Hmmm......

The week leading up to our travels was very busy with packing, class parties, wrapping presents and organizing the house so it isn't a wreck when we get home!  I also had a visit to the eye doctor since my arthritis flared up (I just had to write something about how good it had been in my Christmas letter...go figure).
Friday morning everything went very smoothly, Ryan even got to sit down and watch a little t.v. before we went to get the kids from school.  We arrived at the airport, checked our bags and went right to the  gate.  Ryan noticed that the flight time had changed from 5:05 to 7, so I asked and they said they plane was coming from the east coast and had weather delays.  GREAT!!!  3 kids at the airport for an extra 2 hours :o(.  Not only that, but we were going to arrive at the lake right around bedtime, but that was blown out of the water too!  They finally started sending texts about the delays and it kept getting worse and worse.  The plane finally arrived at 7:45, but they had sent a crew member on another flight, so they had to find a replacement.  That took another hour!!!  So, we ended up finally getting on the plane at 8:45 and spent 5 hours at the airport and Reggie was ready to just go home.  K doesn't do that well with so much stimulation, so he was a bit of a challenge and decided to go find me all by himself when he was several gates away.  Very scary and we had some serious talks about strangers and the importance of staying right next to us.  There was also a fire in the next terminal, so they routed many of those flights to where we were, making it especially busy.  Hard to find a time-out place at the airport!
We were very happy to get on the plane and the kids just watched a show and looked out the window.  We had a little bit of ear pain because K and Ainsley have a cold, but they did a good job of powering through.

Notice my nice big red eye due to my dilated pupil...

The plane landed close to 11 and the airport was a madhouse.  It was pouring down rain and Uncle Rich brought us the truck, but it was so busy, he was 3 lanes over.  In the process of wrapping the luggage in plastic, installing the car seats and getting the kids in the car, we left K's suitcase in the middle of the road, but we didn't realize until we'd driven over an hour to mom and dad's.  The kids fell asleep in the car and we stayed up until 2 trying to track down the bag.  It was nowhere to be found.
They were up bright and early the next day and the Liha, mom and I went shopping for some clothes for K.  The kids had a fun time playing and sledding on the packed snow/ice.  By 3:30, I hit my wall and was ready for bed, but my sister really wanted to head back to town to get Santa pictures.  We had an early dinner and gave it a go.  The line was about an hour and a half long and given the state of our family, we bailed.  We did take some pictures by the Santa backdrop and Uncle Wade is going to work on superimposing Santa!

Not quite the start to our trip we were hoping for, but we're here and had a very nice day today :o).  Ryan being a good sport.  Ainsley painted my nails too and they turned out great.

Enjoying putting together foam kits yesterday:

Big week

My mom and dad came for a short visit last week for a couple reasons.  Mom came to my bible study last time she was here and they were talking about the Christmas dinner at our church and she thought it sounded like fun.  I got online about a month ago just to see what airfare was and it was $100 round trip, so they booked their flights.  Dad's reason for coming wasn't nearly as fun....he and Ryan jack hammered and sawed concrete to get the house ready for the plumber.  

Monday was a busy day...Ainsley lost her other front tooth that morning, so she is now toothless up top :o).  Ryan picked up mom and dad from the airport and later that day, Reggie had his orthodontist appt. and he finally gave the o.k. to get his braces off!  We were all super excited!  Then Ainsley went to gymnastics and Reggie went swimming.

No teeth...

 Before..

The Christmas dinner that night was awesome, as usual.  Women decorate tables in whatever theme they want and some were pretty amazing.  It was fun to wander around and look at all the tables.  We had a nice dinner and then listened to our speaker, Lisa Harper.  I heard her a couple years ago and her message was completely different and totally amazing.  What a great reminder of how we are to share our life stories with each other to show how God has worked in and through us.  Talking about the amazing things he has done in our lives in the most powerful testimony!  It was really nice to be with mom and do a girl thing.

Tuesday, Ryan and dad got busy with the demo work and made great progress.  

