HaPpy NeW YeAR 2o09!

Sam and Ethan. . .great buddies!

Sam, Max and Ben celebrating. . .

not sure what the duct tape is all about, but its not a bad idea, maybe we should let the kids play with it more often!

Lulu and Daddy sharing a "cheers" at midnight!

Natalie, Sam, Max and Ben partying it up. . .



OK, So Christy, Donnie, Pancho and I were invited to an adult party on New years, but we also wanted to celebrate it with the kids. So we decided to watch the ball go down at midnight live on the East Coast. It was only 9:00 our time, but my kids actually fell for it. They really believed it was midnight! So we celebrated with them, put all the kids down on Christy and Donnie's floor in sleeping bags and left them with a babysitter, then we headed off to the Fitzpatricks house to ring in the New Year with some "real drinks"!

Lulu lost her first tooth!

Lucy with a missing space where a tooth once stood . . .age 5 years 2 1/2 months

Can it be true? I always think of Lucy as my baby, so I was a little bit shocked when she told me a few days ago that her tooth was loose. Then she made the tragic error of telling her dad. Panch can NOT let a loose tooth stay in any of our children's mouths for long. He LOVES to pull teeth. Kind of sick I know, but he is good at it. (maybe he should have been a dentist). Anyway, he had that tooth out minutes after she told him it was loose. Oh and by the way - Yes that is blood all over her face. What ever happened to just letting a tooth fall out naturally? I thought that Lucy would be so excited about the whole tooth fairy thing. In fact, I have been saving a tooth fairy pillow, that someone gave me for her, at a shower 5 years ago. But of course kids never do what you expect them to, and she didn't seem to care one way or another that there was a handful of change under her pillow the next day. My guess is that either her brothers have already educated her on the likes of tooth fairies, or that a handful of change just isn't that exciting in these current economic times.

Leavenworth

Its so beautiful there!

Max & Sam . . . Oregon fans even on the slopes!

Lucy and I outside of our hotel . . .

Cousins...Will, Sam, Kyla, Max, Casey, Lucy, Hunter, & Annie

The day after Christmas, we packed up the car and drove 5 hours to Seattle. The next day we drove over to Leavenworth. What should have been a 2 hour drive turned into a 4 hour drive after we got stuck on the pass for 2 hours !!! It was all worth it when we got to Leavenworth though. What a beautiful town and we had so much fun with my brothers & their families, my cousins, Aunts & Uncles and of course Grammy and Papa! It was such a fun trip! We went skiing, sledding, shopping, eating . . . we can't wait to go back next year!

More Leavenworth pictures. . .

Francine with Annie on her tiny skiis

Lucy and Will

Casey, Will and Sam loved sledding

The family at an authentic German Dinner

Christmas Day at our House

We had Mom and Dad and Liz and Doug over to hour house for Christmas dinner. Our kids were so excited for Ellie and Jack to come see all of their new toys. It was very nice to just relax and hang out with family and friends on Christmas day!

Merry Christmas

Opening presents at Grammy and Papas House. Sam got some Mario Cart RC Racers, Max got a set of Tanks that really move and fight eachother, and Lucy got a Barbie sing-a-long machine! Thank You Grammy and Papa!

A Snowy Day in December

Our House in the Snow

Snow "angel"? - I'm not so sure!


Snowball fight anyone?

The kids got to stay home from school for a snow day! They were so happy and excited. They ran out to play in the snow for about an hour. Then when they came back in the house we played games (Sorry, spoons, go fish), drank hot chocolate, baked cookies and sat by the fire, then it was back out to the snow only to do it all over again. It was a perfect snow day!

Baking Cookies

Since we had the day off from school due to the snow, we decided to bake sugar cookies. I think there was more "eating" than "baking" but I think baking sugar cookies is a must at Christmastime! We had to do it!

Apparently it is very tiring being a Daddy and a Little Girl. . .

(notice Lucy's pajamas are on inside out, my kids are under the impression that if you wear your pjs inside out it will snow!)

HaPpY BiRtHdAy PaNcHo!

Happy Birthday Pancho! How did I luck out to get such a great guy. He's funny, smart, handsome, a great father, and super husband! We went out to the Roadhouse for his birthday with the Hakalas, Ficeks and McCarthys, but I forgot to get a picture of all of us together (I hate it when I do that). Luckily I snapped this one as the waiters were chanting some kind of Happy Birthday song to him. Yes - that is a coffee filter on his head and a toilet seat cover around his neck!

Trying to get a Christmas Card Picture

We used this picture for our Christmas card this year!

I guess they really do love eachother . . .sometimes.


Aren't they cute? Oh a mothers love. . .

I thought this was actually a pretty good family picture for us. It was taken with a timer.


Letting off a little steam after posing for so many serious pictures.