a day at the gardens

earlier this week,
we visited the meijer gardens
to check out the christmas tree exhibit.

they have trees decorated from all sort of countries
including this one from korea.
the kids had fun looking at all the interesting things on the trees,
and one little 4 year old loved touching all the decorations :){his brain told him to touch them all - yes, that's what he said}

in between looking at trees,
i tried for a few photo ops.
some successful, some not so much.

the trees were cool,
but my favorite part was the models of famous grand rapids buildings -
all made with natural supplies like acron caps, leaves & twigs.
it was crazy and very cool!

winter at the gardens is fun,
but we're waiting for our favorite exhibit.
only 4 more months...

from start to finish

remember this from last year???
well, now they're older, wiser, ready for some candy -and they each want their own house!
here's the process from start to finish...
step #1
assemble the houses

step #2
try not to eat all the candy

step #3
decorate, eat candy, repeat...

step #4
say cheese {or not}

yummy*holiday*treats

our very merry day

up early
opened presents as fast as possible
surprised them with things they didn't ask santa for
{olivia is pretty sure he is "magical"}

discovered the best toy to keep the boys busy
{even though they became a little antisocial}

skyped with family far away

rocked out with each other

and that sums up our very merry day!

merry christmas 2010

'twas the night before christmas...

when one little boy
learned how to make cinnamon rolls.
yum.

a good choice

this winter we are enjoying the fact that all 4 kids love to play outside -
without our assistance :)

but there is one kid who likes to come back inside
while the others still play.

it's not hard to see why...

just in time!

just a few more days left...

the kids were worried it wouldn't happen...

they had so much to say...

whew! mission accomplished!

some of us...

...have rhythm, some of us do not.
...feel the need to undress, some of us do not.
...can rock out proud mary, some of us cannot.

but i think we all agree that we need to close our curtains at night!

take note

THIS is how you start off christmas break!

more parties!

how do you kick-off christmas break???

party!!!

both parties were fun,
but the kids' favorite part was definitely the gift exchange.

the kids LOVED picking out a gift and they LOVED getting one too!

and now christmas break has officially begun!!!

celebrating with ryan

it's that time of year when there are
school activities every where you look.every year it gets crazier & crazier as more of our kids are in school.
but as busy as it gets, it's still fun to celebrate with them
and see them "in their element" with all their buddies.
so...
to start off the festivities we went to ryan's christmas concertwhere we learned one major lesson -
GET THERE EARLY!good seats go fast and their risers were not very tall!!!

but tim did manage this fun picture -
auto focus isn't always smart, is it?

so afterwards we took some fun pictures -
ryan may or may not have been on board with the idea :)

the next day, next event... ryan's christmas party -
and as usual, i was amazed that his teachers
can keep 30+ kids busy & relatively quiet!

ryan we love to celebrate with you!

next day, yup - another party...

stay tuned :)

S*N*O*W

this past weekend we finally got snow
AND
a snow day on Monday!!

the older kids enjoyed some sweet sledding with friends...

while the little kids enjoyed some sweet stuff inside :)

happy snow day!!

birthday surprise

thanks tim for all the fun birthday surprises -
including this picture!

and i'm not sure why josie looks so glum.

you'd think she was the one on her way to 40!!!

gag gift...

...or the coolest thing 4 kids have ever seen??

a christmas wish

ryan: mom i wish i had mechanical hands like luke skywalker

***

ryan, how does your brain work and

when did luke have mechanical hands??

1 donut, please

i always get a donut for ryan & josie to share

when we get groceries.

the other day we're in the check out lane

and i told the girl that we had one donut -

even though it was pretty obvious from their faces!

ryan: mom, we had 2 donuts!

me: no, i just split it into 2 pieces

ryan: NUT UHH MOM. WE HAD 2 DONUTS!! {getting louder & louder}

this went on and on.

ryan could not be convinced.

the checkout girl gave me the "are you trying to scam me" look.

i ignored ryan, paid for our groceries {& 1 donut} and left.

so the point of this story is that 2 things need to change...

meijer needs to give out free donuts for kids

AND

fractions need to be discussed in preschool

{or at least in spiderman cartoon - which is all ryan watches}

their memories

all of these pictures could really have their own post,
but i figured they are all about the same thing -
holiday traditions
so why not one big post??

the fact that i have exams and have ignored this blog
is so not the reason for this big post - HA HA

what kid doesn't love decorating the tree??
as you can see some kids dress {or undress} for the occasion.

and after a rough tree topping last year,
garrett was pretty excited that it was finally his year!

we also got smart and decided that whoever tops the tree
also gets the 2 other coveted jobs:
setting up the nativity set and putting the first ornament on the advent tree.

ryan is pretty geeked for next year!

and josie, well she doesn't get chronological order,
so we just distract her with candy :)

speaking of candy & advent trees
{and my favorite christmas countdown placemats}...

and finally, somewhat out of holiday order
and because they taste good no matter when you make them -
our turkey cookies...

the holiday are about family and doing things together.

i love that they ask to do the same things year after year.

i love that these will be part of their memories.
and these will hopefully overshadow the crazy memories
they gather along the way - ha ha!!!

where's the snow??

this is SO different than our picture last year
well except for the coats - ha ha!
{ok, maybe ryan's coat is getting too small}

but we had the same fun adventure getting it...

hayride to the trees -

driven by santa {josie's favorite part} -

selecting the perfect tree -

and finally dragging the tree back to santa's wagon -

and now for the fun and warmer part...

{don't let the lack of snow fool you - IT WAS COLD!}

ps - do you like the color of boots garrett picked?
well at least they won't get mixed up at school!