That night we went to Deacon Dave's to check out the crazy amount of lights he puts on his house.  He's been doing it for years and has a crew to help him put up over 345,000 lights, create scenes and backdrops.  On the way there, we stopped to look at a house we found a couple weeks ago that is crazy decorated for Christmas and when we stopped and looked a little closer, we noticed Santa out on the lawn.  He came over to the car and gave the kids candy canes.  Strange as that was, it put a smile on my face :o).  

Wed. night we watched Reggie swim and I'm not sure what he ate for dinner, but he was a different kid.  Racing all over, doing all the strokes right, even the butterfly.  That night my stomach wasn't feeling so well and it only got worse.  Unfortunately, it was one of those bugs where you want to throw up, but never do.  

Didn't eat or do much the next day, which meant everyone else was on duty.  It was good mom and dad were around because mom went and volunteered in Ainsley's classroom and then took Reggie to get his nighttime retainer.  Ainsley was very happy to have grandma at school :o).  That night was Red Robin.  Bad timing for me, but at least I was feeling a little better.  It isn't quite the same when you go out to dinner and watch everyone else eat.  I did have steak fries, probably too many, but I was o.k.  Mom and Reggie had their Birthday burgers and ice cream and all was well :o).  It has been awhile since we have gotten to celebrate with mom, so it was a special treat to have them here this time of year.  

Decorating for Christmas

Decorating for Christmas is always great fun for our family!  We actually get lots of help without having to ask for it :o).  We did learn this year that we have to be a lot more careful with the ornaments as they don't bounce off of the hard wood floor.  We lost 3 this year and everyone is very aware that we have to be very careful when handling ornaments.  It sparked lots of conversation about when the kids were little and we ended up looking at baby albums and telling stories :o).  They've had lots of fun trying to clap on and off the lights.

 Look at the concentration....

Ryan worked hard on the outside of the house and it looks super :o).  We've been driving around looking at everyone's lights and it is such a fun, festive time of year.  K is in awe...

Happy 9th Birthday Reggie!

What an exciting day for Reggie!  His birthday fell on a Sat. and it made sense to have the party on that day, so he started the day with his usual scavenger hunt prepared by Ryan.  He went around the house collecting books, stickers and his big Lego set (I found over a 1000 piece set for $20!).  He got to work on it right away and spent most of the morning building it until his friends arrived.  There were a couple new kids in his class that he invited and they were the first ones there, running in to see Reggie.  Apparently, everyone has been counting down the days and his teacher asks frequently what is exciting to the kids and one of the boys raises his hand and says, "there's only ___ days until Reggie's birthday."  I'm glad he has such good friends that make him feel special.  They also recognize what a good kid he is :o).  Reggie wanted to open his presents first, so we did that and then let the kids play for a bit at our house before heading to the movie theater to see Rise of the Guardians.  Boy, that movie is intense!!  Talk about a good vs. evil battle!  I was very glad that Ainsley was playing with her good friend Naomi.  Those kinds of movies stick in her head and then we have issues with sleep.  Thank goodness the boys loved it and couldn't stop talking about it.  Nestle Tollhouse is just down the street, so we decided to go there for ice cream and cookies (I was the only cookie taker).  Then we dropped the kids and headed home.  It was a great, easy party and I have to say that I love movie parties!

We let Reggie pick one friend to stay the night and he picked Tyler.  They were so busy building and battling Hex bugs.  It was still dark this morning when I heard them out working on things.  We were going to go to the early church service, but the rain and wind was intense!  We had quite a storm and it was really something to see that much rain falling.  So, the boys had some extra time to play.  When we got back from church, Reggie went straight upstairs to build some more, but we had to go to his piano recital.  He finally finished it this evening and is very excited about his castle and catapults :o).

