program. Laura and her kids also came to see Aiden perform :)

Boy was this child ornery during the services! He has his good days and his not so good days when it comes to Church, and this was definitely not one of his good days...

Aiden all ready in his Shepherd's outfit.

Because it was a service, we were not allowed to use any flash photography, so I did the best I could without my flash.

The kids did a great job, and of course we filmed a lot of it too. I was so proud of my Shepherd!
Hallelujah! Christ is Born!!

Family time

After the party we stayed the weekend with my parents to celebrate Christmas early since Lauren was in town. We also got to spend some quality time with her new boyfriend Eric too. One of the traditions my family has is to make Poppyseed Pancakes. It's a Slovac dessert and is a long process...especially when you quadruple the recipe! Basically it's a potato based dough rolled out thin like a tortilla. You heat them up in a hot pan until they get some brown spots on them, slather it with butter on both sides and spread a ground poppyseed/sugar mixture on them. Then you tightly roll them up. They are so much better reheated so that a little of the butter melts and makes the sugar liquify a bit. Ahhhhh we could eat like 8 a day! Soooo bad for you, but totally worth it! You will fail a drug test after eating one of these ;)

Micah and Hilary were the rollers, Lauren and Eric were the flippers, and I spread the butter and poppyseed. Aiden just made a mess, and Devin cheered us on :)

Yeah, there is flour everywhere and it is such a mess!

Smooches!

That was a shirt Lauren made for an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party last year...the bow was my idea ;)

Since we had the whole family in town for probably the last Christmas for a few years at least, my dad really wanted to take us back to a spot where we have taken a few family photos in the past. Alas when we arrived, we found that the tower we took our pictures on was gone!! So we made do with the playset instead. Note that it was obviously cold out, and Devin had just woken up from a nap. He was not a happy camper.

And then when Devin kicked Aiden in the head, Aiden was no longer a happy camper...

We finally got a decent shot with someone's camera-thanks to Eric for taking the pictures for us!

I think Lauren was hamming it up for Eric a bit.

We found a fence to put our cameras on to use the self timer and get everyone in the shot...this was a test shot.

I didn't make it in time for this one, and as you can see, Aiden was just done with the whole being out in the cold situation...

And of course the last shot I get doesn't turn out! There was no way the boys were going to tolerate any more picture taking. I'm sorry this was really the only picture that Eric was in with all of us...oh well :(

Christmas Party

Micah's parents had their annual Christmas party earlier in December, and we were fortunate enough to have the time off to go. My sister Lauren was also in town, so it was great to spend some time with both our families :) Be sure to check out all the videos!

Sorry about it being sideways...I always seem to forget that I can't shoot the videos that way on my still camera. Aiden loves to sing this prayer before we eat, so they gave him the microphone and let him pray for us. Apparently he felt compelled to dance a little too...

Aiden boogying down with his Aunties :)

The boys had a good time!

Devin really was all tuckered out!

It was a lot of fun-Kiki and Grandpa know how to throw a great party :)

New Year's Resolution...

To not throw the kids out in the snow...

Boy was I tempted to after seeing this! I was cleaning up the house from our New Year's festivities and all of a sudden I turn the corner to the kitchen and came upon this site. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my camera and resolved not to put him out in the snow with a "Free to a good home" sign. I really am going to make an effort to remind myself that they are just kids and I probably pulled the same stunts when I was little!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year! We had a fun time ringing in 2010 :) On the 30th we hosted a party for our friends here in town, and had a lot of fun with everyone that came-especially all the kiddos. My mom gave me a bunch of New Year's hats from our wedding 5 years ago, so we let the kids go to town. Here are some fun pics of them all playing "dress up". Somehow James escaped me though...

Mike and Hollie were trying to get Noah to put one on...but he really wasn't having any of it ;)

Aiden and Dylan

Dylan

Ally

Baby Justus

Gracie

The Devinator

The Boo "sup?"
Then on our Anniversary, Micah was scheduled to work the hockey game that night. We were planning on just taking the boys with us to the game and come home to ring in the new year. But our great friends Ben and Laura offered to watch the boys for us while we enjoyed an evening out by ourselves :) So we were able to go and grab some sushi and enjoy the game together. We picked the boys back up and headed home just in time to watch the ball drop together. It was a great New Year's Eve and Anniversary, and I was so happy to have had the chance to celebrate alone with Micah and then be together as a family at midnight :)

Thank you to everyone who helped make this past year so special, and we are looking forward to an exciting 2010 :) Many blessings to you and yours in this upcoming year!