Tuesday, December 31, 2013

BRING IT 2014!!


Since we JUST got home from Ohio an hour before this photo, we decided to keep it SUUUUUPER low key! NYE is always so over-rated anyway and Lord knows a night in my jammies never hurt my feelings but we were cooped up in a house with several children for days so a cocktail and adult conversation sounded not so bad...
While paying our tab, we were surprised by our good friends, the Guttery's, who were celebrating down the street so we thought, why not?!, and joined them! It was a fun night out and I got to kiss the cutest boy there :)


The next day we went to the Dorrs and had some great food and conversation. So excited about the upcoming year...my baby turns one, my big baby starts Kindergarten and I turn, {gulp} 40!...so much to celebrate! I'm one lucky gal!




Monday, December 30, 2013

The smallest town in Ohio welcomes the clan.

Another wonderful trip to Ohio!! I mean, as previously mentioned, Greenfield is like, small. I mean, like teeny-tiny, ain't got nothin' to do, everyone knows everyone's biz kinda small. Population 4,500 (we have like 66,000 just to put it in perspective). There's nothing to do. Well, I suppose you could run to the corner store that has (which I am still thoroughly baffled about) a fabric/craft store inside it or The McDonald's if you're feeling frisky. So when we go, we go for the peeps, not the entertainment. Although, for being basically house-bound for five days we had some intense rounds of Head's Up with the fam!


The kids were a wheeee bit excited to fly. Ok, Maddie was super excited, Gavin had no clue but he likes everything, so....





Thanks to Ipads, Aunts and Yayas, it went great... the kids only got a couple dirty looks. Not bad.

The pilot let Maddie get in the cockpit. He was sweetly pointing out "all the buttons" and how they do very "complicated things". She was not impressed. "I could do it, no problem." He just smiled at me. Yeah buddy, try living with it.


It's always so great to be around Garret's family. It makes him an his fabulousness make sense. These are some of the most warm and fun people I have ever been around and they adore him as I do.




Four generations :)


Garret realy wanted to visit Papa. It makes me sad Gavin never got to meet him...such a special man.

 
We were super disappointed about not getting snow with the exception of a couple of flurries. I mean, if I'm hauling my cookies to the frozen midwest, if it's gonna be freezing, I wanna play in the snow, darnit. Buuuuut....two days after we left they had a near blizzard with below zero temps, cancelled flights, etc, soooo, ok. I'm good.



Baby boy's first time in the snow...even if it was just a few flakes!



As said, there's not much happenin' so we had to entertain ourselves a lot. Pretty sure Jan burned this piano after we left...
Maddie and Maghera decided mani's and pedi's were in order (gulp) so we let them beautify us. Yaya was a real trooper. She got some seriously colorful piggies.



My little speed-crawler, who had never even attempted walking, took a few steps toward me for the first time! And, as expected, has not done it again.


I have a thing for Northern foliage. Some say it's dead but the crunch beneath my feet and the crisp air has always made me feel more alive....

 
Oh! We did get out one night! Mind you, we had to drive two towns over to get there but it was worth it. Totally outdated skating rink with weird 82 year old clown lapping you=good times!



Maddie was introduced to Headbanz. It was allllll she wanted to do (well, that and the four wheeler but we wanted to do that too!). Strong willed four year old with a one track mind and no escape...Heaven.Help.Us.All.










Here's the whole, wacky, sweet, silly, loving bunch! So happy the kids get to know this side of their family...hopefully we can get there more often! 


Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas!!!!


We did the ushe Christmas Eve ritual...we strange Germans celebrate Christmas Eve probably more than Christmas Day (I'm still not sure I understand why??) so as adults, married to normal American men, we still do dinner and open a couple gifts and save the hoopla for Christmas morning! 







Maddie and Oma made brownies for the fat guy...SANTA, not Garret. Although Garret relayed that's what Santa would totally want.


 

We also got an impromptu rendition of Maddie's recital number. It's a shame she's so shy...




And we're ready!!


We were so excited Tamra could come down this year!! 



Maddie got some new accessories for her playhouse and Yaya was her first customer!










It was two fabulous days with my amazing little family...what more could I have asked for for Christmas?



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