First Piano Recital-Jingle Bells.  He was a little nervous, but did a great job.  He was happy to have the goodies afterward.  It was also good for him to see some of the older kids playing some really difficult pieces.  There were a couple that were super talented...I could have listened to them forever!  Visit arrtwade.blogspot.com to watch the video below:

Reggie is nine and I can't hardly believe it.  That just seems crazy!  He is growing like a weed.  He put on his nice clothes for the recital and everything was a bit too small.  I meant to get his weight and height, but the night got away, so I'll have to fill it in tomorrow.
Weight:
Height:
Reggie has so many good qualities, but I wanted to mention a few:
He is so creative, whether it is building Legos or writing a comic book
He loves to play and is very young minded-thankfully, no interest in girls or the internet - he's embarrassed when Ryan teases him about girls liking him.
He loves K and Ainsley
He can't wait to wake up every morning!
He is secretly competitive
He'll do almost anything for food -- Just like his dad!
All the kids at school know who Reggie is.  Girls have crushes on him that he doesn't even know about!
He wants to be a Lego builder at Lego land when he grows up and enters the corporate world.
We love you Reggie and we're very proud of who you are and who you're becoming!!  Love, Mom and Dad.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Well, we sure have a lot to be thankful for!!  We are so blessed to have each other, a loving family, great friends, our health, a roof over our heads, running water we can drink from the tap, heat/air conditioning, food to eat, money to pay our bills and most of all a God that watches over us!  We try to pass this thankfulness on to our children daily by thanking God every night for something.  Sometimes they get it, but many times we have to remind them that there are more important things to be thankful for than their toys.  The very fact that we can see, hear and taste is awesome! 
Grandma Peggy came for a visit and the kids were out of school all week, so they had lots of grandma time.  We didn’t plan much because every fun place around here is packed with people on school breaks.  Ainsley and Reggie still had gymnastics and swimming, so grandma got to experience our crazy Mondays and Wednesdays.  They made a trip to Walmart, so Reggie could get an early birthday present.  He got a Lego set that took him a couple hours to put together (he was complaining that his fingers hurt when he was done.  He has been obsessed with Ninjago these days.  

Painting nails:

Playing in the leaves:

We also checked out the new Paragon Outlet mall in Pleasanton.  They have lots of great stores, but not thrift store prices, so I don’t think I’ll be hanging out there much!  That night we went to Uncle Yu’s to celebrate Reggie’s birthday dinner.  They have the best Chinese food and we were all stuffed when we left, although we managed to get a cookie at Nestle :o). 
Peggy started cooking early, so the deserts were made on Wed. and then just the turkey and fixins on Thursday.  We got a Butterball turkey and it was awesome!!!  So juicy that it spilled over while we were out on our bike ride.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and almost 70 degrees, so we rode bikes to the park and hung out for awhile.  When we got back, we played a new game….Apples to Apples, junior.  It was a great game, but definitely not for younger than 6 unless they can read well.  Grandma showed them how to play Yahtzee in the morning, so it was a day filled with fun and games.  That night Peggy and I went to Walmart for some Black Friday goodies.  It wasn’t that busy and we got everything we wanted and were out the door in 10 minutes!!!  I was very thankful she was there because there’s no way I could have done it by myself.

Reggie made the crescent rolls all by himself...he was motivated because he loves them!

It was quite a feat to take this picture.  I was turned around while riding my bike!

Getting Reggie up in the tree was quite comical...he's not a fan of heights:

Tooth number 3!

Before....

 After.....

First Scout camping trip:  Wow what a day we had out at Del Valle park in Livermore.  It's only 15 - 20 minutes from our house but you really feel like you're up in the woods when you're there.  Reggie and I decided to sign up for the last scout camping trip of the season.  We had never attended one and I really wanted to experience that with him.  The first half of the day we had just Khalif with us as the boys were out in the woods!  Here's a picture with K, Reggie, and Colin.

We did many activities throughout the day as the scout leader had everything planned to the "T".  We started out by warming up our legs with an hour and a half hike through the woods looking at many different animals and birds.  We saw 4 deer walking through the park and the kids were very impressed.  Here's Reg getting ready for his hike with his water camel pack on his back.

After we got back from our hiking trip (I had K in the jogger stroller and he had a great time) it was time for a snack.  Instead of eating a granola bar and drinking some water the scout leader had the kids make everyone a peach cobbler by using a cake mix, water, and fresh sliced peaches cooked over our fire.  The kids also helped prepare the fruit salad that would be eaten for dinner that same night.  Reggie was concentrating on cutting up the fruit for the fruit salad!

