Sunday, December 23, 2012

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:

Monday, December 10, 2012

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.  

Saturday, December 8, 2012

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...

Sunday, December 2, 2012

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.