We stayed busy the entire day.  The kids then learned how to tie different knots (Uncle Wade would have been so proud of Reggie), built their own tool boxes, widdled with their own pocket knives, and played badmitten.  To close the day out, the kids put together some songs and skits to present to the parents.  We then had some smores and hit the sack.  Biggest mistake I made is that I thought I could handle the rough ground for the one night sleeping in the tent and decided not blow up my air mattress.  Bad move as I thought I broke my neck and back...  Even Reggie couldn't get comfortable.  Though it was a rough night, we had a lot of fun...

Reggie building his tool box with his own hammer and nails!

Reggie's finished product

Reggie widdling with his own pocket knife - man he's growing up!

 Reggie and Colin at the talent show

Bed time (dad is dead and doesn't know how painful the night sleep will be!

Last couple weeks....

Life has been crazy….not sure how it happened, but Ryan traveled 8 of 16 days.  That alone would have added enough craziness, but add 2 weekends of camping, Halloween, K’s emergency room visit and surgery, K’s visits and therapy, homework/reading, grocery shopping, volunteering in the classroom, running Ainsley to gymnastics and Reggie to swimming and piano, playdates with friends, making lunches/dinners/snacks, paying bills, cleaning the house, doing laundry, etc. etc. mostly by myself and I was just about to go insane!  Thank goodness for exercising, although that was super hard to fit in :o(.
And now that things have slowed down a bit (amazing what a quiet weekend and a date night can do for the soul (we went to the Cal/Husky football game and it was a blast),  I have a nasty cold…can I say less sleep and a whole lot of running around didn’t help my body fight it off.  I am REALLY hoping life slows down a bit until the end of the year.  This can’t be my new normal, can it?  NOOOO!!!
We had awesome seats at the game :o).

Halloween

It was a lot of fun, but I’m glad we’re done with all the festivities.  We had classroom parties, scout trick-or-treating and by the time the actual day came, I was wiped out.  This was the first year that we weren’t all together.  Reggie was begging to go with his friends, but we had already committed to go to another party (which was all girls his age).  So, we decided to let him go with his good friend Tyler and he had a blast.  We sort-of already had our trick-or –treating fun at KOA as a family, so I didn’t feel too bad.  I think we are going to have to alternate years with friends to make it fair. 
The kids loved the Halloween parade and assembly at school and it was fun to see all the costumes…there was the coolest jellyfish with LED lights!  K had snacks at his party and one activity and he thought it was the best ever :o).  It is good he is easily impressed :o).  Reggie’s party was awesome, lots of activities and games.  Ainsley watched a show and whenever there is TV involved, my kids are happy.  It was a long day and late night, but everyone had fun.

KOA (Kampgrounds of America)

Our good friends the Williams invited us to tag along for the Halloween experience at KOA.  It has been a long time since we “camped” and thought the cabin experience would be a good start.  It was great…we had our own room and the kids slept in bunks (Ainsley had a sleepover the first night with her best bud Daniella), but we had no bathroom or kitchen.  We happened to be right across from Laura’s mom, who is a fabulous cook.  She just kept calling us over to eat and we enjoyed it so much.  We did contribute our stuff, but Ryan felt bad eating all their food, so next year, he asked her for a shopping list.  I am getting happy just thinking about all the good food.  Our kids tried a few new things and really liked them :o).  K tried smores for the first time and you can imagine the smile on his face.  They had a big pillow jumper that was kina like a trampoline, but much closer to the ground and no springs that the kids wore themselves out on.  We brought the bikes and they rode and rode and had fun on the play structure too.  It was a little cold, but that didn’t stop the kids from going in the pool!  It was a bit tricky keeping track of all the kids, going this way and that way, so it was good there were lots of watching eyes.

Sat. night everyone dressed up and went trick-or-treating.  I guess the weekend we were there is more adult oriented, so we had some blended treats and jello shots.  It made trick-or-treating even more fun.  There were some seriously funny costumes and an amazing showing of people decorating their cabins.  I’m not sure how they got all of the stuff in their vehicles, but we certainly enjoyed viewing all of their hard work. 
They are already booked up for next year, so it is good Laura made her reservation before we got there.  We  are going to stay in the Deluxe Cabin with them…it will be very nice to have a bathroom and the kids are going to have so much fun!!!